Modernisation of Official
Statistics – ABS experience
Frank Yu
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Content
• Modernisation:
– Why, what and how
• Challenges
• International Collaboration
The Challenges
New
competitors &
changing
expectations
Rapid changes
in the
environment
Diminishing
budgets
Riding the
big data
wave
Increasing
cost &
difficulty of
acquiring
data
Competition
for skilled
resources
In-Confidence
4
Today
Specify
Needs
Design
Build
Collect
Process
Analyse
Disseminate
Archive
Limited by
available time
Generally one
off solutions
Tools are unique
and very labour
intensive
90% data survey
based
Limited by
tools and time
Focus on static
publications
Data stores
held by
individuals
Limited
activity in this
area
Evaluate
Today compared to Tomorrow
Substantial
increase in use
of admin data,
less direct
collect
Reuse and
Assemble
Major focus of
staff expertise
Corporate
Solutions that
fit most needs
More focus on
analysis, value
add and data
integration
Focus on ecollect
Increased
client
engagement
Specify
Needs
Data stored
centrally
Greater
interactive data
Design
Build
Collect
Process
Analyse
Disseminate
Archive
Limited by
available time
Generally one
off solutions
Tools are unique
and very labour
intensive
90% data survey
based
Limited by
tools and time
Focus on static
publications
Data stores
held by
individuals
Limited
activity in this
area
Evaluate
3 Key Goals
• The role of ABS 2017 is to build the statistical
infrastructure and capability and reengineer the
processes needed to deliver on 3 key goals:
1. Reduce the cost and time of doing business
2. Grow the business through new statistical
products and services
3. Deliver the first digital Census (2016) on time,
budget, and quality
while delivering on Business As Usual.
7
If we achieve these goals,
this will mean…
1. A more efficient and effective ABS
2. Better decision making support for
Governments and the Community
3. Improved user and provider experience
4. A sustainable and growing organisation
8
Change in what we do
Indicative Current and Future Effort Distribution
As Is
Future State
35
30
25
20
%
15
10
5
0
Specify
Need
Design
Build
Collect
Process
Analyse
Disseminate
Archive
Evaluate
9
What is ABS 2017
• ABS 2017 is a major transformational program for the ABS
which consists of:
– the engineering of ABS statistical information management
infrastructure; and
– the reengineering of all ABS statistical driven data collections,
productions and dissemination processes and supporting systems.
ABS2017 CSIP (Govt funded)
ABS2017 Program
(ABS funded)
Building a bridge to our future:
6 Year Journey
Current state
Future state
Trusted, progressive
statistical leader –
Under attack!
Trusted, progressive
statistical leader –
Secure!
In-Confidence
11
Context: Planning
Enterprise Architecture.
Build Foundational Infrastructure

EA has been developed. Work is
continuing the next level of detail.

First release of MRR and SWM
due Dec 2013. Plans and
strategies for subsequent
versions, and EDW V1 exist.
Specify Corporate Capabilities
Build Corporate Capabilities
Assemble Corporate Capabilities
Priority capabilities to be redeveloped
have been identified.
Broad strategy for identifying
remaining capabilities are underway.
Plans for specification and build
phases will be developed over the
next 6 months and will be brought to
the board.
What will we deliver?
•
New capability, via new or enhanced:
•
•
•
•
Enterprise architecture
Re-engineered business processes (eg acquire and
disseminate) and applications to support them
Information Management (IM) standards and governance
Core IM infrastructure , including capability for handling
administrative/transaction datasets
=
Capability
+
people
methods
+
+
+
processes
systems
standards /
frameworks
+
other
resources
13
Enablers
Business Change
Benefits
Enterprise Architecture
Re-engineered, Improved
Business Processes
Processes –SOA
Managed &
consistent
business
processes
Re-use
processes
Strategic
Goals for ABS
2017
Grow
business via
new
statistical
products/
services
Processes - SWM
Existing/new applications
integrate with SWM/SOA
Metadata
driven
processes
Information Governance,
Architecture & Management
Process
Assembly and
Automation
Reduce time
and cost of
business
operations
Metadata Registry and
Repository (MRR)
(Better) Metadata Authoring
tools integrated with MRR
EDW
Existing/new applications
integrate with MRR/EDW
Migrate corporate/foundation
metadata to MRR
Managed &
consistent
metadata
and data
Re-use
metadata
and data
Deliver large
scale
Digital
Census
Survive
and Thrive
Corporate
Capabilities
Specify
Needs
Design
Foundational
Infrastructure
Assemble
Collect
Compile
EDW
In-Confidence
MRR
Validate
Disseminate
Enterprise Dissemination Services (eg REEM, .Stat)
Retail
Unique
Services
…
Existing but wrapped
Services
AHS
Enterprise Imputation Services
NA
Enterprise Editing Services
LFS
Enterprise Acquisition of data Services (eg Acquire)
CPI
Enterprise wide Frameworks (eg
SNA)
Specific Statistical Business lines
to be Reengineered
The Relationship between Foundational Infrastructure,
Process Reengineering & Enterprise wide Solutions.
Archive
Evaluate
Statistical Workflow Management
Identity & Access Management
15
Enterprise Architecture
=
Capability
+
people
+
methods
+
processes
+
systems
+
standards / other
frameworks resources
Reengineering
Specify Corporate Capabilities
Top down program assessment
Identify any broad program initiatives to be considered.
Document hot spots, risk
areas and value add.
Analyse current business processes
Determine future information gathering
design
Are there alternative approaches: Could administrative data
be used? Opportunities with mobile devices?
Determine desired future business process
Draw on opportunities
presented by new foundation
infrastructure.
Agree on common business processes
Includes governance,
sign-off and quality
gates
Agree on common/unique Corporate Capabilities
For example developing Corporate Capability to
support collection of data through diaries.
Describe information flows (metadata and data)
Defines data and metadata
inputs and outputs of the
business process.
Define required capabilities to be created
=
Specifications for Corporate Capabilities
Capability
+
people
+
methods
+
processes
+
+
systems standards / other
frameworks resources
Document functionality
and information flows for
development team.
Challenges
•
•
•
•
Getting Buying in
Maintaining Business As Usual during transformation
Developing while changes happening
End to end Reengineering vs bit by bit continuous
improvement
• Cultural change: corporate interests > local interests
• Capability Building and change management
• Program coordination and governance
International Collaboration: Simplified view of GSIM information objects
International Collaboration –
transforming the vision to reality
• Harness existing collaborations: UNSD, ESCAP,
HLG, Statistical Network, etc.
• Use common standards and framework:
GSBPM, GSIM, CSPA
• Adopt common architecture vision - aim for
“plug and play”, make solutions re-usable
• Move form conceptual to practical
collaboration
Strategic Advisory Board
Asia Pacific
(SAB-AP)
Under the auspices of UN ESCAP
Committee on Statistics
Asia and Pacific NSO challenges
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
demand for data;
higher quality, cheaper and more timely;
expectations of providers;
reductions in our budget;
escalating collection costs;
competition for staff;
increased complexity of work programs; and
expense of aging infrastructure.
Sharing Infrastructure across NSOs
Specify
Needs
Design
Build
Collect
Process
Analyse
Disseminate
Archive
Evaluate
By sharing infrastructure development, we can:
• Reduce costs of development
• Adopt new methods quickly
• Increase comparability of statistics
International Modernisation
UN ECE HLG
Modernisation Framework
Stats Network
Rapid development of
Common shared solutions
UN SD
Geospatial Statistics
How can ESCAP
countries
influence and
contribute to the
modernisation
Agenda?
SAB-AP
• Strategic Advisory Board–Asia Pacific to be
established
• Sub-committee of ESCAP Committee on
Statistics
• Members from across the Asia Pacific Region
• 1st meeting in Japan in November
Objectives of the SAB-AP
• Promote common standards, models, tools
and methods
• Drive new developments in the production
and delivery of products and services;
• Coordinate and share information about
common infrastructure and developments
• Determine priorities for strategic
developments in the modernisation of
official statistics
Possible SAB-AP Priorities
• Adoption of the Generalised Statistical
Information Model (GSIM)
• Expansion of the Generalised Statistical
Business Processing Model (GSBPM)
• Common Statistical Production Architecture
• Global statistical-geospatial framework
• Practical sharing in areas such as data
collection, processing and dissemination.
Questions?