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Learning journey · Data, BI or performance analyst
Data, BI or performance analyst
The schema, the snapshots, the funding reports, the achievement rate calculation and the reconciliation work that analysts are usually asked to do first.
By the end you will be able to
- Build analysis at the right grain against the ILR structure
- Reconcile a cohort against the published achievement rate methodology
- Explain a funding movement from the reports
- Produce data quality measures that drive action rather than describe activity
The plan
Six weeks is a suggestion of pace, not a schedule. Skip anything you already know, and come back to the rest whenever it suits you.
Week 125 minutes
The anatomy of the ILRWhat is actually inside the Individualised Learner Record: the entities, how they nest, and which fields carry the funding.13 min From a learner walking in to funding arrivingThe full chain: a learner event, the operational action it triggers, the source data it creates, the ILR fields it populates, validation, funding, reports, evidence, performance and audit.12 min
Week 216 minutes
How your data becomes your published resultsAchievement rates are calculated from the ILR. Understanding the cohort is what turns an unexplained rate into an explainable one.10 min Results arrive after the final return has closedA batch of awarding organisation results for last year arrives in November, after the final return closed. What can be done?6 min
Week 314 minutes
Reconciling funding month by monthHow to compare what the return earned against what you expected, explain the movement, and stop year-end surprises before they form.8 min Earnings fall after a bulk data updateA bulk update is applied to a cohort and the next funding report shows a material fall. Where do you look?6 min
Week 417 minutes
The routine that prevents most problemsA small number of checks, run every month without exception, prevent the majority of funding, performance and audit problems in further education.8 min Working data quality and monitoring reportsReports that flag records for investigation are the most useful assurance tool available, and the most commonly misread. A flag is a question, not a finding.9 min
Week 520 minutes
The collection year: what each return is forFourteen returns, each restating the whole year. Three of them matter more than the others, and knowing which is most of the job.9 min 16 to 19 funding: how the formula worksStudent numbers, band, national rate, retention, programme cost weighting and uplifts. Where each element comes from, and which of them your own data controls.11 min
Week 620 minutes
Adult Skills Fund: earning and reconcilingAn allocation you have to earn, with eligibility that must be evidenced before you claim, and a reconciliation at the end that can reduce what you keep.11 min Closing the funding year properlyAt the final return the funding, the achievement rates and the audit population are all fixed at once. Everything that will be corrected has to be corrected before it.9 min
Learning record
FEFunding Academy: FE data and performance analysis
This is an FEFunding Academy learning record. It confirms that the named person completed this Academy learning path. It is not a regulated qualification and does not imply accreditation or endorsement by any government department or awarding organisation.