SDMX @ ABS: Why and How we use SDMX Graeme Oakley Australian Bureau of Statistics "Towards Implementation of SDMX - Jan 9-11, 2007"

SDMX @ ABS: Why and How we use

SDMX

Graeme OakleyAustralian Bureau of

Statistics

"Towards Implementation of SDMX - Jan 9-11, 2007"

Content of Presentation

Introduction - objectives, overview of ABS

Principles relevant to ABS data and metadata dissemination

Case studies - one national, one international

Vision, Lessons, Issues



Objectives of Presentation

Why SDMX fits with ABS philosophy concerning principles and standards

Tell our stories about a national and international experience using SDMX

Discuss the future vision, concerns and lessons

Australian Bureau of StatisticsAustralia's national statistical agency, statistical leadership role in National Statistical Service

ABS Mission".. assist and encourage informed decision-making, research and discussion .."

A broad range of statistics on Australian societyEconomic, Demographic, Social, Health, Tourism, Culture and Leisure, Environment, ...

Central and 8 Regional offices, about 2750 staff (FTE) plus 800 interviewers


ABS Principles

Relevance: good planning with a good understanding of current and future needs of users; timely and relatable statistics

Integrity: analysis and interpretation is objective; always publish our statistics; explain and inform; methodologies and approaches open to scrutiny

Access for all: strive for accurate and widespread media coverage; access through range of products and services


ABS Principles (ctd)

Professionalism: exercise highest professional standards; staff highly trained; development of statistical standards; open about the quality of our statistics

Trust of providers: encouraged to provide accurate information; data is strictly protected; explain why information is collected; every ABS officer required to give an undertaking of secrecy

Source: ABS Corporate Plan


ABS - Clients

Australia's national statistical agency serving:Australian GovernmentState/Territory GovernmentsLocal GovernmentsInternational statistical organisationsBusiness communityEducation, religious, welfare, etc organisationsMediaIndividual members of society


Principles and Standards ApproachData Management - data is visible, accessible, understandable, reliable, relatable, presentable

Metadata - definitions (understanding), discovery, quality ('fitness for purpose')

ABS Enterprise Architecture - follow mainstream standards, collaborate & partner where effective, promote development of low complexity & maintainable solutions, remove dependence on vendor formats, extensible and scalable systems, use emerging technology as appropriate


Standards (ctd)


Dissemination - all publishable data in ABS Information Warehouse metadata associated with products web site is prime dissemination channel clients can 'pull' data for free data stored once but published in many common formats

Statistical - use international standards eg ICD, SITC; and frameworks eg SNA

Case StudiesInternational - NAWWE with OECD

(Note: ABS responds to many information requests from international organisations, in variety of formats - we are seeking an efficient solution that aligns with our principles and standards)

National - Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)

[A large, sophisticated and important user of ABS data. There are a number of other users of this type eg Treasury.]"Towards Implementation of SDMX - Jan 9-11, 2007"

International - OECD NAWWEInvolvement in pilot project since

2002/03Tasks include:

Set up metadata and load National Accounts data to ABS Information Warehouse to suit agreed NAWWE Data Structure DefinitionExtract from ABSIW and transform to agreed SDMX message structure (XML format)Place on ABS website (recently decommissioned web page for original case study and yet to put up one for current study)


OECD

FAME Time Series DB

ABS Information Warehouse

ABS Statistical Products

EXCEL File

Hand entered

Current Process


OECD

FAME Time Series DB

ABS Information Warehouse

ABS Statistical Products

Time Series XML

Transform to SDMX

Publish to www.abs.gov.au

Future Process


ABS Experience

Changed business process requiredAlthough supporting the initiative, ABS

National Accounts group could not always provide resources to do necessary setup work

Long periods on inactivity whilst OECD worked on new Data Structure Definition

Experimental SDMX V1 files were delivered

Now have SDMX V2 DSD to understand and implement


National - RBA


Central Bank for Australia (RBA) - receives mainly time series data from many sources

Many formats and different frequencies

Previously maintained their time series data in an EXCEL based spreadsheet system

In past year, developed new system to centralise time series data storage and retrieval, based on SQL server

National - RBA (ctd)

ABS provided detailed Labour Force data in SDMX V1 format as a trial (RBA currently takes LFS data in a large number of EXCEL files and some multidimensional cubes)

The RBA's new system has been demonstrated to internal business areas, and accepted

RBA want to extend use of SDMX to other ABS series and improve the timeliness


ABS RBALabour Force data in SDMX

format

SQL Server DB holding time series data

XSLT

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

Email with file attached

What RBA do with SDMX files


RBA economists

What RBA see as benefits?

Efficient data transfer - reduces need for clerical intervention when dealing with spreadsheets, can easily manipulate with programs

Metadata rich - SDMX allows more metadata to be conveyed compared to spreadsheets

Able to handle changes in time series metadata and data more easily - can programmatically check metadata for changes


What does RBA want ABS to change?


Nothing related to the transfer format - SDMX

Want the SDMX files on ABS web site so can download at 11.30am (embargo time) rather than wait for email

Want ABS to extend use of SDMX to other statistical series

Additional information related to identification of discontinued series, code sets

Vision


Vision - framework and standard that ABS can use for all our international reporting; and also to use with large major national users of ABS data.

SDMX is suitable as the primary

dissemination vehicle for machine readable aggregate and time series datasets for both national and international clients. The SDMX format files will become ABS data products held on the web site for free access.

Lessons

SDMX has the potential to provide integrated data exchange across organisational boundaries. Challenge is not the SDMX 'technology', but dealing with 'meaning' and 'mapping' issues

Recognise costs involved in implementation, especially mapping local metadata and data structures to international requirement in each subject domain, and the importance of engaging local subject matter experts


Issues


Use SDMX for wide range of users, from technically competent to small data integrator. A short shallow learning curve with plenty of support, such as easy documentation, examples, tutorials, and tools

Simple time series identifier, in addition to the Data Structure Definition - eg local identifier as part of exchange - the key back to internal data holdings; existing international 'code' for each series used in current exchanges - doesn't vary from country to country.

Conclusion


Move to SDMX V2, recognising need to keep back-end systems independent of version changes.

Importance of establishing business benefit of SDMX - it is not just a technology.

Ideal of a common framework that would guide each statistical domain to determine their exchange requirements and definitions.

Need for good registration processes around all aspects of SDMX, and involvement of NSO's in governance.

QUESTIONS ANDDISCUSSION


Documents

SDMX @ ABS: Why and How we use SDMX Graeme Oakley Australian Bureau of Statistics "Towards Implementation of SDMX - Jan 9-11, 2007"