Joint UNECE/Eurostat work session

on statistical data confidentiality28 - 30 October 2013

Ottawa, Canada

Improvement of access to European microdataOutcome of the Project

„Decentralised and Remote Access to Confidential Data in the ESS“

ESSnet DARA

Maurice BrandtDESTATIS

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Outline

1. Introduction

2. Goals and Content of ESSnet DARA

3. Results

4. ESSnet DARA Remote Access Pilot

5. Outlook

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1. Introduction

Increasing demand for statistical microdata

Access to national datasets in Member States (MS)

Access to 8 EU statistics via Eurostat, (EU) No 557/2013

Request for detailed confidential microdata

For European statistics: access via Safe Centre in Luxembourg

Very high barrier due to local constraints

Feasibility study: “ESSnet on Decentralised Access to EU microdata sets” (2009-2010)

Idea: set up a secure network of national Safe Centres

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2. Content of ESSnet DARA

ESSnet on “Decentralised And Remote Access to confidential data in the ESS” (ESSnet DARA)

Project has started in October 2011, Duration: 25 months

Partners Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et de Statistique, France Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Hungary Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom Instituto Nacional de Estatistica, Portugal State Statistical Institute Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, Germany (co-ordinator)

Funded by the European Commission (70%)

Task: Implementation of a pilot of a Remote Access connection from National Statistical Institute (NSI) Safe Centres to the EU statistics at Eurostat

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3. Results

WP1: Handbook for National Statistical Authority (NSA) staff and researchers with description of workflow and accreditation criteria for Access Facilities

WP2: List of user and safety requirements for remote access

WP3: Cost / Benefit analysis

WP4: Proof of concept with a pilot remote access infrastructure with 5 access points in Europe to a central node in France (GENES) to a public use file of LFS

- Infrastructure is implemented and tested- Test of alternative connections from MS to Eurostat (sTesta)- Investigation on other types of connection

WP5: Many presentations at meetings and conferences

4. Alternative Remote Access pilot

Central node at Eurostat was not ready to use; therefore we implemented a short term alternative pilot for testing purposes only

A network between partner MS with one MS (France) as central node with testdata

This pilot has been implemented for a practical test of the workflow and to gain experience to establish IT-infrastructure between MS

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4. DARA Remote Access WorkflowRoles and their main tasks

Roles Main tasks

ResearcherAnalysis microdata with different statistical software via remote access in the Safe Centre.

Support Officer (SO)

Providing personal guidance and support for the researcher during the whole process.

Information Technology Unit (ITU)

Setting up the remote connection. Communication only with the SO.

Data Manager (DM)

Organizing and preparing datasets for research projects. Communication only with the SO.

Output Checker (OC)

Checking and verifying the outputs. The researcher typically gets in touch with the OC when output is created. 7

DARA pilot model

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4. IT infrastructure for Remote AccessDescription of the ESSnet DARA pilotuntil the Eurostat final implementation

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Clear recommendation for European remote access:

The DARA pilot with Eurostat as central node !

or a system that fulfills all defined user and security requirements, whereas

the DARA pilot is an example that has been tested according to the specifications

There are still investments necessary for the final system at Eurostat Test of Eurostat implementation Connection of MS

Member States need to agree on a specific remote access system – this can be only the final implementation!

Accreditation of Access Facilities, starting with NSIs

Build up a circle of trust and competences for microdata access for scientific purposes in Europe

Strategy, roadmap and timeline for the next steps after DARA is needed soon

5. Outlook

Thank you for your attention

Decentralised and Remote access to Confidential Data in the ESS:http://www.safe-centre.eu

Eurostat ESSnet Projects: http://www.cros-portal.eu

Maurice Brandt

Federal Statistical Office GermanyResearch Data Centre

Tel. +49-611-75-4349maurice.brandt@destatis.de

http://www.destatis.de http://www.forschungsdatenzentrum.de