1. Giuliano Amerini Unit E6 (Transport)
VIP on Validation
Giuliano Amerini Unit E6 (Transport)
ITDG October 2011
Item 4.1(a)

2. VIP on Validation
Vision = Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council COM(2009) 404 of « on the production method of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade »
Infrastructure
Project 2 2

3. VIP on Validation: some guidelines
To develop validation solutions to be used by different production chains (horizontal integration), in both Member States and Eurostat (vertical integration)
Validation: « the sooner the better »
Policy decisions and guidelines on the roles of different actors in the production chain (attribution of tasks to the level of the production chain where they can be performed in the most efficient way) 3 3

4. Role of the VIP VIPs: from theory to reality:
 Concrete exercise based on « pilot projects »: from the current situation towards a vision compliant status via a step-by-step approach
 « Bottom up » approach in both Eurostat (users on the « driver seat », extensive consultation of stakeholders, …) and the Member States (Working Group: a key stakeholder)
VIPs purpose: to check the feasibility of the « vision »
« I » = implementation 4 4

5. VIP on Validation: some details
Two pilot projects:
- Animal production statistics (presentation of the project to the WG on March 2011) - FSS (WG September 2011)
Four layers (not only IT)
- documentation / standardisation
- methodological analysis
- IS/IT solutions - governance issues
Bottom up: from pilots experience to general principles; a third pilot
Two years: December December 2012 5 5

6. The pilot projects
a) Stock taking The description of the current status, in terms of both process and validation of the collected data
b) Analysis The identification of domain needs (validation)
c) Standardisation The definition and formalisation (documentation) of the process and the validation needs in a way that could be generalised
d) Towards IS/IT solutions The possible formalisation of technical specifications for the evolution of validation building blocks, to be adapted to the different production chains.
The two pilots are different in terms of frequency of data transmission (monthly-annual vs. pluri-annual), classification/volume of data (limited volume of macro-data vs. micro-data). Data providers at national level are not only National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) but also other entities. "Animal production statistics" probably represents a quite standard case in Eurostat while FSS is more a special case to be studied in a specific manner.
The VIP pilots E2/E1 is intended to provide for each of the pilot processes the inventory of validation rules, the process descriptions, a taxonomy of validation rules, a language to express validation rules, a decision on who does what on validation (Eurostat, MSs), the process to be put in place / on the right track, on identification of indicators to monitor performance of the validation checks. Finally, depending on the dates of WGs, it should lead to decision by WGs on validation rules (general overview + prioritisation + attribution of responsibility/ownership). If necessary a decision on attribution of responsibility of validation rules at higher level would be requested.

7. Generalisation
Experience in the pilots will constitute the basis for the third component of the VIP - to develop a general approach that could be possibly extended to other statistical processes in terms of:
1. a common language and terminology, including for example a taxonomy of validation rules,
2. definition of validation levels,
standardised formulation of validation rules
clear error/warning messages,
5. a communication language between business units and IT units, contributing to improve/develop ESS/Eurostat-wide common processes, tools, architectures, etc.
At the same time, the experience in the pilots will constitute the basis for the third component of the VIP: to develop a general approach that could be possibly extended to other statistical processes. The two pilots should help in developing a common language and terminology in the frame work of standardisation efforts, including for example a taxonomy of validation rules, definition of validation levels, rules for clear error/warning messages, a standard for process description, a communication language between operational units and IT Units, contributing to improve/develop Eurostat-wide common processes, tools, architectures, etc.

8. Governance issues
Distribution of responsibilities in the ESS production chain
 Flexible approach based on validation levels;
 To be agreed domain by domain  WG
At the same time, the experience in the pilots will constitute the basis for the third component of the VIP: to develop a general approach that could be possibly extended to other statistical processes. The two pilots should help in developing a common language and terminology in the frame work of standardisation efforts, including for example a taxonomy of validation rules, definition of validation levels, rules for clear error/warning messages, a standard for process description, a communication language between operational units and IT Units, contributing to improve/develop Eurostat-wide common processes, tools, architectures, etc.

9. The organisation
VIP team (decentralisation; network) E6: leaderhsip; coordination; coordination; advise; generalisation E2: pilot on animal production statistics E1: pilot on farm structure survey G2: possible future pilot ? B2: methodology and enterprise architecture B3: IS/IT architecture + IT solutions (EBB) B5: eDAMIS (eVE, eWF) + SDMX implementaiton B6: SDMX conceptual framework
Steering Committee

10. Thank you for listening
 Now item 4.1(b)
At the same time, the experience in the pilots will constitute the basis for the third component of the VIP: to develop a general approach that could be possibly extended to other statistical processes. The two pilots should help in developing a common language and terminology in the frame work of standardisation efforts, including for example a taxonomy of validation rules, definition of validation levels, rules for clear error/warning messages, a standard for process description, a communication language between operational units and IT Units, contributing to improve/develop Eurostat-wide common processes, tools, architectures, etc.