1. Quality management of methodology and process development for official statistics
Kees Zeelenberg, Winfried Ypma, Peter Struijs; Statistics Netherlands
28 June 2018 3

2. Contents
Why quality management for methodological and process development?
Quality aspects of methodological and process development
Quality management and ISO at Statistics Netherlands
ISO certification of process development and methodology

3. Why quality management and certification?
Production process of official statistics has increasingly become more and more complex
Think of:
Shifts from censuses to surveys to administrative data to big data
Increasingly more complex models
Hard for users to form an opinion about quality of official statistics
Other ways have to be found to convince users of quality e.g:
Communication
Certification:
Especially important for stakeholders and funders
Recommendation of 2015 ESS Peer Review of Statistics Netherlands

4. Why quality management for methodological and process development?
Methodology and process development are among the major factors that contribute to quality of official statistics
Even more hard to explain to users !
Trust must be maintained in other ways:
Independence of units for methodology and process development
External peer reviews
Internal quality checks: e.g. review of reports
Transparency about methods and process designs
E.g. at Statistics Netherlands website:
Handbook of Methodology
Business Architecture
Certification
Most marketing agencies are ISO certified !

5. Quality aspects of methodological and process development
European Statistics Code of Practice
framework for quality management in official statistics
Also framework for methodology and process development:
Principle 7: “Sound methodology underpins quality statistics”
Principle 8: “Appropriate statistical procedures, implemented from data collection to data validation, underpin quality statistics”
Indicator 10.4: “… standardised solutions that increase effectiveness and efficiency”
Indicator 12.2: “Sampling errors and non-sampling errors are measured and systematically documented.”
Indicator 15.6: “Users are kept informed about the methodology of statistical processes …”

6. Quality management and ISO at Statistics Netherlands
Quality management is based on the European Statistics Code of Practice
Following recommendation of the 2015 ESS Peer Review:
ISO-9001 certification program has been started in 2016
expected to run until 2020
ISO because PDCA fits in with existing practices
No serious quality problems
Certification because of
Transparency to users
Stakeholders

7. ISO certification of process development and methodology
Department of Process Development and Methodology:
research in methodology
consultancy in process development (business architecture, process design, Lean Six Sigma) and methodology
participation in statistical development projects
courses in process development and methodology
Quality:
No serious quality problems
Existing practices and activities correspond fairly well to a PDCA cycle
Departmental culture is quality focussed
Purpose of certification:
make quality management more explicit
increase confidence of internal and external clients in the quality of the output of the department

8. Certification procedure
Documenting the work processes and their quality procedures: research, consultancy, participation in projects, education and Lean Six Sigma.
Documenting the context specific for the department, such as relations with internal and external stakeholders.
Determining and documenting the quality objectives and the performance indicators for evaluation of the operation and control of the departmental processes:
Based on relevant aspects of European Statistics Code of Practice as well as on specific departmental goals
Management review: Reviewing the indicators, risks and opportunities; determining actions based on the review results

9. Conclusion For methodology and process development:
Quality management has become much more important
May be based on European Statistics Code of Practice
Certification is relevant for internal and external stakeholders as well as for external funders of projects
Certification is feasible: 1st time: 300 work hours

10. Quality management of methodology and process development for official statistics
Kees Zeelenberg, Winfried Ypma, Peter Struijs; Statistics Netherlands;