ICT Technologies

Session 24 June 2007

Mark Viney

Remember: almost everything a statistical agency does can be supported by ICT

Today we will cover:

some emerging & future technologies

XMLWeb ServicesBusiness Process Management

ICT Technologies

The future isn't ...

what it used to think it would be

Future Technology

Gordon Moore (co-founder of Intel):The number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits will double approximately every 2 years

Moore's Law

http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/

Gordon Moore (co-founder of Intel):The number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits will double approximately every 18 months

"The first microprocessor only had 22 hundred transistors. We are looking at something a million times that complex in the next generations - a billion transistors. What that gives us in the way of flexibility to design products is phenomenal."

- Gordon E. Moore

http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/

Moore's Law

Gordon Moore (co-founder of Intel):The number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits will double approximately every 18 months

so, applications we only dreamed of a few years ago will be possible in the not too distant future.

...implications for statisticians? - an increasingly "digital world", - capacity to process vast amounts of data - and adopt new techniques

Moore's Law

Moore's Law

Technology Hype-cycle

Technology Hype-cycle

XML

Web Services

Open Source

Business Process Management

E-learning

Virtual Private Networks, Wireless networks

Geography & Spatial systems: Geocoding, Global Positioning, Mapping

Technologies with a future in statistical agencies

XML is the best attempt yet at a universal data exchange format it is standard, but open and extensible, and widely used and supported.

It is important to any organisation that needs to exchange data internally or with other organisations or needs to be able to extract data from flows amongst external organisations.

XML

XML

XML is a language for describing structure, content, and layout of data in a fashion that is based on standards and can be used anywhere

XML is not a programming language but it does have some components (like stylesheets) that support reformatting and presentation of data

XML is used to define both the rules for describing a particular data type (eg a Person type) and instances of the type (eg John Smith, Mary Jones)

the definition of a data type is called a Schema and the XML language for defining types is called XSD - XML Schema Definition

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language

Increasingly all data flows between organisations will use XML it provides an easy method to agree on data formats

most commercial systems will handle or generate XML and there are lots of tools to manipulate and consume XML

using any other technique would tie the organisations to particular systems or platforms

XML

It is just as relevant for use inside the organisation

availability of tools and flexibility to change and use in other systems is just as important

ideal archiving format - you can have a very high level of confidence about future usability

XML

XML is a key enabler of easy, reliable, "intelligent" data exchange

for data capture, for dissemination, for general business activity

"intelligent" - easy for users (ABS or its clients) to have their systems interact with internal data or data from other organisations (when the data is in XML)

stylesheets allow flexibility in presentation and use

one XML document can have multiple stylesheets to serve multiple client uses

XML

Technology Stack:Technology Stack:Applications providing services to each other across the web using standard protocols.

Key benefits: flexibility, any platform, leverage existing functionality

What are Web Services?

our more sophisticated clients take the data from

our web site and load it into economic models, decision support systems, contract management systems.

why not integrate our web site with client applications (using web services) and cut out the "middle man"?

XML schemas required

Information Service Delivery

go to: www.abs.gov.au/webservicesgo to: www.abs.gov.au/webservices

Statistical Infrastructure - coding of industry and occupation

Notes client (Lotus Script)

Information Service (Major Economic Indicators) - automated access to selected National Account release figures

Excel client (smart tags)

Demonstration Services

Step 1 - click on Smart TagStep 1 - click on Smart Tag

Information Service Example

Step 2 - Choose table cells to be retrieved into Step 2 - Choose table cells to be retrieved into the spreadsheet modelthe spreadsheet model

Information Service Example

Step 3 - press button to get most recent dataStep 3 - press button to get most recent data

Information Service Example

Web Services

Free Redistribution: the license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources.

Source Code - the program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form.

Derived Works - the license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

Open Source (common license conditions)

Open Office: www.openoffice.org

MySQL: www.mysql.com

R: www.r-project.org

S: www.stat.bell-labs.com/project

eclipse: www.eclipse.org

Portable applications: www.portableapps.com

Open Source Tools

XML

Web Services

Open Source

E-learning

Virtual Private Networks, Wireless networks

Geography: Geocoding, Global Positioning, Mapping

Technologies with a future in statistical agencies

Business Process Management

ƒ understanding and mapping of Business Processes

ƒ formal change management of processBusiness Process Management System

ƒ A system that can use Business Process Maps to orchestrate Business Processes

Business Process Management

Mapping current Business Processes

ƒ knowledge captureProvision of Services to perform business

functions

Orchestration of Business Processes by BPMS

ƒ automated / manual

Business Process Management Steps

A Simple Business process

biometrics

speech recognition

natural query processing

grid computing

DNA logic

some more "exotic" technologies

mark.viney@abs.gov.au

Thanks!