VSR Batches (Vic)

Victorian Student Register (VSR) Batches Overview

Before using this program for the first time you should have completed the setups that are outlined in 'How to Setup and Run the Victorian Student Registration Integration Facility'. 

This is a multi-purpose program that allows you to:

• Process batch transactions to the Victorian Student Register (VSR).
• View a statistics grid of unprocessed transactions (via the 'VSR Batch Transaction Summary' screen).
• Search for and retrieve detail on previously submitted VSR batches.

Approve Button

Click on the 'Approve' button to display the 'Unprocessed VSR Transactions' list screen.

Map Genders Button

Use the 'Map Genders' icon to view or edit the specific TASS genders and codes mapped for this report.

Important!

If your school has defined additional gender types that are not recognised by the report's governing body, you will see the following message:

'Unmapped Genders exist. To run this report you must use the 'Map Genders' icon, and enter a mapping for all genders.'

To run the report, any additional genders in your database must be mapped to those that are accepted for the report by the governing body.

For example, if the governing body were to accept 3 gender types:

1. Female might map to gender code 'F'.

2. Male might map to gender code 'M'.

3. Any additional gender types that your school recognises could map to 'Unknown' (gender code 'U')—if the governing body recognises this gender type and you have defined it (or it is already defined) in TASS.

For more information on 'Gender Setup', refer to Community Plus program Setup Information.

Processing VSR Batches

There are three possible scenarios that you are likely to encounter when processing VSR Batches:

1. No VSR Transaction batches require processing (no further action required for the moment).
2. Unprocessed VSR Transaction require processing.
3. Unapproved VSR Transaction batches exist.

Unprocessed VSR Transaction Require Processing

VSR Batches Screen

The top section of the screen 'VSR Batch Transaction Summary' will display a message 'There are currently N VSR transactions to be processed'.

Click on the active link to display the 'Unprocessed VSR Transactions' list screen.

Alternatively, click on the 'Process' button to display the 'Unprocessed VSR Transactions' list screen.

Unprocessed VSR Transactions List Screen

This list screen displays all of the VSR Transaction batches that require processing.

Click on the 'View' Action link to access individual transactions. This will display a screen that shows the details of the transaction record that will be sent to the VSR. 

Click the 'Cancel' button to return to the 'Unprocessed VSR Transactions' list screen.

You can print this list by clicking the 'Print' icon in the toolbar. The program then allows you to nominate the sort order of your output. You can elect to produce the output as a PDF document, Excel® file or Word® document. Click on 'GO' to create the file.

Click the 'Process' button to submit the transactions to the VSR and the following message will be displayed:

'Are you sure you want to process the student transactions to the Victorian Student Register?'

Click the 'Yes' button and the transactions will be processed to the VSR webservice.

If the VSR webservice returns a success response batch file, this program will print a report that lists the transactions processed by the VSR. 

An exception report is printed if any communication or authentication issues occur. One exception could be 'Could not generate stub objects for web service invocation'.

This is likely to be because your school is running ColdFusion 7 and you will need to get your system administrator to add the web service into the ColdFusion Administrator.

Rejected Transactions

The VSR response batch details any transactions that have caused an exception. If there are transactions that have caused an exception, they are set to a 'rejected' status. 'Rejected' transactions are records that either don't conform to the documented data type requirements for the VSR central database or records that raise a data integrity issue. For example, an 'Enrol Student' transaction that is defined as 'Enrolled Before' with a VSN that belongs to another student.

Where 'Rejected' transactions exist, a DEECD officer will contact a school administrator to work through a resolution. When the issue is resolved, a 'Reconciliation' batch file is available to be processed. The 'VSR Batches' program lists the total amount of 'Rejected' transactions in the 'VSR Transaction Statistics' section of the opening screen. You can either click the 'View' link to view all transactions for the selected batch, or the 'Exceptions' link to view an exclusive list of 'Rejected' transactions for that batch. 

A 'Reconcile' button is available to process the 'Reconciliation' batch. 

If the 'Reconciliation' batch has been made available for processing by the VSR, the records are processed. The transaction status for each reconciled record is either set to 'Approved' or 'Invalid'. 

A transaction is set to 'Invalid' if the details of the transaction are irreconcilable. Where this occurs, the invalidated transaction is resubmitted as an unprocessed transaction. 

You are then able to edit the unprocessed transaction where required and re-process. When you run the reconciliation, your username and date/time of reconciliation is saved to the database.

Important!

If queued transactions exist for a student record, when a transaction for that student is processed and set to approved, the first queued record is updated from a 'Queued' status to an 'Unprocessed' status.

Unapproved VSR Transaction Batches Exist

Once a transaction batch has been submitted using the process detailed directly above, a return batch is supposed to be received from the VSR immediately. However, this may not always happen and in the case where a return batch has not been received a status of 'Unapproved' will be recorded.

Important!

The system will not allow the submitting of further VSR Transaction batches until 'Unapproved' transactions have been resolved.

If 'Unapproved' Transactions exist, the top section of the screen 'VSR Batch Transaction Summary' will display a message 'There are currently N processed VSR transactions that are yet to be approved'.

Click on the active link to display the 'Unapproved VSR Transactions' list screen.

Alternatively, click on the 'Approve' button to display the 'Unprocessed VSR Transactions' list screen.

Processed (Unapproved) VSR Transactions List Screen

Click the 'Approve' button to submit the transactions to the VSR.

The system will then attempt to retrieve a 'response batch' from the VSR webservice.

If the 'response batch' exists with the VSR webservice the transaction batch will be processed as detailed above.

If the 'response batch' has not been made available the transactions will remain as 'unapproved'.

Viewing Statistics

The middle section of the screen displays the 'VSR Batch Transaction Summary'. This is a grid of VSR Transaction statistics. This 'VSR Batch Statistics' provides total numbers of VSR transactions by status and type.

Transactions are defined based on the following status types.

Unprocessed

Transactions ready to be processed to the VSR. However, if there are 'Unapproved' transactions, they must be processed first.

Unapproved (Processed)

Transactions that have been processed to the VSR with no response received to confirm that the transactions are approved.

Queued

Transactions that are queued cannot be processed until a preceding unprocessed transaction is processed.

Withheld

Withheld transactions exist for unprocessed 'Enrol Student' transactions that have a future date of entry, and unprocessed 'Exit Student' transactions that have a future exit date. Students with a date of birth that is less than one year of age have all transactions withheld until that date expires. Transactions with a 'Queued' status are not calculated in this figure. 

Rejected

A rejected status occurs for transactions that raise an exception when processed by the VSR. These transactions require a reconciliation before future transactions can occur for the student record. In this event, a DEECD officer will contact a school and either approve or invalidate the transaction.

The types of database changes for which TASS.web captures information for ultimate communication to the VSR webservice are:

• Enrol Student.
• Change Student Details.
• Exit Student.
• Cancel Enrolment.

These are detailed in the 'How to Setup and Run the Victorian Student Registration Integration Facility'. 

Searching for and Retrieving Detail on Previously Submitted VSR Batches

The bottom section of the screen is the 'VSR Batch Search'. This allows you to list previously submitted VSR Batches. You can search by batch number(s) and batch date(s).

Click on the 'Go' button to display the 'VSR Batches' list screen.

VSR Batches Screen

This list screen displays previously submitted VSR batches.

Click on the 'View' Action link to access individual batches transactional detail.  

Click the 'Cancel' button to return to the 'VSR Batches' list screen.

You can print this list by clicking the 'Print' icon in the toolbar. The program then allows you to nominate the sort order of your output. You can elect to produce the output as a PDF document, Excel® file or Word® document. Click on 'GO' to create the file.