Transcript Towards a National Quality Assurance Framework: the UN Statistical Commission Initiative CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations Helsinki, Finland, 6-7 May 2010 Mary Jane.

Towards a National Quality
Assurance Framework: the
UN Statistical Commission
Initiative
CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations
Helsinki, Finland, 6-7 May 2010
Mary Jane Holupka, United Nations Statistics Division
Introduction
Structure of the presentation:
– Proposal for the development of a generic
national quality assurance framework template
– Reaction to the proposal
• Feedback on the preliminary version of the Statistics
Canada report sent for comments
• Discussion at the Statistical Commission
– Next steps in advancing the development of a
generic template with guidelines for national
quality assurance frameworks.
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Background
• Last session of the UN StatComm – NQAF
topic put on the agenda
• Draft Statistical Commission report by
Statistics Canada
– reviewed int’l quality practices and drew
on Statistics Canada’s own practical
experiences
– discussed benefits and feasibility of a
“generic internationally agreed national
quality assurance framework”
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Background
cont’d
Comments on the draft report were requested from NSOs and IOs:
received from 23
Background information on quality initiatives: received from 9
Posted on UNSD website on quality assurance
Written feedback was reviewed by Statistics Canada and considered
in the subsequent official Statistical Commission version
Final version of the report posted on the web in all UN languages
(available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/nqaf.aspx or
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/sc2010.htm)
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http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/nqaf.aspx
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Benefits of having an NQAF
The report pointed out the following benefits:
• single place to record quality concepts, policies and
practices
• mechanism to identify and resolve quality problems
while maximizing interaction among staff
• makes the processes by which quality is assured
transparent
• basis for creating and maintaining a quality culture
within the statistical office
• mechanism for exchanging ideas on quality
management with other producers of statistics.
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Basic components of an NQAF
• Quality concepts
• Quality assurance procedures
• Quality assessment procedures
• Quality and performance management
and improvement procedures
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Reactions to the report
Prior to the Statistical Commission
• Agreement that having a national quality
assurance framework was beneficial
• Building connections with other quality frameworks
• Development of a standard terminology
• Sharing of experiences
• Training programs
• User participation
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Feedback on the report
During the Statistical Commission
• Formulation of a quality assurance template
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– Flexibility
– Guidelines
Build on frameworks already developed
User and stakeholder participation
Regional consultation
Training
Sharing of tools and guidance
Expert group
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Next steps
• Formation of an expert group to:
– Define the scope and content of the NQAF template
– Develop the actual template taking existing frameworks into
account; establish a mapping to them
– Develop guidelines on applying the template in a specific
national context and as far as possible, formulate a standard
terminology on quality
– Formulate recommendations for a training and knowledge
transfer strategy
• Electronic exchanges first, physical meeting later
• Transparent process.
UNSD will continue to upgrade the quality website to be a
platform for the exchange of information and experiences.
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.
KIITOS!
(=Thank you!)
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