1. Wolfgang Koller, Frederick Rennert
Moving
EDR in Business Surveys: Statistic Austria’s experience in the Short Term Production Survey
i n f o r m a t i o n
Wolfgang Koller, Frederick Rennert
May 2005
© STATISTIK AUSTRIA
May 2004

2. Austria‘s leading information service provider
850 employees
50 Mio. € budget
total quality mgmt
data protection
objective
impartial
300 surveys
420 publications
1.000 billion data cells in ISIS (data warehouse)
May 2004

3. The Short Term Survey „Production“…
basis for observing the economic cycle
since 1996 based on concentrated sample
questionnaires sent out monthly
10 different variants of questionnaires
single-unit enterprise  6 pages, ~90 questions
multi-unit enterprise  3 pages for enterprise,  6 pages per establishment
25 pages of explanation
Classifications: NACE, PRODCOM
May 2004

4. The Short Term Survey „Production“
typical questionnaire: single-unit enterprise
multi-unit enterprise
… with 2 to n …
establishment questionnaires
May 2004

5. One technology alone will not suffice . . .
and/or
and/or
and/or
Nnnn
#####
+++
May 2004

6. Software development and maintenance . . .
. . . is expensive
. . . takes up more time than the traditional production process for paper questionnaires
May 2004

7. The Concept
“Expensive software experts should only be used where they are really needed”
SVY 1
SVY 2
to the XML production line
From hand-crafted questionnaires . . .
May 2004

8. Phases of data collection
Further processing
Survey preparation, -definition
e.g.
Survey, Version
Periodicity,
Observation unit types
Questionnaire:
content,
representation,
layout,
control flow,
validation
ST.AT
Incoming inspection
Resp. specific information
Resp.-structure
Initialisation data
Complete questionnaire
Respondent
May 2004

9. The WindowsTM Solution: e‑Quest
follow-up processing systems
Metadata Manager
e-Quest
Receive DB
Package Storage
CSI
Receive
e-Quest
Distributor
Hoover
Package Mgr
Questionnaire Manager
[mainframe]
Respondent-
specific
(meta)data
(XML)
structural
metadata
(XML)
Deploy
Response
package
(XML)
export
(XML)
CD-ROM
Questionnaire Manager
e-Quest
import
(XML)
Respondent
May 2004

10. Survey using e‑Quest/Web
[mainframe]
ST.AT
follow-up processing systems
e-Quest Metadata Manager
Respondent-
specific
(meta)data
(XML)
e-Quest
Receive Subsystem
Browser
optional
structural
metadata
(XML)
RDBMS
Metadata
e-Quest / Web
Data
Intranet
Generator
(WSA)
SQL
Respondent
Browser
Presentation
Business Logic
SOAP
HTML, JSP JavaScript, Java Web-Services
Internet
Web- and J2EE-Servers
May 2004

11. Benefits for the Respondents
No protracted searches in voluminous production code lists and other classifications, but quick retrieval of the correct code instead, aided by display of the codes in hierarchies, full text and synonym search, and automatic insertion of codes, texts and units of measure in the questionnaire.
An extensive multi-layered help system offers context-sensitive help only when and where it is needed.
Automatic input checks mark incorrect or implausible data with warnings and/or error texts.
Automatic calculations (sums, comparisons, etc.)
Questions can be displayed or hidden dynamically, depending on their relevance to the specific case.
Form completion can be interrupted at any time and the data saved for completion at a later time or date.
Third-party respondents have access to their clients’ forms and functions for managing them.
May 2004

12. Respondent-side Editing
Single field checks
Urgency:
check immediately after the data value was entered
check when the user says so
check when the whole questionnaire is being validated
Importance:
must be corrected in all cases
important warning which may however in some cases be ignored
simple warning
comment for the subject matter expert
Inter-field validation
Inter-questionnaire validation
Abstain from checks wherever feasible!
May 2004

13. don’t base applications on the use of cookies
Security Aspects
Avoid risks
expose the data to a hostile environment for as short a time as possible
Provide confidence in the questionnaire system
security audit
Take the respondent’s security concerns seriously
don’t base applications on the use of cookies
don’t construct applications that do not work without enabling Javascript
Gain trust
respect respondent’s privacy
May 2004

14. Short Term Survey (until 2000)
Statistics Austria
Respondent
data entry
load DB
file away
file away again
find questionnaire, make notes, correct on paper
data checking
register quest.
data editing
Error list
Host Database
Host terminal
further processing
correct data
Alongside the e-Quest development, a project goal was to effect an increase in productivity and to speed up survey processing.
May 2004

15. The Short Term Survey Today
Respondent
Pot Mgr.
Data Editing
Mainframe processing (validation)
HOST Database
PC-Corr Application
e-Quest/Web Intranet
e-Quest
e-Quest/Web Internet
LAN
Data-Editing
72%
20% 8%
May 2004

16. Reporting Stream Analysis - Short Term Survey „Production“
May 2004

17. Reporting Stream Analysis
May 2004

18. Reporting Media in Short Term Survey 02/2005
May 2004

19. Wir bewegen I n f o r m a t i o n e n
Moving
i n f o r m a t i o n
May 2004