1. The 8 th ECO National Focal Points on Economic Research and Statistics ( 21-22 April 2011, Baku, Azerbaijan) Country Report of the I.R. Iran Statistical Centre of Iran http://www.amar.org.ir

2. National Statistical Network Household Economic Statistics Portal Population and Housing Census Establishing Information Security Management System (ISMS)

3. Household Economic Statistics Portal This portal was developed for collection of national household economic statistics for Subsidy Reform Plan by the Statistical Centre of Iran. Data collection was done in several stages. First the households' information was written down in the paper forms. These forms were scanned by ICR machine and the picture information converted into digital one. After revision and modification, the extracted information was transferred to the National Database. NEXT

4. Household Economic Statistics Portal At the next phase, the people themselves completed the related form through national intranet and the internet. This new information, after verification and cross checking, was provided to the Ministry of Welfare for paying subsidies.

5. Population and Housing Census Population and Housing Census has a long history and is carried out just by the Statistical Centre of Iran. This census used to be taken decennially, however, it is now implemented every five years. The census operation includes various professional sections of which two important sections are data collection and data processing. Up to now, the SCI has tried to apply the state -of- the- art technology used in the developed countries while paying attention to the nation's considerations. Till 1986, the data used to be collected in paper form and as key entry. This method changed in 1996 and the data collected in the form of special designed papers, would be transferred by OMR method. Along with the main development in technology, employment of ICR method was put into the plan of the 2006 census and data transfer was done with a 99.5- percent precision. In order to implement the 2011 population and Housing Census, internet –assisted method has been taken into consideration. However, after a two-year pilot execution for testing self-reporting method and ICR method, ICR method has been adopted for the 2011 census because of absence of household cooperation in internet -assisted method. NEXT

6. Population and Housing Census Another point which should be mentioned on data processing section is related to the way of its implementation as decentralized and centralized. It used to be done as decentralized with the supervision of Statistical Centre of Iran till 2006. However, for upcoming census, the data processing is going to be done in two ways: Centralized ( from data capturing to controls and edits phases ) and Decentralized ( coding) in provinces under web-based system. A part of coding is done automatically and the other part is performed as CAC (Computer-Assisted Coding).

7. Establishing Information Security Management System (ISMS) Since statistical information, processes, hardwares, softwares, services and staffs are valuable assets of the Statistical Centre of Iran, the IT centre of the SCI has implemented the Information Security Management System (ISMS) based on ISO27001 for safeguarding of these assets and need for establishing information security according to the decree of the President's office.

8. National Statistical Network In line with establishment of the National Centralized Information and Management System, implementation of the integrated information- operational systems at all operational and geographical levels and their logical linkage to each other through the Network is principle requirements for the nation's Statistics and Planning System NEXT

9. National Statistical Network The statistics produced by government agencies are sometimes of contradictions. In order to remove this contradiction, the statistical information has to be integrated. This integration is done by a centralized statistical database. While examining the accuracy and validity of the produced data from the lowest levels and transferring and processing of the data with precision in all the system levels, the database makes links among other databases. This database meets the statistics needs of the decision-makers and planners. NEXT

10. National Statistical Network In order to prevent any duplication and any contradictions in statistics and also provide timely and updated information and statistics, establishment of such a Network was felt. NEXT

11. National Statistical Network DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS National Statistical Network A network consists of different databases which provide the statistics needed f or government agencies and feeds the nation's statistical database by connecting and accessing the unprocessed and micro data. Nation's Statistical Database It is an integrated and centralized database which is fed from distributed data sources and provides an appropriate ground for data to be stored as an archived, timed-honored, accumulated, non-volatile and subject- oriented collection for responding to analytical questions after verification and validation. Database of government agencies It is an integrated and centralized database which is fed from the data sources of government agencies and affiliated organizations ( as accumulated along with metadata) in given time intervals and provides an appropriate ground for data to be as an archived, timed-honored, accumulated, non-volatile and subject-oriented collection for responding to analytical questions after verification and validation.