Better documenting statistical business processes: The Euro process metadata structure

1. Work Session on Statistical Metadata 2013 Session III: Metadata in the Statistical Business Process Better documenting statistical business processes: The Euro process metadata structure

2. Introduction Business process integration and modernization of official statistics is of major concern for many statistical organizations around the world. References: Modernization strategy of the HLG or the so-called ESS vision calling for process and product re-design/improvements. Necessary precondition: technical and statistical standards as well as shared IT applications need to be available and ready for implementation in statistical processes.

3. Introduction Another necessary pre-condition: A standard documentation of statistical business processes needs to be made available documenting these processes with sufficient details; Such as standard documentation can also be considered as a metadata structure definition to be used for documenting all the processes by all statistical business process manager.

4. The ESMS and the ESQRS Two standard metadata structures are already in use in the European Statistical System:

5. The ESMS, the ESQRS and the EPMS Beside these two ESS metadata structures we added a third one: the Euro Process Metadata Structure: All three ESS metadata structure are kept fully consistent. The ESMS can be considered as first level structure; the ESQRS and the EPMS provide more details on certain ESMS concepts.

6. The Euro Process Metadata Structure (EPMS) The Euro Process Metadata Structure details in particular the statistical concepts related to data processing, data validation, dissemination and IT applications. The EPMS is only designed for use at Eurostat.

7. The EPMS mapped to the GSBPM EPMS

8. How does the EPMS facilitate business process integration and the use of shared services? Some actions envisaged for Eurostat: • Analyze in detail the data validation done by Eurostat and by Member states and reduce double validations; • Define and develop further shared services for data validation which can be executed by Member states (i.e. Eurostat only receives validated data in accordance to agreed validation rules); • Analyze some additional process steps (such as data aggregation, confidentiality treatment or seasonal adjustment) and define shared services for those process steps (based on statistical standards and shared IT applications); • Analyze the IT applications used at Eurostat and plan their rationalization and integration.

9. Towards an ESS Process Metadata Structure EPMS for the ESS

10. Towards an ESS Process Metadata Structure National Statistical Institutes manage all steps of the GSBPM. Therefore an extended metadata structure for documentation of national statistical business processes is needed. The ESS Process Metadata Structure: • needs to provide more details on the GSBPM step 2: design, step 3: build and step 4: collect as mainly micro-data processing will be concerned; • needs also to document the GSBPM steps 5: process; step 6: analyze and 7: disseminate; • needs to provide more information on those concepts where shared services probably can be used between Member states or between Eurostat and Member states. A preliminary draft of an ESS-PMS structure is shown in the document. More detailed concepts need to be added.

11. Conclusion In order to progress with the business process integration in the ESS and with the definition and provision of shared services in the ESS, Eurostat defined the Euro Process Metadata Structure used for documenting the internal statistical business processes at Eurostat. Some concrete actions were launched for using the EPMS information for process integration. For further process integration with Member states, we also need to define a standard process metadata structure for national statistical business processes.