Statistical Office of the European Communities Norbert Reinert & Francina Navarro ESDS Central Support team DISSEMINATION WORKING GROUP Luxembourg 23/24 November 2006 User Support: ESDS network performance evaluation - Anonymous user test - Autumn 2006.

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 2 ANONYMOUS USER TEST report index:  OBJECTIVES of this “Anonymous User Test”  Eurostat anonymous user: The request  Evaluation  Results  General findings and recommendations

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 3 OBJECTIVES of this “Anonymous User Test”  to find out how the National Users Support Centres react when: 1.are faced to a query which might lead to a chargeable service. 2.a request comes from an EU country where no national support centre is available 3.support is requested in English 4.expected response time is one day

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 4 Eurostat anonymous user : USERMs. Seni Bulger USER RESIDENCE Luxembourg LANGUAGEEnglish TYPE OF USERCommercial company/enterprise TYPE OF REQUESTAvailability of data/publication WEBMAIL ADRESS

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 5 The request Good afternoon, We are looking to extend our company in the European market and we are interested in the wholesale of wood, construction material and sanitary equipment. In concrete we would like to obtain the number of enterprises, turnover, production value and employment for all and each of the EU-member countries. We are interested in receiving data from 2000 until now. What would be the cost to obtain this data? Thank you, Seni Bulger Market Analyst Department Luxembourg

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 6 COUNTRY EVALUATION GRID MAXIM SCORES COUNTRY RESULTS NETWORK AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME SUPPORT / SERVICE PROVIDED Eurostat name10 Free of charge 10 Promotion on Eurostat/Disclaimer20 QUALITY Relevance10 Correctness20 Completeness20 Exhaustiveness10 TOTAL

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 7 RESULTS: the total network average is 7.67 representing a % of the possible scores GOOD - VERY GOOD scored more than average Sufficient, but could still be improved Improvement expected proposals to be discussed

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 8 The network results overview in respect to the maximum possible scores

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 9 General findings regarding the objectives of this “Anonymous User Test”:  1. Free of Charge approach: The network behaviour was excellent, only two national support centres did not react in a satisfactory way.  2. Origin request from an EU country without national support centre: The whole network except one replied and treated the request.  3. Support provided in English: Only one national centre answered in its own national language instead of English.

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 10 RECOMMENDATIONS It is proposed to the network – as far as not already done so – to review or reinforce some of the following items:

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 11 RECOMMENDATIONS (1/2) Mention the Free of charge aspect of Eurostat’s dissemination policy. Including the Eurostat Disclaimer in the replies. Clearly state that the reply is given on behalf of Eurostat

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 12 RECOMMENDATIONS (2/2) Standard replies should be completed with more specific and concrete information about the requested subject. ESDS should answer in English when requests from other countries are addressed to them in English or in another language than its own. In order to promote the European statistics, replies could be completed with general or specific information about Eurostat and its products.

DWG – User support : Anonymous user test- Autumn 2006 ESDS Central Support team 13 Thank you for your attention. Do you have questions and / or comments?