Needs for changes and adjusting to
them in the management of statistical
systems
Panel discussion Prospects and Risks for the
Future: How to manage uncertainties
UN Statistical Commission Seminar, 23 February 2007
Heli Jeskanen-Sundström
Steps towards more efficient and effective
management of the national statistical systems
Know your ”business” environment and its changes
 Identify the needs and risks
 Formulate the vision and strategies
 Manage the change
 Evaluate and assess the results
 Make conclusions, learn from experience, make changes
and try again
(=> private business has developed many good
management tools)

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23.2.2007
2
CONTINUOUS
INFORMATION
ON OPERATING
ENVIRONMENT
FORMULATE
STRATEGIES
MANAGE
THE
CHANGE
MANAGE
THE PERFORMANCE
BSC
SELF
ASSESSMENT
EFQM
Focus
Goals
Plans
Measures
Needs for reacting
Heli Jeskanen-Sundström
Targets
Measures
Resources
Results,
outcome
23.2.2007
3
Role of information in risk management

Good information systems are needed to support risk
management, we need to have
 constant flow of relevant information on our “business”
environment and its changes
 systems and mechanisms (and people) to handle,
structure and analyse information
 systems to share information and knowledge - even
weak signals - among the people in our statistical
systems
 strong management involvement in process, incl.
discussions, conclusions and decision making
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23.2.2007
4
Where to get relevant information?
Internal information sources of the NSI’s (e.g. economic
and personnel accounts; customer data bases; travel,
meeting and project reports, Strategic Intelligence systems)
 External sources (web sites and reports of the relevant
national and international organisations, networking with
users and stakeholders, feed-back systems)
 Benchmarking reports, peer reviews, quality evaluations
(like IMF’s ROSC, EU’s Code of Practice peer reviews and
other analysis, OECD’s reports, World Bank reports,
bilateral benchmarking, quality assessments)

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23.2.2007
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Feedback systems of Statistics Finland
Survey or system
Target
Frequency
Personnel Survey
Personnel
Annual
VIP Corporate Image Survey
Decision-makers
Annual
Corporate Communications
Survey
Media, editors and reporters
Annual
Public Image Survey
Ordinary people
Every two years
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Paying customers
Every two years
Media monitoring
Mass media, stakeholders
Continuous
Anonymous feedback channel
ANOPPI on the Internet
Data users and other
stakeholders
Continuous
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TQM frameworks help in risk management
TQM frameworks - like EFQM - can be used
 to assess activities and performance of own organisation
 to build up quality management systems
 to identify and to evaluate risks in a balanced way
 to assess the priorities of development work
 EFQM = European Foundation of Quality Management,
established in 1988. It maintains an updated version of
quality management framework which is focused on
continuous development of activities and on measurement
of achievements.

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23.2.2007
7
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF EXCELLENCE
(EFQM)

Results Orientation

Customer Focus


Leadership and Constancy of
Purpose
Management by Processes
and Facts

Continuous Learning,
Innovation and Improvement

People Development and
Involvement

Partnership Development

Corporate Social
Responsibility
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23.2.2007
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EFQM EXCELLENCE MODEL
Enablers
Results
3. People
1. Leadership
7. People Results
2. Policy and Strategy
5. Processes
6. Customer Results
4. Partnerships and
Resources
9. Key
Performance
Results
8. Society Results
INNOVATION AND LEARNING
The ”Enablers” criteria cover what the organisation does.
The ”Results” criteria cover what the organisation achieves.
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23.2.2007
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Why did we participate in the quality competition?
To know ”how good our organisation actually is” – the yardstick is the
framework and assessment model of management widely used in
Europe (EFQM)
 Exhaustive feedback report of a team of experienced assessors of the
organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement
 The team of assessors supports the organisation’s development with its
external knowledge and perspective through an input of approximately
80 working days
 Gives the organisation a common goal and objective
 Opportunity to compare the assessment profile against those of top
organisations in Finland and Europe
 The award is highly appreciated and organisations scoring over 400
points are entitled to apply to the EFQM Recognised for Excellence level

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23.2.2007
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At the same time the quality award application
Draws a comprehensive description of the way Statistics Finland
operates
 “Lays all cards on the table”
 Process has been an extremely useful exercise in itself, “best
investment ever done”, a huge learning opportunity
 Tool for management, tool for assessment, tool for improvement
 Tool for learning and learning from others
 Promotes uniformity within Statistics Finland

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Contents of the application
Overview
1. Leadership
2. Strategy and policy
3. People
4. Partnerships and resources
5. Processes
6. Customer results
7. People results
8. Society results
9. Key performance results
Glossary of terms and abbreviations
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23.2.2007
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Chapter 1: Leadership
How do leaders give direction to activity and inspire
changes to approaches
 How do leaders develop the organisation and its
management system
 How do leaders interact with external stakeholders
 How do leaders reinforce a culture of excellence
 How do leaders identify needs for change and champion
organisational changes

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23.2.2007
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Chapter 2: Strategy and mission
How are strategy and mission based on the needs of
stakeholders
 How are strategies based on the organisation’s internal
information and learning
 How is strategy developed, reviewed and updated
 How is strategy deployed through processes
 How is strategy communicated

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Chapter 3: People
How are people resources planned, managed and
improved
How are people’s knowledge and competencies identified,
developed and sustained
How are people involved and empowered
How is dialogue maintained in the organisation
How are people rewarded
How is people’s well-being cared for
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Chapter 4: Partnerships and resources
How are external partnerships managed
 How are finances managed
 How are buildings, equipment and materials managed
 How is technology managed
 How are information and knowledge managed

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Chapter 5: Processes
How are processes designed and managed
 How are processes improved systematically and to satisfy
customer needs
 How are products and services designed based on
customer needs
 How are product and services produced, delivered and
serviced
 How are customer relationships managed and enhanced

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23.2.2007
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The competition process
Self-evaluations were done in 1998, 2002 and 2005
 Decision of participating in the national quality award competition
in 2006 was done in autumn 2004
 Application was submitted on 27 April 2006. Structure of the
application is strictly defined (activities are described in
accordance with the EFQM Excellence Model, 75 pages).
 Applications was assessed by teams of six independent assessors
(summer 2006)
 A team of assessors visited Statistics Finland (August 2006)
 The team provided us with a detailed feedback report expressing
their views on our strengths and improvement areas (Oct 2006)
 Lessons learned are used in our ongoing and future work

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23.2.2007
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Steps towards quality
2006
Quality award application
Auditing of statistics starts
EFQM self-assessment
Competition for internal quality award
Process map Code of Practice of the European Statistical System
Management policy
Databank of project work
Quality Manager network
OSF quality criteria Productivity 2010
2005
2004
2003
Strategic Intelligence (SI) system
Personnel 2010
Operating Strategy 2003
Projects are launched for development of leadership and supervisory work, and
customer relations management Systematic training of Quality Managers starts
EFQM self-assessment
Handbook of Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics
Customer service principles Statistics Finland Guidelines on Professional Ethics
Production model project is launched
Competence strategy Databank for systems development (SYSRAK)
Describing of processes starts
2001
Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System
Customer management information system APPLIX
Customer feedback system
2000
Adoption of BSC in performance measurement
Anonymous feedback system ANOPPI
EFQM evaluator training
2002
1999
1998
1997
– 1996
Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics
EU working group on Leadership on Quality
Mission Vision
Values
Review of strategy
Quality award self-assessment Self-evaluations
BSC
Personnel survey
Key corporate membership of Excellence Finland
Project guidelines (version one)
Study on development of Statistics Finland's customer process
Steering and support group on quality
Exhaustive usage of personal appraisals
Quality project
Senior Adviser responsible for quality matters
TQM
Customer satisfaction surveys (1992)
Personal appraisals start (1992)
Code of Professional Conduct (1993)
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The RADAR model
Determine the Results that are
aimed for
Plan and develop an
Approach
Assess and Review
the approach and its
deployment
Deploy the
approach in
practice
Heli Jeskanen-Sundström
23.2.2007
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