S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 1 Frederick Rennert June 2008 © STATISTICS AUSTRIA i n f o r m a t i o n Moving “e-Quest” the next generation

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 2 Overview  e-Quest concepts  e-Quest „classic“ – the well-loved original  eQuest/Web – spreading the word  e-Quest „new“ – plans for the future  e-Quest „new“ – prototype demo

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 3 Survey periodicity communication information observation unit types hierarchies questionnaire types question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey Concepts Collector of Statistical Information CSI Observation Unit (enterprise) Observation Units (establishments) Respondent question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey Questionnaires question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 4 Metadata Survey periodicity communication information observation unit types hierarchies questionnaire types question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey Collector of Statistical Information CSI Observation Unit (enterprise) Observation Units (establishments) Respondent question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey Questionnaires question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey question 1 question 2 question 3 Economic Survey Structural metadata XML Questionnaire definition XML Respondent structure XML Respondent initialisation XML

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 5 Survey preparation & definition e.g. Survey, Version Periodicity, Observation unit types Questionnaire: content, representation, layout, control flow, validation Resp. specific information Resp.-structure Initialisation data Respondent Incoming inspection Further processing Complete questionnaire ST.AT Phases of data collection

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 6 Questionnaire Manager e-Quest The Windows TM Solution: e ‑ Quest CSI CD-ROM structural metadata (XML) Response package (XML) export (XML) import (XML) Deploy Respondent- specific (meta)data (XML) [mainframe] Receive DB Package Storage Respondent Metadata Manager e-Quest follow-up processing systems Receive e-Quest Distributor Hoover Package Mgr Questionnaire Manager

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 7 e-Quest „classic“ facts and statistics  created , with later additions  Microsoft™ Visual Basic 6 code, some C++  about lines of code for e-Quest proper, another lines in related Statistics Austria internal applications  about 1500 installations with 1700 users  used mainly for the larger enterprise surveys (Short Term, Structural Business, Production Input and Cross-Border Services surveys)  between 2% and 15% (Short Term survey) of all reported questionnaires

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 8 e-Quest advantages  rich interactive functionality, high performance  control flow and validation by freely programmable (VB) scripts  full interpretation of questionnaire XML definition, no specific code per questionnaire (except for the scripts embedded in the XML)  many optional functions (local user management, client/server installation, display options, etc.)  satisfied respondents (67% of e-Quest users who have tried both systems want to stay with e-Quest)

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 9 e-Quest drawbacks  Visual Basic 6 is nearing the end of its lifecycle  VB.net is not compatible with VB 6  only one person can give technical support for the full system  e-Quest relies on a relational database (MSDE) – most of the technical problems have to do with DB installation  distribution offline by CD-ROM to every prospective respondent (up to per year): costly and makes updates difficult  e-Quest only runs on Microsoft™ systems (most on Win XP)

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 10 Respondent- specific (meta)data (XML) [mainframe] Respondent Browser follow-up processing systems eQuest/Web Generator HTML, JSP JavaScript, Java Web-Services ST.AT structural metadata (XML) e-Quest Metadata Manager Framework Questionnaire Logic Metadata e-Quest / Web Data RDBMS SQL Intranet Internet Browser e-Quest Receive Subsystem optional Web server The Web Solution: e-Quest/Web

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 11 eQuest/Web facts and statistics  Web-based forms in XHTML  created , continuous further development  Java code, JSP pages  about lines of manual Java code, of generated code  central database (IBM DB2 V8)  about user IDs, of which about are used monthly or yearly, another at least once  used for an increasing number of surveys which conform to the standard questionnaire model; several special cases  between 25% and 75% of all reported enterprise questionnaires, up to 100% in agricultural surveys (with no paper or e-Quest alternative)

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 12 eQuest/Web advantages  can be used on any PC with a Web browser  standard XHTML with no browser-specific code  good performance  central server makes updates (software and data) simple  based directly on the e-Quest XML questionnaire definitions  Web form generator generates database definitions, Java code for standard control flow and single-field validations, and JSP pages  JSP pages are „prettified“ by hand; non-standard control flow and multi-field validations are hand-coded in Java  adheres to Austrian e-government standards, relatively barrier-free Web pages  reported data is processed further by the standard internal e-Quest applications  setting up a one-time Web questionnaire with eQuest/Web often costs less than doing the same with e-Quest „classic“

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 13 XML Receive („Pot“) appl. Respondent eQWeb Data eQWeb Generator Metadata eQWeb Data e-Quest CD Integrated data flows Metadata Manager XML paper form Respondent filled-in form Mainframe DB Design

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 14 eQuest/Web drawbacks  reliance on standard browser functionality implies less interactivity  e-government standard prohibits reliance on Javascript, thus no Ajax etc.  surveys with large numbers of respondents or a short reporting period put strain on Web server and database  Web session timeout bothers many respondents, but  filling in the forms offline is impossible.

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 15 Conclusions  e-Quest is most useful for large periodic surveys and for complicated questionnaires,  but installing it is a hassle, so it is only used for the large enterprise surveys,  and it is nearing the end of its lifecycle.  eQuest/Web is most useful for one-time (or long-period) surveys,  but creating richly interactive questionnaires is difficult.  Also, the „offline“ variant has a certain fan club.  So, how can we combine the best of both worlds?

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 16 Proposal for e-Quest „new“  When creating the „new“ e-Quest, it must –integrate even better with eQuest/Web using the same programming language (Java) using the same generator using the same questionnaire database using the same authorization database using identical XML schemata –be even simpler to use without needing a local database with all unused or little-used functions stripped away –obtain software, metadata and data online only what is needed when it is needed  but must offer comparable questionnaire function and flexibility to e- Quest „classic“ –plus the goodies which eQuest/Web offers (PDF conversion, XML schema- based import/export, etc.)  and the whole system must be migrated step by step, in an organic manner.

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 17 Repository (file or database based) structural metadataClassificationsQuestionnaire data Application framework (RCP) general functions XML- processing Persistency Framework base GUI Base PDF- funct. Classification handling Application coordination, logging, authorization, navigation Questionnaire framework Quest type A Quest type B Common functions for Survey C Quest C1 Quest C2 Quest C3 Communication* … * Software download/update, download of structural metadata, classifications and questionnaires, questionnaire upload (report or import into the open Web questionnaire) e-Quest „new“: Architecture based on eclipse RCP (schematic)

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 18 Repository (file or database based) structural metadataClassificationsQuestionnaire data Application framework (RCP) general functions XML- processing Persistency Framework base GUI Base PDF- funct. Classification handling Application coordination, logging, authorization, navigation Questionnaire framework paradigm 1 Quest type A Common functions for Survey C Quest C1 Quest C2 Quest C3 Communication* * Software download/update, download of structural metadata, classifications and questionnaires, questionnaire upload (report or import into the open Web questionnaire) e-Quest „new“: extensible function through plugins Questionnaire framework paradigm 2 Quest type X Quest type Y …

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 19 e-Quest „new“ - activities  Investigation of technical options  Creation of a prototype on the basis of those findings  Survey of e-Quest „classic“ users –what functions are used –what preferences they have –how they compare e-Quest and eQuest/Web  Tentative project plans – in progress  Preparation of the decision – in progress

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 20 e-Quest „new“ - scenario  Login with eQuest/Web user ID and password –check the central DB for questionnaires for this user –download questionnaires with initial data as XML –download all plugins required for these questionnaires: questionnaire definition XML, help system, classifications (as XML), control and validation software for the questionnaire types  Break online connection  Present questionnaires in tree  When questionnaire is opened, interpret the XML definition and create questionnaire dynamically.  During filling in, control and validate.  Open online connection for user to send the filled in questionnaire as XML to the eQuest/Web database.

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 21 e-Quest „new“ prototype – technical ideas  based on eclipse rcp („rich client platform“)  all software created as plugins  central Maven repository for version and dependency control  several open source tools and packages  questionnaire XML (contents, representation and layout) are interpreted dynamically, just as in e-Quest „classic“  control and validation modules generated by automatically translating the original Visual Basic scripts into Java code  the latter can then be customized by hand if necessary (or while the translator is still incomplete)

S T A T I S T I C S A U S T R I A e-Quest "new" 22 Wir bewegen I n f o r m a t i o n e n Moving i n f o r m a t i o n