Maryland Annual Collections - MAC2

WORKFORCE TRAINING COMPLETERS SYSTEM (WTCS)

A. Collection Description

The Workforce Training Completers System was developed to capture students who complete a workforce training program (currently noncredit only) at any time during the collection year. Workforce training completers are those students who have successfully completed a course sequence that qualifies students for identifiable occupations or that provides a comprehensive body of knowledge leading to career advancement.**NEW** Note: Some course sequence completions require only one course, while other sequence completions require several courses (see footnote for more information) . Students will be referred to as Completers throughout this document.

B. Adhere to Due Dates and Record Frequency

Annual Due Dates:	November 1st
Collection Period:	July 1 st to June 30th
Record Frequency:	One record per course or course sequence completion

C. Comply with the Selection Criteria

1. Who to include:

1.1. Community College students.

1.2. Completers of a noncredit workforce training course or sequence during the collection year (DD159).

1.3. Completers of a noncredit workforce training course or sequence during the collection year, in any modality (face to face, online, hybrid, etc.).

1.4. Completers regardless of program start date.

1.5. 1.5. Completers of a workforce sequence, regardless whether completion has been conferred within the collection year (See DD160 and DD163).

1.6. A workforce sequence with a Course Intent of A, B, or C.

1.7. Students ages 16 or older at the beginning of the sequence.

1.8. Completers include both FTE eligible and ineligible students.

1.9. Completers must have recorded grades for all courses in the sequence.

2. Who to exclude:

2.1. Students who have not completed a workforce training sequence during the Collection year.

2.2. Students whose completion status cannot be confirmed due to missing grades.

2.3. Students under 16 years of age. Do not include Youth Programs, Kids on Campus.

2.4. Students who are enrolled in sequence with an Intent of D or E

3. What is the Collection year?

3.1. July 1 to June 30.

3.2. The final course in the sequence ends during the Collection year (DD159).

3.3. Completers are included based upon the final date of the sequence (DD159), not the conferred date (DD160).

4. What constitutes a Workforce Training Sequence?

4.1. All Workforce Training sequences must have Intent Codes of A, B, or C.

4.2. A sequence is an approved program leading to apprenticeships, employment, licensure, or job skill enhancement at a Maryland Community College.

4.3. Include students who complete sequences that directly contribute to employment opportunities, career advancement, and/or industry credentials.

4.4. Completions in programs that are considered add-on workforce credentials such as CPR, boating safety, motorcycle safety, and driver education (non-CDL) should not be included not be included in the NWCS.

4.5. Completions in refresher courses should be included .

4.6. ***NEW**Report only the sequence completion, not the individual courses in the sequence. Individual courses are reported in the Workforce Training Registration System (WTRS). A row of data should represent a student completing a given sequence.

5. What if my workforce training sequence does not require a specific sequence or order?

5.1. A sequence should contain all required courses but does not necessarily require courses to be taken in a specific order.

6. Should a student be included if they have completed coursework in a collection year but have missing grades for some courses in the sequence?

6.1 No, students with missing grades should be excluded from the report.

7. Does MHEC review my submission?

7.1. Institutional submissions are reviewed in two stages. The first stage performs Edit Checks. Edit checks confirm that only allowed values are entered for each data element. The second stage performs data validation and logic checks for data quality and data consistency.

7.2. Course Name (DD157) is not validated. Additionally, institutions are encouraged to review the values reported in for Instructional Hours (DD161), Licensure or Certification (DD163), and Subject Area (DD166) in relation to value reported in DD157 as the values reported in these four fields, in most instances, should be identical for all students with the same value in DD157.

D. Helpful Insights

Helpful Insight to Reduce Errors – This list only includes select data elements or statements that are prone to errors. Please review the documentation page for full WTCS layout links and details for more extensive reporting information.

1. Do not insert a space between commas when a data element is not reported.
2. Blank is not allowed for first name or last name.
3. If a student has no first name, enter NFN, for the first name.
4. If a student has no last name, enter NLN, for the last name.
5. Report Subject Area (DD166) as 4 digit CIP Code, two digits, a decimal point, and then two digits.

E. Data Collection Websites, Emails, and Responsibilities

To secure and ensure data collection integrity, it takes the cooperation of each institution partnering with the MHEC team to manage collections. Websites, specific email addresses, and established responsibilities all work together to offer guidance for data collections, reporting problems or concerns, and outlining due diligence necessary for successful data submissions and management. Detailed information about the websites, emails and responsibilities can be found on the responsibilities page of the data website.

F. Follow the File Layout

The WTCS file layout can be found on the documentation page of the data website. The required format is comma-separated values (CSV), which means each data element is separated by commas and the file extension is .csv. Data element submission details for the file layout relies exclusively on MHEC’s online data dictionary. The layout provides the item number, field length parameters, data type, name and the data definition (DD) link to the data dictionary for comprehensive, up-to-date data element guidance, explanations, and examples in some cases.

G. Include the Header Record

The WTCS header record can be found on the documentation page of the data website. It is required as part of the uploaded .csv file. It is critical that the uploaded header match MHEC’s header for data editing purposes. Headers that do not match create errors in the validation process.

H. Review the Sample Records

The WTCS sample record can be found on the documentation page of the data website. The sample records are available for your reference and serve for demonstration purposes only. The .csv version of the records shown below the samples is what a submitted record should look like. Note that if a field is empty please do not include a space between the commas.

I. Transfer the File to MHEC

To transfer a .csv file to MHEC, user credentials are required. File transfers between higher education institutions in Maryland and the Commission are secure. Please use the prescribed secure file transfer process and refrain from emailing submissions. The File Transfer page has different functional areas. Select the “Maryland Annual Collection 2 (MAC2)” link to begin the file transfer process. Use “P” to preface UserID credential. Select the option to perform either a preliminary edit or an official submission after editing is complete. Complete the form for the upload and include comments if necessary.

J. Perform File Editing Procedures

The submission process provides editing guidelines that includes an edit report for the purpose of reviewing and verifying data submitted. The report offers frequency distribution counts on selected variables that can be used to verify data counts. The edit program also checks records for proper data element ranges and position. If there are fatal errors or warnings, an explanation will be associated with the infraction and corrections should be made before a subsequent preliminary edit resubmission is performed. The correction and resubmission process should be repeated until the file is free of errors. Before submitting the official version of the file, internal institutional edit confirmations should be performed to check frequency output against uploaded data to verify the accuracy and completeness of the data. At the time of the official submission, if there are remaining fatal errors or warnings on the edit report that cannot be addressed with a correction, then comments with a detailed explanation from the institution must be included in the comments section of the upload form.

K. Check MHEC Internal Validations

The Stata syntax code used for validations can be found on the documentation page of the data website. Stata code is used to validate file submissions. Additional validation testing may be completed contingent upon the results of this baseline code. New validation steps may be added over time as the scope of the collection changes.

L. Data Cookbook

Data Cookbook is MHEC’s MAC2 On-Line Data Dictionary. It contains all data elements used in all unit record data collections managed by MHEC.  On the “Functional Areas” tab, under "Sharing" in the far right column select the definitions link to view the data elements for one of the MAC2 collections. Each data element name is listed in alphabetical order with its functional definition.

To contact MHEC for questions or support, submit an email to mac2help.mhec@maryland.gov.