Approach to SIMS implementation

Introduction This presentation will show the principles Eurostat would like to apply in the future when implementing SIMS in new domains. The approach presented aims at preserving the semantic interoperability that SIMS is supposed to enable. The principles will be illustrated via a practical example of a newly implemented domain that has consistently applied them.

Principles

Principles Direct implementation of SIMS: If both ESMS and ESQRS are required for a particular domain, a single SIMS template will be implemented in the ESS-MH. This will guarantee that he principle of "once-for-all-purposes" reporting is respected. SIMS concepts remain pure: No introduction of customisation via HTML templates in standard SIMS concepts. Any customisation must happen at the level of sub-concepts. This guarantees that information compiled at national level for the standard SIMS concepts can be directly reused at European level.

Principles Clear hierarchy of customisation options: When customisation is needed the following hierarchy of options can be considered in descending order of preference: Insertion of additional guidelines, which contextualise and further define the generic SIMS guidelines in a specific domain. Insertion of sub-concepts at the lowest hierarchical level of the SIMS structure. Sub-concepts allow for the clear separation of "standard" information and "domain-specific" information. HTML templates (currently unavoidable for tabular information). As stated before, HTML templates can only be inserted at the levels of domain-specific sub-concepts, and cannot be inserted in standard concepts.

Principles No "grouping" functionality: The grouping functionality in the ESS-MH was introduced to replace the need for HTML templates for tabular data. It has however failed to do that and has introduced issues in terms of interoperability and maintainability. No new implementation of the grouping functionality will be done (but current implementations may need to be supported until a suitable alternative is found).

The Principles in Practice

The ESAW domain Eurostat applied the principles outlined in the previous slides in the ESAW domain (European Safety and Accidents at Work). At the end of 2018, the situation in the ESAW domain was as follows: Eurostat domain managers collected information covering the full set of SIMS concepts via Excel. This was because they did not want Member States to enter twice the same information for ESQRS and ESMS. The information related to the ESMS concepts was manually transferred to the ESS-MH. In addition, Eurostat collected detailed tables with information on the coverage and completeness of the statistics (e.g. coverage by sector).

Solution applied One single template based on SIMS (not ESMS or ESQRS) was created in the ESS-MH, to avoid duplication of information. "Direct implementation of SIMS" principle No customisation whatsoever was added to the standard SIMS concepts. "SIMS concepts remain pure" principle The tables on coverage and completeness were added as HTML tables within sub-concepts added at the lowest level of the SIMS structure. "Clear hierarchy of customisation options" principle "No grouping functionality" principle

Results Before: After: Sample Excel file used by Eurostat to collect SIMS-compliant information from Member States Sample Excel file with additional tabular information After:

Questions Is there any feedback on the principles and approach proposed to increase the interoperability of metadata exchange? What additional steps could be taken to ensure that SIMS is a solid basis for semantic interoperability?