1 Developing A Quality Assurance Program For The US Census Bureau’s Business Register David. D. Chapman US CENSUS BUREAU 1

What I Want to Talk About  Overview  Business Register Quality Team  Team Projects  Recommendations  Lessons Learned

OVERVIEW  US Census Bureau  Economic Area  Business Register

Business Register Purpose “to served as a comprehensive central source of list frames for the business censuses and surveys”

Secondary Purposes  Central Administrative Record Repository  Central facilit y (data and services)  Data Source for County Business Pattern and Nonemployer Tabulations  Source of Data for Economic Research and Custom Tabulations

Statistical Universes  Employer Identification Number (EIN)  Social Security Number (SSN)  Employer Units  Survey Units

Business Register Quality Team  Purpose  Membership  Oversight  Projects

Team Purpose “… to develop a plan that ensures the continuous quality, reliability, and integrity of all business register processes, information, and products.”

Team Membership  BR Designers/Managers  BR Programmers  BR Users  Quality and Process Improvement Staff

Team Oversight  Team Leader  ADC Research and Methodology  Chief, Economic Planning and Coordination Division  Steering Group  Census Managers

Team Projects  Transition to New Business Register  Administrative Records Processing  How Surveys Use Business Register  Identify Customer Problems  Recommend Changes

13 Transition To New Business Register  Coverage  Compare Data Values  Anecdotal Comments  Critical Variables

Team Projects  Transition to New Business Register  Administrative Records Processing  How Surveys Use Business Register  Identify Customer Problems  Recommend Changes

15 Admin Records Processing Team examined the current system for administrative records processing and recommended changes

16 Admin Records Sub-team Recommendations  Create Centralized Admin Record Tracking System  Systematic Review of Post-Processing Admin Record QA  Increase Focus on Key Business Register Variables  Standardize and Automate QA Reports

Team Projects  Transition to New Business Register  Administrative Records Processing  How Surveys Use Business Register  Identify Customer Problems  Recommend Changes

Current Survey Use of Business Register  What do programs need from BR?  Looked at three(3) Surveys  Business Sample Revision (BSR)  Annual Capital Expenditures (ACES)  Industrial Research and Development (IRDS)

Current Survey Requirements  Each survey documented use  Purpose to identify similarities and differences in use of BR  Great differences in detail, definitions, and terminology  Difficulty in consolidating information

Team Projects  Transition to New Business Register  Administrative Records Processing  How Surveys Use Business Register  Identify Customer Problems  Recommend Changes

Identify Customer Problems  Focus Group versus Questionnaire  Focus Groups with BR Users  Different Surveys – Different Jobs  Focus Group – 12 people – two hours

22 Focus Group Comments Two Types of Comments  Quality  Management

23 Comments on Quality  More Accurate and Timely Contact Information  Add 2002 Economic Census and Current Survey Data to Business Register  Mergers and Acquisition / Company Structure  “BAD” data

24 Comments on Management  Communication  Documentation  Training  Interactive Use of the Business Register  Management

Team Projects  Transition to New Business Register  Administrative Records Processing  How Surveys Use Business Register  Identify Customer Problems  Make Recommendations

26 Determining Final Recommendations  Reviewed Individual Recommendations  Consolidate Recommendations  Added New Recommendations  Created Final List  Ranked Entries on Final List By:  Importance  Difficulty  Final Set of Recommendations

27 Recommendations Short Term (Next 6 Months)  Administrative Records  Administrative Record Repository  “Wrap-Up” Edit  Business Register Quality Checks

28 Recommendations Long Term (Over 6 Months)  Identify a clear list of activities associated with Business Register QA plan  Problem / Issues Log  Annual Meeting with Customers  Periodic Audit of Business Register Processes and QA plan  Monitor Quality of key variables  Monthly Analytical Tables  Identify Current State of Business Register  Determine Trends and emerging problems

29 Lessons Learned

30 Lessons Learned 1.Project was too “BIG”

31 Lessons Learned 2.“You can get a lot done when you don’t care who gets the credit.”

32 Lessons Learned 3.All quality problems are management problems.

33 Lessons Learned 4.Introducing a “Quality” approach is a wearing experience.

34 Lessons Learned 5.Team members should be accountable for their work. The team should be blend of junior staff and enlightened senior staff

35 Lessons Learned 6.Need for both Technical Documentation and Management Documentation

36 Lessons Learned 7.Focus Groups are worth the effort

37 Lessons Learned 8.Similar processes in different programs should be documented with common format and common definitions

38 Questions?