United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Applying the GSBPM to Business Register Management Steven Vale UNECE

Background - Changing roles for NSOs?  Data integration  Quality assurance  More focus on analysis and interpretation  Partnerships for dissemination  Changing staff and cost profiles  Changing organisational culture

Opportunities and threats for statistical business registers  Reduced role of surveys and sampling frames  Greater use of external and mixed data sources  BR becomes “gateway” for business data  More satellite registers?  More sophisticated matching techniques needed  More integration between statistical registers  Register or business statistics database?  Source of new statistics

Mapping business register processes to GSBPM  New Eurostat project: Build up the capacity for using GSBPM and GSIM to document the national statistical business register processes Describe national statistical business register processes by using GSBPM and GSIM Grants available

Does GSBPM apply to BRs?  Business register maintenance is a continuous activity, not a single process  But BRs have: Inputs “collected” from different sources A sequence of processing and analysis Outputs – statistics and sampling frames  Therefore BR maintenance can be seen as similar to other statistical production

Is this just an academic exercise? No – there are practical benefits: Standardisation of terminology Standard framework for benchmarking Facilitates use of common tools / methods Efficiency savings Tool for managing process quality

Detailed application of GSBPM to statistical business registers

Phases 1-3  Relevant for business register re- engineering, but not for regular management and maintenance  Same principle as for regular surveys Design Specify Needs Build

 Covers the activities necessary to prepare to receive the incoming data Survey data Administrative sources Other data sources  Includes configuring systems and processes 4.2 Set up collection

 Refers to the task of obtaining data, e.g. Receive a tax data file Receive a survey file  It includes managing relationships with data providers 4.3 Run collection

 Refers to the task of loading data to the business register, e.g. Load tax data file Load survey file  It can be an ad-hoc activity, e.g. Manually input data from a company web site 4.4 Finalise collection

 This activity covers automatic and clerical matching between units from different sources, using: Common identification numbers Name / address / other variables 5.1 Integrate data

 The allocation of codes, based on textual descriptions and/or other variables, e.g. Economic activity codes Geographical codes Legal status codes  Can be automatic or manual 5.2 Classify & code

 Checking units, variables and aggregates to identify possible anomalies, errors or missing data  Can happen in different places in the statistical production process 5.3 Review & validate

 The treatment of anomalies, errors and missing data found in 5.3, including: Imputing missing values Correcting errors  Note: the risk of introducing biases should be considered 5.4 Edit & impute

 Includes the derivation of different types of statistical units (profiling)  Also includes the creation of derived variables such as turnover per employee 5.5 Derive new variables & units

 Includes the calculation of population and sub-population totals to support the creation of sampling frames  Also includes the preparation of aggregate data on business demography and other types of statistics directly based on business registers 5.7 Calculate aggregates

 Includes actions to maximise and verify register quality before creating outputs, such as: Survey frames Statistics and analyses 5.8 Finalise data files

 This includes the preparation of “dummy” sampling frames or data outputs  It is usually done to check quality 6.1 Prepare draft outputs

 Includes actions to check the quality of register outputs, such as: Survey frames Statistics and analyses  This can include comparisons with expected values or outputs for previous periods or from other sources 6.2 Validate outputs

 Includes investigation and explanation of any issues found in 6.2  This may require checking source data and/or re-running some previous sub- processes 6.3 Interpret & explain outputs

 Only applies for statistical outputs from business registers that will be published, e.g. business demography data 6.4 Apply disclosure control

 This includes the final approval of register outputs for release, as well as providing any supporting information: Metadata Text explaining unusual values 6.5 Finalise outputs

 Includes loading data into output databases  Only relevant for data outputs 7.1 Update output systems

 Includes creating tables, web, pdf or paper publications, micro-data sets for researchers etc. 7.2 Produce dissemination products

 Provision of data to users / subscribers Survey statisticians Eurostat  Managing access to confidential data 7.3 Manage release of dissemination products

 Answering queries from survey statisticians or external users of data products 7.5 Manage user support

List of functions  Co-operation with sources and data users  Identifying new sources 4.3 Run collection 2.3 Design collection 1.2 Consult & confirm needs 7.5 Manage user support 1.5 Check data availability 8.2 Conduct evaluation

List of functions  Analyzing the quality of incoming data.  Development of data processing rules 5.3 Review & validate 6.2 Validate outputs 2.5 Design processing & analysis

List of functions  Updating the register  Processing the data requests (SQL queries from the register) 4.3 Run collection Process 7.5 Manage user support

List of functions  Process of producing the frame  Maintenance of the frame 6.1 Prepare draft outputs 6.2 Validate outputs 6.3 Interpret & explain outputs 6.5 Finalise outputs

List of functions  Register developments  Profiling activity 8.3 Agree an action plan Specify Needs Design Build 4.3 Run collection 5.1 Integrate data 5.5 Derive new variables & units

List of functions  Data exchange with Eurostat and other users  Dissemination of data 7.2 Produce dissemination products 7.3 Manage release of dissemination products 7.2 Produce dissemination products 7.3 Manage release of dissemination products 4.3 Run collection

List of functions  Quality checks of the register … and all GSBPM sub-processes Evaluate

Conclusion  GSBPM can be applied to statistical business register maintenance  There is clear potential benefits in terms of shared knowledge, methods and tools

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