Pre-Submission Validation
Jurisdictions are expected to have pre-validated their submissions using the Minimum Data Set (MDS) Validator. The most up to date source of information regarding the MDS Validator is the http://validator.com.au/ website. The MDS Validator can be run stand-alone or via the online validator at https://webval.validator.com.au/.
Before submitting your file by any of the methods listed below you should inspect the reports produced by the MDS Validator; these are the same in both the stand-alone and online versions. There are two sources of information that you should review to ensure you are satisfied with the quality of your submission.
Line Status
The Line Status screen provides a high level indication of file quality and is the best place to look to ensure the basic formatting of your records and structure of the file is correct. It classifies each line in the file into a single column in the table.
Figure 1: Line Status
Clicking on the links in this table provides a view of the record(s) with issues and allows for closer inspection of the problem(s). Note that it reports in real time so it can be viewed while the validation run is in progress. Doing so can save you from validating an entire file for which it is already evident a rebuild is required.
The various issues summarised are:
- OK
- The record was validated without problems
- Malformed
- The record had at least one issue that renders it indecipherable. Examples include short lines, bad record types, or invalid key fields
- Orphan
- The record did not have a parent in the submitted file. This can occur if the parent record exists but has irredeemable errors
- Duplicate
- The record was a duplicate, there were two or more records with the same key fields
- Barren
- The record is expected to have child records but there are none present. This can occur if the child record exists but has irredeemable errors
- Miscoded
- The record had at least one incorrectly supplied non-key field. Examples include illegal characters, incorrectly formatted numbers, out of domain values, and invalid dates
- Other
- The record had at least one issue to be investigated. Examples include missing, zero, and inconsistent values
Reports
The Reports screen provides more detailed reports regarding the quality of data contained within the file. A number of different views on the validation run are possible and accessible via the links show in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Reports List
Below is an example of a report from this screen.
Figure 3: Example Report
Reports classify issues into the classes detailed below. Unlike the “Line Status” report a single line in the submission file may be reported on multiple times. In some cases the issue is not specific to a particular file. In that instance it is assigned to the implicated record and item highest in the file hierarchy.
- Invalid
- A field contains incorrect data, mis-formatted, or out of domain.
- Missing
- A field contains no meaningful data. Depending on the entry involved, it may be all spaces, all zeroes, or a missing value in the domain (eg. "9").
- Malformed
- The record had at least one issue that renders it undecipherable. Examples include short lines, bad record types, or invalid key fields
- Sequence
- The order of Collection Occasion types is not logical. E.g. a Discharge may be followed by a Review with no preceding Admission.