Flash Conclusions 2019 Standards Working Group – Day 1

Item 1.1 A slight change to the agenda was announced: a short presentation on the 2019 SDMX Global Conference by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office has been introduced in the agenda.

Item 1.2 The Standards WG took note of the follow-up actions taken after the last WG meeting.

Item 1.3 The Standards Working Group welcomed the news regarding training and communication. NSIs moreover suggested: More information about SIMS implementation should be made available to NSIs and ESS-MH administrators A specific training on VTL could be envisaged. Given the current status of implementation, this should target a smaller pool of implementers rather than end users. Webex sessions on specific topics should be organised to keep data providers informed of development. A frequency of 2 per year was proposed.

Item 2.1 – 2.2 – 2.3 The Standards Working Group discussed issues related to validation standards in different break-out groups. The outcomes of the discussions will be shared in the full minutes of the Standards Working Group meeting. Eurostat also announced that a new round of grants on validation has been launched. Information on this new round will be shared via email with all Standards WG members.

2019 SDMX Global Conference The Standards Working Group was informed of the fact that the 2019 SDMX Global Conference will take place in Budapest in September 2019. Standards Working Group members are invited to register and spread the word!

Item 3.1 The Standards Workig Group took note of the progress in the implementation of SIMS and the future implementation plans.

Item 3.2 The Standards Working Group took note of the actions taken to improve the interoperability of metadata systems in Eurostat. The Standards Working Group underlined that more information on the metadataflows (deadlines, whether they are active) and the availability of notifications on the publication / validation of metadata files are key. Eurostat confirmed these are development priorities in the ESS-MH.

Item 3.3 The Standards Working Group took note of the progress towards the publication of the new version of the ESS Handbook for Metadata and Quality Reporting. Eurostat will keep the Standards Working Group updated on the next milestones prior to the official release.

Item 4.1 The Standards Working Group took note of the proposed „light“ SDMX implementation approach, as well as of the highlights for SDMX implementation in the past year.

Item 4.2 The Standards Working Group took note of the main highlights of the work of the SDMX Sponsors and SDMX Secretariat. Standards Working Group members were invited to participate in the public consultation for SDMX 3.0 (by the end of June 2019): https://sdmx.org/?sdmx_news=public-consultation-on-sdmx-3-0

Item 5.1 The Standards WG took note of the ongoing work of HLG-MOS Supporting Standards modernisation group.

Item 5.2 The Standards WG took note of the status of the work of the Expert Group on Standardisation. As immediate measures to improve the communication between the Expert Group and the Standards WG, the following suggestions were made: Share the link to the CROS Portal page of the Expert Group: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cros/content/expert-group-standardisation Disseminate the conclusions of the Expert Group meetings with the Standards Working Group. Eurostat will send an email to Standards WG members to ask for interest to join the Expert Group