ESS.VIP VALIDATION An ESS.VIP project for mutual benefits Agenda point 3.3 Meeting of the Working Group on Rail Transport Statistics 6-7 November 2013

ESS.VIP VALIDATION VIP VALIDATION – First Phase VIP VALIDATION – Deliverables in First Phase ESS.VIP VALIDATON – Structure of the project Next steps

ESS VIP-V First Phase Overall goal: To develop validation solutions to be used by different production chains (horizontal integration), within the ESS (vertical integration) Bottom-up approach: Extensive consultation of all possible stakeholders Participative management Business driven approach From pilots experience to general principles

ESS VIP-V First Phase: Scope objectives and outputs Documentation / Standardisation: template and guidelines for process description template and guidelines for a standard documentation of the validation process Methodological analysis of Data Validation Typology of validation rules Standard definition of validation levels Standard formalised “syntax” (understandable by business users) to express validation rules Distribution of responsibilities in the production chain Guidelines to be used for the attribution of responsibility in the whole production chain (MSs and Eurostat) by the WG. Guidelines based on efficiency principles (Validation  Corrections: “the sooner, the better”) Preparing for IS/IT solutions and architecture

ESS VIP-V First Phase: Scope objectives and outputs Towards IT/IS solutions and architecture: Users’ requirements to develop a new software to allow business users to input validation rules and the corresponding error messages in a shared Central Repository of Validation Rules. The new software should be able to generate the rules in the Validation syntax developed by the project. b) Validation Architecture defining the elements and their relationships in an integrated validation system ("common platform") to be used by: Internal users, in an appropriate IS architecture to facilitate horizontal integration of IT/IS systems All stakeholders in the production chain

Contribution to the VISION More efficient production chain with clear attribution of responsibilities Standard definitions, guidelines and validation syntax Development of a common validation procedure Common solutions to be shared within the ESS

Templates & Guidelines ESS.VIP Validation First Phase - Deliverables Documentation Examples Methodology 1.1 Inventory of documents 1.2 Analysis of inventory 1.5 Inventory of validation rules 1.6 Inventory of error messages 1.3 Validation & statistical processes 2.4 Analysis of validation typologies 3.1 Validation rules by typology 3.3 Error messages 1.4 Validation typologies 2.4 Analysis of validation typologies 2.5 Levels of validation Solutions Templates & Guidelines 3.2 Validation syntax 4.1 Functional specifications for GUI 2.1 Documentation of validation process 2.2 Documentation of statistical process 3.3 Error messages 3.4 Selection of validation rules 3.5 Improvement actions 3.6 Attribution of responsibilities

Data Deliverables: Validation levels Validation complexity Same file Within an organisation Within a domain From the same source Same dataset Same file Level 0: Format & file structure Level 1: Cells, records, file Between files Level 2: Revisions and Time series Between datasets Level 2: Between correlated datasets From different sources Level 3: Mirror checks Between domains Level 4: Consistency checks Between different organisations Level 5: Consistency checks Validation complexity

Deliverables: Typology of validation rules File Structure Filename File type Delimiters Format >1 file checks Referential integrity Code list Cardinality Mirror Time series Revised data integrity Model-based consistency 1 file checks Type Length Presence Allowed character Uniqueness Range 1n file checks Consistency Control Conditional

Validation Controls – Different actors – Different responsibilities Deliverables: Guidelines for the attribution of responsibility of validation activities in the whole production chain Guidelines for the allocation of responsibility, for the implementation of validation rules within the ESS based on an AGREEMENT Eurostat-NSI's with periodic performance revisions from both sides Proposal for a generic business architecture of data validation: Validation Controls – Different actors – Different responsibilities Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Data preparation by the NSI's Transmission of data and validation report Loading data to production database Additional processing & dissemination

Deliverables: Standard template for error/warning messages Standard templates for error/warning messages and for validation report Validation report structure: Body Footer Rules applied Error/warning messages Total failures No. errors No. warnings Header Total records Time stamp Records failed User ID Sum of weights Data checked Maximum admissible error weight (dataset name…) Rate of acceptance Maximum possible amount of error Rate of performance Error/warning message structure: Rule ID Severity Rule type ID Message text Action Failing data

Deliverables: VALS - Validation syntax Standard syntax for validation language To define a meta-language for the domain of statistical data validation to express, document and communicate validation rules Trade-off between Human-understandable and Computer-parseable language Implementation through Graphic User Interface to support business users to input and maintain validation rules and rule-sets Types Examples Type check validate ( type(A1.Rcount)='ΤΕΧΤ') Range & math validate( Table2.C_5 between (Table2.C_5_1 + Table2.C_5_2 + Table2.C_5_3 - tolerance) and (Table2.C_5_1 + Table2.C_5_2 + Table2.C_5_3 + tolerance)) Code list check validate ( match_codelist (A1.Quarter, CL_QRT) ) Range check validate ( H.HB050 between 1 and 12 ) Rules & Metarules validate ( age_range_rule.result = true and country_codes_rule.result = true) …

Phase II: Proposed approach ESS.VIP VALIDATION - Package 1: IMPLEMENTATION Goals Implementation of the methodological developments of VIP-V Phase I in the statistical domains/WGs Maintenance and refinement of standards developed User requirements for further developments Evaluation, monitoring and reporting

Phase II: Proposed approach ESS.VIP VALIDATION - Package 2: MICRO DATA Goals Vertical integration of the micro data validation within the ESS production processes taking into account the results of the first phase of ESS VIP-V Extension of the functional specifications to apply to micro data validation Integrated solutions for micro data validation

Phase II: Proposed approach ESS.VIP VALIDATION - Package 3: SOLUTIONS Goals Adaptation of existing validation tools to the functional specifications issued from ESS VIP-V Phase I Deployment of validation solutions to MSs Distribution of validation rules in agreed language Building-Blocks in an adequate web services architecture Provision of web services validation solutions to be used by Member States before transmission to Eurostat

Phase II: Proposed approach ESS.VIP VALIDATION - Package 4: EXTENSIONS AND GENERAL COORDINATION Goals Overall coordination of the project Coherence of validation approaches within ESS Implementation of the meta-language within ESS Analysis of links with other VIP & ESS VIP projects Good practices identification More sophisticated validation solutions: Longitudinal validation Mirror checks validation ESS wide shared final warehouses

Elements in a validation system: ESS production chain Eurostat Member States Single Entry Point Statistical domain 1 Member States statistical production and validation Statistical domain … Validation Services Web Inteface Statistical domain n Eurostat

Good practices in validation Processes with good validation development Document providing detailed validation process and rules, agreed by and available to Data Providers Regular discussion in the WP and update of the document Easy access to the latest version and to previous versions if relevant Domain managers know which validation rules have been applied; they don’t need to know the details of HOW validation rules are technically implemented A clear Validation summary report is provided to Data Providers; a detailed report is available IT tools manage the feedback to users Limits Coherence between maturity of validation and maturity of process Relative effort for harmonisation can be significant for small processes [/small teams] Validation is dynamic (improvement) and needs resources to evolve

Current actions and next steps Assessment of Eurostat domains in the field of validation Functional specifications for Validation services to be accordingly adapted to the findings of the project Tools development: System to create/maintain a central repository of validation rules Development and/or adaptation of IT Tools (EDIT, eDAMIS) Set of standard documentation for domain managers for harmonisation of communication with data providers Task Force to: Identify best practices in ESS Advice on implementation in the ESS Optimisation of the validation process

Thank you More information on: ESTAT-ESSVIP-VALIDATION@ec.europe.eu