Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Can You Avoid A National Grief Over Lost VET Data?

People live in a present age where meter-thick books are no longer the best storage materials for most dynamic data. Especially for those registered training organizations (RTOs) which provide the most excellent vocational education and training (VET) services, the importance of relying on soft copy for fast and more organized recording of student information cannot be underestimated. But what if the dilemma comes in and the RTO software simply crashes? Is it even possible to avoid being grieved about perpetually lost VET data?

The Cost of Lost VET Data

The grief which may be experienced due to data loss is attributable to the cost of that data. The information itself may be truly valuable, but it is not only the innate value of the information that's involved. The assessment whether the lost data is retrievable or non-retrievable may either lighten or worsen the case, respectively. And yet, even if the lost data is retrievable, the toilsome processes of recording, collecting and organizing such data may have to be repeated. In other words, the effort itself is costly, challenging, even, a persistent pool of human resource to work on the retrieval process. This is not yet even mentioning the actual monetary costs that would cover the salaries of the human resource and the expenditures to be incurred in the actual retrieval operations.

National Efforts to Avoiding VET Data Loss

Among others, the National Center for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) knows very well how cruel this grief over lost data can be. This is why NCVER is foremost among those which encourage local RTOs to become AVETMISS compliant and submit appropriately formatted VET data to both the national and state training authorities. When RTOs follow NCVER's guidelines especially on having their own student record management systems and submitting copies of their training activities and student information, the actual loss of VET data may be more effectually avoided. The data backup methodology at the national level has been made more standardized, thus assuring that once local VET data are submitted to the national authorities, RTOs may retrieve the same data whenever their own systems get crashed.

Local Cooperation: Key to Avoiding National Grief over Data Loss

As RTOs are designed to submit directly to state training authorities, and state authorities to national VET data custodians, the greater responsibility then lies on the shoulders of the fundamental data sources, which are of course the local RTOs. When local cooperation is made certain, cases of lost learning management systems data may thus be avoided. If ever lost due to some RTO software crash, the local RTO may still gain the benefit of saving up on retrieval as data faithfully submitted may be brought to its access in short time, again.


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The writer blogs about AVETMISS, AQTF and learning management systems at http://www.docstoc.com/profile/waagchristian


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