Transcript Conference of European Statisticians 2014 High-level Group for the Modernisation of Statistical Production and Services Pádraig Dalton Central Statistics Office Chair of HLG April 10, 2014

Conference of European
Statisticians 2014
High-level Group for the
Modernisation of Statistical
Production and Services
Pádraig Dalton
Central Statistics Office
Chair of HLG
April 10, 2014
High-level Group
• Created by the CES bureau in 2010
• To oversee and coordinate international work relating to
the modernisation of official statistics
• 10 heads of national and international statistical
organizations
• Vision and strategy endorsed by CES in 2011/2012
• Engagement goes way beyond formal membership of HLG
• Over 40 countries involved in HLG activities
What do we do?
 Oversee activities that support modernisation of statistical
organisations
 Stimulate development of global standards and oversee
international collaboration activities
 “Within the official statistics community ... take a
leadership and coordination role”
HLG achievements to 2013
• 2012: Generic Statistical Information Model (GSIM)
• 2013 Paper: What does Big Data mean for official
statistics
• 2013 Projects:
• Common Statistical Production Architecture
• Frameworks and Standards for Statistical Modernisation
Development of a Common
Statistical Production Architecture
Project Outcomes
 Conceptual architecture framework for sharable
components of statistical production
 Tested in practice in a “proof of concept”
 This showed that the CSPA approach works
 It promises increased:
 interoperability
 collaboration opportunities
CSPA Development Project
Project Outcomes
Mappings
Fundamental
Principles
of Official
Statistics
Frameworks and Standards Project
HLG activities in 2014
• Implementing the Common Statistical Production
Architecture
• The use of Big Data for official statistics
• 4 Modernisation committees
• Organisational frameworks and evaluation
• Production and methods
• Products and sources
• Standards
Implementing the CSPA
Components being built
1. Seasonal Adjustment – France,
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Australia, New Zealand
Confidentiality on the fly – Canada, Australia
Error correction – Italy
SVG Generator – OECD
SDMX transform – OECD
Selecting sample from business register –
Netherlands
Editing components – Netherlands
Classification Editor – Norway
 Architecture Working
Group:
Australia, Austria, Canada,
France, Italy, Mexico,
Netherlands, New
Zealand, Turkey, Eurostat
 Catalogue team:
Australia, Canada, Italy,
Hungary, New Zealand,
Romania, Turkey, Eurostat
Big Data
Background
 HLG paper for 2013 CES Plenary Session
“What does Big Data mean for official statistics?”
 CES gave priority to work on:
“facilitating the use of Big Data for official statistics”
 Big Data is a priority project for 2014, involving:
Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Colombia, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland,
Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Eurostat, OECD
Strategic / methodological issues
 April 2014 - key challenges identified:
 The need for a quality framework for Big Data
 Managing privacy and data security
 Developing partnerships with data suppliers, processors
and users
 Developing methodology for Big Data
 Developing the skills needed to use Big Data
 Currently establishing task teams to tackle these issues
 Volunteers welcome!
 Reports / guidelines by the end of 2014
Technical issues
 “Sandbox” will be launched next week
 Testing remote access / processing
 Testing standards, methods, tools
 “Learning by doing”
HLG Activities 2014: Wider involvement
HLG roadmap beyond 2014
• Implementing common standards and
models for the official statistics “industry”
• Promoting collaboration and sharing
• From the design stage, not just the outputs
• Modular systems giving increased flexibility
for new sources / processes / outputs
But what is the HLG really all about?
How can we unite globally to create a new model of collaboration?
Lidia Bratanova, UNECE
There is more reason to work together now than ever before
Gosse van der Veen, formerly CBS, The Netherlands
There is a real opportunity, it’s a challenging opportunity, and its
not obvious that we will succeed
Wayne Smith, Statistics Canada
The biggest challenge is a cultural one, not only between our
institutions but within our own institutions
Brian Pink, formerly Australian Bureau of Statistics
Collaboration is the key word
If I have seen further it is by standing on the
shoulders of giants
Isaac Newton
Collaboration: Easy to say but difficult to do…effectively
 There are a lot of players
 National and international statistical organisations
 There is a real willingness to collaborate
 We need to identify mechanisms to ensure we do it
effectively
 Activities must compliment one another, not duplicate
 Stating the obvious…..but that’s not always a bad thing!
 Awareness is the starting point
 Who should coordinate these initiatives?
Resourcing HLG activities
 HLG projects are mainly resourced through
volunteer experts
 On-going need for coordination and project
management activities, funded by donations
 The UNECE Secretariat has set up a trust fund
 We need $180,000 per year to support the current
level of progress
 How can you help?
Discussion Points
 What are your priorities for future work on
modernisation of statistics?
 How can we collaborate more effectively and
ensure maximum return from the various
initiatives?
 To what extent do HLG activities align with your
respective modernisation programmes?
 How can you get involved and support HLG
activities?