Glossary
Error severity
Whether a validation failure rejects the record or only warns about it.
In full
Validation failures carry a severity. A failure that rejects the record removes it from the return and therefore from funding until it is corrected. A warning keeps the record but flags it for attention.
Warnings are routinely ignored and routinely turn into audit findings. They exist because something looks unusual, and the right response is to check whether it genuinely is.
Where this comes up
diagnostic
A large number of validation errors appeared suddenly
Validation has produced a large number of failures that were not there before. A sudden change in volume almost always has one cause rather than many.
module
What validation does, and what it does not do
Validation checks that the data is internally consistent and conforms to the specification. It does not check that the data is true, that the learner was eligible, or that the funding is correct.
scenario
A learner's age puts them in the wrong stream
A learner's age at the start of their aim determines which stream can fund them. A date of birth error moves them.
module
Being ready for a funding audit
What an audit tests, how sampling turns a few errors into a large adjustment, and the preparation that actually helps.
diagnostic
A learner is flagged on a data quality or funding monitoring report
A record meets the criteria of a report that identifies data worth checking. That is a request to investigate, not a statement that the record is wrong. Some flagged records are entirely correct and simply need their evidence to be locatable.
diagnostic
An adult learner appears to be funded by the wrong authority
The learner's recorded source of funding does not match what their home postcode implies, so the aim may be claimed from the wrong funder, under the wrong rules.