1. Improving Cost Efficiency of Chain Store Reporting in Norway
Bjørn Are Holth (Statistics Norway)

2. Overview of the projects organisation at Stat. Norway
Joint collaboration between:
Statistical producers
Department of Data Collection and Methods
The project is managed by
The Division for Data Collection Methods
Division for Construction and Service Statistics
Division for Price Statistics

3. The situation today:
The Retail Sales Index (run by The Division for Construction and Service Statistics)
Based on data collection where 145 chain offices reports for the stores within their enterprise
We get information from about stores all together
Frequency of data transfer: Monthly
Data collected: turnover, investments, together with info on the specific retail stores
Data collection method: with an attached data file (Excel and other formats)

4. situation today cont…
The Consumer Price Index (run by The Division for Price Statistics)
Based on data collection where ca. 15 Chain Offices reports for a sample of stores within their enterprise
We get information from about 370 stores all together
Frequency of data transfer: Weekly
Data collected: price, quantity and various descriptions of goods together with info on the specific retail store
Data collection method: with the data as attachment (different formats: Excel and others).

5. situation today cont… Two main challenges with today's practice:
Security – with attachments is not a secure method of data transmission
Rather time consuming – around one man-year for the Retail Sales Index
50 per cent of this time is used to change the Excel data format by delivery to the data format required by the statistical production system.
30 per cent is spent on population management (changes in ownership, close-downs, new units, changes in addresses and industry codes etc.)
20 per cent is spent on checking and editing the responses
Time used for handling the Consumer Price Index is still not precisely identified. Work in progress…
Low cost efficiency

6. Cost Efficiency in data collection
Quality
Cost Efficiency =
Cost
Quality = Number and kind of errors detected during editing
Cost = Hours spent to collect, edit and produce the statistics
…. at Statistics Norway AND at the Chain Store Offices

7. How to improve Cost Efficiency?
The reporting system will be moved to “Altinn”
A common portal for enterprises reporting to All National Agencies in Norway, and which offers a secure encryption transmission protocol.
We utilise this transition to a new transmission system to look more closely at the quality and time consumption of the statistics – cost efficiency.

8. What is Altinn?
The goal for the initiators was to create a common web portal for public reporting, but throughout the years since the portal was launched in , it has become so much more. Now, it also provides other electronic services such as the opportunity to receive messages from the public authorities as well as other services.
The most used service in Altinn as of today is the opportunity private citizens have to hand in their tax-return electronically.
In January 2011 there were 29 public agencies, three municipalities and one county municipality present as service providers in Altinn. In more than businesses chose to do their statutory reporting through Altinn, and at that time over 700 different public forms were available in the web portal.
For Statistics Norway, the transition to use Altinn for all, or at least most of our data collection, is very much “work in progress”…

9. Multi-Mode Communication System
Metadata
Management
Editing
A Norwegian illustration of how such a system could be built in practice. Some of the elements of this system is already in place.
(Stove pipe thinking is often pointed at as a main modernisation obstacle. From our experience we will point at two other obstacles)
Joint reporting system for all governmental institutions
Not tailored exclusively for optimal data collection from NSI’s point of view…
BLUE-ETS final Conference, 8 March 2013, Brussels 9

10. Strategies to improve Cost Efficiency
Automating. “End user solution”
An XML-reporting format is made available to the Chain Offices or the producers of administrative business tools
This is a common metadata system that is linked to the Altinn system.
Makes it possible to implement an automatic data capture functionality based on this XML-format into the enterprises systems, and hence data can be extracted automatically into Altinn and transmitted in a common format (XML) to Stat. Norway.
Effect: reduced response burden and time spent on reformatting data.

11. Automatic data capture – “End User System”
Stat. Norway creates a questionnaire and an XSD (XML Schema Definition) in SERES (Semantics Register for Electronic Services).
This solution gives immediate feedback to the enterprises system of any faults in the data.
Because the staff in the enterprise use their own local and familiar computer systems, little instructions is needed before use.
Suppliers of the administrative business systems/tools in the Chain Offices have contact with Altinn and get their support from them.
Altinn
Chain store 1
Data reception SSB
Chain store n
Production system SSB

12. 12

13. 13

14. Strategies cont… “Outsourcing” of edits and population management
Implement error checks and additional questions particularly regarding changes in the number and kind of stores reported for.
This is done by introducing a simple web questionnaire together with the file attachment: “Mixed mode design”.
Computerize in-house activities
Look for such solutions which can reduce manual editing and adjustments

15. Temporary solutions
Our overall goal is to get all Chain Stores to use a fully automated submission using a XML-format, together with error checks in a attached web questionnaire. But that can/will take time…
In the meantime we have the possibility to establish several other solutions for data collection that gives us a secure alternative to ordinary

16. Alternative 1 - Attachments in Altinn
We will use a standard Altinn web-questionnaire for uploading attachments
All types of binary files can be attached (Excel, Word, picture formats etc.)
This solution gives a secure alternative to using an encrypted (sftp) line, but gives no functionality beyond that.
Altinn
Chain store 1
Data reception SSB
Chain store n
Production system SSB 16

17. Example – Altinn w. attachment17

18. Altinn attachment cont.
The size of the attachment will be expanded to 200 Mb 18

19. Alternative 2 – SFTP directly to Stat. Norway
SFTP solution directly between every of the 145 Chain Offices and SSB
No possibility for checks before the data is loaded into Stat. Norway's production system.
Data reception SSB
Chain store 1
Chain store n
Production system SSB

20. Status today:
Conducted meetings and made agreements with the two largest Chain Stores in Norway:
Rema 1000 (a cut of about 20% of the grocery stores)
Norgesgruppen (ca 38% of the stores)
Both have been very positive to our initiative and very co-operative
Rema 1000 would like to go for a fully automated solution right away!
Norgesgruppen are going to check out if they are able to apply an “end user solution” at this stage, but will for sure be able to participate in an automated “attachment solution”
At the moment: we are in a queue for resources to get our questionnaires programmed and established in the Altinn system…
In the meantime we are going forward with the statistical producers on how to optimize cost efficiency in their data production, together with arranging meetings with some of the other bigger Cain Stores and establishing agreements with them to participate in the project.

21. Questions?