essnet projects - europa

M e t h o d o l o g i e s a n d W o r k i n g p a p e r s
ISSN 1977-0375
2013 edition
2013 edition
M e t h o d o l o g i e s a n d W o r k i n g p a p e r s
ESSnet projects
2013 assessment report
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Table of contents
Methodology and criteria of the assessment ...................................................................... 6 Criteria of communication and quality of input to ESS........................................................ 6 Criteria of coordination and project setup ........................................................................... 8 Criteria of applicability and sustainability .......................................................................... 10 Criteria of scientific value added ....................................................................................... 11
2. Assessment by project......................................................................................................... 12 Projects finished in 2012................................................................................................... 12 Core – Common Reference Environment......................................................................... 12 EGR – Eurogroup register................................................................................................. 14 SAE – Small Area Estimation ........................................................................................... 16 SDMX II – ESSnet on SDMX - Phase II............................................................................ 18 Tourism – ESSnet on automated data collection.............................................................. 20 ICT Impact – ESSnet on assessing the impact................................................................. 22 On-going projects in 2013................................................................................................. 23 Admin data – use of administrative data........................................................................... 23 Consistency....................................................................................................................... 25 DARA (remote Access) – ESSnet DARA.......................................................................... 27 DCSS - Data Collection..................................................................................................... 29 Data Warehouse – Micro data linking ............................................................................... 31 ESeG –European socio-economic classification .............................................................. 33 Global Value Chains – Measuring global value chains..................................................... 35 ICT Piloting – Definition and piloting of specific modules ................................................. 37 MEMOBust........................................................................................................................ 38 MESH – Manual for energy statistics................................................................................ 40 Net-SILC2 – Second Network of the Analysis .................................................................. 42 Profiling – Profiling of large and complex MNEs............................................................... 43 Standardisation ................................................................................................................. 44
ESSnet projects – 2013 assessment report 4
Abstract This report documents results of the 2012-2013 assessment of ESSnet projects. It includes results of an assessment of seven architectural and nine sectorial projects. Reports and main deliverables of all but one of the ESSnet projects that were finished in 2012 have been assessed. Three on-going projects could not be assessed due to absence of information published online.
Several projects lack a scientific overview. A cost / benefit analysis was rarely found. The success of the internal and external coordination differs from project to project. Applicability and inclusion of disciplines and stakeholders were found to be a strength for all finished and on-going projects. Likewise, the inclusion of non-participants within ESSnet is at a good level. Underlining the scientific value added of several projects, research papers were published within or after the project life time. The annex of this document includes a summary overview on the assessment details.
Editor:
]init[ AG für Digitale Kommunikation, Square Ambiorix 13, 1000 Brussels
Introduction
5 ESSnet projects – 2013 assessment report
Introduction The February 2007 SPC meeting stated that an ESSnet project is based on “A network of several ESS organisations aimed at providing results that will be beneficial to the whole ESS”. ESSnet is the current format of what was formerly called “Centres and Networks of Excellence” (Cenex).
As an instrument for pan-European knowledge transfer and technical and methodological cooperation among Member States, ESSnet projects are partly financed by Eurostat and have to fit the following criteria to be eligible as an ESSnet project:
− Involves several partners and results diffused to non-participating NSAs;
− Focus on issues that answer to a European interest (excludes projects that do not contribute to the quality of ESS statistics);
− Compatible with the 5 year programme;
− Cost effective (excludes projects that have not a sufficient financial investment and where there is a duplication with other initiatives in the ESS);
− Knowledge sharing, innovation and harmonisation;
− Sustainable (The project should be sustainable beyond its duration; adequate measures should be foreseen at national level);
− Actions must be carried out by ESS organisations.
Following these main principles, the European Statistical System already saw ESSnet projects of very different kinds and natures: ranging from software implementation projects over metadata standardisation efforts to a comparison of statistical methods used in the Member States.
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Scope of the assessment The following assessment of projects is based on a common set of criteria that tries to overcome the different nature of these projects by focussing the assessment on common grounds. As a desktop analysis, the assessment takes into account the documentation of major ESSnet project deliverables: mainly project reports, handbooks and guidelines that were available online on the web platform for “collaboration in research and methodology for official statistics”, the new CROS portal launched in 2012. The review was conducted in February 2013 and represents the projects’ situation at this moment in time as it was seen by the external reviewers.
Due to the short time allotted for the evaluation and the limited resources available, it has not been possible to discuss the assessments with the project teams concerned. Therefore, the assessment must be dealt with in a similar spirit as the general feedback from referees on a submitted manuscript. Thus, the authors of this report are to understand it as a basis for discussion and not as a final dictum on the projects.
Methodology and criteria of the assessment In order to ensure a maximum of comparability between the ESSnet projects, a set of general criteria was elaborated. It is explained in more in detail in the remainder of this chapter.
The assessment takes into account ten criteria separated into the following four different sections:
Section 1 — Communication and quality of input to ESS
Section 2 — Coordination and project setup
Section 3 — Applicability and Sustainability
Section 4 — Scientific value added
ESSnet projects are assembled as a joint effort from a coordinator, co-partners and non-participating ESS NSIs. Their respective roles and tasks are designed as follows:
Coordinator: The task of the project coordinator is to manage and coordinate the project team. Mostly, one NSI is responsible for the coordination. The coordinator is authorized to invite all project members to meetings and to monitor the processes. The coordinator is also responsible for the communication with Eurostat and should take care of the dissemination of project information on the CROS portal.
Co-Partners: These project members are responsible for the realisation of the previously defined objectives. It is their task to produce the content, documents, reports etc. Co-partners may also be charged with coordinating one or more of the work packages of the project.
Non-participating ESS NSIs: The NSIs which are not Coordinators or Co-partners of the project are non- participating ESS NSIs. The inclusion of non-participants is one of the key characteristics of an ESSnet project is. The fulfilment or not of this requirement was also part of the assessment process. Inclusion can range from pure ideas of how to involve other non-participating Member States to dedicated handbooks and print-out material for non-participants.
Criteria of communication and quality of input to ESS The first section of each assessment comprises four criteria. It refers to the present body of documents of the respective ESSnet project. The existence of a “state of play summary” will be relevant to comply with the first criterion.
The primary function of the state of play is to sum up the main developments of the project’s topic within the ESS. It is intended to inform about topic coverage and backgrounds, the target group and the adaption to the target audience. The reader should be able to understand the main backgrounds of the topic and get
1
information about the cooperation with ESS and Eurostat. Moreover, the criterion “presence of a state of play” includes the connection to other and prior projects which are relevant in light of the current project aims. For software oriented projects or for projects with only a limited scientific approach, the state of play criterion may be regarded as of lesser importance.
Criterion 1 – State of play?
1: Is there a “state of play summary of the ESS”
1a) if yes, is it appropriate?
1b) if not is this motivated (e.g. not in project scope – and is this exclusion motivated?)
The second criterion in the first section is the presence of a scientific overview.
While the state of play criterion assesses the project’s integration in the ESS context, the scientific overview is intended to describe the project’s aims and goals with respect to the current state-of-the-art in statistical science. It shall be adapted to a scientific target group and shall comprise a short and comprehensive problem statement including links to further information. Like the state of play, the criterion “presence of a scientific overview” might not be applicable to all projects to the same degree, as the large variety of ESSnet projects includes concrete software implementation projects. For those that focus on implementation and technical infrastructure issues adding scientific value cannot be regarded a criterion for a successful project.
Criterion 2 – Scientific overview exists?
2: Is there a scientific overview concerning the topic?
2a) If yes, is it sufficiently exhaustive?
2b) If no, which elements are missing?
Each project is managed by one coordinator and involves a number of co-partners. The non-participating partners should be able to benefit from the project results too. The criteria “inclusion of non-participating partners” assesses the extent of ideas, tools and deliverables which allow non-participating partners to use the project results.
Criterion 3 – Inclusion of non-participating partners
3: To what extent have concepts and strategies been developed that enable stakeholders outside of the working group to benefit from the project’s results?
The last criterion of the assessment of what can be checked by means of a desktop analysis is that of the different dissemination activities planned and / or realised by the ESSnet project:
Criterion 4 – Dissemination activities
4a) To what extent is project documentation available on / through CROS-portal?
4b) Are there other websites or workspaces where dissemination takes place?
4c) Did the project issue any online news / press releases concerning the project?
According to the inclusion of non-participating ESS NSIs, dissemination activities are useful to publish and distribute project results. The main platform for the publication of results is the CROS-portal.
Every project should use this platform to distribute and describe their state of work. Depending on the objectives of the project and its respective target audience, other more specific or even more general websites can also be regarded as useful for additional dissemination of results. Other typical dissemination activities assessed using the desktop review technique comprise online news, press releases, contributions to forums and discussions. Besides the quantity of documentation also the overall quality, the timing and the proper fitting of dissemination material to the dissemination channel is relevant. The exploitation and combination of suitable dissemination methods represent important aspects in this criterion. This may cover previous, current or planned activities.
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Criteria of coordination and project setup The 2nd section “Coordination and project setup” focusses mainly on project staffing, domain and geographical coverage and time planning concerns. The 5th overall criterion therefore expresses whether or not the project coordination was sufficient. This criterion assesses the visible consistency between deliverables planned, announced and provided. It aims to evaluate, whether good management decisions were taken by the project coordinator whenever the project had to face important changes like Member States quitting the ESSnet project or changes in scope of the project.
Another aspect of criterion 5 is to measure whether the respective ESSnet project was sufficiently interlinked with similar preceding and future projects.
Criterion 5 – Project coordination sufficient?
5a) Is the internal project coordination (and the consistency between the deliverables) sufficient?
5b) Is the coordination with other European or international projects sufficient?
The proper and exhaustive inclusion of participants from relevant disciplines with respect to the aims and goals of the ESSnet forms the sixth criterion. For the assessment it is important to note that while one ESSnet project might benefit from the participation of a large number of statistical disciplines, the progress of another may advance significantly slower if the number of disciplines involved is too large.
Criterion 6 – Inclusion of disciplines and stakeholders
6a) Does the project include the appropriate set of disciplines?
6b) Has the project included all relevant stakeholders?
Another important criterion for a proper project setup is the coverage in terms of Member States and geographical spread. An ESSnet aiming to work on indicators for countries with large economies should comprise these Member States already in the initial project setup. Likewise, an ESSnet dealing with the large variety of different languages and cultures should not be based on a consortium made up of English- speaking countries only.
Figure 1 illustrates countries that have been a coordinator in one or more ESSnet projects in 2012 and 2013 (marked in orange) while the brown colour is used for Member States that have not been coordinators but co-partnering on at least one ESSnet project. Countries marked neither in orange nor in brown have not acted as partners in ESSnet projects in the evaluation period 2012-2013.
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Figure 1: ESSnet Coordinators and Partners 2012-2013
Source: Annex: coordination and partner
While Figure 1 illustrates the mere fact whether or not a country has acted as a coordinator or co-partner in an ESSnet project, another view weights the different roles in every project. The result shows very different levels of activity from Member States in the ESSnet. In Figure 2, a Member State receives a score of two points for each coordination activity while co-partnering increases the total activity score of a Member State by one point for every ESSnet project activity.
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Figure 2: ESSnet Member States activity in coordinating and partnering ESSnet projects (2012-2013)
Source: Annex: coordination and partner
Criteria of applicability and sustainability The criteria in this section assess factors which increase or decrease the likelihood for third parties to apply project results. Aspects that positively influence this indicator of “applicability” include case studies conducted to evaluate the applicability of project results, concise easy-to-read guidelines, the proper dissemination of free software in relevant open source repositories or the absence of complex or unclear licensing issues regarding the use of the project results themselves.
Criterion 7 - Applicability: Which factors make it likely/unlikely for the project results (or the results of follow-up projects) to be applicable in the ESS?
7b) (If not addressed in 7a) Has the applicability been proven in practice (case studies)?
7c) (If likely) Which impact would the project results have?
Criterion 8: Sustainability
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The ninth criterion addresses the presence or absence of a cost/benefit analysis. A cost benefit analysis is often very helpful and expressive but may also be cumbersome to make: While defining costs may be an easier task, declaring quantifying benefits often can only be based on individual assumptions concerning potential synergies. The existence of a cost/benefit analysis in the assessment is a plus, while the absence does not have a negative impact on the result of the assessment of this aspect.
Criterion 9: Has a cost/benefit analysis been conducted? (yes/no/not relevant, because...)
Criteria of scientific value added The last section indicates the existence of added scientific value with respect to the statistical research community. Would the current state of the art be considered unchanged, with and without results of the assessed ESSnet project? This assessment is focussed on the determination of scientific dissemination activity. The number of papers including both, papers for conferences and papers published in journals will be determined. The search is conducted:
− restricting time for publication not earlier than the start date of the project;
− using Google Scholar and Google Search as instruments for searching;
− including the ESSnet project title as a search criteria.
Criterion 10: Has the project added scientific value?
10a) Did members of the project publish project-related papers for conferences?
10b) Did members of the project publish project-related papers for scientific journals?
2 Assessment by project
Assessment by project The following projects are logically grouped by their respective project status. ESSnet projects that were concluded in 2012 will be followed by the assessment of on-going projects.
Projects finished in 2012
Core – Common Reference Environment
NB: At the beginning of each assessment, the Project type indicator gives an overview of the project’s status with regard to all criteria (1 – 10); Project type: A=architectural, S=sectorial
The ESSnet CORE (COmmon Reference Environment) continues the work of a previous ESSnet called CORA (COmmon Reference Architecture) CORA, which finished in October 2010, and produced the definition of an architectural model together with proof-of-concept software prototypes.
Communication and quality of input
The communication and quality of input of the ESSnet project CORE is very satisfying. The documentation of deliverables is very structured and comprehensive. The working area of the project was the ISTAT wiki https://www.wiki.istat.it/doku.php/start?idx=essnet_cra). In addition to this dissemination effort, all deliverables were published on the CROS portal, including additional presentations and minutes. CORE disseminated a lot of material and documents, but workshops or presentations dedicated to non-participants were not found within the assessment for this criterion. The deliverable “How to use CORE” (Del 2.4) was found to be rather shorter than appropriate to the meet requirements of an easy to read step-in document for non-participants.
Coordination
According to the available project documentation, the internal and external project coordination was sufficient. Requirements gathering was part of an own WP and interdependencies of working packages were addressed accordingly. A few non-project critical problems, such as an overlap with the predecessor CORA, could be solved by adapting deliverables and restructuring work packages.
Work package published/announced
Applicability
CORE represents an important architectural project for the ESS. It produced and implemented software prototypes for all NSIs. Therefore, the impact of the project is obvious. The software prototype of CORE is already in use. The project did not include case studies. No other documentation was found that may be used to evaluate the usage of CORE.
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
project setup Applicability
Sustainability
It was decided to underline the technological independence of CORE-compliant services by choosing an open source and a proprietary platform for implementation.
Scientific value added
The main objectives of CORE did not include contributions that add scientific value. The project officer published a paper for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Conference of European Statisticians in 2011 titled “ESSnet CORE project report”. The project team held three meetings besides the kick-off and the final meeting in Luxembourg.
Project factsheet (taken as-is from the project description)
The first objective of CORE is to extend CORA model by defining the new information model e-CORA. Specifically, we will take the CORA model (including GSBPM) as a starting point, and turn it into a fully elaborated information model that covers business concepts, statistical goals and methods, as well as operational logic and implementation aspects. The resulting model must have the power to describe the relationships that link statistical goals to methods, methods to operations, and operations to software tools. Elements of process modelling, such as subdivision of processes in partial processes and in steps, as well as interfaces between steps, must explicitly be part of the information model. The role SDMX can play in this model must also be taken into consideration. Specifically, a possible mapping between SDMX and the e-CORA model will be investigated in order to take into fully account results and tools already available for SDMX. Moreover, besides SDMX, relationships between e-CORA and other European standardization efforts concerning statistical data will be also considered.
The second objective is related to the analysis of a list of tools and to the study of the effort necessary to integrate such tools into the e-CORA model. In particular, starting from the inventory of tools that was prepared within CORA, we will select some tools to be used within some statistical processes executed in the CORE framework. Then we will perform a specific evaluation of the feasibility and of the cost necessary to integrate such tools. The third objective of the project is related to (i) the definition of a way of exchanging data between tools designed inside GSBPM sub-processes, and the (ii) development of components wrapping such tools in order to integrate them.
Coordinator: ISTAT (Italy)
Costs/Funding: 300 000 EUR / 210 000 EUR
Project duration: 01/01/2011 to 31/01/2012
EGR – Eurogroup register
S 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
The main objective of the project was described as follows:
The EGR final objective is that of becoming a network of central and national registers on multinational enterprise groups and to provide a single and coordinated tool for statistics on globalisation to different stakeholders.
The ESSnet project EGR published only a few documents and deliverables on the CROS portal. The following statements are based only on an assessment of the final and intermediate report, and on the description of the action. The final report was found to be very comprehensive and provides a good view of the project’s history, including challenges and changes to be made. The state of play sums up the project’s background, but documentation on the state-of-the-art of business statistics and information aiming at the description of coordination with other ESSnet projects is missing. A scientific overview was not given. The documentation on the CROS portal is limited to the minimum. No group content or publicly visible documents could be found. ISTAT has its own domain for the EGR project (http://egr.istat.it), but the most recent information there was not up to date (information on “where we are” was last updated in 2011 and stopped with the 2011 EGR Cycle). Several improvements for communication with Eurostat are outlined in the final report regarding missing input to WP3 deliverables and uncertainty about the possibility to process file formats that had formerly been agreed on.
Coordination
The lack of deliverables on the CROS portal does not make it possible to further assess the coordination aspect of the EGR project management. According to the final report, national legislations made it impossible for the ISTAT project coordinator’s staff to travel between June 2010 to June 2011 .The description mentions, as part of an external coordination effort, the involvement of the ESSnet on International Profiling and the ESSnet on Consistency to be on track with future innovations in the ESS legal framework. The decision to migrate the EGR website to EUROSTAT, which led to one person quitting the project, is cited as one example of changes to the team. The changes in the team did not affect the activity according the EGR project report.
Work package published/announced WP1 2 of 2
WP2 0 of 8
WP3 0 of 6
WP4 0 of 8
WP5 0 of 4
WP6 4 of 5
Applicability
The final report includes comprehensive explications on the applicability of EGR. The coordination network between enterprise groups, NSIs, and Eurostat is described as very important. It is of significant impact.
Sustainability
Sustainability is ensured by a prior agreement on methodologies and tools, and the further development of EGR in a new project group with CBS as coordinator. Postponed actions are planned to be carried forward as part of a new project.
No papers, journal contributions or conference interventions are recorded from the project team.
Project factsheet
During the last action period lasting 24 months from June 2010 to June 2012, the ESSnet concentrated on the overall revision of the EGR business model in order to develop an improved approach, taking into account the results achieved during the first two EGR cycles, the feedbacks coming from the Member States and EFTA countries, the experience gained and the deficiencies emerged. A new and improved version of the EGR (the version 2.0) was proposed to the Steering Group with an implementation plan. The business process of EGR version 2.0 was conceptually developed, most of the business use cases were re-designed, the new logical data model created for the target area. To serve the FATS users it was created a user interface to consult and retrieve EGR final frames and proposals on how users could use EGR frames in a coordinated way were made. A feasibility study was carried out to propose a model estimation for employment data of foreign affiliates outside EU from the input commercial sources of EGR, in order to serve Outward FATS statisticians. Dissemination of the EGR to the ESS improved by launching a EGR web site providing general information to the public on the EGR project and specific information to the statistical users. The user interface was integrated into the EGR web site that will function as a single entry point for the users. The development of integration plans into the national production processes requires a stringer involvement of all stakeholders (National Accounts, SBS, STS) in addition to FATS and FDI, the ESSnet created several occasions to involve stakeholders but the process is still on-going. The adoption of EGR in the production processes will depend very much on its quality improvement over the next years and on the other hand the involvement of users is crucial to improve its quality. Finally, new statistical concepts have been proposed by the ESSnet on International Profiling that cannot be immediately implemented into the EGR, as it needs to contain the statistical units currently required by the ESS legislation and in use in the statistical processes. Nevertheless the ESSnet EGR coordinated its activities with the ESSnet on International Profiling and with the ESSnet on Consistency in order to be on track with future innovations in the ESS legal framework.
Deliverables: 6/33 http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/egr-sga3
SAE – Small Area Estimation
S 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
According to the project’s description, the focus of the project SAE is on the development and implementation of a framework enabling the production of small area estimates in the context of the European Statistical System (ESS).
This ESSnet project required an overview of the current state of methods and information about other projects dealing with the statistical technique of “small area estimation” (SAE). WP 2 dealt with the state- of-the-art in the application of SAE methods and techniques in participating NSIs. Therefore a comprehensive literature review and case studies were conducted.
In the same fashion, the “state-of-the-art” work package delivers a comprehensive scientific overview, including aims and goals with respect to statistical science.
The dissemination of results to non-participating NSIs took place in WP7, a dedicated work package for knowledge and know-how transfer.
Tools and instruments that were chosen to share information were threefold, one training session on SAE, three on-the-job trainings, and participation of the members in statistical conferences and workshops.
The deliverables, results, and project steps are well documented on the CROS portal (http://www.cros- portal.eu/content/sae). No external websites (except a closed wiki) or press releases were found using Google in February 2013.
Coordination and project setup
The project coordination was sufficient. The project coordinator ISTAT regularly maintained the web page and coordinated several project meetings. In line with best practices, agendas were sent in advance, meeting minutes were made available soon after the meeting, and lists of participants and follow-up actions regarding the meetings were provided. Sub-coordinators for the work packages facilitated the dissemination of competences. Resource problems due to the cancellation of partnership by one Member State were compensated by the coordinator.
In terms of inclusion, the project group found an appropriate spread of disciplines. The project acknowledged important prior projects such as EWORSAE or EURAREA. Geographical coverage was appropriate, including large and small countries representing different languages and socio-economic characteristics.
Applicability and sustainability
The outcomes of the project include a comprehensive literature review of the state-of-the-art, a guideline document and a review of software for SAE implementation. Applicability was proven in practice with concrete case studies in 7 of 31 EU+ EFTA states (equalling 23%). A cost / benefit analysis for the whole project was not conducted.
The impact of project results can be seen in further implementation of methods and software for small area estimation. The potential is therefore vast. The project analysed just a part of the possibilities to implement small area estimation.
No papers published as a direct outcome of the project were found. The scientific overview may represent added value from a scientific perspective.
Project factsheet
The general objective of the project is to develop a framework enabling the production of small area estimates for ESS social surveys.
The specific objectives are:
− Complete the state of the art produced in the EURAREA project, update the documents available on small area estimation, describe the current application in UE NSIs and non-UE NSIs, create a common knowledge on application of small area estimation methods;
− Review and develop suitable criteria to assess the quality of SAE methods for the choice of proper model and the evaluation of MSE;
− Make available software tools for SAE to the ESS;
− Foster knowledge transfer by the development of case studies and associated recommendations on representative problems in small area estimation in the ESS;
− Provide practical guidelines in ESS social surveys context;
− Transfer knowledge and know-how to non-participating NSIs and disseminate results.
Deliverables: 34/34 http://www.cros-portal.eu/group-documents/125
SDMX II – ESSnet on SDMX – Phase II
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
In relation to the aims and objectives of the predecessor project SDMX Phase I, the ESSnet project on SDMX Phase II has the following main objective:
The ESSnet on SDMX phase II moves a step forward and besides continuing some of the work of a previous ESSnet on SDMX phase I (see WP2 and WP3), wants facilitate the rationalization of the current offer of the SDMX software in order to foster both a community of SDMX developers and users.
This architectural ESSnet project deals with the standardisation of statistical tools. Therefore the main objectives of the project are more technical than scientific, and a comprehensive scientific overview is not relevant. A state of play showing the relationship to SDMX I, and the statistical and technical background was not found. Project representation lacks information.
Coordination
In terms of coordination and project setup, the processes were found to be sufficient. Most of the deliverables are published on the CROS portal. Numerous minutes and meeting presentations as well as an interim report summarize the main processes and discussions. However, a concluding report as a closing document for the whole project is missing. According to information found the communication flow within the project and between the project and Eurostat was sufficient. A risk management plan listed six major risks which may have arisen during the project.
The project results are applicable for the ESS and their members. Software, tools, and the SDMX handbook support the usage of effort already invested in SDMX Phase I. Case studies were not part of the project aims. The project includes a better understanding of SDMX by users as an objective. A description on how the community of SDMX developers will be fostered is not given.
SDMX II builds on the existing SDMX NSI Reference Infrastructure and therefore cannot be expected to contribute added value for statistical science. The infrastructure, a step-by-step tutorial, support and workshops for users are the main milestones to measure the success of this project.
Project factsheet
At the beginning the main aim of the development of the "SDMX NSI Reference Infrastructure'' was to provide the countries with a non-invasive infrastructure that could "wrap" existing statistical dissemination/reporting architecture and make them SDMX compliant. Now that the "SDMX NSI Reference Infrastructure" is available and enough mature, the next step is to foster a community of developers from the National Statistical Institutes and other statistical Organizations with the main aim to encourage further developments based on that Infrastructure, so to provide to the SDMX community a set of software that can be re-used partially or as a whole, but that they can guarantee homogeneity and interoperability.
The ESSnet on SDMX phase I, which will finish at the end of March 2011, has already adapted some of its objective, in order to fit the aims, described above, of the "SDMX NSI Reference Infrastructure" produced by Eurostat. Two representative examples are documented in WP4 (Generalized SDMX Framework) and in WP7 (PC-Axis with SDMX-ML).
The ESSnet on SDMX phase II moves a step forward and besides continuing some of the work of a previous ESSnet on SDMX phase I (see WP2 and WP3), wants facilitate the rationalization of the current offer of the SDMX software in order to foster both a community of SDMX developers and users. In this context the SDMX NSI Reference Infrastructure, more than the ESSnet phase I, will have a central position in all the tasks.
Costs / Funding: 595 000 EUR / 417 000 EUR
Deliverables: 20/21 http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/final-deliverables
Tourism – ESSnet on automated data collection
S 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
This sectorial project dealt with the specific topic of XML data harmonisation between software of the NSIs, and started with the aim of creating an overview of existing traveller data in software for tourist accommodation management. The communication during the project processes appears to be very satisfactory. The coordinator and co-partners produced plenty of results with statistical evidence in their countries. Nevertheless, the project did not include case studies or results for other ESS NSIs, such as additional information to enable other non- participating ESS NSIs to reuse the project’s outcomes. The goal of the project was changed from developing a common European XML file to the development of an XML/XBRL file in each country.
Coordination
As described above, project communication was very successful. As a result the internal and external project coordination was also satisfying. The project team had three face-to-face meetings during the project. In addition, a multitude of meeting minutes, presentations and interim reports were produced and published on the CROS portal. Only the intermediate report is missing.
WP2 2 of 2
WP3 1 of 1
WP4 1 of 1
WP5 2 of 2
WP6 1 of 1
WP7 1 of 1
The results of the project are comprehensive. There are eight case studies for each partner country which participated in the project. There is, however, a lack of information on non-participating countries. A comprehensive report on costs and benefits is missing. The choice for the eXtensible Business Reporting Language can be seen as positive regarding sustainability of the project’s results. Some of the partnering countries have developed their own websites.
The scientific value for non-participating countries is rather limited. Within the project, a list of variables needed to fulfil the European statistical requirements included in the Regulation 692/2011 and national statistical requirements was created and might be reusable in other cases. The paper “Automated data collection in accommodation statistics: a European overview”, admitted for the 11th Global Forum on Tourism Statistics, cannot be found in the Internet. No other project-related scientific publications were found.
Project factsheet
The main object of this project is to agree a common XML file structure useful for the European countries.
During the 22 months of the first phase of the action, this group is going to carry out a research on the existing software installed in the tourist accommodation establishments in different countries. The group is going to design the structure of a common XML file and to define some validation rules to ensure the quality and coherence of the data contained in the XML file.
The work to be carried out was divided into eight work packages, the second one being the more important, where NSIs had introduced the project to the other stakeholders such as establishments, software companies, associations, etc., the fourth one, when all the technical documents to develop the application were produced. During the fifth and sixth WPs NSIs had to make technical decisions and develop the applications needed to receive the XML files and include the data into the database. Finally, in the seventh WP the feedback report was designed, as were the tools necessary to create and send them to the establishments.
Coordinator: INE (Spain)
Deliverables: 12/13 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/tourism)
ICT Impact – ESSnet on assessing the impact
S 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
Due to missing information this project could not be assessed using the criteria this report is based on.
Project factsheet
The general concept of the Action is to update and to develop further the methodology for conducting ICT impact analysis that was developed in the 2006-08 Feasibility Study (Grant No. 49102.2005.017- 2006.128).
The general feasibility of the concept and methodological approach of the Action has been demonstrated by the Feasibility Study.
Data linking software developed in the Feasibility Study will provide the starting point for the proposed Action. Although the scope and boundaries of the proposed Action extend beyond those of the Feasibility Study, the knowledge base of participants in the Action is far greater than was the case at the outset of the Feasibility Study, and the risks and uncertainties are commensurately significantly reduced.
Coordinator: ONS (United Kingdom)
Costs / Funding: 1 111 000 EUR/ 1 000 000 EUR
Deliverables: 2/- (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/ict-impact)
On-going projects in 2013 The following projects were not finished as of December 2012. The assessment of these projects took into account the respective project runtime, deadlines and current project status according to the information available for the purpose of this report. The assessment of these projects will be repeated for the assessment report 2014.
Admin data – use of administrative data
S 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
The sectorial project Admin Data is split into three project periods from 2009 to 2013. The following assessment refers to the last period, from 2011 to 2013.
The viewable situation of the communication and input quality exhibits some problems in terms of documentation on the CROS portal. The description of the work is not available and therefore the deadlines of deliverables are missing, as is other information about the project. The website http://essnet.admindata.eu/ gives some background information on the project’s objectives.
Coordination
The internal and external coordination and the project setup were found to be appropriate to the tasks. The absence of an overview of deadlines for deliverables and the working structure of the work packages makes it impossible to further assess the coordination aspect of the project. The interim report provides information about current results and the working process, but a “managing part” with a view of deliverables is missing.
The results of the last period of this ESSnet project show the importance of the work in terms of administrative data. The harmonisation of metadata and the standardisation of methods as planned are expected to lead to better understanding and use of administrative data in Europe. The current project did not include case studies to evaluate the results in different countries. A comprehensive cost and benefit report is missing at the moment. The planned (technical) handbook may add sustainability to the project results. The “Information Centre” made available to ESS (ESSnet Admin Data Wiktionary) is an outstanding example of well organised web-based knowledge and information management.
The ESSnet project has conducted workshops to inform and allow other ESSnet members to participate, and further workshops are planned. Therefore some publications are planned which will yield contributions to scientific discourse on statistical methods and metadata. To date, there are no published papers or publications.
Project factsheet
The main objectives of this project are to explore the possibilities of the use of admin data for business statistics, to make best practices in this area available to the NSIs, and to prepare recommendations on the efficient ways of producing business statistics by using data that are already available in the economy, thus avoiding unnecessary reporting burden on businesses. The ESSnet should focus on common problems that many NSIs have in this area.
The project consists of 10 work packages covering different aspects of the use of administrative data for business statistics, first of all for Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and Short-Term Statistics (STS).
The ESSnet AdminData is one of the projects of the programme for Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS).
The main objectives for the whole action are:
− To provide a clear picture about the use of administrative data for business statistics in MS
− To help MS examining the usefulness of available administrative data for business statistics
− To help MS by checking initial quality of administrative data before introducing it into a statistical data base
− To provide MS with the methods of estimating business statistics variables which cannot be obtained from administrative sources
− To help MS to choose the most appropriate estimation methods of Short Term Statistics (STS) on the basis of administrative data
− To assist MS looking for the most efficient way of combining different sources of administrative data with statistical surveys
− To develop quality indicators for business statistics produced on the basis of administrative data
− To identify the main differences in the concepts used in business statistics from those in business accounting
− To provide MS with the latest available information on how best to use administrative data for producing business statistics and for this purpose to create an information centre (web-site).
− To facilitate the exchange of best practices in the area of use of administrative data for business statistics
Coordinator: ONS (United Kingdom)
Project duration: 01 July 2011 to 30 June 2013 (SGA III)
Deliverables: 8/33 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/admindata-sga-3)
Consistency
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
Consistency is an architectural project split into three large parts, all with different coordinators.
The communication between Eurostat and the project can be seen as satisfying. A few problems have been recognized regarding the dissemination activities. The documentation on the CROS portal is confusing and unstructured. A main field for improvement could be the streamlining of project publications: So far, the three main pillars of the project (MBGA I-III) have used different structures and ways to publish deliverables. The project lacks a comprehensive overview of all deliverables with deadlines.
Coordination
The missing information on deliverables and their deadlines described above precludes further assessment of the project’s achievements. Numerous deliverables (7 for WP 3, including an interim inventory report) have been published, but cannot be checked against a public list of actions, work packages and deliverables. The documentation of meetings, presentations, and workshops using meeting minutes and reports was found to be very good.
Work package published/announced WP1 ?
No comprehensive case studies are planned within Consistency. A cost-and-benefit report is missing. A plan for the production of handbooks or other supportive information that may add applicability and sustainability was not found.
The project has not as yet published any papers or other publications.
Project factsheet
The ESSnet on consistency of concepts and applied methods of business- and trade-related statistics deals with issues of coherence between the various statistical domains of business- and trade-related statistics. Problems of inconsistencies result from incoherent concepts and methods and from differing implementation in the Member states.
Inconsistencies means that data are not fully comparable and wrong conclusion might be drawn by the data users as differences between statistical domains are not a picture of diverging reality but are to some extent due to differing concepts, definitions and methodologies. Different concepts, definitions and methodologies do also increase the response burden and the production costs of the respective statistics.
The “Consistency” project is part of the objective 2 of the MEETS-programme, which aims “to achieve a streamlined framework for business-related statistics”. The task of the ESSnet on consistency is therefore: a.) to identify the main inconsistencies embedded in the European concepts and methodologies, b.) to provide a comprehensive inventory how the European concepts and methods are implemented in the MS, c.) to evaluate the identified inconsistencies, and d) to elaborate appropriate proposals of changes in order to increase coherence in the European business- and trade-related statistics.
Coordinator: ISTAT (Italy), STAT (Austria), SCB (Sweden)
Co-partners: CSB (Latvia), CSO (Ireland), INSEE (France), STAT (Austria), SL (Lithuania), SCB (Sweden), ONS (United Kingdom), FSO (Switzerland), ESTAT (Greece), Eesti Statistika (Estonia)
Costs/Funding: 2 741 000 EUR / 2 564 000 EUR
Deliverables: http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/consistency-0
DARA (remote Access) – ESSnet DARA
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
The project “Decentralised and Remote Access to Confidential Data in the ESS” is based on the previous project “DA”. DARA is considered as a software implementation project. A short documented state of play in relation to previous projects and ESSnet exists, but it is not comprehensive. The coherence between former projects and DARA could have been explained in more detail.
Aside from the fact that a lot of deliverables have not been published just in time, the external communication in this project is satisfying. The project team disseminated structured meeting minutes, schedules, agendas, and deliverables on the CROS portal. Furthermore, the website www.safe-centre.info provides comprehensive information about the project and its deliverables.
Coordination
One external indicator for successful project coordination is the timely publication of project deliverables. The intermediate report, an important document to comprehend the project coordination, and the manual for the scientific community should have been published in October 2012 but neither is available at the time of review at the beginning of February 2013. The security requirements handbook (WP2) has draft status. Several deliverables have not yet been published in a timely manner as of February 2013.
WP2 1 of 1
WP3 0 of 1
WP4 0 of 1
WP5 3 of 4
WP6 0 of 2
Applicability
The project results are highly applicable and sustainable for the ESSnet community. It is the project’s main objective to implement a remote access client for all NSIs to connect to and view community statistics held by Eurostat which would otherwise require physical presence at Eurostat premises. The aim is to provide a secure infrastructure and decentralised access points for accessing confidential data. The pilot of this tool has been proven in practice in a test phase.
The project DARA lays the basis for a secured access channel from Member States to confidential information on Eurostat’s servers. The project’s scope comprises common software development phases such as requirements engineering, implementation, piloting, testing and rollout.
As this project aims to develop reusable software for all members of ESSnet, the focus is less on scientific value added and more on usability and functionality of the client.
Project factsheet
The aim of the ESSnet project “Decentralised and Remote Access to Confidential Data in the ESS” (ESSnet DARA) is to establish a secure channel from a safe centre within a National Statistical Institute (NSI) to the safe server at Eurostat, so that researchers can use confidential community statistics in their own Member States (MS) without traveling to Luxembourg. The concrete task of participating NSIs is to provide a secure channel to guarantee access for data users to the remote access system at Eurostat, and
also to provide service and IT support for the researcher at the local national level.
Eurostat is conducting the project “Secure Infrastructure for Confidential data access and sharing” (VIP- SICON) with the company ARHS to build a remote access system based on Citrix.
Coordinator: DESTATIS (Germany)
Deliverables: 4 /11 http://www.cros-portal.eu/projectdetail/1524
DCSS – Data Collection
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
DCSS at the time of the assessment is a new sectorial ESSnet project. It started at the end of September 2012. The following remarks can therefore only be preliminary.
The project started with a kick-off meeting, and the main results and presentations were shared on the CROS portal. The documentation on CROS portal should be completed with the description of the work which includes the overview of deliverables and deadlines. With regard to the added value for ESS, the project aims at addressing a common interest for ESS to provide recommendations for web questionnaires and the survey design for implementing mixed-mode data collection.
Coordination
Up to now, the project coordination is successful. It is especially commendable that the project team includes external consultants for a broader spectrum and points of view.
Work
Applicability
A cost benefit analysis was not found. The possible applicability of the project results cannot be assessed at the moment. However, the project design indicates an intention to produce practicable results and lasting outcomes for the ESS. At least two different software packages for multimode data collection were identified in the settings of ESSnet partners.
The project team will participate in several conferences and workshops according to the project’s description. Members of the project published a working paper for the UNECE Conference for European Staticians. (http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.44/2012/mtg2/WP27.pdf)
Project factsheet
The ESSnet Data Collection in Social Surveys has been initiated by Eurostat based on the fact that several NSIs have started projects to develop web-based data collection for social surveys. Eurostat’s vision is to support early collaboration between countries. Apart from facilitating the introduction of web-based data collection for social surveys, the project second task will be research and recommendations on mixed mode data collection in social surveys.
The exchange of experience and knowledge, sharing tools and identifying best practices are of major interest. The ESSnet is shared by a consortium of several countries: Partners are Statistical Offices of the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Finland, Norway and Germany. Three NSIs are acting as support-group- members: Denmark, Sweden and Italy. Destatis (Germany) acts as co-ordinator. Two external consultants are also involved in the project. The duration of the project is two years. A final public workshop on the results of the project is scheduled at the end of 2014.
The project not only aims at offering guidance, but also investigates possible opportunities for sharing tools and knowledge, and identifying areas for common development. Moreover, it is of common interest for ESS to provide recommendations for web questionnaires and the survey design for implementing mixed-mode data collection. Since follow-up projects might be required in some areas, the project also serves to identify potential further actions.
Coordinator: DESTATIS (Germany)
Costs/ Funding: 444 000 EUR/ 400 000 EUR
Deliverables: 0/8 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/data-collection-social-surveys-using-multiple- modes-dcss)
Data Warehouse – Micro data linking
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
The ESSnet project Data Warehouse is composed of two SGAs. In the following description of assessment results, only the current part, SGA 2, will be considered.
The on- going ESSnet Data Warehouse can be classified as an architectural project, due to the fact that the main objectives deal with standardisation issues. Nevertheless, a scientific overview would be useful in terms of description of the state-of-the-art of data warehousing in Europe and the rest of the world. Neither a scientific overview nor a state of play have yet published.
Coordination
The coordination and project setup can be seen as successful up to now. Most of the deliverables which should have been published by now are available. Some deliverables due to have been published by the end of 2012 have not published on the CROS portal, e.g. the report on “modular workflow on the S- DWH”, and “intermediary implementation report”.
The project results are of great interest for all NSIs. The planned handbook promises to be especially useful in providing sustainable input for future work. Short case studies with questionnaires from all ESSnet members are available on the CROS portal, and were integrated in the analysis work of the project. A “strong focus will be on ensuring sustainability of all the results”, as stated in the description of WP4.
Project factsheet
The overall objective is to provide assistance in the development of more integrated databases and data production systems for business statistics in ESS Member States. The ESSnet has to work on issues that are common for the majority of the ESS NSIs when applying a data warehousing approach for statistics.
Its general objectives are:
− Review of current best practices in integrated business data systems;
− Identification of problems and solutions in current practices and the opportunities that a data warehouse might provide;
− Examination of ways in which data can be combined to support new outputs;
− Provision of recommendations on how the ESS can improve data warehousing;
− Dissemination of the ESSnet results to all ESS countries.
The ESSnet's main goal in daily statistical practice is to increase the efficiency of data processing in statistical production systems and to maximize the reuse of already collected data in the statistical system.
Coordinator: CBS (Netherlands)
Co-partners: ONS (United Kingdom), SE (Estonia), ISTAT (Italy), SL (Lithuania), INE (Portugal), SCB (Sweden)
Costs/Funding: 1 732 000 EUR / 1 615 000 EUR
Deliverables: 15 /39 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/data-warehouse-working-area)
ESeG – European socio-economic classification
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Project type
The architectural ESSnet project ESeG has not yet published a state of play or scientific overview. The intermediate report partially contains this required information. The project documentation is available on the CROS portal, but lacks structure. The deliverables are available on different pages and some links are empty. A clear assignment would be helpful for a structured documentation.
Coordination
The project team used the CROS portal for the dissemination of some of the deliverables, but there is a lack of an explicit plan with deadlines for deliverables, e.g. a description of work. The intermediate report provides an insightful view into the project processes. With two thirds of the project duration already having passed, only a few deliverables have so far been published. The intermediate report referred to problems obtaining complete data, and says that “the consultations with the NSIs show they are often interested by our work but they do not have much time to devote to us”.
Work package published/announced WP 0 ?
WP1 0 of 4
WP2 0 of 3
WP3 0 of 1
WP4 0 of 1
WP5 0 of 3
Applicability
The project plan does not include explicit case studies to prove results in practice; however the development of prototypes for standardisation includes a lot of information and data to get wide-ranging results. Up to now, there is no handbook or user guide for the further usage of the results. Both would add significantly to the long-term sustainability of project results. No cost/benefit analysis has yet been published.
The project team has not yet published any scientific papers or articles in journals.
Project factsheet
The purpose of this ESS-net is to build a socio-economic classification which will allow the grouping of individuals with similar economic, social and cultural characteristics, comparable lifestyles and patterns of behaviour, in order to produce comparisons and analysis. Such a tool will be very useful to produce analysis in a wide set of domains and to present social statistics and comparisons in European countries, by the Commission, Eurostat, the ESS and researchers in human sciences.
Starting from the past works (i.e. the ESEC prototype and its evaluation), the aim of the project is to build a classification which allows the grouping of individuals with similar economic social and cultural characteristics throughout the European Union (European socioeconomic groups - EseG).
This classification is part of the harmonization of statistical tools, improving the presentation of social statistics and allowing international comparisons within the EU. The project must base the classification on information obtained from existent data and allow its use in the most important number of surveys. So, the elaboration of ESEG is using ISCO 2008 (1 or 2-digit version) and some core variables from European surveys (status of employment and activity).
Coordinator: INSEE (France)
Costs/Funding: 483 000 EUR / 458 000 EUR
Deliverables: 0 /12 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/deliverables-4)
Global Value Chains – Measuring global value chains
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Project type
“Measuring global value chains” can be characterized as a widespread methodological project. The main objectives contain a number of identification and standardisation tasks which will require a broad scientific background. Therefore, a comprehensive scientific overview will be very useful. It has not yet been published.
An important issue in the project is the inclusion of non-participating partners by offering open workshops or by supporting non-participants in upcoming surveys. One of the open workshops was announced (1) in October 2012, one month after the start of the project. The results of the workshop, including photos of the participants and a summary on the proceedings, were disseminated as ESSnet news and today can be found under the same link as the former workshop announcement.
Coordination
According to the coordination and project setup there are some changes in the timetable concerning the project’s deadlines. These changes are well documented and were arranged with Eurostat. However, numerous scheduled deliverables have not as yet been published. 14 of a total of 30 deliverables have a deadline in 2013. 16 should already be published. As of the time of this review, however, only 7 are available on the CROS portal.
The ESSnet “Global Value Chain” identifies current methods and concepts, and develops its own surveys for Eurostat. Workshop documentation and published project reports lay the basis for sustainability of the project results. The main result (a prototype of a handbook for a measurement framework for economic globalisation) has not yet been created, as the project is still on-going. A cost/benefit plan is available for WP 1. It is recommendable to produce similar plans for assessing costs and benefits of actions of other work packages. The project team will publish results in various papers and survey reports.
The project coordinator has published two papers. The first one, “Direct measurement of Global Value Chains: Collecting product- and firm-level statistics on value added and business function outsourcing and offshoring” is part of a World Bank volume and based on a Trade Workshop held at World Bank Headquarters, June 9-10, 2011. The second paper was published in 2011, entitled “Measuring Global Value Chains in Business Surveys”.
(1) http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/pgp_ess/news/ess_news_detail?id=129439305&pg_id=2737&cc=ESTAT_EUROSTAT
Project factsheet
The overall objective of the ESSnet is to strengthen ESS capacity (conceptually and methodologically) to measure economic globalisation and the globalisation of business and to concretely establish statistical evidence on the increasingly globalised ways of doing business and organisation of the enterprises and the impacts on the possibilities for Europe to create new jobs and sustainable growth. This will enable the policy makers to make better informed decision and to monitor the globalisation/ internationalisation of economies by developing and providing indicators on economic globalization.
Identify and develop a set of standardised indicators on economic globalisation to be collected and published as reference indicators within the European Statistical System, subject to political approval.
Furthermore the project will identify a set of supplemental indicators which could be collected to measure more industry specific elements of the globalisation process utilising existing statistical sources.
The project will also identify possible experimental indicators based on micro data linking. The project will further develop the methodology for micro data linking and identifying different types of statistical registers relevant for measuring globalisation. The project will support the setup and implementation of the methodology to carry out the micro data linking between different types of statistical registers in participating countries.
The project will fine tune the survey methodology including finalising the survey contents and establishing the required set of harmonised definitions to be used in the survey. The project will support National Statistical Institutes to set up and implement the survey on global value chains and international sourcing in participating countries.
The project will produce statistical analyses of the global value chains and international sourcing survey and micro data linking results to be published by Eurostat.
The project will test possible methods of improving the quality of the Foreign Affiliate Statistics by utilising information available within the European Statistical System related to the population of foreign affiliates.
Coordinator: STSTDK (Denmark)
Deliverables: 7 /30 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/deliverables-3)
ICT Piloting – Definition and piloting of specific modules
1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
The project team did not publish deliverables or documents or results on the CROS portal. Important documents are missing, for instance the state of play, scientific overview and a description of work.
Coordination
Planned deliverables are not published on the CROS portal, and information on the internal or external coordination could not be found.
The main objectives are:
− to test existing modules in order to optimize the definition of indicators, the wording of questions and the structure of the questionnaires. The testing would be carried out by the participating NSIs in the Member States;
− to develop and test specific modules for a number of subjects.
Coordinator: STATDK (Denmark)
Deliverables: no information available (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/ict-piloting-0)
MEMOBust
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Project type
The main objective of the Memobust project is to produce a standardized handbook for the production of business statistics. This handbook includes all the ideas and knowhow of participating NSIs. On the one hand, it is an accumulation of expertise and a good way to combine different perspectives. On the other hand, the need for coordination can be considered vast.
The inclusion of non-participating ESS NSIs is an important aim in phase 2 of the project. A course based on the handbook is planned. However, the WP “dissemination” has not started yet.
The documentation on the CROS portal is structured and comprehensive. There are no other websites or press releases. The discussion on an online version of the handbook (wiki) led to a deliberate decision not to operate an online-wiki http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/memobust-deliverable-19-plan-next-phase.
Coordination
The coordination effort needed to meet the objectives is very high. The workload of the first phase has been described as very high. As a result, the project runtime was extended. After the first phase, Greece left the project. This has led to new coordination challenges, as work packages had to be rearranged as a result. All but one of the first phase deliverables are available (20/21). The missing document is the cost report. Regarding the second (on-going) phase, 4 out of 23 deliverables are already accomplished.
WP2 2 of 4
WP3 0 of 6
WP4 0 of 3
Applicability
With their goals of creating more efficiency and integrating processes, the results of Memobust are genuinely provisioned to be applicable for the ESS: It is planned to provide a standardisation tool for the production of business statistics. This will be accompanied by a comprehensive handbook. Stakeholders, mainly subject matter experts, were involved in Memobust to ensure business relevance and practicability of the outcomes.
The project has not been proven in practice yet. The handbook addresses the needs of a very specific target group.
In line with the objective of ESSnet projects to create scientific value added, the project team published two papers. The first paper, titled “Development and Structure of the Memobust Handbook”, was published by Leon Willenborg, Sander Scholtus and Arnout van Delden in 2012. The second paper was titled “Microintegration- description in the Memobust Handbook”. It was published in 2012.
Project factsheet
The main objectives for this project are the identification of best practices and the development of common methodology and ESS guidelines supporting the production of business statistics aiming at reducing respondent burden and fostering efficiency and integration of processes.
One operational objective is to produce a methodological handbook for the production of business statistics. This is intended to be an update of the existing Handbook on design and implementation of business surveys edited by Willeboordse in 1998. The new handbook shall have:
− The entire domain of enterprise and trade statistics as its scope;
− The ESS (including Eurostat) as its target;
− An integration perspective (in order to raise the quality and the efficiency of European business statistics);
− A standardisation perspective by applying both the SDMX Metadata Common Vocabulary and the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) and a standardisation perspective by proposing standard methods.
Coordinator: CBS (Netherlands)
Co-partners: SCB (Sweden), GUS (Poland), ISTAT (Italy), SSB (Norway), HCSO (Hungary), SFSO (Switzerland)
Costs / Funding: 1 185 000 EUR / 1 066 200 EUR
Deliverables: Currently not available in the public domain.
MESH – Manual for energy statistics
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
The communication flow and input quality to ESSnet including information on the project progress are satisfying. The working area is situated on the CROS portal, and the structure of the final handbook is very compelling. However, it is difficult to find the deliverables. A scientific overview could not be found but can be considered as important for this sectorial project.
Coordination
The project setup in terms of the external coordination, the inclusion of disciplines and stakeholders was assessed with a positive outcome. The matching of announcement and delivery of WP results indicates problems for the “interim report” as an announced deliverable of WP 1 with the deadline January 2013 could not be retrieved at the time of assessment. Three other deliverables have not been published as of February 2013 which means a deviation from the planning.
Applicability
The ESSnet MESH will produce several applicable results for Eurostat and countries in the ESS. The comprehensive handbook should be particularly useful and relevant for future work. The project team did not make any statements on the planning of case studies or other ways to prove the applicability in practice. A cost/benefit analysis is given in a very short form within a presentation. A comprehensive document was not found to date.
The project team has not yet published any papers for conferences or articles for journals.
Project factsheet
Identifying the situation and the Member states users' needs in relation to the needs established in task- force 2008.
Drafting a global inventory of the best methodological practices for the statistics in the residential sector, both at EU level and external to the EU.
Drafting and producing a manual setting the detailing statistical information to provide greater insight into the use of energy in the residential sector, the variations statistics techniques to be applied, the best practices and methodologies used both at EU and external level and the suggestions on the best options to use according to the users' starting-off situation.
Carrying out a training session for all the users in the EU Member states so as to enable them to migrate from their present situation to future detailed information requirements for the residential sector.
Spreading the information, the manual and the good practices found in all Member State NSIs. (source: http://www.cros-portal.eu/projectdetail/1528 )
Coordinator: DAE (Spain)
Costs / Funding: 497 000 EUR/ 552 000 EUR
Deliverables: 7 of 21 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/mesh-production-manual-statistics-energy- consumption-households)
Net-SILC2 – Second Network of the Analysis
1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Only a working paper summarizes some project information. A comprehensive assessment was not possible.
The working paper describes the project’s contents in a very comprehensive way and includes a lot of deliverables. Nevertheless a couple of deliverables are missing. There is also a lack of information towards project processes, meeting minutes, deadlines for deliverables etc.
WP D ?
The project team contributed one paper named “Measuring material deprivation in the EU” (2); part of a methodologies and working papers collection of Eurostat.
Project factsheet
In line with the previous Network (Net-SILC1), the aim of Net-SILC2 is to develop methodology for the analysis of the EU-SILC data, covering both cross-sectional and longitudinal dimensions, and to develop common tools and approaches regarding various aspects of data production.
The activities of the Network are set out in terms of 25 work packages described below, but first we identify and describe a number of overarching issues. It is important that the research should be seen as an integrated whole, and active steps will be taken to encourage cross-fertilisation.
Coordinator: CEPS/ INSTEAD (Luxembourg)
Costs / Funding: 1 127 000 EUR / 995 000 EUR
Deliverables: 0 of 25 (http://www.cros-portal.eu/content/net-silc2-0)
Profiling – Profiling of large and complex MNEs
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Project type
Sci. val.
Information on this project was not provided at the time of assessment.
Project factsheet
Main objectives are:
− To define the feasibility and the scope of ‘profiling’ large and complex MNEs;
− The development of a common conceptual framework, methodology, rules and standards for ‘profiling’;
− The development of process descriptions, tools, operational guidelines and quality assurance of profiling;
− The development of models for the organization and financing of ‘profiling’;
− Testing and implementing ‘profiling’;
− The development of a model for sharing of ‘profiles’ (including legal framework).
Coordinator: INSEE (France)
Standardisation
A 1 2 3 4a 4b 4c 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 7c 8 9 10
Project type
Sci. val.
Information on this project was not provided at the time of assessment.
Project factsheet
Main Objectives
Clarification of the status of current ESS standards. The set of standards shall be clearly defined and easily accessible to all members of the ESS. To promote the use of standards, it should be clear to all members that in what sense these standards are real standards and how they bring quality and efficiency gains.
Development. The place, structure and the maintenance of the inventory of standards should be clarified and developed so it can serve as a common environment for the work of standardisation. An important infrastructure of this common environment will be a repository of standard statistical software tools for implementing specific parts of the Statistical Business Process and for the dissemination of standardisation activities
Modular architecture. Efficient and flexible management of standards requires a manageable modular architecture where the modules of the Statistical Business Process are supported by standard methods and IT tools. The Sponsorship on Standardisation is to define a broad schema for the framework but a common architecture for standardisation shall be further detailed and developed.
Practical implementation. The Sponsorship on Standardisation is to develop a strategic view on standardisation and integration of processes in the ESS. This ESSnet can assist the implementation of the priorities and helps developing an implementation plan through various operational tasks
Connection with projects of standardisation. The ESSnet on Standardisation will provide inputs for the on-going projects engaged in standardisation and provide some real examples of standardisation of statistical methods through the sharing of standards and guidance. The ESSnet shall also build connections with on-going actions with relevant standardisation potential in order to make sure that goals of standardisation are adequately assured in these actions
Dissemination and use of action results. As standardisation itself demands good communication and effective sharing of information on available standards and practical experiences, active collaboration with other parties is one of the most
Coordinator: HCSO (Hungary)
Co-partner: INS (France), INI (Italy), CSB (Latvia), SL (Lithuania), CBS (Netherlands), ONS (United Kingdom)
Costs / Funding: 276 000 EUR/ 248 000 EUR
Annexes
Annexes: evaluation and assessment sheets
Annex: evaluation and assessment overview
Criteria / Project Name SA E
EG R
C O
R E
SD M
X II
To ur
is m
IC T
Im pa
1. State of play?
4. Dissemination activities
4b) other websites
4c) conference participation
Criteria / Project Name SA E
EG R
C O
R E
SD M
X II
To ur
is m
IC T
Im pa
5a) internal
5b) external
6. Inclusion
6b) of relevant stakeholders
7c) impact of project results
8. Sustainability
Annex: coordination and partner
n
BE (Belgium) P P BG (Bulgaria) P P CZ (Czech Republic) P DK (Denmark) C P C DE (Germany) C C P P P P P P EE (Estonia) P P P P IE (Ireland) P P EL (Greece) P ES (Spain) P C C FR (France) P P P P C P P C P P IT (Italy) C C C P P P P P P C C P CY (Cyprus) LV (Latvia) P P P LT (Lithuania) P P P P P LU (Luxembourg) P C HU (Hungary) P P P C MT (Malta) NL (Netherlands) P P P P C P P C P P P P P AT (Austria) C P P P PL (Poland) P P P P P PT (Portugal) P P P P P RO (Romania) P P SI (Slovenia) P P P P SK (Slovakia) P P FI (Finland) P P P P P P P SE (Sweden) C P P P P P P UK (United Kingdom) P P P P C P C P P P P P NO (Norway) P P P P P P P CH (Switzerland) P P P P Coordinator C Co-partner P
2
Annexes
Annex: assessment of presence of deliverables The following tables show the presence or absence of deliverables by working package. Colour coding is used in function of due date and project status.
SAE
WP2 0 of 8
WP3 0 of 6
WP4 0 of 8
WP5 0 of 4
WP6 4 of 5
WP2 4 of 4
WP3 3 of 3
WP4 2 of 2
WP5 2 of 2
WP6 2 of 2
WP7 2 of 2
WP2 3 of 3
WP3 5 of 5
WP4 5 of 5
WP5 3 of 3
Tourism
WP2 2 of 2
WP3 1 of 1
WP4 1 of 1
WP5 2 of 2
WP6 1 of 1
WP7 1 of 1

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