1. Key components of quality management system and further challenges
Blagica Novkovska,
State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia
European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics
(Vienna, Austria, 2-5 June 2014)

2. C O N T E N T 1. Introduction 2. Quality management framework
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
C O N T E N T
1. Introduction
2. Quality management framework
2.1. Self-assessment based on EFQM
2.2. Peer Review
2.3. Metadata and quality management
- Metadata driven production system
2.4. The Euro-SDMX structure (ESMS)
2.5. Statistical business process model
2.6. Staff satisfaction surveys and customer satisfaction survey
2.7. DESAP – the European Self Assessment Checklist for survey managers
In this presentation I would try to summarize briefly SSO steps for promotion and implementation of the Generic statistical business process model.
To show how the adopted model fits logically within the activities and already established good practices in the office, I’ll give short historical introduction for two IT systems. They were built around the Catalogue of activities as our proxy business process model in the past.
Coming back to present, business process model adaption and the impact on standardization will be shown on two examples:
Documentation of metadata flows
Creation of New catalogue of activities
And finally, an example of mapping between SBPM and European Code of Practice will be presented.
3. Strategic documents and
commitment to quality
4. Future challenges

3. REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
INTRODUCTION
SSO vision - to be recognized as an institution that provides high quality, timely and relevant statistical information by adhering to the 15 principles of the EU CoP
Before adoption of GSBPM at SSO, there were two attempts to describe the statistical production process. From today’s perspective both can be viewed as a proxy for the statistical business process model.
The first, not structured description of activities was Catalogue of activities by statistical task. This document was created for the needs of compilation the Annual Statistical Programme timeframe and is used since 2007.
Next attempt to describe the production process was creation of Catalogue of activities for the activity based time recording. This one was created by implementing bottom up approach, activities were structured and classified, the scope was extended and overhead activities were included.

4. REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
INTRODUCTION
Quality framework based on permanent self-assessment for progress monitoring
Commitment for continuous improvements is monitored through the fulfillment of the indicators associated to certain principles of the CoP
Before adoption of GSBPM at SSO, there were two attempts to describe the statistical production process. From today’s perspective both can be viewed as a proxy for the statistical business process model.
The first, not structured description of activities was Catalogue of activities by statistical task. This document was created for the needs of compilation the Annual Statistical Programme timeframe and is used since 2007.
Next attempt to describe the production process was creation of Catalogue of activities for the activity based time recording. This one was created by implementing bottom up approach, activities were structured and classified, the scope was extended and overhead activities were included. 4

5. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Top-down quality management framework – EFQM
CAF
EU CoP
Peer Review
Bottom-up approach
Survey quality reporting
DESAP
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned

6. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Self-assessments based on EFQM
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Self-assessments based on EFQM
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 6

7. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Peer Review
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Peer Review
The main findings of the peer review team were:
“Quality is considered to be a high priority of the SSO. Key office documents confirm the commitment of the management regarding quality issues….”
“The SSO places great emphasis on the quality of the data produced. Key documents published by the SSO (e.g. the vision of the SSO) confirm the SSO’s commitment to quality….”
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 7

8. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Metadata and quality management
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Metadata and quality management
Basic principle - re-usability of metadata
Building of the metadata system - creation of standardized documents (used in Annual programme):
Catalogue of Tasks
Catalogue of Activities
Metadata Strategy - development of a metadata driven production system
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 8

9. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Metadata driven production system
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Metadata driven production system
Implementation of advanced technologies based on statistical metadata driven approach for statistical information production and dissemination
System for supporting automated data collection (eStat) - realization of the first priority task
First step in process-oriented data production approach
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 9

10. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK The Euro-SDMX structure (ESMS)
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK The Euro-SDMX structure (ESMS)
ESMS structure includes data quality information - once statistics are documented, one can easily build predefined quality reports
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 10

11. QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Statistical business process model
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Statistical business process model
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 11

12. REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Staff satisfactions surveys and customer satisfaction surveys
Staff Satisfaction Survey - Communication with staff and exchange of views on improving different aspects of an organization of work
User Satisfaction Survey – created web questionnaire provided information about the users’ habits in the use of statistics, their opinions on the statistics and on the principles of the EU CoP.
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 12

13. REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK DESAP - the European Self Assessment Checklist for survey managers
DESAP self-assessment questionnaire has been implemented as a pilot project with two selected surveys – HBS and Construction Survey
DESAP translated and adapted to the SSO statistical business process model
DESAP will be implemented on new surveys and on regular surveys with major quality issues
The two systems briefly presented have been developed independently without considering the option of possible integration. Adopted SBPM looked like being the missing loop in the chain which has been recognized by the members of the metadata working group.
This group is established at SSO by the director general and strongly supported for dealing with metadata issues including promotion and adaptation of the SBPM model.
During this process, all the phases and activities classified in the Catalogues of Activities were analyzed and compared with the GSBPM. Based on the results of the analyses and taking into account the particularities and requirements of the Office, SSO SBPM was drafted. First areas for implementation were more than obvious:
Documenting processes and
Creation of new catalogue of activities that will replace both previously mentioned 13

14. Quality Policy - based on several pillars:
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS AND COMMITMENT TO QUALITY Quality strategy and quality policy
Quality Strategy - determine the activities and indicators for creating a quality monitoring and assessing system
Quality Policy - based on several pillars:
EU CoP
User orientation,
Measuring the quality of statistical data and processes,
Strengthening the cooperation with data providers,
Human resource development,
Total Quality Management
Rational use of available resources
This picture shows the user interface of the IT system for management of the Annual Statistical Programme.
On the top are fields for providing supplementary information. On the right some additional metadata are provided and information about the coverage. And finally the central part is the Catalogue of activities by statistical task. The catalogue is not structured, activities are listed in chronological order as the production process is going on. In the process of annual planning for every activity deadline has to be filled. Usually this is done for the new surveys, but also when we find that timeliness should be improved. Depending on the auxiliary information for the survey certain fields will be permitted for data entry or not.

15. REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS AND COMMITMENT TO QUALITY Statistical confidentially - access to micro data
This picture shows the user interface of the IT system for management of the Annual Statistical Programme.
On the top are fields for providing supplementary information. On the right some additional metadata are provided and information about the coverage. And finally the central part is the Catalogue of activities by statistical task. The catalogue is not structured, activities are listed in chronological order as the production process is going on. In the process of annual planning for every activity deadline has to be filled. Usually this is done for the new surveys, but also when we find that timeliness should be improved. Depending on the auxiliary information for the survey certain fields will be permitted for data entry or not.
Managing statistical confidentiality and microdata 15

16. FUTURE CHALLENGES SSO’s Quality Policy – Guidance for:
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
FUTURE CHALLENGES
SSO’s Quality Policy – Guidance for:
Rational use of available resource
Measuring quality of statistical data and processes
Total quality management
It has been relatively short time since we are looking at the model. In the beginning the SSO staff reaction was ”So, what? This is a description of something that we already knew, only done much better than we did in our Catalogues”. During discussions and brainstorming sessions, a new perspective has been opened and it has been recognized that GSBPM is much more than simple description of production steps. For the time being we find it as valuable support for proper planning and evaluation. GSBPM is truly flexible and multipurpose tool but to achieve the full benefit major changes in the statistical information system are necessary. In our daily work we are continuously discovering new ways and fields where it could be used. But from the short implementation experience we have learned that the process from concept development until practical implementation is not an easy one.

17. FUTURE CHALLENGES Main fields of action:
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
FUTURE CHALLENGES
Main fields of action:
Integrated IT system (eStat) put into daily practice
Process change management
Further process standardization based on the SBPM
Benchmarking of comparable statistics
Quality assurance – development of procedures for monitoring quality of processes
Self-assessment tool for the survey managers (DESAP)
It has been relatively short time since we are looking at the model. In the beginning the SSO staff reaction was ”So, what? This is a description of something that we already knew, only done much better than we did in our Catalogues”. During discussions and brainstorming sessions, a new perspective has been opened and it has been recognized that GSBPM is much more than simple description of production steps. For the time being we find it as valuable support for proper planning and evaluation. GSBPM is truly flexible and multipurpose tool but to achieve the full benefit major changes in the statistical information system are necessary. In our daily work we are continuously discovering new ways and fields where it could be used. But from the short implementation experience we have learned that the process from concept development until practical implementation is not an easy one. 17

18. Thank You for Your Attention!
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
Thank You for Your Attention!