Which submission method should I use?

It is currently up to each individual provider to decide which submission method to use. The use of NET Change can help to the reduce the risk of accidental deletions and record duplication, and provide greater levels of precision and control of interchanges afforded to data senders. However, BULK Update allows large amounts of data to be replaced with less preparation. A summary of advantages and disadvantages is provided below.

Replaces all records within a specified date range.

Advantages:

• Simplest method to submit data.
• Can quickly replace large amounts of data.
• Simpler to identify activity data set for submission
• No need to move to new processes that support NET submission.
• Easy to delete large amounts of data.
• More suited to catering for organisations with multiple sources.

Disadvantages:

• Potential for accidental deletion of large amounts of data.
• Potential for creation of duplicate records through inadvertent misuse of update method
• Less precision. It is not possible to isolate individual historic records when updating.
• Can involve processing and submission of large numbers of records that do not need to be updated. For large organisations this can mean submitting thousands of records in BULK to update a small number of records.

NET Change

Only new records or those that need to be changed/deleted are submitted as updates.

Advantages:

• Precise control over data held at the centre for updates and record-level deletions (using ‘self-delete’ records).
• No risk of potential mass deletions. 
• No risk of creating duplicates
• Facilitates smaller, more frequent submissions often leading to more up to date central data
• Can alleviate system ‘bottle-necks’ due to reduced processing requirements
• Clear audit trail of interchange history

Disadvantages:

• Initial overhead in converting business process to NET change.
• More preparation time required to determine what data needs to be submitted.
• More difficult to determine which data has changed and should be resubmitted when CDS is fed from multiple sources.
• CDS data items which NET submission relies on must be populated in line with Data Dictionary and Data Protection guidance