1. Audit of the Rail Production Database
Nico Hilbert
13-Jul-07

2. Incorrect, incomplete, incoherent & missing data
Triggers for the Audit
Incorrect, incomplete, incoherent & missing data
Including the statistically meaningful difference between a 0 value and a NULL value (“:” – unavailable or “-” not applicable)
Incomplete, missing & ambiguous validation rules
Incorrect interpretation of & ambiguities in the Guidelines
Erroneous, incomplete & missing validation rules in the IT code
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation

3. Main findings of the audit (1/2)
1) Many countries did (do) not provide all records in case of no “transport” (e.g. type of
transport, type of good, etc.)
2) Incoherence of figures in Tables A7 and A8
in a number of cases TEU values also provided for intermodal transport units other than containers like “Semi-trailers (unaccompanied)”, “Road vehicles (accompanied)” and “Unknown”
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation

4. Main findings of the audit (2/2)
3) In a number of cases the aggregated data was not equal to the sum of the corresponding detailed data
Example:
International=International-outgoing+International-incoming
2 cases:
Total record missing, because not provided Examples: Total international transport or Total transport
Total does not correspond to the sum of the related detailed data
4) Corrected, enhanced and new validation rules needed
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation

5. 2) TEU figures reported for ITUs other than containers
Actions taken (1/3)
1) Missing records
Detection of those not provided by the countries
Insertion in the database with ‘0’ values
Dissemination of the corrections
2) TEU figures reported for ITUs other than containers
Related figures set to null (empty fields) by
Eurostat
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation

6. 3) Missing or incorrect totals
Actions taken (2/3)
3) Missing or incorrect totals
Missing totals were
identified
calculated by Eurostat using the detailed data
included in the database
disseminated
Incorrect totals were
analysed in order to find an explanation for the difference
countries were (will be) contacted if necessary
corrected and included in the database
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation

7. Incorrect, incomplete & missing validation rules
Actions taken (3/3)
4) Validations rules
Incorrect, incomplete & missing validation rules
as well as incorrect, incomplete and missing
validation rules implemented in the IT code were
identified
documented
included or scheduled to be included in the IT code change requests
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation

8. Thank you for your attention
13-Jul-07
Name of the presentation