Hallgrímur Snorrason

Management seminar on global assessment

Session 8:

Planning, programming and priority setting

under budgetary restraints; human resource policy

Yalta 23-25 September 2009

8

Managing demand – priority setting

NSI’s normally face larger demands than they can cope with comfortably – internally from government, businesses, educational and research institutions, externally from international institutions

Demand for statistics is characterized by:– Large number of subject matters – hence surveys– Large and costly sample surveys– Demand for a high frequency of surveys– Requests for a high level of detail and data on small areas

Special problem: Erratic demand from government for special services Another problem: Demand from international organisations for special

surveys

How to prioritize? What to prioritize?

Need to meet the large demand by prioritizing – selecting which statistics we shall produce, their frequency and level of detail

Prioritization has to be done in consultation with users, domestic and international

Need to observe basic statistical requirements such as national accounts

NSI’s must also observe the balance in their statistical production – balance between different users (government, businesses, education and research) and between different types of statistics (economic, social, environment)

NSI have or should have the best overview to prioritize

Consultation and cooperation on priority setting

Continuous dialogue with users (user groups, councils etc.) Explain scarce capacity and other limitations Seek cooperation in setting priorities Coordinate demand from different users and align it with

international requirements Gain acceptance of the use of international definitions,

classifications and practices and abandon special domestic standards

Seek cooperation with international agencies on demand and priorities

Need for planning

Planning is needed in order to– ensure that we use our scarce resources efficiently– ensure that we follow our priorities and meet our most important

demand in a systematic way– ensure the smooth running of the statistical production and the NSI

Planning is an important tool for internal coordination and cooperation

– For involvement of staff in the statistical activities– For communications between the different levels and across

departments, divisions and boundaries

How to plan and coordinate

All NSIs have some kind of planning mechanism The process of planning and coordination is often found or perceived

to be inadequate –common complaints are e.g.– Lack of participation in the planning process– Lack of coordination in the planning– Lack of internal coordination within individual units– Lack of coordination between units– Unsatisfactory communication across boundaries (between units,

between departments)– Little coordination in decision making– Bad distribution of financial and human resources

The process of planning

The planning process may depend on the size of the NSI but irrespective of size it is important to involve all professional staff in one way or another

Main priorities are set a top level but the planning of how to reach them must be based on a bottom-up approach

Practice for many years at Statistics Iceland – annual planning– first stage: involving all experts responsible for a given subject matter– second stage: heads of departments are obliged to consult their staff

before submitting proposals to their directors Annual planning reports from the experts and then heads of units

– A brief report on the progress over the year– Plans for continued practices and production– Suggestions for changes, new statistics and abolition of outdated statistics

and practices

Possible planning phase

– Heads of units consult with their staff on the activities and plans of the unit

– Heads of units submit plans for their activities to their divison directors (heads of departments)

– Activities should be broken down into actions with quantifications for resources used

time in weeks or months human resources (quantity, kind) claims on IT demand on effort from other departments

– The plans should make it possible to quantify the total activities

Possible planning phase cont.

– The planning should be supervised by division directors (heads of departments) and submitted by them to the DG and central management

– The plans should be discussed by central management with feedback to/consultations with heads of units

– After discussion the plans should be adopted by the DG and central management

– The plans should be presented to the staff (through meetings, presentation on the internal website (intranet)

– The plans should be published on the website of the NSI– The plans should be monitored and reported on on the website

(e.g. quarterly, twice a year)

Staff involvement

Staff involvement in planning is important– For helping to ensure that we follow our plans and priorities and reach the

objective for the statistical production at the required level of quality– To motivate staff and support job satisfaction

Staff involvement should be mobilized– For regular follow-up of the activity plans– By regular meetings of all relevant staff in each unit and meetings

between division/department director and heads of units Need for applying project management across boundaries Central management must be responsive

– By regular meetings (weekly, bi-weekly) with formal agenda based on proposals from division directors, formal decisions on actions and on follow-up, formal reporting to staff (also involving regional offices)

Human resource developments – some factors

– Staff involvement in planning and coordination – Effective communication, e.g. by regular consultation, regular

meetings (divisions, central management) and reporting– Effective information about the objectives and workings of the

institution (about goals and norms, about activities in other parts of the institution and the statistical activity as a whole)

– Recruitment policies (recruiting well educated and qualified staff)– Redefining and upgrading jobs from low skilled to high skilled

ones, abolishing assistant and secretarial functions– Conducting regular staff and labour relations policies– Training

Training – a key factor in HR policies

Establishing/running a comprehensive training programme involving– Continuous training events – Regular courses and ad-hoc courses– Regular information sessions on developments and progress– Provisions for participation in extra-mural courses– Provisions for participation in general education– Provisions for participation in higher education– Provisions for participating in conferences etc.

Training program should be administered by a specific manager (unit) in consultation with managerial and staff representatives (training committee, “school board”)

Internal and external training - examples

Content of courses, examples– Specific technical courses (IT, databases, office tools, communication tools,

website/tabulation tools)– Specific methodological courses (sampling, variance, editing, seasonal

adjustment)– Courses in combined project management and subject matter– Internal or external, internal with external inputs – courses with heavy

internal content found to work best at Statistics Iceland– Courses on statistical laws and codes of practice

Ideas for internal information sessions– Should be regular – e.g. monthly, bi-monthly– Require a head of unit or department to give a structured lecture on specific

new developments, new methodologies, new data or data collection processes

Hallgrímur Snorrason – session 8

Thank you for your attention