1. Proposed administrative data handbook
STESWP 2006
Proposed administrative data handbook
Welcome to the second item under this agenda item, of course as we know this is highly related to the previous item and this needs to be kept in mind.

2. Handbook
The production of a handbook was the second part of the administrative data task force project, as originally defined, and was always envisaged to be small, focusing on good practice.
The web-based framework, the first part, has been generally completed but still needs some work.
In the original project plan the production of a handbook was seen as the next step in the administrative data task force and a logical progression on from the web-based framework. The plan right from the beginning was for any handbook to be small and focus on good practice type issues and where possible use dynamic links.
The first was discussed before so members know where this project is.

3. Web-based framework
A category created in the web-based framework is labelled: Handbooks or general papers –
19 papers in this category
Four handbooks or relevant parts (chapters) from published administrative data handbooks
Large and diverse range of administrative data being used by OECD NSIs and statistical agencies. Some NSI’s very new to administrative data, some are very experienced.
As soon as the administrative data papers started to arrive from members it started to become clear that we were not the first ones to think of producing a handbook. Finland, EuroStat and the ILO have all produced some form of administrative data guidelines or good practices handbook. There are also some very good general papers written on and about administrative data including ground breaking ones from the likes of Brackstone. And some very good recent ones about the implementation of administrative data into specific short-term economic statistics such as Retail Trade.
An issue discussed before but that was really highlighted by the papers received was the huge gap between the experience of statistical agencies when it came to using administrative data, and also the near uniform progression of using administrative data e.g. first in the business frame, then for sampling, then for substitution…

4. Comments Received - General
Around 17 countries gave direct responses to the questions posed, most comments were brief.
11 responses stated that they didn’t see a need for a handbook.
4 responses thought that there is a need for a handbook.
There is really not much to add to these statistics except to say that as usual there were a few undecided.

5. Comments – the “Yay’s”
Of the countries that thought that there was a need for a handbook, two countries could be considered to have new NSI’s, while the other two have established NSI’s.
Germany – “In our view there is an actual need for an additional OECD administrative handbook, if it focuses on short-term statistics.”
Poland – ”It could be very useful to develop this handbook in electronic form, with web-links to papers collected on administrative data.”
But as can be seen from these two comments, there is some reservation about the handbook. I think that the idea of having a paper handbook that is fixed is not something that any country wants.

6. Comments – the “Nay’s”
The vast majority of the comments that didn’t think that a handbook should proceed preferred that resources be devoted to the web-based framework.
USA, BLS – “Rather than devoting resources to updating and expanding one of the general guides/handbooks, an alternative would be to view the framework as a dynamic handbook that is continually updated…”
Norway – “The fact that there are handbooks in the field of use of administrative data, e.g. from Eurostat; Statistics Norway does not support the proposition of developing a new handbook…”
There were two threads of conversation running through these replies:
The idea that we should try and make things dynamic through the power of the internet, this included making the current site more dynamic and handbook like.
The idea that we should focus our resources on the web-based framework, turn this site into a real STESWP feature and ensure updating and news ideas and directions are implemented.

7. Comments – Proposed Handbook
In cases were countries gave a preference in regards to the options presented; there was no real majority.
The only real dominant point to surface from the production of a handbook comments was that nearly all thought that if a handbook is produced then it should be in some sort of electronic form – usually specified as web-links.
This would be a major first task of the task force if the handbook were to be produced, as stated previously there were two new NSIs that thought a handbook could help them even though both admitted that their current legal status was not enough to implement collecting administrative data and there were also resource issues.
This then opens up the question as to who would use the handbook if most members didn’t think it should be produced? Would it be like the EuroStat edition and sit on the site forgotten and not updated?

8. Comments – Question Summary
Search engine – a number of responses commented that better search abilities in the web-based framework would further reduce the need for a handbook.
This could be an issue if it is decided not to produce a handbook and something that the task force will have to investigate.
Unfortunately the OECD search engine is not that optimised, but it is not had to introduced a specialised search engine for just a part of the OECD site, say the web-based framework.

9. Comments – Question Summary
Summarising the responses is tricky as this topic is very dependent on the first topic, the web-based framework, and whether to produce a handbook or not then leads directly into types of handbook.
Most respondents seem to understand that there are limited resources and as such the focus should be on fine tuning the web-based framework.

10. Next Steps A decision needs to made on whether we produce a handbook.
If it is decided to publish a handbook then STESWP needs to decide on format, layout and the intended audience.
If it is decided not to produce a handbook then STESWP needs to state this clearly and devote resources to the web-based framework.
I really think that we need to make a decision at this meeting that can be taken up by the task force and that can be completed by the end of the year.