1. Presentation of Project Joint meeting of the ESS.VIP.BUS ICT Project
and the ESS.VIP IT TF
Luxembourg, 3 March 2014
Daniel Rase / Unit G4

2. The origin of the project (1)
Information Society statistics are collected on the basis of a Framework Regulation
There are two processes implementing the surveys described in the document: Enterprise and Household
Aggregated data is sent by MS for enterprises and micro data is sent for households
The production processes of G4 are good examples of the 'stovepipe' model and of 'mainstream' processes
Data is collected using formatted files (EXCEL,CSV), validation and calculations are made with JAVA applications using Access and Oracle databases

3. The origin of the project (2)
Advantages of this approach:
Solution tailor made and flexible (40% change in variables each year)
JAVA based validation program easy to install in MS
Disadvantages:
Duplication of work in ESTAT units
Solution is not 'corporate'
Production dependent on one IT specialist in the unit (high risk for business continuity)
Solution is not making use of standards (i.e. SDMX for data and metadta transfer)
Discussions between Dir B and Dir G lead us to the conclusion that ICT was a good business case for an ESS VIP project
The ICT statistics production processes are very representative of other mainstream processes in Eurostat. Moreover, the ICT project is covering all the aspects of the value chain from data collection to dissemination, including aggregated data and micro data treatment.
However, the nature of the ICT domain requires a very flexible approach. Every year, almost 40 % of the variables are changing in order to follow the continuous developments in the field. In addition, ICT is one of the few domain for which data is collected and published the same year. It is therefore a very challenging use case.

4. The ESS VIP.BUS project (1)
Project scope
In a narrow sense, the purpose of ICT is to reengineer the production and dissemination processes of ICT statistics
In a broader sense, ICT should generalise the proposed solutions to establish a generic approach to statistical data production and at ESS level
Expected benefits
Industrialisation of the production and dissemination process
Flexibility based on service oriented architecture
Smart use of data and metadata exchange formats
Higher quality
Development of shareable services (validation, …)
Faster and flexible dissemination according to user needs

5. The ESS VIP.BUS project (2)
Original planning
Phase
Duration
Activity
Phase I.1
01/13-02/13
Analysis and documentation of processes.
Phase I.2
03/13-12/13
Methodological study on data models, data transmission and confidentiality issues for aggregate data and micro-data.
Phase I.3
06/13-12/13
Prototype for dissemination of aggregate data (Enterprise survey)
Phase I.4
Drafting of guidelines to generalise the solutions proposed
Phase II.1
01/14-12/14
Building up of a prototype for a new production system of ICT statistics based on aggregated data
Phase III
01/15-12/15
Implementation of the new production process for Enterprise survey in Member States
Phase IV.1
01/15-12/16
Building up of a prototype for a new production system of ICT statistics based on micro-data (Household survey)
Phase IV.2
06/16-12/16
Drafting of guidelines to generalise the solutions proposed for micro-data
Phase IV.3
01/17-12/17
Implementation of the new production process for Household survey in Member States
The original planning proposed a phased approach, each of them adding complexity to the previous one.
Originally, the two first years were dedicated to the reengineering of the ‘Enterprise’ survey production process. In phase III (2015), it was planned to put the new solution for enterprises into production.
After that, it was planned to tackle the modernization of the ‘Household’ process to be put in production in 2017.

6. The ESS VIP.BUS project-Phase I
Two parallel strands in 2013
Prototype for DISSEMINATION of aggregated data from Enterprise survey using the SDMX standard
Methodological study to reflect on data models, data transmission, processing and data confidentiality of aggregate and micro-data

7. Thank you for your attention!
Contact:
Unit G4, Eurostat