Session 1 4 June 2007 Mark Viney

Session 14 June 2007

Mark Viney

ICT Technologies

IntroductionIntroduction

Mark Viney

ƒDirector, Technology Application for Economic Statistics GroupƒTechnology Application BranchƒTechnology Services Division ƒmark.viney@abs.gov.au

www.abs.gov.au

Population = 21 million

Area = 7.7 million sq km

Coastline = 59 740 km

http://www.sentinel.csiro.au

AustraliaAustralia

We assist and encourage informed decision making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by leading a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service.

Australian Bureau of Statistics

We assist and encourage informed decision making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by providing leading a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australia - Population distribution

90% of Australia's populationcontained in 2.2% of the continent(mainly east and south-west coasts)

Australia - Summer Temperature

ABS Offices

Rainfall

Head office in Canberra

Offices in each Australian State and Territory

covers all "subject matters": Economic, Social, Health, Environment, Technology, Agriculture..

3600 staff

9 offices (in each State & Territory capital)

we publish 3 - 4 publications each working day

largely professional staff -

ƒ Maths/Statsƒ Economists ƒ ICTƒ Accountants

the ABS

Almost everything a statistical agency does can be supported by ICT

Today we will cover:

which technologies fit where in "statistical lifecycle"

Next 2 sessions: other applications of ICT (eg. knowledge management), future technologies, IT management

ICT Technologies

Hardware

3400 pc + 1100 laptop (Microsoft Windows XP SP2)

110 Windows servers (Windows server 2005)

1 Fujitsu mainframe (MSP OSIV)

8 Sun microsystems midrange servers (Solaris unix)

ICT TechnologiesWhat does the ABS use?

Infrastructure Software

SAS

ORACLE

Lotus Notes (Lotus smartsuite)

Blaise

Supercross

ICT TechnologiesWhat does the ABS use?

Applications Environment

SAS

ORACLE (PL SQL + Java SP)

Lotus Notes (Lotus script)

C, C++, C#, VB.net, Centura

ICT TechnologiesWhat does the ABS use?

IT Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

Applications

"Business" Infrastructure

Layers of Technology

Servers and OS

PCs and notebooks

Networks - Local Area, Wide Area, Internet

Printers, plotters, scanners, disks, tape drives

Directories (assets, people)

Generic software packages:

ƒ Word, Spreadsheet, Databases (eg. Access, ORACLE) Web site

IT Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

Applications

"Business" Infrastructure

IT Infrastructure

Shared Data capture systems

Meta data management systems

Business Register

Data Warehouses

Publishing systems

Statistical Packages: CSPro, SAS, Blaise, SPSS, FAME, PC-Axis...

IT Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

Applications

"Business" Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

systems common to businesses

regardless of business function

Financial Systems

Personnel Systems

can buy "off the shelf"

IT Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

Applications

"Business" Infrastructure

Business Infrastructure

systems to support specific functions of the organisation

Statistical Applications

ƒ National Accountsƒ Population Census

Personnel Applications

ƒ leaveƒ travelƒ payroll

IT Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

Applications

"Business" Infrastructure

Applications

INPUT THRUPUT OUTPUT

INPUT THRUPUT OUTPUT

INPUT THRUPUT OUTPUT

"Stove Pipe" approach

INPUT THRUPUT OUTPUT

Standardizedinterface

INPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

"Clearing-House" Approach

Standardizedinterface

INPUT THRUPUT OUTPUT

INPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

Meta Data Management

Data WarehousesStandards

IT Infrastructure

Statistical Infrastructure

Applications

"Business" Infrastructure

"Clearing-House" Approach

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

Standardizedinterface

Standardizedinterface

Design and Tune

Acquire Data Process Inputs Transform Inputs into Statistics

Analysis and Explanation

Assemble and Disseminate

Decision Support

Statistical "Lifecycle"

Manage Quality and Processes

Statistical Leadership

Project Management (MS Project)

Software Development Methodology (eg. Prince)

Overall Support

Form Design (eg. Word, PageMaker)

Mapping (eg. Mapinfo)

Interviewer instructions/ Training

Metadata stores:

standard questions

classifications

data item definitions

processing metadata

Design and Tune

Key Data Entry

OMR, OCR, ICR

Collection Registers

E-form (internet)

Scanning/ Repair

Coding - Automated/ Assisted

caTi - telephone

caPi - personal

Acquire Data

SAS

SPSS

Blaise

SQL database

Process Inputs

CSPro

Supercross

MS Access

SAS, SPSS, Blaise, CSPro, Supercross, Access

Confidentialisation - suppress cells which may disclose details of individuals

ƒTau Argus (Netherlands)ƒDAAS (ABS)

Transform Inputs into Statistics

SAS, SPSS

"OLAP" tools (eg. Brio, Discoverer, Pro Clarity, Cognos Powerplay)

Seasonal Adjustment

Graphics & graphs, thematic mapping

Analysis and Explanation

Desktop publishing (Word, Ventura, Pagemaker)

Datasets: spreadsheets, time series datasets, "cubes"

on-line data access services: CANSIM, PC-AXIS, INFOS, Beyond-20/20, SuperWeb, Cognos PowerPlay..

Assemble and Disseminate

telephone

internet

e-mail

Decision Support

select a "standard" set of tools and methodologies and try and stick to them

Develop a plan for your shared "statistical infrastructure"

maintain skills

invest to keep existing systems "up to date"

Some suggestions...