1. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 1 Statistics for a Modern Ireland CSO Data Management System (DMS) - 2007 Update Joe Treacy Director, IT and Corporate Services

2. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 2 Presentation last year - ITDG 2006 –IT Strategy Implementation Plan (ITSIP) –Key features of new Data Management System (DMS) –“Go-live” planned for March 2007 –Quick re-cap: features of the DMS...

3. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 3 Rationale for the DMS –No more “islands” of data and software –More secure data storage and management –Uniform “look and feel” of survey processing systems –Use the Dissemination Database: To generate tables in releases and publications To supply more data on-line –Benefits for staff induction, training and mobility

4. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 4 I C DMSDatabases D A –Four Databases Two micro-data databases –Input (Sybase ASE) –Clean Unit Record (Sybase IQ) - snapshot of Input Two macro-data databases –Aggregation (Sybase IQ) –Dissemination (Sybase IQ) - snapshot of Aggregation DMS - databases

5. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 5 DMS - processing Security

6. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 6 –“Go-live” began on 10 September 2007 –Surveys being transferred to DMS on phased basis –March 2008: old systems will close down - almost 100 surveys will use new system Current situation - October 2007

7. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 7 –After UAT: major Java code review! –Quality improvement exercise - documentation and coding standards –Review completed in Q1/2007 –Delayed “go-live” from March to September 2007 –Revised timetable for maintenance phase of contract Work undertaken in past year (1)

8. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 8 –Production environment purchased and installed - Q1/2007 Unix servers (Veritas clustering) for database tier Sybase and Weblogic production licenses –Online DMS e-learning package completed –In-house refresher training courses ahead of new “go-live” date Work undertaken in past year (2)

9. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 9 –Change, configuration and release management –Ensure IT services meet business needs –Change Advisory Board set up in Q1/2007- chaired by manager from a business area –Service-level agreements –Centralised service desk for IT issues / problems - one point of contact for internal users –New helpdesk software ITIL (IT information library)

10. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 10 –Dissemination database - should be source for all CSO releases and publications –Short-term: re-engineer our processes, to produce releases from the DMS –Long-term: Phase out paper publication, except on demand –On-line delivery of tables and text Releases and publications

11. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 11 –Maintenance being provided by Cognizant (up to five years) –CSO support team - 10 people –Business analyst role - business needs / functional specification –Ongoing improvement of the DMS Ongoing management of DMS

12. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 12 –Business requirements - data collection, processing, dissemination e.g. Census 2011 - online response option –Advances in IT technologies: software and hardware –How we purchase / deploy statistical software –Skills gaps Recruitment, training and retention strategy for specialist IT skills –Insourcing versus Outsourcing IT Strategy 2008-2012

13. IT Directors Group, Luxembourg, October 2007 13 Any questions? End of presentation