Workshop of “Best practices exchanges” Luxemburg 14-15 February 2011 User support – Report 2010 Henric ANSELM/Norbert REINERT

European Statistical Data Support First level support via Eurostat website (FAQs etc) Second level support via the user support centres Third level support via “Eurostat User support” – help on standard and complex requests which requires special competence Around 22 000 user requests per year*! *(2009/2010) 2

Major Findings Number of requests 2004/2005: 23 993 2005/2006: 24 320 2006/2007: 24 977 2007/2008: 26 447 2008/2009: 21 550 2009/2010: 22 074 3

Major Findings First year: Many technical and general requests Second year: Switch of user types and requests clearly defined Third year: Increase in complex requests Fourth year: Further increase in complex requests Fifth & sixth year: Big part of requests - received at Support centres and Eurostat - are complex requests General trend over these years: increase in complex requests 4

Increase in Complex Requests (when Eurostat 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 2009/2010: 2 138 Trend: more detailed questions, either because users cannot find the data or metadata via the website or they are questioning the figures. 5

Type of users Q4:2010 6 Support Centres Estat Commercial company/enterprise 37,34% 16,67% Student or Academic 34,50% 10,33% Public administration/Government 8,17% 3,78% Private user 9,91% 2,33% Other 3,88% 4,11% Press and other media 2,89% 0,89% National Statistical Institute NA 56,00% Political parties and political organisations 0,97% 0,00% EU institution/agency 1,17% 4,89% International organisation 1,15% 1,00% 6

Direct contact with users! Promotional activities by the Network (2009/2010 supported by the grants) Fairs Events Web sites Conferences Presentations Mailings Animation project Posters Direct contact with users!  7

Web-based Request Treatment Tool Assist Web-based Request Treatment Tool Transparent workflow Monitoring of requests Module administration Improvements 8

• Technical problem solving • Checking of availability of data or publications • Verification of data • Methodological information etc. 2011: DWG 10-11 November

Assist - recent key improvements Search function Tracking of related requests (work-flow) Improved communication email - in the chosen language Export requests to XML format Attachment function + text box Reporting function 10