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Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.

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Business Case

<ESS.VIP.BUS.ESBRs>

Date: 25/03/2015 Doc. Version: <3.2>

PM² Template v2.1.2 (Dec. 2013)

<ESS.VIP.BUS.ESBRs> Business Case

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Document Control Information

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Document Title: Business Case

Project Title: <ESS.VIP.BUS.ESBRs>

Document Author: Martina Hahn, Amerigo Liotti

Project Owner: <Helena Figueira (PO)>

Project Manager: <Amerigo Liotti (PM)>

Doc. Version: <3.2>

Sensitivity: <Public, Basic, High>

Date: 25/03/2015

Summary of Changes:

The Document Author is authorized to make the following types of changes to the document

without requiring that the document be re-approved:

• Editorial, formatting, and spelling

• Clarification

To request a change to this document, contact the Document Author or Owner.

Changes to this document are summarized in the following table in reverse chronological order

(latest version first).

Revision Date Created by Short Description of Changes

01 18/02/2015 Martina Hahn Minor modifications

02 25/03/2015 Amerigo Liotti Revision of the Success Criteria and other

minor improvements, following input from

the ESBRs Steering Group


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 PROJECT INITIATION REQUEST INFORMATION ....................................................................................4

2 CONTEXT .............................................................................................................................................4

2.1 Situation Description and Urgency ....................................................................................................4

2.2 Problem statement ............................................................................................................................5

2.2.1 National SBRs ..............................................................................................................................5

2.2.2 The EuroGroups Register (EGR) ..................................................................................................6

2.2.3 Input from previous work ...........................................................................................................7

2.3 Situation Impact ................................................................................................................................7

2.3.1 Impact on Processes and the Organization ................................................................................7

2.3.2 Impact on Stakeholders and Users .............................................................................................7

2.4 Interrelations and Interdependencies ...............................................................................................8

3 EXPECTED OUTCOMES .........................................................................................................................8

4 POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES .....................................................................................................................9

4.1 Alternative A: Do nothing ..................................................................................................................9

4.2 Alternative B: SBRs and EGR upgrading - without coordination .....................................................10

4.3 Alternative C: SBRs and EGR upgrading - with coordination. ..........................................................10

4.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................11

5 SOLUTION DESCRIPTION.................................................................................................................... 11

5.1 Legal Basis ........................................................................................................................................11

5.2 Benefits ............................................................................................................................................11

5.3 Success Criteria ................................................................................................................................12

5.4 Scope ...............................................................................................................................................15

5.5 Solution Impact................................................................................................................................16

5.6 Assumptions ....................................................................................................................................17

5.7 Constraints .......................................................................................................................................17

5.8 Risks .................................................................................................................................................18

5.9 Costs, Effort and Funding Source ....................................................................................................19

5.10 Roadmap..........................................................................................................................................19

6 GOVERNANCE .................................................................................................................................... 19

6.1 Steering Group (SG) .........................................................................................................................19

6.2 Collaborative network (ESSnet and Centre of Excellence) ..............................................................20

6.3 User orientation ..............................................................................................................................20

6.4 IT Task Forces ..................................................................................................................................20

Annexes

Annex 1- ESBRs Governance scheme .......................................................................................................21

Annex 2 - ESBRs action plan .....................................................................................................................22


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1 PROJECT INITIATION REQUEST INFORMATION

2 CONTEXT

2.1 Situation Description and Urgency

The project ESS.VIP.BUS.ESBRs – European System of interoperable statistical Business

Registers started in January 2013 on the basis of the November 2012 ESSC approval of the

“ESBRs ex-ante evaluation report”.

In its initiating and planning phases the main actions were:

• Presentation and discussion of an updated Business Case (version 1.1) to the Working

Group on Business Registers and Statistical Units at its meeting in April 2013, to the

BSDG in written procedure and to the ESSC at its meeting in May 2013.

• Preparatory work for the creation of the ESBRs ESSnet phase 1 (2014-2015) and on

the grants supporting the ESBRs implementation at national level from 2015.

• Decisions on the ESBRs governance structure.

In the same period the project was already in the execution phase concerning the work

inherited from previous projects, making steps towards the implementation of EGR 2.0 and

the finalization of the profiling methodology.

In responding to the Partnership Group’s Task Force “Implementation of the ESS Vision

2020” and the ESSC in its September 2014 meeting, the business case on ESBRs has been

revised (version 2.1) and presented to the ESSC (November 2014) and to the BSDG

(December 2014).

Version 3.1 aligned the business case with the PM2 template while taking into account

comments received from the ESSC and the BSDG.

Version 3.2 takes into account further comments received from ESBRs Steering Group, in

particular concerning a more precise definition of the success criteria.

The ESS.VIP ESBRs contributes to the implementation of the ESS Vision 2020 as follows:

• Dissemination: the ESBRs’ final goal is to improve the quality of existing business

statistics and to enlarge the possibilities for new statistics and indicators,

contributing thus to increasing the relevance and the quality of the disseminated

information.

• Quality improvement: – The general ESBRs approach aims at improved coherence

and quality of the whole European Statistical System (ESS) via the interoperability of

Statistical Business Registers (SBRs), eradicating most of the sources of

inconsistencies which at present degrade the quality of aggregated information.

Having an interoperability framework with its set of agreed rules on management,

Project Title: ESS.VIP.BUS.ESBRs – European System of interoperable statistical Business

Registers

Initiator: ESS VIP Program DG / Unit: Eurostat. G1

Date of Request: NA Target Delivery Date: 31 December 2017

Type of Delivery: ☐In-house ☐Outsourced ☒Mix ☐ Not-known


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timing, maintenance etc. of the SBRs will allow setting-up and monitoring a thorough

ESBRs quality programme.

• Robust and efficient production – Being the backbone of business statistics,

harmonised, coherent, quality-checked and interoperable SBRs making use of shared

statistical services will make the whole system of business statistics more robust and

efficient.

• User needs - ESBRs will improve the capacity to respond to users’ expectations in

terms of quality of business statistics and of the capacity to provide meaningful and

complete globalisation indicators allowing real understanding of international

dynamics and flows.

2.2 Problem statement

ESBRs aims at achieving relevant progress towards the provision of adequate answers to

three main shortcomings that can be identified in the present situation:

a. Inconsistencies in business statistics and different practices as concerns the use and

role of national SBRs;

b. Lack of globalized approach to business statistics in describing cross-border

phenomena and in particular when it comes to delineating the statistical units to be

stored in the SBRs;

c. Inefficiencies in data handling procedures and duplication of work due to a lack of

common approaches, tools, and remote access facilities.

The first achievement expected in the framework of the ESBRs project is the establishment

of a business architecture showing what would be the target situation (“to be state”) in the

mid-term (horizon 2020) concerning a European system of statistical business registers not

affected by such shortcomings.

Based on such business architecture, ESS decisions on what will be feasible to be

implemented by 2017 are planned for the first half of 2016.

2.2.1 National SBRs

National authorities (Statistical Institutes and/or Central Banks) keep and maintain statistical

business registers containing information on the business population to be used in different

statistical domains. Registers are not compiled and used in a standardized way by the

different statistical authorities and in the different statistical domains. Therefore:

• National business registers display shortcomings when it comes to cross-border

phenomena. Data are frequently not available from (own) administrative sources

and cannot be validated by one NSI alone. In addition, registers differ from country

to country in the way statistical units are delineated. This holds in particular for the

statistical unit enterprise for which a consistent ESS-wide approach is needed when

it comes to enterprises organized across borders.

• Register quality management differs from country to country leading to

inconsistencies and lack of comparability. This comprises aspects like coverage,

accuracy, updating frequency and timeliness of business registers.

• The roles of statistical business registers in the statistical production processes vary

between countries as well as between different statistical domains.


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• For each domain in each national authority the information is handled in different

ways to meet specific needs, resulting in different reference populations.

Manipulations include adding or removing units, changing classifications like NACE

code, dealing with take-overs or mergers, etc.

The results are:

• Horizontal inconsistencies between different statistical domains;

• Vertical inconsistencies between European aggregates and Member States’ data;

• Burden on statistical authorities: time consuming procedures for the manipulation of

BR information, for data linking and for validation of results from different domains;

• Obstacles for sharing common developments and tools across the ESS;

• Heterogeneous treatment of the national part of a global enterprise group across

borders;

2.2.2 The EuroGroups Register (EGR)

Integration of the EGR in the statistical production processes can only become successful if

the EGR can deliver trusted quality. Therefore EGR quality (in terms of coverage, accuracy

and timeliness) and usability need further improvements.

To achieve this, a governance structure for the EGR data quality management is necessary.

The governance structure shall assign roles and responsibility to MS by clearly indicating the

rules for the updating procedures and the ownership of data.

Currently the EGR does not function in an interactive manner. Member States transmit their

data in a cumbersome parallel process to Eurostat, which processes it and sends it back to

the Member State it came from as well as to further Member States concerned. This is the

beginning of a new data transmission during which Member States react to the information

they have received. This process is time-consuming and frequently leads to imperfections,

overlaps and conflicting information. As a result, the quality and usability of the EGR is

limited.

The realisation of EGR 2.0 aims at overcoming the process described above and upgrade it

toward a continuously and live register. Its development has been delayed mainly because

of the late provision of artefacts by the IT service provider and of the late implementation of

the secure IT environment for the exchange of confidential data (SICON), necessary,

between else, for one of the most important EGR 2.0's features, i.e. the "identification

service", ensuring the use of common identifiers for units through the ESS. The service was

finally opened to users (NSIs) in September 2014 and the full implementation of the EGR 2.0

is now foreseen by the first half of 2016. Two other on-line applications serving the users’

needs for the consultation and retrieving of the EGR frame (the FATS interface) and for the

validation of EGR data (the Interactive Module) are foreseen and will be deployed for testing

in SICON in future monthsi

In the current situation, waiting for the work at architectural level for the integration of the

processes, it is not possible to systematically incorporate in the EGR the information

collected via profiling. During the profiling process, additional legal units and relationships

can be identified and there is a need to integrate them into the production process of the

EGR in order to achieve substantial quality.

Information in the EGR and in the national SBRs as regard the enterprises being part of

multinational groups shall be consistent in order to fulfil the backbone role of the whole

ESBRs.


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2.2.3 Input from previous work

In the framework of the 2009-2013 ESS MEETS programme, several ESSnets have worked on

concepts and methods of business and trade-related statistics with respect to current

shortcomings and inconsistencies of current European business statistics. Their proposals

are currently discussed in the various fora.

These ESSnets have not only worked on a conceptual level, but have also collected

comprehensive information on the current implementation of these issues in the Member

States. One of the results of the ESSnets’ work was the need to focus on the maintenance

concepts and quality of the business registers and their use as a backbone to business

statistics.

The ESSnets have developed definitions, methods and procedures on how to delineate the

statistical units in case of multinational enterprises groups, complemented by the ESSnet

EGR which focused on the EGR as the instrument to consistent data when the subject of the

business statistics goes beyond the pure national access and competence. The EGR should

thus serve as the linkage between the national business registers.

2.3 Situation Impact

2.3.1 Impact on Processes and the Organization

ESBRs addresses all SBRs (national ones and the EGR) as well as their interaction.

The project will have an impact on the business processes of all SBRs and on their quality

management. Such impact will be variable (from minor to significant), depending on the

present situation of each SBR and the consequent need for upgrade.

The ESS agreements on business architecture and on the interoperability framework

foreseen by the first half of 2016 will aim at achievability and efficiency and should

therefore limit the impact on processes and on organization.

The project also addresses (through profiling) the national teams responsible for the correct

delineation of the enterprise. Thus, it may go beyond SBRs as NSIs increasingly delineate

enterprises in multi-disciplinary teams (involving Business Register experts, business

statisticians and National Accounts). ESBRs will offer an interactive profiling tool and the

support of a Centre of Excellence on profiling1, as well as substantive grants.

The cross cutting projects ESDEN and SERV are supposed to fully support NSIs in order to

upgrade and make interoperable their respective IT systems, making thus possible to share

statistical services. From this point of view it can be considered that ESBRs in itself has no

impact at the level of the IT infrastructure. However some IT developments are likely to be

necessary in order to support the upgrading of the SBRs.

2.3.2 Impact on Stakeholders and Users

Users of the ESBRs can be categorised as follows:

• Primary users – ESS producers of business/economic statistics: SBS, FATS, FDI, NA,

EXTRASTAT, INTRASTAT, etc. using national SBRs and EGR for their frames;

1 i.e. a partnership of Eurostat and ESS members, supporting the implementation of the

ESS.VIP.ESBRs project by making available a high level of knowledge and expertise on Profiling and

by providing a platform and governance structure for ESS wide collaboration concerning profiling

multinational enterprise groups. The Centre of Excellence is expected to continue its activities

after the end of the ESBRs project.


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• Final users – EU and national institutional users (including EU deciders) as well as the

public asking for high quality business/economic statistics, not least in terms of

timeliness and consistency and taking into account globalisation phenomena.

The current situation affects negatively users and stakeholders:

• Primary users. In the current situation SBRs and EGR are not able to provide high

quality, consistent register information as required by the primary users.

• Final users, in particular EU deciders. In the current situation the ESS is not able to

provide adequate answers to the requests from final users, mainly because SBRs are not

able to fulfil their backbone role and they are sources of inconsistencies.

• Potential new users, in particular those concerned with globalisation, global value chain,

etc. do not have access for the moment to the kind of information they would need and

have high expectations from the ESBRs project.

• National statistical authorities face obstacles related to access to trans-border

information which is the most important new element of the whole project, lack of

shared best practices, methodologies, standards and statistical services, lack of quality

etc.

• ESS. Generally, the reputation of the whole ESS will depend on how well it will reply to

the requirements of the ESBRs final users.

2.4 Interrelations and Interdependencies

The current business case is affecting directly the development and maintenance/evolution

of the so-called ESBRs applications: the EuroGroups Register (EGR) and the Interactive

Profiling Tool (IPT). The integration of EGR and Profiling will be further analysed and

implemented.

The EGR comprises four IT applications, out of which one (the EGR Identification Service) is

in production and three others are under development.

The EGR Identification Service is used already by 120 users in 32 countries, coming from

National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), National Central Banks (NCBs), the European Central

Bank (ECB) and Eurostat.

It should be noted that the EGR Identification Service (IS) is expected to become one of the

first shared statistical services, as there is growing interest in the application from other

projects and other statistical domains.

About 600 users from 32 countries are expected to use EGR and IPT, after they are delivered

in production in 2016.

3 EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The main expected outcomes are as follows:

• Upgrade of the national SBRs and of the EGR. The level of upgrade is variable

depending on the initial status of each register. By upgrade it is meant:

- to optimise their potential for data linking.

- to reinforce SBRs and EGR backbone role in particular with regard to

globalization statistics.


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- to develop the organizational and technical pre-requisites to allow the

integration of the information from profiling, collected by MS practicing it, with

the EGR information.

- to align across the ESS selected practices in terms of SBRs methodology.

- to make national SBRs “talk” to each other and with the EGR (increased

interoperability), allowing, between else, the possible sharing of statistical

services, like e.g. data validation, matching of units, automatic standardisation of

identifying information and the compilation of ‘clusters of control’.

• Pilot countries will participate in the testing of the interoperability framework and of

some statistical services in the final phase of the project (2016-2017).

• The EGR will be able to produce ESBRs frame populations serving ESS business

statistics on globalisation with a stable quality according to an agreed timetable.

• The (optional) use of profiling and its analysed and implemented integration with

EGR will allow increased consistency and quality of business statistics both at

national level and at the level of the EU aggregates.

4 POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES

The following alternatives are examined:

A) Do nothing

B) SBRs and EGR upgrading - without coordination

C) SBRs and EGR upgrading – with coordination

4.1 Alternative A: Do nothing

General Description

This option means no upgrading of national SBRS and of EGR, no more development of the

profiling methodology and no integration of the profiling results with EGR.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

a. No direct costs

b. No additional effort requested from Eurostat

and the Member States

c. No need to reach agreements

a. No improvement of the consistency and

quality of business statistics

b. No interoperability

c. No share of statistical services

d. No harmonisation of the methodology

e. No transfer of knowledge between Member

States

f. No improved view of the actual economic

activity through profiling

Opportunities Threats

a. ESS could pursue other interesting projects

with the resources requested by ESBRs

a. Less and less quality of business statistics

b. Less and less satisfaction of the final users

c. Missed opportunity to attract new users

d. Reputation of European statistics would be

seriously damaged


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Qualitative Assessment

This alternative is possible in theory; however in practice it is not feasible. The current

situation in most Member States implies that statistical units are not correctly implemented

in the business register (in particular as regards the enterprise). The situation is no more

acceptable. Member States will be forced to revise their SBRs, as well as Eurostat will be

forced to upgrade EGR, in order to answer to a growing demand from users.

4.2 Alternative B: SBRs and EGR upgrading - without coordination

General Description

Each National Statistical authority would decide about the upgrade of its own SBR (possibly

through business architecture, quality management, etc.) as well as Eurostat would decide

about the upgrading of EGR and its integration with profiling

SWOT Analysis


a. Reduced burden on Eurostat

b. Reduced costs for Eurostat (costs limited to

upgrading of EGR and profiling)

a. Burden on NSIs

b. Lack of consistency

c. Lack of interoperability

d. Lack of a globalised and thus consistent

approach to business statistics

e. Risks in fully achieving the desired outcome


No opportunities identified a. Answer to user needs not fully satisfactory

and different from country to country

b. Impossible to share statistical services (lack

of necessary interoperability)

c. Negative impact on the EGR quality from the

mentioned weaknesses: no improvements in

the information on global enterprise groups

d. Duplication of work (business architecture,

quality management, etc.)

e. Inconsistencies with the ESS Enterprise

Architecture

f. Inconsistent treatment of largest and most

complex enterprise groups will increase data

shortcomings (in particular as regards

comparability and relevance)

g Ineffective investments by NSIs


This alternative would result in low efficiency, with high costs, no improvements in consistency, no

synergies and no satisfactory answers to users’ requirements.

4.3 Alternative C: SBRs and EGR upgrading - with coordination.

General Description

Implementation as described in this business case


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SWOT Analysis


a. Improved consistency of data

b. Interoperability

c. Improved EGR allowing better information

on global enterprise groups

d. Consistency with the ESS Enterprise

Architecture

a. Burden on NSIs and Eurostat

b. Grants provided by Eurostat will need a

leveraged input on the side of MS to result in

long-term success: high costs for MS

c. Higher cost for Eurostat


a. Adequate answer to user needs

b. Efficiency gains, in particular through

synergies, knowledge transfer and the sharing

of statistical services

c. Part of the costs at national level supported

by grants

d. Co-ordinated ESS-wide approach ensures

consistency in terms of handling the most

complex and large enterprise groups which

have the highest impact on data

a. Achieving less than planned

b. MS will not enlarge their resources for the

SBRs in the necessary scale


This alternative implies leveraged input on the side of MS. On the other hand it has much

more strengths and opportunities than the other two solutions.

4.4 Conclusion

The SWOT analysis supports alternative C “SBRs and EGR upgrading - with coordination”.

This is the only solution offering relevant progress towards the provision of adequate

answer to user needs together with efficiency gains.

5 SOLUTION DESCRIPTION

5.1 Legal Basis

Business registers are governed by the EP and Council Regulation 177/2008 to be included

in FRIBS with modifications, which are complementary to this project. For this project no

(additional) legal basis is needed.

5.2 Benefits

The project is expected to address appropriately the negative impact of the current

situation (as described in paragraph 2) producing the outcomes mentioned (as described in

paragraph 3 and Annex 2). This will allow making relevant progress towards:

• Improved consistency of data

• Interoperability

• Improved EGR allowing better information on global enterprise groups

• Consistency with the ESS Enterprise Architecture

• Answers to some user needs

• Efficiency gains, in particular through synergies, knowledge transfer and the sharing

of statistical services


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5.3 Success Criteria

The project shall be considered successful if at the end of 2017 results will be achieved in

three main key areas as described here after.

5.3.1 EGR 2.0 implementation

At the end of 2017 the EGR system has proven to be capable to produce ESBRs frame

populations serving ESS business statistics on globalisation with a stable quality according to

an agreed time table. This proof should be based on an evaluation/confirmation by NSIs

representing at least 50% of the EU economy for the domain of FATS statistics.

This EGR system will consist of a stable, sustainable and transparent organisation of data

quality management processes (including profiling of 300 of the top global enterprise

groups 2

), standardised set of data and flows and stable applications for data processing.

a. EGR system and processes operational and capable to create stable quality according to

an agreed time table with the following capabilities:

i. to produce by reference year:

1. The population of non-financial global enterprise groups with its core

characteristics and with operations in EU/EFTA

2. The legal unit structure of the groups indicated in 1 above, with their legal units

uniquely identified, including the ownership/control relationships between legal

units

3. For EU/EFTA countries: the enterprise structure of the groups of 1 including the

relationships with legal units

4. The countries in which the groups indicated in 1 above operate

5. For 300 of the top global enterprise groups with a GDC in EU/EFTA country: the

global enterprise structure and the countries in which these global enterprises

operate

Concerning points 1 to 5 above it has to be stressed that the legal structure of EGR

groups will have some limitations. EGR will contain complete legal structures for groups

where the complete chain will be obtained from commercial data providers or where

the NSIs will deliver it (e.g. for OFATS groups or only-EU groups). For several groups EGR

will only contain partly complete legal structures for the EU+EFTA (from NSIs) and the

direct parents of the EU units and the global group head from commercial data

providers.

ii. to produce and share with FATS statisticians frame populations for OFATS and IFATS

according to agreed time tables

iii. to exchange and process data sets needed for i. and ii.

iv. to exchange/share information collected by profiling (e.g. annual reports,

experiences, knowledge on the way groups are structured and operate)

supplementary to the EGR system (Interactive Profiling Tool - IPT)

v. to interactively/structurally validate and maintain in the EGR:

1. Legal unit structure of 300 of the top global enterprise groups

2 Slightly more than 1000 large and complex global enterprise groups (GEGs) to be profiled have been

identified (top GEGs), of which about 60% should be profiled through intensive profiling and about 40%

through light profiling. In the years 2013-2014, under the MEETS/Profiling project, 97 GEGs were profiled

(intensive and light profiling). About 70 more GEGs per year are expected to be profiled under the ESBRs

project in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017.


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2. The structure of global enterprises of 300 of the top 1000 groups including the

countries in which they operate

b. EGR quality for FATS statistics:

i. I/OFATS: EGR should be the primary source for reference year 2015 of the EU/EFTA

GDC’s/UCI’s;

OFATS: EGR reference year 2015 contains at least 95% of the population of EU/EFTA

GDC’s (GDC’s equal to reporting units as published by OFATS for 2015) including the

population of enterprises (part of SBS population 2015) for reference year 2015.

IFATS: EGR reference year 2015 contains at least 99% (in terms of employment) of

the SBS population 2015 with correct country of UCI (as published by IFATS 2015).

ii. For reference year 2016: an agreed quality level and acceptance to use the EGR as

frame for FATS statistics

c. Data quality program implemented which includes, for NSIs who decide to use profiling

on a regular basis:

i. validated global enterprise groups with their legal unit structure for reference year

2016

ii. validated structure of global enterprises for reference year 2016, including

information on countries in which the global enterprises operate and the respective

variables

d. Data quality management organisation: tactical and operational roles and

responsibilities for running the EGR implemented

5.3.2 ESBRs Business architecture (ESBRs BA)

The ESBRs Business Architecture will describe “the product and/or service strategy, and the

organizational, functional, process, information, and geographic aspects of the business

environment”, in particular the ESS statistical business register environment. The ESBRs

business architecture translates the business model in concrete and coherent business

concepts like ESBRs data, process and organisational models, products and services,

business rules, capabilities.

The needs of customers for business statistics in Europe can be generalized to a few

important observations:

• Economic information about enterprises active within Europe

• Information about the markets on which these enterprises are active

• Information about the interaction between markets

• Comparable regional, national and European perspectives in business statistics.

• Internal and external flows between enterprises

• Allocation of enterprise production and the value generated

• Consistent information possible to combine in complex analysis

From these needs a “value proposition” for business statistics can be derived:

• In 2020, users/customers of ESS business statistics should be able to access relevant

and consistent business statistics reflecting economies, national and the European,

in the context of a global economy.

The long-term vision of ESBRs implies a contribution to this value with an up-to-date ESS

system of business registers covering all enterprises, providing information on location and


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their activities in Europe. ESBRs will also offer information regarding the type of

relationships between the uniquely identified enterprises.

Success criterion for the ESBRs BA: before the end of 2017 the ESSC agreed on the ESBRs

business architecture and accepted it as reference and guidance for the further

development of the system of statistical business registers within the ESS.

5.3.3 ESBRs Interoperability framework

According to the long term vision (2020 and beyond) the “value proposition” from ESBRs is a

complete and consistent ESS frame, with no under/over coverage consisting of a system of

interoperable business registers for business statistics surveys. ESBRs is the key to achieve

more efficient use of resources, allow for multipurpose use of statistical information, create

a potential for reduced burden on respondents, contribute to complex analysis of the global

economy, also through linking of information, improve the relevance of national statistics as

well as statistics on the European level.

Success criteria for the ESBRs Interoperability framework:

a. Successfully finalised tests in at least 5 NSI’s on the following core elements of the

interoperability framework:

• ESBRs frame population methodology (registers suitable as backbone for business

statistics)

• Standardised, more efficient and timely exchange procedure of validated register

data and frame populations (term of reference for timeliness: at present the data

exchange procedure takes about 2 months)

• Profiling method integrated in the data quality management of statistical business

registers (national and EGR)

b. Before the end of 2018: the BSDG, on the basis of the report about the tests in pilot

countries, has accepted and committed itself to an ESS interoperability implementation

plan for the following years containing indications for:

• the frame population methodology for business statistics (global as well as national),

• an exchange procedure for validated register data and frame populations

• (global) profiling as integrated part of data quality management of statistical

business registers (national and EGR).

5.3.4 Other success criteria

• The integration between EGR and profiling is fully analysed, implemented and taken

into account in the ESBRs business architecture.

• Sharable statistical services for the system of SBRs are proposed for insertion into

the general ESS catalogue of statistical services by 2017.

•


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5.4 Scope

The scope of the ESBRS project is:

• The consolidation of the EGR and profiling developments, improving their quality

and integration, as well as establishing the pre-requisites for their integration with

national SBRs. In this way, the information made available by the countries practicing

profiling can be used by the system of SBRs.

• The production of an ESBRs Business Architecture for a longer term reference

(horizon 2020).

• The proposal of a realistic set of rules (concepts, data structures, business register

processes, exchange arrangements, organisational and institutional frameworks,

etc.), based on the ESBRs Business Architecture, that will constitute the ESBRs

Interoperability Framework to be agreed at ESS level (decision point). At national

level this would mean that – once agreed (in principle in 2016) – these common rules

will be tested in some pilot countries, during the second phase of the project, from

the second half of 2016 till end 2017.

• The proposal of some statistical services (already existing in the ESS, or judged very

useful) to be considered for insertion in the general ESS catalogue of statistical

services that is expected to be established in the framework of the VIP.CC.SERV

project.

Issues such as FRIBS or the compliance with the statistical unit “enterprise” are not part of

the project but closely related to it.

The main scope of profiling in the framework of the ESBRs project is its contribution to:

• the data quality management of the EGR

• national efforts on delineating and maintaining relevant national statistical units

Design and test a European profiling approach based on a scenario of producing business

statistics on the global level is considered a lower priority of the ESBRs project.

Implementation of the Interoperability Framework will have to be continued after the end

of the project.


- 16 -

5.5 Solution Impact

Process Solution

Impact Description

Business processes of national SBRs

Guidelines for upgrading SBRs according to Business

Architecture and Interoperability Framework. Testing of the

Interoperability Framework in some pilot countries.

Activities will be supported by grants.

Quality management of national SBRs Implementation of an agreed ESBRs quality management

programme. Activities will be supported by grants.

Business processes of EGR

EGR 2.0 finalised by first half of 2016, including interactive

module for FATS. Further developments of interactive

modules and other improvements by end of 2017.

Quality management of EGR Implementation of an agreed ESBRs quality management

programme.

Profiling

Finalisation of the methodology. Profiling of most relevant

groups active in countries practising profiling. Activities will

be supported by grants. A centre of excellence will also

support the activities from 2016.

Statistical Services

Relevant existing tools, as well as ideas for useful tools not

yet existing will be identified and provided to the

VIP.CC.SERV project for inclusion in the ESS catalogue of

Statistical Services. Available, sharable statistical services

will be tested in pilot countries.


- 17 -

5.6 Assumptions

ID Description

1 ESS Enterprise architecture available

2 Clarity on the role and responsibilities of national statistical business registers and

Eurostat as owner of the EGR

3 ESS VIP Program management coordinate and provide guidance on cross cutting

VIP project issues

4 Good participation of Member States

5 Qualified human resources are available and allocated to the project in line with

the planning

6 Financial resources are allocated as planned

7 IT framework contracts are in place under the new DESIS framework

8 In parallel to the project, Member States advance substantially regarding their

compliance with the implementation of the statistical unit “enterprise” and its

introduction in the statistical business registers.

5.7 Constraints

ID Description

1 Human and financial resources general constraints for the whole EU Commission

2 IT set-up of the Commission. In particular, IT rationalization at Commission level

3 Human and financial resources of the involved 32 countries


- 18 -

5.8 Risks

Risk

No. Risk name

Impact (short

description)

Likeli

hood Impact

Risk

Level

( L*I)

Mitigation Contingency

1

ESS Enterprise

Architecture not

available

Lack of coherence

between the ESBRs

Business Architecture

and the ESS EA

1 3 3

Alignment with best

practices

Alignment with

available drafts of the

ESS EA

2

Unclear roles and

responsibilities in the

management of

national SBRs and EGR

Difficult cooperation in

the ESS for the EGR

quality and the

EGR/profiling

integration

3 3 9

Clarification of the

roles and responsibility

in the context of the

interoperability

approach ("authentic

store")

Incremental approach

to be implemented as

conflicting roles arise,

starting with the

current division of

work

3

Lack of sufficient

resources in MS

Low implementation in

MS

3 3 9

Substantial support

through grants

Participation in testing

interoperability and

statistical services as

well as using profiling

only on voluntary basis

4 Lack of sufficient

resources in Eurostat

Difficulties in managing

the project 1 3 3 Require further

resources

Improve efficiency

5

Not homogeneous

interpretation of the

“confidentiality”

concept in MS

Existing limitation in

the exchange of data

will persist 3 3 9

Invest in

communication

Legal service support

6

No delivery on time

due to ESBRs tight

schedule

Some objectives will

not be fully achieved 3 3 9

Constant follow-up. Prioritise and delay

individual deliverables

7

Low involvement of

Member States


not be fully achieved

3 3 9

Emphasise specific

value added for NSIs

and Central Banks, as

well as need for global

views

Downgrade ambitions

8

Late availability of

deliverables from

ESS.VIP Cross Cutting

projects


not be fully achieved

2 3 6

Efficient coordination

and management of

the ESS.VIP

Programme and

Portfolio

Alignment with

available drafts to the

extent possible

9

Delay in the

development of IT

tools

EGR and IPT

developments delayed

2 3 6

Good coordination

with Eurostat,

Directorate B

Constant follow-up of

IT contracts

Prioritise and delay

individual deliverables

10

Late deliverables from

ESSnet on

specifications for EGR

2.0 finalisation

EGR data quality

delayed, contractual

issues with IT vendors 2 3 6

Management and

prioritising

requirements

Good coordination

with ESSnet and

constant follow-up of

IT contracts

11

Lack of sufficient

involvement of MS in

European profiling

Problems of

coordination among

MS on EGR data quality

of large groups

4 3 12

Substantial support

through grants

Dialogue with MS;

alternative ways for

ensuring EGR data

quality

12

EGR quality

management not

addressing right issues

Problems of credibility

of EGR by users,

impossible to use as

coordinated reference

frame for FATS

2 4 8

Substantial EGR data

validation

implemented

Warnings; further

controls; manual

procedures where

feasible


- 19 -

5.9 Costs, Effort and Funding Source

Eurostat intend to devote adequate resources to the project, to be specified taking into

account overall priorities.

It is envisaged to continue collaborating through an ESBRs ESSnet (Phase 1: from May 2014

to April 2016 and Phase 2 from May 2016 to December 2017) and a Centre of Excellence on

Profiling from May 2016.

Substantial grants to MS are foreseen in the years 2014 to 2017, concerning mainly:

• implementation of the requirements for BRs interoperability

• implementation of the EGR quality program

• test of selected statistical services in pilot countries

• profiling.

5.10 Roadmap

A roadmap is presented in Annex 2.

6 GOVERNANCE

From the beginning all Member States have been involved, as this project builds on work

that has been already accomplished over the past years in the framework of the EGR project

and under the MEETS programme. A large ESS involvement allows building upon good

practices already existing in several Member States, thus promoting knowledge transfer and

sharing within the ESS.

Given the project’s relevance for the ESCB, members are systematically involved, mainly

through the project’s steering group.

The main elements of the proposed governance structure are presented in paragraphs 6.1

to 6.4 and Annex 1 includes an overview.

6.1 Steering Group (SG)

To advice and steer the project with regard to its strategic decisions the ESBRs Steering

Group was created in 2014 with members designated by the BSDG. Its mandate comprises:

• Project organization, i.e. monitoring the project steps and progress

• Process and organization in Eurostat and in the Member States (advice on roles of

the EGR and the national registers, links with other BR projects (LEI, EBR etc.) and

users (SBS, FATS, STS, NA, etc.)

• Methodology and techniques relevant for implementing the ESBRs

• Aspects of operating the ESBRs (incl. Interoperability, Sharing statistical services,

Confidentiality and security)

Decisions and proposals of the Steering Group are reported to and discussed with the

Business Registers/ Statistical Units Working Group. Where relevant, the Business Statistics

Directors Group (BSDG) will be involved, too.


- 20 -

6.2 Collaborative network (ESSnet and Centre of Excellence)

6.2.1 ESBRs ESSnet

The creation of the ESBRs ESSnet was agreed in the ESSC meeting on 15 May 2013 for a 4-

year duration (2014-2017).

From an operational point of view it has been decided to split the ESSnet existence in two

phases, with a first Multi Beneficiary Grant Agreement covering 24 months (May 2014 to

April 2016). According to the present planning, it shall be followed by an ESSnet ESBRs –

Phase 2, which will build on the results of Phase 1 and should concentrate on the concrete

implementation of an integrated system of interoperable Business Registers in the ESS.

6.2.2 Centre of excellence on Profiling

In the second phase, from May 2016, when the existing methodology will be adequately

consolidated, it is foreseen to create a Centre of Excellence on Profiling.

6.3 User orientation

User workshops are held to support the ESBRs project management in assessing and

evaluating the user needs, requirements and constraints. These workshops mainly target

internal (Eurostat) users, made up of experts in different statistical domains, such as FATS,

SBS, STS, FDI.

In addition, auxiliary domains covered by other Eurostat’s Directorates (C: National Accounts;

prices and key indicators, E: Sectoral and regional statistics, F: Social statistics) may be

associated to this work.

The ESSnet coordinator(s) and other relevant stakeholders, including NSIs, NCB and ECB

representatives, can be invited.

6.4 IT Task Forces

The ESBRs project comprises two IT Task Forces. A Task Force of Eurostat internal IT experts

and the ESSnet/Centre of Excellence co-ordinators (IT TF) and another ad hoc Task Force

involving Member States’ IT experts building upon already existing working structures

(ESS.VIP IT TF).

The IT TF supports the management of the ESBRs project concerning IT solutions. The

members are relevant experts from Eurostat and the ESSnet/Centre of Excellence co-

ordinators. The Steering Group and the other bodies in the governance structure are

regularly informed on any relevant issue discussed by the TF.

The group has consultative functions. In general it reports directly to the project

management and to the System Supplier.

In case Member States will have to be involved at steering level, this will be done through the

ESS.VIP IT Task Force.

The whole governance structure is presented graphically in Annex 1.


- 21 -

Annex 1- ESBRs Governance scheme

Steering levelESSC

& coordination with ESCB

VIG

System Owner

Dir. G EurostatBSDG

System Supplier

Dir. B Eurostat

Working Group

BR & Stat. Units

ESS.VIP

Programme

Management

ESBRsSteering Group

ESS.VIP

IT Task Force

Implementation levelProject

Management

Centre of

Excellence

on Profiling

ESBRs

ESSnet

User

Workshops

IT Task

Force

Contractor IT

development


- 22 -

Annex 2 - ESBRs action plan

10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Financing Phases

ESSnet 1st

phase

ESSnet 2nd

phase

Centre of excellence "Profiling"

Individual grants to NSIs

Business Architecture

Preliminary ESBRs BA

Final ESBRs BA

Minor adjstments of the model

Interoperability

Framework definition

Pilot implementation

Statistical Services

List of sharable services

Pilot implementation

Profiling

Consolidation of methodology

Quality programme definition

ESSnet support to NSIs

Centre of excellence support to NSIs

Quality programme Implementation

Profiling in the ESS

EGR

EGR 2.0 full implementation

Specification quality programme

Integration EGR/profiling definition

EGR minor improvements (version 2.x)

Integration EGR/profiling implement.

Implementation quality programme

= Conceptual work

= Implementation

2014 2015 2016 2017


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