Nominal hours | VET Information Standard

Definition

A numerical value attributed to a program or subject. These hours roughly estimate the expected amount of supervised training required to complete the training and assessment activities.

Context

It is used to assess training activity based on the anticipated hours of supervised training.

Guidelines

Nominal hours anticipate structured supervised training and assessment, excluding prerequisites. They assume a typical classroom-based delivery and assessment strategy, even for online subjects. Nominal hours exclude non-supervised components such as work experience, fieldwork, work placement, or private study. If a program or subject consists solely of such components, the Nominal hours value is '0'. These hours are typically specified in curriculum documentation or implementation guides associated with national training packages. Round fractional hours to the nearest whole number, resolving exact half-hours by rounding up. For ranges, use the midpoint rounded up to the nearest integer. Nominal hours represent the whole program or subject, regardless of the delivery period.

Business Rules

Rule ID	Business rules	Corrective actions	Jurisdiction	Grouping
BRDG00025	A subject's Nominal hours cannot be over 1500.	Nominal hours of more than 1500 have been provided for the subject enrolment record. Correct the number of Nominal hours for this subject enrolment.	National	Subject
BRDG00026	Nominal hours is mandatory for a program.	Nominal hours for the program enrolment record are mandatory but have not been provided. Update the program enrolment record with the Nominal hours.	National	Program
BRDG00027	Nominal hours is mandatory for a subject if not listed in NCVER's list of agreed hours.	Each subject enrolment record must have Nominal hours recorded. Update the subject enrolment record with the Nominal hours.	National	Subject
BRDG00089	A program's Nominal hours cannot be over 6000.	Nominal hours of more than 6000 have been provided for the program enrolment record. Correct the Nominal hours for this program enrolment record.	National	Program
BRDG00090	Warning: a program's Nominal hours should be fewer than 3000.	Nominal hours of more than 3000 have been provided for the program enrolment record. Correct the Nominal hours for this program enrolment record.	National	Program
BRDG00250	Only one instance of Nominal hours must be reported against a program.	This rule will be triggered by the API validation service. Only one value will be retrieved. The SMS is required to supply this information.	National	Program
BRDG00251	Only one instance of Nominal hours must be reported against a subject.	This rule will be triggered by the API validation service. Only one value will be retrieved. The SMS is required to supply this information.	National	Subject
BRDG00336	Nominal hours cannot be different for programs with the same program or subject reference number.	Programs with the same program reference number cannot have different Nominal hours. Update the Nominal hours or correct the program reference number.	National	Program
BRDG00337	Nominal hours cannot be different for subjects with the same program or subject reference number.	Subjects with the same subject reference number cannot have different Nominal hours. Update the Nominal hours or correct the subject reference number.	National	Subject
BRDQ00012	The most recent data submission contains too many subjects where the Nominal hours are greater than 400. This excludes subjects where higher Nominal hours are permitted.	The most recent data submission contains too many subjects where the Nominal hours are greater than 400. Review all subject records where the Nominal hours are listed as greater than 400 and update these accordingly.	National	Subject
BRDQ00013	Current calendar year training activity contains too many individual students with total Nominal hours exceeding 1500 hours. The rule applies to subject enrolment records with a student status of 'commenced' or 'concluded' but excludes those records with credit transfer applied or where the training relationship type is 'superseded by'.	Data submitted in the current calendar year contains a high proportion of individual student records where the total Nominal hours exceeds 1500 for the calendar year. Review all subject enrolment records for each relevant student to ensure they accurately reflect actual training activity and update these records accordingly.	National	Subject enrolment

Technical Information

Length	Type	Permitted value
	Numeric	Not applicable