1. WORKING GROUP ON LIVING CONDITIONS/ ILC
Item 3.2
Modernisation of the EU-SILC Production – Results of Member States survey
WORKING GROUP ON LIVING CONDITIONS/ ILC
7-8 November 2018

2. Modernization of the EU-SILC production Key information
Objectives: 1. To adapt the EU-SILC production to the IESS and domain-specific legislation in the field. 2. To increase the performance, reliability, cost- effectiveness and ease of maintenance of the production workflows and processes. 3. To enhance transparency of the production process. Time line: 2018 – 2022

3. Modernization of the EU-SILC production project Survey Questions
Envisaged start for implementing IESS for EU-SILC (data year)
Current programming environment for the production of national SILC data
Which possible changes are to be expected in which of the coming years?
Suggestions to improve Eurostat's EU-SILC production based on best practice
Interest in involvement and support to the EU-SILC modernisation project

4. Question 1 - Envisaged start for implementing IESS for EU-SILC
AT, BG, DE, ES, FI, IE, IT, LV, SI expressly confirmed to implement the revised legislation in 2021 or alternative year of coming into force of the regulation.
BE, FR, NL, UK reported implementing the revised EU-SILC legislation earlier.
Some countries reported possible problems with timely implementation.

5. Question 2 - Countries' current programming environment for the production of national SILC data
Most respondents (AT, BG, CY, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, IE, IT, LV, NO, SE, SI, UK) reported using at least partly SAS.
A number of countries also use Blaise (NL, SI), SPSS, e.g. for data production/processing (AT, BG, LV), and/or STATA (IT), R (LV, for sampling and weighting), LimeSurvey and Visual Basic.Net as data entry programs (BG) or nationally developed programmes/tools (IT, SE).
MS Access (BG, LV), MySQL (BG) and ORACLE (EL, IT, SI) are reported as databases.

6. Question 2.1 - Which possible changes are to be expected in which of the coming years? (I)
Programming language:
No significant changes in the programming environment for most replying countries.
BG plans to develop a new data entry program on a new platform and software for automating output target variables.
EE intend to move to the R environment.
SE reports on new data storage (SQL) and own application for questionnaire programming.
FR will implement methodological choices for the statistical processing of data (preferable in R).
DE plans to use R for certain steps (e.g. imputation), additionally to SAS.

7. Question 2.1 - Which possible changes are to be expected in which of the coming years? (II)
Other major upcoming changes of production process were reported, e.g. by BE, BG, DE, FR, EL, IE, UK.
BE reports a major SILC revision in 2019, starting to use preliminary tax data for income variables  a revision of the questionnaire and reprogramming.
FR is in the process of reviewing its FR-SILC production chain.
EL will try to introduce new survey collection tools or update the current ones.

8. Question 3 - Suggestions to improve Eurostat's production based on best practice
8 MS suggested improvements for the EU-SILC production, partly of very specific nature.
SE highlighted in particular speedy data delivery and production as a prioritized goal for SILC, implying a high degree of standardization in the production process regarding the core SILC.

9. Question 4 - Interest in involvement and support to the EU-SILC modernisation project
A significant number of MS (AT, FI, SE, NL, UK, NO) showed interest in being closely associated to the project. Other MS promised support when required.
Ad hoc follow-up. Back-to-back meeting in task force/working group or rather video conference when required. Dedicated EU-SILC wiki space for exchange of documents and discussions.

10. Next steps of the EU-SILC modernisation project
January 2019:
Report assessing the pros and cons, risks and opportunities of identified alternatives to adapt and possibly re-design the EU-SILC production chain, namely its architecture, workflows and processes, based on a rigorous needs assessment.
Implementation plan of the preferred option(s), incl. detailed work steps and timeline
February 2019:
Report documenting the identified adaptation needs to the new legislative environment.
Implementation plan of the adaptation of the production chain, incl. work steps and timeline.

11. Thank you for your attention