Dissemination Working Group Luxemburg 15-16 April 2010 User support Central User Support Team Norbert Reinert

I. Development of user support network II. Core business – Major Findings III. Promotional activities of Eurostat and the network Improvements to the request tool XNet-Assist Effects of the new statistical regulation VI. Anonymous test Spring 2010 2

User Support Network Status Q1:2010: 19 countries with grant contracts 3 countries via Phare program 3 countries with « Gentlemen’s agreement » International Organisations + third countries: intermediate solution Internalisation of French support 3

Major Findings (1) Number of requests 2004/2005: 23 993 2005/2006: 24 320 2006/2007: 24 977 2007/2008: 26 447 2008/2009: 21 550 4

Major Findings (2) Number of requests Q1/2008: 7 139 Q1/2009: 5 775

Increase in Complex Requests (when Eurostat’s Production Units need to be consulted) 2004/2005: 1 478 2005/2006: 1 660 2006/2007: 1 859 2007/2008: 2 195 2008/2009: 2 232 Trend: more detailed questions, because users either cannot find the data or metadata via the website or they are questioning the figures. 6

Requests sent to Eurostat directly Q1/2010 Assist e-mails phone* Total Central support 755 226 208 1189 French support** 260 31 82 373 Eurostat 1015 257 290 1562 * Since summer 2008 ** Internalised since October 2009 7

Promotional activities of the Network (supported by the grants) Fairs Events Web sites Conferences Presentations Commission networks Dissemination of leaflets/pocket books Animation – revision under way Direct contact with users!  8

Assist - key improvements Search function Tracking of related requests (work-flow) Improved communication email Export requests to XML format Text box (no longer limited to 4000 caracters) Extracting of statistics (Reporting) 9

2009/2010: New statistical legislation since Spring 2009: Member States and the Commission, within their respective spheres of competence, shall provide the necessary support to ensure equality of access to European Statistics for all users‘ Grants: Oct. 2009 – Sept. 2010 Contracts: from Oct. 2010 onwards 10

Comparison of websites Vast majority of the ESS member states websites present very good references to European data Some are average and it would be desireable to refer to European statistics and not only to international statistics/organisations 6 NSI only have a simple link to Eurostat‘s homepage 1 NSI’s website only linked to Eurostats Help page (User support page) 1 NSI‘s website link to Eurostat, but very much hidden 11

Suggestions Integration of or links to major tables Links to Eurostat’s homepage Integration of or links to major tables Integration of or links to news releases and publications Links to support centre(s) 12

Anonymous Test: Spring 2010 Objectives of this Anonymous Test Request Evaluation Results General findings and recommendations 13

Objectives of this Anonymous Test New communication tool: XNet-Assist since October 2008 The Anonymous test was sent to the national support centres accounts 3 indicators were evaluated: - Quality of the answer provided - Quality of the service - Response time 14

Request Dear Sir or Madam, We have a question regarding imports to the UK from Turkey for the product 62034950. The figure in supplementary quantity for the year 2000 is very high when compared with other years. Is this correct? Our second question: we found some codes such as 85SSS813. What does this "SSS" in the code mean? 15

Evaluation QUALITY Points Complex question 30   Points Complex question 30 contacting ESTAT - assign Transfer to ESTAT -5 10 answer to the user 20 Standard question explanation + link Assign to ESTAT -10 Total QUALITY 50 SERVICE Bonus Invite the user to come back + promotion 6 Signature Answer in the name of Eurostat / Telephone number / Working hours / E-mail / Disclaimer / Website 5 Total SERVICE DELAY First contact with the user in 24 h 2 Answer within 24h minus assigned time Total DELAY TOTAL OF ALL 65 TOTAL BONUS 8

Results The total network average is (without bonuses) representing a 61 % of the possible score (39.7 / 65) Points Nbr. of Support Centres Level 50 - 65 12 Good – Very good 33 - 49 5 Sufficient, but still room for some improvements 20 - 32 Answers should be improved 0 - 19 4 Improvement proposals expected and to be discussed 17

Results (Overview) 18

Recommendations (Quality) Cover all points raised in the request as completely as possible Consult Eurostat Central support when complex request cannot be answered Use language of the request to answer the user 19