8. SDMX: Governance. Understanding Shared Responsibilities 8. SDMX: Governance Understanding Shared Responsibilities and Governance Rules Danny Delcambre Eurostat Unit B5: “Central data and metadata services” SDMX Basics course, 27-29 October 2015

But one single ultimate objective: SIMPLIFY LIFE WHAT IS GOVERNANCE ? A common and shared effort by all SDMX stakeholders to define clear organisational and operational rules and arrangements which everyone should abide by with a view to make the best use possible of the SDMX project in the interest of all (data producers and users). More simply, Guidance: recommendations, best practices; Organisation: rules, administration, control, law, authority etc. But one single ultimate objective: SIMPLIFY LIFE If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment (E. RUTHERFORD)

Why is governance important ? Establish a quality threshold Save time by avoiding uncertainty on what to do Have an agreed, central, unambiguous reference on what is allowed and what are the best practices Fit the needs of the SDMX community Support standardisation Definition of statistics : The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures (E. ESAR)

SDMX GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK Governance bodies Governance principles Governance operational rules Living object; new needs may arise that will necessitate adaptations of the governance Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination (V. SCULLY)

GOVERNANCE BODIES SDMX governance bodies Project governance bodies

Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable (M. TWAIN) SDMX GOVERNANCE BODIES Overall strategy and ultimate decision-making body (Eurostat representative: E. BALDACCI) Support to the SDMX Sponsors Committee and decision-making body for the SDMX Working Groups. Responsible for the implementation, monitoring and functioning of the governance framework (A. GÖTZFRIED) Statistical Working Group (SWG) : D. DELCAMBRE and D. SURANYI Technical Working Group (TWG) : A. DIEZ SOTO and M. PELLEGRINO They maintain, improve or further develop the SDMX technical and statistical standards. They check the compliance of SDMX artefacts created in SDMX implementation actions. Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable (M. TWAIN)

SDMX PROJECTS GOVERNANCE BODIES A Maintenance Agency (MA): Is responsible for administrating and maintaining SDMX artefacts, such as in SDMX registries; abides by the standards and governance principles in the SDMX Content-oriented Guidelines (COG); informs and coordinates activities with the SDMX working groups and other stakeholders as necessary; does not make decisions on the artefact(s) content. An Ownership Group (OG): Is the decision-making body on the artefacts content May act as a steering group for the technical group May "own" the SDMX metadata for multiple domains A Technical Group (TG): Is mandated by the OG to make proposals on the content of the SDMX artefacts Made up of SDMX and statistical domain experts Has representatives from all OG agencies Does not make final decisions – proposals passed to the OG

GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES Commitment to actively collaborate Freedom of extension Planning and coordination Standardisation: No duplication of concept principle Stability and pro-activity Freedom of application and scope Re-usability: Use of cross-domain concepts and code lists Accountability: Versioning and change management Transparency Close relationships with users There are two ways of lying. One, not telling truth and the other, making up statistics (J. VAZQUEZ MOTA)

GOVERNANCE OPERATIONAL RULES Maintenance of SDMX artefacts Maintenance schedule Change management Versioning

MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS FOR GLOBAL DSDs General arrangements (Example from National Accounts DSD) Three types of changes are foreseen: structural changes, annual maintenance changes and fast-track maintenance changes: Structural changes would be triggered by changes in methodological guidelines or from a comprehensive review of the content of official data flows. This would involve a full review of the entire set of DSDs, including possible restructuring or replacing of concepts and code lists and will only be done through extensive consultations. Annual maintenance changes could be proposed by anybody, and would serve the purpose of allowing for new data exchange needs by any party. All such change requests are analysed and assessed with due care. In particular, the ownership group will ensure consultation with the respective domain groups that agencies … Fast-track maintenance changes can be proposed by any of the organisations represented in the ownership group. Only changes not breaking backwards compatibility can be issued as fast-track. Fast-track changes follow the same change management process as normal changes but are applied with immediate effect …

I can prove anything by statistics except the truth (M. TWAIN) MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS FOR GLOBAL DSDs Description of objects (artefacts) CL_ADJUSTMENT Adjustment indicator BOP, NA Eurostat SC-CD CL_AREA Reference country or area Counterpart country or area BOP, FDI, NA IMF SC1 CL_COFOG Expenditure (by Function of Government) NA CL_COICOP Expenditure (Household expenditure by purpose) CL_CONF_STATUS Confidentiality Status SDMX CD CL_COPNI Expenditure (Purposes of Non- profit institutions) CL_COPP Expenditure (Classification of Outlays of Producers) CL_CURRENCY Currency of denomination CL_CUST_BREAKDOWN Coding for custom breakdowns I can prove anything by statistics except the truth (M. TWAIN)

There are lies, damned lies and statistics (M. TWAIN) MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS FOR GLOBAL DSDs Change management timeline When Who What Deliverable April Anybody Deadline for change requests Change request with artefact to be changed and data flows affected May - June MA Consolidation of change requests within domain between domains (for shared artefacts) Issue log with change classification and impact on data flows June OG OG Video Conference Evaluation on last year's cycle; discussion on issue logs provided by MAs; approval of joint issue log OG report on last year's cycle Approved issue log for consultation Incorporate change proposals into reporting frameworks Updated draft DSD matrix June - November Consultation with respective constituencies on changes and implementation planning Constituency report Implementation plan December Incorporate constituency comments into reporting frameworks There are lies, damned lies and statistics (M. TWAIN)

MORE INFORMATION "Governance of Commonly Used SDMX Metadata Artefacts" http://sdmx.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Governance_of_commonly_used_SDMX_metadata_artefacts_v1.2.doc Other guidelines (e.g. versioning) https://sdmx.org/?page_id=4345 In ancient times they had no statistics so they had to fall back on lies (S. LEACOCK)

Statistics are no substitute for judgement" (H. CLAY) KEY messages: Governance is essential; Quality tool, not a constraint nor a burden; Worthwile spending the necessary time to define governance; Makes processes faster (better cost efficiency) Statistics are no substitute for judgement" (H. CLAY)