Business and IT Architecture for ESS validation ESTP course Item 03 Luxembourg, 21-22 Nov 2017 Vincent.tronet@ec.europa.eu Eurostat, Unit B1

Business and IT Architecture What is Validation and Where is it? What it does? What is the situation today? What are the Validation principles applied? What will be the situation tomorrow? What are the severity levels in case of failure ? What are the IT building blocks? What are the optional scenarios for implementation?

What is validation? ESS handbook – "Methodology for data validation": "Data Validation is an activity verifying whether or not a combination of values is a member of a set of acceptable combinations." It is not: An activity to check or assess process metadata: validation focuses on data Editing or imputation: these are separate activities which may be performed based on the outcomes of validation The ESS.VIP Validation took as a starting point for its activities the following definition given by the UNECE: Data validation is "an activity aimed at verifying whether the value of a data item comes from the given (finite or infinite) set of acceptable values." Data validation is focused on checking the validity/consistency of data. Checking process or structural metadata is not within the scope of validation, though process or structural metadata may serve as input to validation procedures.

Focus of ESS.VIP Validation NSI ESTAT Validation can take place in several points of the ESS statistical production process

What does the business architecture for validation do? Sets basic principles for validation in the ESS Defines the to-be state Clarifies the roles of Eurostat and Member States in the validation of data sent to Eurostat Clarifies how common validation services could be used by Member States and Eurostat

As-is situation

Validation Principles Validation processes must be designed to be able to correct errors as soon as possible, so that data editing can be performed at the stage where the knowledge is available to do this properly and efficiently. The sooner, the better Trust, but verify Well-documented and appropriately communicated validation rules Well-documented and appropriately communicated validation errors Comply of explain Good enough is the new perfect When exchanging data between organisations, data producers should be trusted to have checked the data before and data consumers should verify the data on the common rules agreed. Validation rules must be clearly and unambiguously defined and documented in order to achieve a common understanding and implementation among the different actors involved The error messages related to the validation rules need to be clearly and unambiguously defined and documented, so that they can be communicated appropriately to ensure a common understanding on the result of the validation process. Validation rules must be satisfied or reasonably well explained. Validation rules should be fit-for-purpose: they should balance data consistency and accuracy requirements with timeliness and feasibility constraints.

To-be situation and Validation Principles Where would you put principle ? The sooner, the better Well documented validation errors Well-documented validation rules Comply or explain Good enough is the new perfect Trust, but verify Well documented validation errors The sooner, the better Well-documented validation rules Comply or explain C A Good enough is the new perfect D B Trust, but verify

Severity levels and acceptance Errors: Wrong values. Data containing errors are not considered acceptable. Warnings: suspicious values. Data with warnings may be accepted after justification. Information: Potentially suspicious values. Do not usually require further justification for acceptance. Minimum standard for compliance: data with no errors must be received before deadline

Validation in the ESS – IT building blocks VRM STRUVAL CONVAL

Scenario 1 Member States receive the common rules and implement them in their own validation systems

Scenario 2 Member States use common ESS services in their process for validation (as shared or replicated services) Shared service Replicated services

Scenario 3 Member States use common ESS processes for validation

Thank you for your attention! Any questions?