Updated 5/17/2013

Common Support Questions

See also older support questions from the Unique ID rollout (set 2 and set 3).

We have received some questions lately about overwriting data in Unique ID (which is also PID data) and about ownership of records. Our team here at TEA wanted to publish some clarifications.

(1) Data in PID Belongs to the State of Texas

It's important to understand when it’s appropriate to overwrite or add to data in Unique ID. TEA owns the demographic data in PID and the standards on how it is maintained. For example, TEA standards indicate that full middle name is to be maintained for persons in PID. TEA extends the privilege of editing data to the current LEA of enrollment, so that the LEA maintains the most current and accurate demographic data. However, LEA staff should not overwrite data that meets TEA standards with less complete or incorrect data. For example, do not replace full middle names on Unique ID records with middle initials. This degrades the quality of state data that all LEAs as well as other state and federal agencies rely on. It is appropriate to update your local LEA data system to reflect the most current and accurate data, especially the full middle name.

(2) Middle Names are PID discrepancies, but not PID “Errors”

Differences in major demographics between student records (SSN/S#, First Name, Last Name, Birth date, Unique ID) will trigger PID errors. However, a difference in minor demographics, such as Middle Name, will trigger a PID discrepancy that is not considered an error and does not count against the LEA’s PID error rate. If your LEA has a policy in place that requires the use of middle initials in the SIS, you can ignore any PID discrepancies due to middle names OR re-evaluate the local policy to determine if it is still needed.

Discrepancies for name data for staff will not trigger PID errors. Do NOT update master records in Unique ID with middle initials if those records have full middle names. Remember, the Unique ID demographic data will not be imported to the district HR system.

(3) Only Update Records for Persons in Your LEA

Although we published a workaround for updating a record that does not belong to an LEA in Unique ID, that workaround should only be used in very special cases. We expect the need for it will disappear soon as the sequence of downloading Unique IDs begins to match up with the sequence of student/staff moves. We will track this activity to judge when it is appropriately or inappropriately used. Again, a record should not be updated with less complete name data; instead, update your local system OR accept the PID discrepancy.

If the local record contains an outdated name or SSN/S#, you must opt to change the local system record OR accept the PID error.

(4) PET Events Reported on the Wrong (Duplicate) Unique ID

Unfortunately, due to the number of duplicates created recently, there are some PET events that have been erroneously reported on the duplicate records that are being retired. Once your LEA updates their SIS with the correct Unique ID, the PET event should show up on the correct record. Again, you can help eliminate these problems by exercising caution when creating IDs (only for students/staff new to Texas!) and matching records.

(5) Problems with the Attendance Discrepancy Report

We are currently working with our developers to correct problems with this report. Our thanks to those of you who have taken time to share these with us and explain the data.

Thank you again to everyone involved in making this significant effort successful!

See also older support questions from the Unique ID rollout (set 2 and set 3).