Use of alternative data sources in Canadian SPPIs
Mary Beth Garneau
Alternative Data Use: Risks and mitigation strategies
Freight Rail Services Price Index
Operational Model
Fuel surcharges
Data Source
Risk
Public disclosure of
micro data not
collected under the
Statistics Act
List prices on the
Internet
Mitigation
Prescribed as
collection activity
by Chief Statistician
under the Statistics
Act
Structured Data
from other
departments or
organisations
Unstructured Data
from websites,
catalogues, etc.
Data
Capture
Prices impacted by
page views
Structured Data
from other
Statistics
Canada
programs
Mileage and
Percent based
Exchange rates
Base rates
Carrier website
CANSIM Table
176-0064
Final Prices
Weights:
StatCan data, Carrier
website
INDEX
Overburden of
page views crashes
website
Example 2
Consensual
minimal impact
web scraping
Alternative Data Registry
Alternative Data Repository
Public perception
of intrusive
collection
Roles and Responsibilities
Subject Matter
Generalized Processing
System
Identify, evaluate and
implement
Supply
interruptions
Data files from
third parties in
private sector
Third-party
software
Carrier website
Custom Adapter to
load structured
information
Electronic
Questionnaire
Distance
Cost of data
Negotiated
contracts with
multi-year
renewals
Change in data
source creates a
break in the index
New Lending Services Price Index
Information Management
Administrative Data
New Lending Data
Market Rates
Bank of Canada
CANSIM Table 176-0043
Implicit Price Index
for Domestic
Expenditure
Manage agreements,
ensure legal and policy
obligations are met
Facilitate, communicate
and document use
CANSIM Table 380-0065
Document use of
admin data on
website
Loss of public trust
Data from other
government
departments or
regulators
Agreements that
meet legal
requirements and
policies
index (2011=100%)
 Annual percentage rates
 Funds advanced
 By loan product and maturity
114
3
112
110
2
108
2
106
1
104
1
102
Jun-11
Nov-11
Apr-12
Sep-12
Feb-13
Jul-13
Dec-13
May-14
Oct-14
Mar-15
6mth T-Bill
1-3yr Bond
3-5yr Bond
Controlling costs,
minimizing
response burden
100
Q1 2011
Overnight Rate
index (2011=100)
Discontinued
collection by
regulator
116
3
0
Jan-11
Agreements
include provisions
for discontinuation
of data
The Future of Alternative Data Sources
index (2011=100)
4
Q3 2011
Q1 2012
Q3 2012
Q1 2013
Q3 2013
Q1 2014
Q3 2014
Q1 2015
5-10yr Bond
New Lending Services Price Index
Establishing
collaborative
working
arrangements
108
Seeking new
sources
106
104
102
100
98
96
94
Other surveys
Lack of granularity
needed for prices
Include new
variables to
existing surveys
92
90
Q1
2011
Example 1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
2012
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
2013
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
2014
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
2015
Improving
techniques and
systems