Session 1 4 June 2007 Mark Viney ICT Technologies

Introduction  Mark Viney ƒDirector, Technology Application for Economic Statistics Group ƒTechnology Application Branch ƒTechnology Services Division

Population = 21 million Area = 7.7 million sq km Coastline = km Australia

We assist and encourage informed decision making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by leading a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service. Australian Bureau of Statistics

We assist and encourage informed decision making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by providing leading a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australia - Population distribution 90% of Australia's population contained in 2.2% of the continent (mainly east and south-west coasts)

Australia - Summer Temperature

ABS Offices Rainfall Head office in Canberra Offices in each Australian State and Territory

 covers all "subject matters": Economic, Social, Health, Environment, Technology, Agriculture..  3600 staff  9 offices (in each State & Territory capital)  we publish publications each working day  largely professional staff - ƒMaths/Stats ƒEconomists ƒICT ƒAccountants the ABS

Almost everything a statistical agency does can be supported by ICT  Today we will cover:  which technologies fit where in "statistical lifecycle"  Next 2 sessions: other applications of ICT (eg. knowledge management), future technologies, IT management ICT Technologies

Hardware  3400 pc laptop (Microsoft Windows XP SP2)  110 Windows servers (Windows server 2005)  1 Fujitsu mainframe (MSP OSIV)  8 Sun microsystems midrange servers (Solaris unix) ICT Technologies What does the ABS use?

Infrastructure Software  SAS  ORACLE  Lotus Notes (Lotus smartsuite)  Blaise  Supercross ICT Technologies What does the ABS use?

Applications Environment  SAS  ORACLE (PL SQL + Java SP)  Lotus Notes (Lotus script)  C, C++, C#, VB.net, Centura ICT Technologies What does the ABS use?

IT Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure Applications "Business" Infrastructure Layers of Technology

 Servers and OS  PCs and notebooks  Networks - Local Area, Wide Area, Internet  Printers, plotters, scanners, disks, tape drives  Directories (assets, people)  Generic software packages: ƒWord, Spreadsheet, Databases (eg. Access, ORACLE)  Web site IT Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure Applications "Business" Infrastructure IT Infrastructure

 Shared Data capture systems  Meta data management systems  Business Register  Data Warehouses  Publishing systems  Statistical Packages: CSPro, SAS, Blaise, SPSS, FAME, PC-Axis... IT Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure Applications "Business" Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure

 systems common to businesses regardless of business function  Financial Systems  Personnel Systems  can buy "off the shelf" IT Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure Applications "Business" Infrastructure Business Infrastructure

 systems to support specific functions of the organisation  Statistical Applications ƒNational Accounts ƒPopulation Census  Personnel Applications ƒleave ƒtravel ƒpayroll IT Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure Applications "Business" Infrastructure Applications

INPUTTHRUPUTOUTPUT INPUTTHRUPUTOUTPUT INPUTTHRUPUTOUTPUT "Stove Pipe" approach

INPUTTHRUPUTOUTPUT Standardized interface INPUT OUTPUT "Clearing-House" Approach Standardized interface

INPUTTHRUPUTOUTPUT INPUT OUTPUT Meta Data Management Data Warehouses Standards IT Infrastructure Statistical Infrastructure Applications "Business" Infrastructure "Clearing-House" Approach OUTPUT Standardized interface Standardized interface

Design and Tune Acquire Data Process Inputs Transform Inputs into Statistics Analysis and Explanation Assemble and Disseminate Decision Support Statistical "Lifecycle" Manage Quality and Processes Statistical Leadership

 Project Management (MS Project)  Software Development Methodology (eg. Prince) Overall Support

 Form Design (eg. Word, PageMaker)  Mapping (eg. Mapinfo)  Interviewer instructions/ Training  Metadata stores:  standard questions  classifications  data item definitions  processing metadata Design and Tune

 Key Data Entry  OMR, OCR, ICR  Collection Registers  E-form (internet)  Scanning/ Repair  Coding - Automated/ Assisted  caTi - telephone  caPi - personal Acquire Data

 SAS  SPSS  Blaise  SQL database Process Inputs  CSPro  Supercross  MS Access

 SAS, SPSS, Blaise, CSPro, Supercross, Access  Confidentialisation - suppress cells which may disclose details of individuals ƒTau Argus (Netherlands) ƒDAAS (ABS) Transform Inputs into Statistics

 SAS, SPSS  "OLAP" tools (eg. Brio, Discoverer, Pro Clarity, Cognos Powerplay)  Seasonal Adjustment  Graphics & graphs, thematic mapping Analysis and Explanation

 Desktop publishing (Word, Ventura, Pagemaker)  Datasets: spreadsheets, time series datasets, "cubes"  on-line data access services: CANSIM, PC-AXIS, INFOS, Beyond-20/20, SuperWeb, Cognos PowerPlay.. Assemble and Disseminate

 telephone  internet  Decision Support

 select a "standard" set of tools and methodologies and try and stick to them  Develop a plan for your shared "statistical infrastructure"  maintain skills  invest to keep existing systems "up to date" Some suggestions...