1. Common Statistical Production Architecture
Thérèse Lalor
Statistical Management and Modernisation Unit
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

2. The Problem Statement

3. The problem statement
Many statistical organizations are facing common challenges
Existing threats to statistical organisations are:
Rigid processes and methods
Inflexible ageing technology environments
 Emerging Threats include:
The need to be able to quickly respond to emerging information needs
Challenges (and opportunities) of increasing use of administrative data and the move to harness alternative sources of data (sensor, satellite etc)

4. Technical solutions built for a very specific purpose:
strong difficulty to share information with other adjacent applications in the statistical cycle
limited ability to handle similar but slightly different processes and tasks.
Accidental architecture
Processes and solutions are not designed from a holistic view.

5. How to face these problems?
Many statistical organizations are modernizing and transforming their organizations using enterprise architecture to underpin their vision and change strategy.
An Enterprise Architecture aims to create an environment which can change and support business goals. It shows what the business needs are, where the organization wants to be, and ensures that the IT strategy aligns with this.
Enterprise architecture helps to remove silos

6. Applying Enterprise Architecture
Disseminate

7. ... but if each statistical organisation works by themselves ...

8. ... we get this ...

9. .. which makes it hard to share and reuse!

10. … but if statistical organisations work together to define a common statistical production architecture ...

11. ... sharing is easier!

12. CSPA desired outcomes Increased:
interoperability in Official Statistics through the sharing of processes and components
ability to find real/genuine collaboration opportunities
ability to make international decisions and investments
sharing of architectural/design knowledge and practices

13. Introduction to CSPA

14. What is CSPA?
CSPA – Common Statistical Production Architecture is a an industry architecture for official statistics
CSPA provides a template architecture for official statistics, describing:
What the official statistical industry wants to achieve
How the industry can achieve this, i.e. principles that guide how statistics are produced
What the industry will have to do, compliance with the CSPA

15. CSPA Scope
Provide guidance for building reliable and high quality services to be shared and reused in a distributed environment (within and across statistical organizations)
Enable international collaboration initiatives for building common infrastructures and services
Foster alignment with existing industry standards such as the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) and the Generic Statistical Information Model (GSIM)

16. CSPA and EA layers
Business Architecture which defines what the industry does and how it is done (statistics in our case),
Information Architecture which describes the information, its flows and uses across the industry, and how that information is managed,
Application Architecture which describes the set of practices used to select, define or design software components and their relationships, and
Technology Architecture which describes the infrastructure technology underlying (supporting) the other architecture perspectives.

17. CSPA Business Architecture
CSPA focuses on statistical production as bounded by GSBPM
Business concerns NOT specific of statistical production are out of CSPA scope
E.g.: Recruiting, retaining and developing staff with relevant skills

18. CSPA Business Architecture
Main Concepts (defined as of GSIM)
Business Function: something an enterprise does, or needs to do, in order to achieve its objectives
Business Process: set of process steps to perform on or more Business Functions to deliver a Statistical Program
Business Service: is the means of accessing a Business Function. It will perform one or more Business Processes. A Statistical Service is a kind of Business Service

19. CSPA Information Architecture
What information does the service need as input?
What information does the service produce that another service need as input?
We need a common language to describe the information objects in the process and services  GSIM and Logical Information Model.

20. CSPA Information Architecture
GSIM object
GSBPM -process

21. CSPA Information Architecture
GLUE

22. CSPA Application Architecture
CSPA is based on an architectural style called Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
Services are self-contained and can be reused by a number of business processes (either within or across statistical organizations)

23. CSPA Application Architecture
Service
NSI

24. CSPA Application Architecture
SOA is an architecture for building business applications as a set of loosely coupled black-box components orchestrated to deliver a well-defined level of service by linking together business processes

25. Traditional Applications:
Everything is integrated
The Cassette Player
The Speakers

26. But, what happens if... We want a double cassette Or a CD player
Or a digital radio..?

27. We have to change the whole thing
again...
…and again…
…and again!

28. With modular applications
Each part is independent

29. Double cassette
Amplifier
Speakers
Speakers
DVD
Speakers

30. Every combination is possible and easy if...

31. The connections are standard

32. CSPA Application Architecture
Standardised input and output
Meet generic nonfunctional requirements
Can be easily used and reused in a number of different processes

33. CSPA Application Architecture
Architectural Patterns
Describe a re-usable solution to certain classes of problems.
They explain how, when and why Statistical Services can be used, as well as the impact of using them in that way.
They help a Service Assembler to identify combinations that have been used successfully in the past.
The benefits of using architecture patterns can be described by using the analogy of an expert chess player. To play chess, you must learn the rules and the principles (for example the value of different pieces). However, to improve and become a really good player, you need to learn the patterns used by more experienced players and apply them to your game. In the same way, you can use the principles and non-functional requirements of CSPA, but to get the maximum benefit, Service Assemblers will need to learn the architecture patterns.

34. CSPA Technical Architecture
"Technology Architecture (TA) describes the IT infrastructure required to support the deployment of business services, data services and applications services, including hardware, middleware, networks, platforms, etc."

35. CSPA Technical Architecture
Each statistical organization needs an infrastructural environment in which the generic services can be combined and configured to run as element of statistical processes (this environment is not part of CSPA)
CSPA does not prescribe technology environments of statistical organizations.

36. CSPA Technical Architecture
Platform for Service Communication: 
A communication platform provides the capability for communication between Statistical Services. It enables inter-service communication while allowing Statistical Services to remain autonomous and adds additional capabilities for monitoring and orchestrating the information flow.
Examples of architectural components could be; BPMS, ESB, Workflow Engines, Orchestration Engines, Message Queuing and Routing. 

37. Levels of architecture
Business Architecture
Information Architecture
Application Architecture
Technology Architecture

38. Templates Standard templates agreed for:
Service Definition – conceptual level overview of what the service is and what it does – understandable by users
Service Specification – logical level description of service capabilities, inputs and outputs
Service Implementation Description – physical level description of how to implement the service

39. What does CSPA compliant mean?
Clarity of purpose and alignment with sub-process of GSBPM
Technology agnostic (requires little from the environment) – Not dependent on technology or a piece of software or application that receiving NSI will need specialist skills and knowledge.
Not dependent on specific data storage or internal data structures – utilises an information model based on GSIM/LIM
Uses modern communication patterns
Preferred – by value, accepted by reference
Interfaces REST, messaging, SOAP with clearly defined parameters

40. How do I use it?

42. Investor
Reuse Buy/Build

43. Knowledge Base
Investment Catalogue
Capability Catalogue
CSPA Service Catalogue
Technical Repository

44. Investment Catalogue
We need to share investment plans where we are willing to collaborate

45. Investment Intentions
Identify areas for collaboration to reduce cost and improve quality
Identify Shared priorities
Focus on (Business) Capabilities
Part of Modernization philosophy:
Sharing
Collaboration
Based on Models/Frameworks/Common Language

46. Investment Intentions
Key Information gathered:
Name and Description of Investment
Capability to enhance: level 0 & level 2 ESS Business Capabilities model
Type of Activity: Innovative, Transformational, Harvesting or Other
IT Risks: High, Medium or Low
Business Impact: High, Medium or Low
Maturity Level: Plan, Specify Needs, Design and Develop & Implement
23 countries responded
282 capability investment

47. Investments in capabilities

48. https://statswiki.unece.org/display/CSPA/Investment+Database

49. Demand
Capability Catalogue
CSPA Service Catalogue
Supply

50. Market place

51. CSPA Roles

53. Designing a Service GSBPM -process GSIM object

54. Service Definition Name “Name of Service” “Version of Service” GSBPM
Business Goals
Business Function
Outcomes
Restrictions
GSIM Inputs
GSIM Outputs
Service Dependencies

55. Example Name SDMX Registry GSBPM 5.2 Classify & Code Business Goals
 The objective of the SDMX registry/repository is to allow organisations to store and share structures and codelists in known formats such that interested third parties can use these objects to format the corresponding data
Business Function
 Store and share structures and codelists
Outcomes
One or a list of SDMX metadata like DSD, code List, Category Scheme, Category, Provision Agreement, Organisation or Constraint.
Restrictions
 None
GSIM Inputs
 Code List
Statistical Classification
Data Structure
Dimensional Data Structure
Organization
Provision Agreement
GSIM Outputs
Service Dependencies

56. CSPA Roles

57. A gradual transition to CSPA
Phase 0: Before transition

58. Phase 1: Establish new components in local environment
Interface
Platform for Service Communication
Establishing an integration layer
Construct NEW systems using the new architecture

59. Phase 2: Re-engineer old systems
Interface
Platform for Service Communication
Connect old systems to the integration layer

60. Phase 3: Progressively replace old systems
Interface
Platform for Service Communication
Replace old systems with new services as reengineering occurs
Connect more old systems to the integration layer
Old system, and connections are removed or reworked

61. Alternative: Use CSPA services without changing architecture