Data specifications – Public Sector

The data specifications are reviewed prior to each NFI exercise and a summary of changes for the 2012/13 exercise can be seen in the table below.

Changes to the fields required in the data specifications have been kept to a minimum to ensure consistency between exercises. However some changes have been necessary to improve the matching process and the quality of matches passed back for review. A number of changes simply relate to additional guidance.

Data specification	Summary of changes from 2010/11 specification
Payroll	Additional guidance to highlight to upload a single record per employee. Revised field: Option to split ‘forename(s)’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields. PLEASE NOTE1: The following additional fields to this data specification have been confirmed as; ‘telephone number’ (home and mobile), ‘passport number’ and ‘email address’. As a result of these new fields NFI participants should consider updating the summary fair processing notice (FPN) issued to data subjects. A revised example summary FPN is available at Level 1: Summary text
Pensions	Additional guidance to clarify data to be submitted for deferred pensions Revised field: Split ‘forename(s)’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields.
Housing	Revised field: Split ‘forename(s)’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields. PLEASE NOTE1: The following additional fields to this data specification have been confirmed as; ‘telephone number’ (home and mobile), ‘email address’, ‘Right to buy application stage’, and ‘Amount of Right to Buy discount awarded’.
Insurance claimants	Revised field: Split ‘forename’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields.
Private supported care home residents	Revised field: Split ‘forename’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields.
Transport passes and permits	Additional guidance around Blue Badge Improvement Service (BBIS). Revised field: Split ‘forename’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields. PLEASE NOTE1: The following additional fields to this data specification for Blue Badges have been confirmed as; ‘telephone number’ (home and mobile), and ‘email address’.
Licences	Additional guidance to clarify requirements for data on ‘personal licence to supply alcohol from small outlets’. Revised field: Split ‘forename’ field into ‘forename’ and ‘middle name(s)’ fields. PLEASE NOTE1: The following additional fields to this data specification for taxi driver licences have been confirmed as; ‘telephone number’ (home and mobile), and ‘email address’.
Council tax	None
Electoral register	None
Trade creditors payment history	None
Trade creditors standing data	None

¹ These fields are collected for matching purposes only and will not be shown within any matches passed back to participants for review.

Format

Before extracting the data you should refer to the data formats guidance and also take into consideration the comments (on the data specification) associated with each field.

Submission

The secure electronic upload facility should be used to submit data direct from local computers. This facility is contained within the existing secure NFI web application (external link). This connection provides 128 bit Secure Sockets Layer encryption and enables password protection. Full details about how to use the secure data upload facility are available. Before downloading data you should refer to our data download instructions.

This is now the only acceptable method of data submission for NFI data. If any other method of submission is used, our policy will be to inform Director’s of Finance that data has been put at unnecessary risk.

If you require any further guidance on extracting, downloading or submitting data contact the NFI Data Centre (Synectics Solutions Ltd) via email (helpdesk@nfi.gov.uk) or call 0845 345 8019.