1. Dissemination Working Group Luxemburg 15-16 April 2010 User support
Central User Support Team
Norbert Reinert

2. I. Development of user support network
II. Core business – Major Findings
III. Promotional activities of Eurostat and the network
Improvements to the request tool XNet-Assist
Effects of the new statistical regulation
VI. Anonymous test Spring 2010 2

3. User Support Network Status Q1:2010: 19 countries with grant contracts
3 countries via Phare program
3 countries with « Gentlemen’s agreement »
International Organisations + third countries:
intermediate solution
Internalisation of French support 3

4. Major Findings (1) Number of requests 2004/2005: 23 993
2005/2006:
2006/2007:
2007/2008:
2008/2009: 4

5. Major Findings (2) Number of requests Q1/2008: 7 139 Q1/2009: 5 775

6. Increase in Complex Requests (when Eurostat’s Production Units need to be consulted)
2004/2005: /2006: /2007: /2008: 2 195
2008/2009: 2 232
Trend: more detailed questions, because users either cannot find the data or metadata via the website or they are questioning the figures. 6

7. Requests sent to Eurostat directly
Q1/ Assist s phone* Total
Central support
French support**
Eurostat
* Since summer 2008
** Internalised since October 2009 7

8. Promotional activities of the Network (supported by the grants)
Fairs
Events
Web sites
Conferences
Presentations
Commission networks
Dissemination of leaflets/pocket books
Animation – revision under way
Direct contact with users!  8

9. Assist - key improvements
Search function
Tracking of related requests (work-flow)
Improved communication
Export requests to XML format
Text box (no longer limited to 4000
caracters)
Extracting of statistics (Reporting) 9

10. 2009/2010: New statistical legislation since Spring 2009:
Member States and the Commission, within their respective spheres of competence, shall provide the necessary support to ensure equality of access to European Statistics for all users‘
Grants: Oct – Sept. 2010
Contracts: from Oct onwards 10

11. Comparison of websites
Vast majority of the ESS member states websites
present very good references to European data
Some are average and it would be desireable to refer to European statistics and not only to international statistics/organisations
6 NSI only have a simple link to Eurostat‘s homepage
1 NSI’s website only linked to Eurostats Help page (User support page)
1 NSI‘s website link to Eurostat, but very much hidden 11

12. Suggestions Integration of or links to major tables
Links to Eurostat’s homepage
Integration of or links to major tables
Integration of or links to news releases and
publications
Links to support centre(s) 12

13. Anonymous Test: Spring 2010
Objectives of this Anonymous Test
Request
Evaluation
Results
General findings and recommendations 13

14. Objectives of this Anonymous Test
New communication tool: XNet-Assist since
October 2008
The Anonymous test was sent to the national support centres accounts
3 indicators were evaluated:
- Quality of the answer provided
- Quality of the service
- Response time 14

15. Request Dear Sir or Madam,
We have a question regarding imports to the UK from Turkey for the product The figure in supplementary quantity for the year 2000 is very high when compared with other years. Is this correct?
Our second question: we found some codes such as 85SSS813. What does this "SSS" in the code mean? 15

16. Evaluation QUALITY Points Complex question 30
Points
Complex question 30
contacting ESTAT - assign
Transfer to ESTAT -5 10
answer to the user 20
Standard question
explanation + link
Assign to ESTAT -10
Total QUALITY 50
SERVICE
Bonus
Invite the user to come back + promotion 6
Signature
Answer in the name of Eurostat / Telephone number / Working hours / / Disclaimer / Website 5
Total SERVICE
DELAY
First contact with the user in 24 h 2
Answer within 24h minus assigned time
Total DELAY
TOTAL OF ALL 65
TOTAL BONUS 8

17. Results
The total network average is (without bonuses) representing a 61 % of the possible score (39.7 / 65)
Points
Nbr. of Support Centres
Level 12
Good – Very good 5
Sufficient,
but still room for some improvements
Answers should be improved 4
Improvement proposals expected
and to be discussed 17

18. Results (Overview) 18

19. Recommendations (Quality)
Cover all points raised in the request as completely as possible
Consult Eurostat Central support when complex request cannot be answered
Use language of the request to answer the user 19