IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October Statistics for a Modern Ireland CSO Data Management System (DMS) Update Joe Treacy Director, IT and Corporate Services

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October Presentation last year - ITDG 2006 –IT Strategy Implementation Plan (ITSIP) –Key features of new Data Management System (DMS) –“Go-live” planned for March 2007 –Quick re-cap: features of the DMS...

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October Rationale for the DMS –No more “islands” of data and software –More secure data storage and management –Uniform “look and feel” of survey processing systems –Use the Dissemination Database: To generate tables in releases and publications To supply more data on-line –Benefits for staff induction, training and mobility

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October I C DMSDatabases D A –Four Databases Two micro-data databases –Input (Sybase ASE) –Clean Unit Record (Sybase IQ) - snapshot of Input Two macro-data databases –Aggregation (Sybase IQ) –Dissemination (Sybase IQ) - snapshot of Aggregation DMS - databases

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October DMS - processing Security

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –“Go-live” began on 10 September 2007 –Surveys being transferred to DMS on phased basis –March 2008: old systems will close down - almost 100 surveys will use new system Current situation - October 2007

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –After UAT: major Java code review! –Quality improvement exercise - documentation and coding standards –Review completed in Q1/2007 –Delayed “go-live” from March to September 2007 –Revised timetable for maintenance phase of contract Work undertaken in past year (1)

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –Production environment purchased and installed - Q1/2007 Unix servers (Veritas clustering) for database tier Sybase and Weblogic production licenses –Online DMS e-learning package completed –In-house refresher training courses ahead of new “go-live” date Work undertaken in past year (2)

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –Change, configuration and release management –Ensure IT services meet business needs –Change Advisory Board set up in Q1/2007- chaired by manager from a business area –Service-level agreements –Centralised service desk for IT issues / problems - one point of contact for internal users –New helpdesk software ITIL (IT information library)

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –Dissemination database - should be source for all CSO releases and publications –Short-term: re-engineer our processes, to produce releases from the DMS –Long-term: Phase out paper publication, except on demand –On-line delivery of tables and text Releases and publications

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –Maintenance being provided by Cognizant (up to five years) –CSO support team - 10 people –Business analyst role - business needs / functional specification –Ongoing improvement of the DMS Ongoing management of DMS

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October –Business requirements - data collection, processing, dissemination e.g. Census online response option –Advances in IT technologies: software and hardware –How we purchase / deploy statistical software –Skills gaps Recruitment, training and retention strategy for specialist IT skills –Insourcing versus Outsourcing IT Strategy

IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October Any questions? End of presentation