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Executive Summary:
Information Resources Management:
Successes and Challenges
Effective management of information may be
one of the most competitive advantages a national
statistical office can have.
Data Organisation - Documents
and data have to have distinct management policies.
Incompatibilities in data type with inconsistent
data definition is one of the pitfalls.
Data Collection - Competency of enumerator/interviewer
in collecting information is important.
While designing the questionnaire collection
of correct information should be anticipated.
Data Processing - The data management
policies are extremely important. Centralised
data-processing and distributive data-processing
are the preferred options depending on the available
technology. Clear indications on the organisation
of filing system, data security and processing
instructions should be given to the users.
Data Dissemination - An easy and timely
access to a well presented quality data is the
basis of an effective dissemination policy.
Standards should be established for all publications.
Online electronic publishing will provide greater
access to the products. It is also important
that an annual calendar for publications be
determined.
With advance in network computing, telecommunication
systems, and enterprise applications, today's
world of information technology is a complex
place. With information demands and technological
innovations on the rise, tracking IT services
and resource usage is more involved than ever
before. It should be noted that IT is
a means to an end, and not an end in itself.
The goal is to give users the tools they need
and the data they want to make timely, consistent
and correct business decisions.
Using the current technology, a metadata should
be defined with consistent data definition and
a datawarehouse constructed. As warehouse
data will be made increasingly available, network
capacity planning will come to the fore.
The challenges offered to National Statistical
Offices through the establishment of an effective
information resources management policy are:
- development of a sophisticated
data organisational scheme
- formulation of a coherent
data synchronisation policy of its databases
- organising a cost-effective
set of tools for processing
For an efficient Information Resources Management,
ensure that :
- clear, defined and explicit
goals from a business perspective are available
- you consider defining
metadata right from the instigation of your
project
- you maintain consistency
with data definitions
- your software tools
are fully integrated
- and that the Information
Resources Management policies are transparent
with all staff of the organisation familiar
with it.
The success of the process of organising data
for users will depend on the way it can be utilised
by the users and not on the efficiency of the
data model. It is important to give a high
priority to advance and intermittent communication
with end users. A serious commitment should
be made to ensure that the required training is
made available to the users for them to excel
in the management of information resources.
PART I
Introduction
Knowledge is Information for any relevant subject.
A national statistical office recognised as
a "data bank" houses enormous amount of information.
It collects, compiles, analyses and disseminates
information.
All data collected is not necessarily analysed.
Analysis of data transforms it into information.
Analysed information is not necessary validated
and therefore not all information gets disseminated.
Processing this variety of data requires methods,
techniques, technologies and skills. The
"Capital", "Labour" and "Technological Progress"
combined together in the right proportion ensures
effectiveness.
Like any grouped items, information has to
be managed. In this paper the policies
involved in Information Resources Management
will be discussed first, followed by the usage
of technology in Information Resources Management
at Bureau of Statistics. Users' expectations
of Information Resources and the challenges
it provides to the Bureau of Statistics is also
highlighted.
Management of Information
Resources
Effective management of information may be
one of the most competitive advantages a national
statistical office can have.
Baseline
At the moment, data at Bureau of Statistics
(BOS) is stored and accessed using a wide range
of generally outdated facilities. Due
to the evolutionary development of Fiji Government
applications in the past, a high level of fragmentation
and redundancy exists and directly affects data
organisation at BOS.
No commercial value has been attached to the
Corporate Data but a perceived advantage through
a Corporate Approach to data management does
exist.
Information Resources
Information available at BOS is of different
nature : raw data, semi-processed data, and
report format data. There are various
forms in which this information is available
: hard field copy, electronic copy and
hard processed copy.
The importance of the available information
is related to its usage, but also quite importantly
to the time span between data collection, data
processing and reported data. A certain
degree of responsibility by the Statistical
Office is associated to the information which
cumulates through the collecting, processing,
analysing and reporting phases.
Data Organisation
A National Statistical Office with the amount
of data it has and by virtue of historical records
it detains definitely needs to have a system
of organising all information. It becomes
important to differentiate the nature and allocate
the management policy applicable to the handling
of that information.
At a very rudimentary level it is important
to ensure that the documents in which data is
available, specially raw data, is effectively
managed. Experience at BOS has shown that
when it comes to huge amount of documents, tracing
becomes very difficult if a sound document management
policy does not exist. Managing these
documents is just as important as management
of electronic data.
| Illustration
1: raw data, semi-processed data, and report
format data |
For instance, BOS while undertaking
the Data-Entry Phase of the 1996 Population
and Household Census made sure that Management
of Census Questionnaires and Management
of Data Entered in the computer were clearly
dealt with separate information resource
management policy. Refer to Annex
1 for the management of the Census questionnaires
and Annex 2 for the management of data
entered into the computer. At this
stage managing both information
is just as important.
However, information resource management
policies do become strict when the data
goes through the processing stage where
the data entered is validated. Refer
to Annex 3 for the Data Flow Chart.
The contents of the Annex 1 to 3 also
shows the nature and the forms in which
information is usually available.
Later in this paper discussions will be
held on the usage of technology
Note: The data-entry
was done on Stand-Alone Personal Computers
|
Due to the various types and methods of data
collection, it is a difficult task to standardise
data types. Incompatibilities in data
type with inconsistent data definition is one
of the pitfalls that national statistical offices
have to overcome.
This is mainly associated to the data ownership
issue where data structure are determined on
adhoc basis to satisfy selected group of users.
Data Collection
There are various Data collection methods and
the information management policy depends on
the method used.
BOS mainly collects data from field and is
therefore quite often manuscript on the questionnaire.
It also obtains electronic data from some agencies
and processes before publishing.
Another factor which affects the data collection
is the level of competency of the enumerator/interviewer
to capture the respondents information.
This is dealt with to a great extent during
the design phase of the questionnaire to ensure
collection of correct data. Communicating
correctly to the respondent the information
required is primordial, whether it be in written
form or verbal.
Depending on the information to be collected
certain cultural subjectivity does get introduced
in the data which is difficult to filter but
however it is taken into consideration during
the reporting phase.
Data Processing
Processing of raw data starts with capture
of information collected. Various interfaces
and techniques could be used for the data capture
but heavily depends on the computing services
available.
In the past BOS has had archaic technology
to cater for data processing. It has now
put up a client-server model to handle the processing
of most of its new surveys. A Local Area
Network of Personal Computers has been implemented
and resources are shared. A centralised
system of data organisation has been constructed
with the filing system on the Central Server
and users having the required permissions on
these files.
This filing system is mapped to the current
organisational structure which also defines
the activities that BOS is involved in.
Data is stored at the directory level and processing
is done either locally, remotely or also with
the available Multi-Vendor Architecture technology
using resources of the server.
Most of programming and data processing is
done by staff acquainted with the computing
network and therefore makes logical usage of
the available resources. The filing system
is gradually being used by other non-IT staff
and the transition period to switch from the
stand-alone management to the networked management
of data ensures that non-IT users understand
the directory structure.
One important lesson that BOS got during this
transition phase was that even if takes lots
of time make sure that the directory structure
is understood by the users and the appropriate
way of doing it is to ensure that it is activity
related so that the users grasp the structure
easily.
However BOS does realise that when it comes
to manipulation of data on the Central Server,
the risks associated to data loss is increased
if the required precautions are not taken.
In addition with increased demand of data usage
by internal stakeholders it becomes necessary
that a more advanced system of information resource
management be developed.
This leads to a distributed computing environment
with data being controlled by different sections
of BOS but all references provided in a database
so as to consult any data through the LAN.
Currently the distributed computing is being
gradually introduced with the development of
metadata and datawarehousing.
| Illustration
2: Distributed Computing - Business Register
Example |
The Business Register used at BOS is
currently on a Unix based platform using
Ingres as Database software. The
system has a central data management policy
with no room for development (hardware
resource constraint).
Due to the intensive
usage of this database for the various
surveys and the need for managing data
at functional unit level, the important
operational features that the Business
Register needs to have summarises as follows
:
- an interactive
read & write mode with established
data security
- centralised
register management with timely turnaround
- capacity to
generate date selected (time stamping)
register with transaction record
To cater for these operational features
BOS is now developing the Business Register
on a more versatile platform with online
and batch components. Extracts of
the central register created as secondary
datasets will be processed by different
users with an interactive update of information
on the central database (primary dataset).
This model of distributive processing
caters for the demands of flexibility
in data manipulation.
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Data Dissemination
Processed data is reported to the public on
aggregated level. It takes the form of
Hard Processed Copy and Electronic Copy.
It is extremely important that the data dissemination
is efficiently organised since it is the front-end
of the statistical office. The general
public recognises the performance of the office
by the quality of the products it releases.
At BOS there are standards set for most of
the publications but once again defining a standard
across the board is difficult. BOS commenced
by categorising the publications and for the
regular outputs, such as Statistical News Release
which disseminates the latest figures of a survey,
standards exist.
With the current era and the associated trend
of electronic publishing BOS is determined to
ensure that;
- firstly satisfactory
standards are established for data dissemination
and
- secondly that a release
date calendar be determined for all regular
publications.
The main role of IT is to foster standards
that lend some control and order to the types
of tools used and information delivered.
Because technology for electronic publishing
is available, it is important that while setting
up standards for any publication the possibility
of electronic publishing be taken into consideration.
The information system designed should ensure
integration and compatibility for the end-users.
Application of Technology
In the past Information Technology(IT) development
in the Fiji Government has been largely driven
from within IT or by small number of users.
At Bureau of Statistics as familiarity with
the technology grows, executives and users are
becoming more involved in the usage of technology
and thus contributing to the overall performance
of the organisation.
With advance in network computing, telecommunication
systems, and enterprise applications, today's
world of information technology is a complex
place. With information demands and technological
innovations on the rise, tracking IT services
and resource usage is more involved than ever
before.
BOS is currently concentrating on the automation
of semi-processed and report format data.
In the last two years it has developed a policy
of storing files centrally with distributed
processing. Since technology allows to
add capacity and improve performance by expanding
from a multi-CPU server to clustered systems
as soon as the need arises and that Memory and
data storage facilities can be added as required,
the direction to be taken by BOS is to expand
the database with a more comprehensive system
of file allocation and identification.
BOS has therefore already started into the
venture of creating Metadata formats and planning
for it's first Datawarehouse.
It should be noted that IT is a means to an
end, and not an end in itself. The goal
is to give users the tools they need and the
data they want to make timely, consistent and
correct business decisions.
As warehouse data will be made increasingly
available on BOS network, network capacity planning
will come to the fore.
User's Requirements:
The value of data available to users is directly
proportional to the users ability to easily
access, manipulate and analyse it. It
is important to continuously assess the needs
of the users and ensure that the organisation
makes an effort to meet the clients needs.
In May, 1998 a survey of the BOS stakeholders
was done and extracts of the findings of this
survey in regards to Information Resource Management
is tabled below.
Internal stakeholders;
- They need the equipment
with the necessary tools to enable the processing
of data at organisational level
- They need a system
of security which ensures that data is managed
satisfactorily and their activity is not
at risk
- The users need clear
and easy path for manipulating and analysing
critical data and allow multidimensional
viewing of data.
- They also need a comprehensive
training scheme which allows them to make
optimal usage of the available technology
External Stakeholders
- The public in general
require prompt action to their requests
- They insist on quality
up-to-date data
- They want easy access
to data
- An increasing number
of external stakeholders request that all
publications be available electronically
and available online
- They also request availability
of BOS staff to explain any technical issues
Based on these findings the BOS is able to
formulate policies for Information Resource
Management to ensure that users are satisfied.
The current BOS Corporate Plan has a strategic
direction which contains corporate strategies
for BOS as a client focused organisation.
This Strategic Planning capacity provides challenges
and opportunities for BOS whilst accomplishment
of its tasks.
Challenges & Opportunities
Industry analysts at the Meta Group have defined
data warehouse as "an implementation of an informational
database used to store sharable data that is
sourced from different operational databases."
Typically it is a database that allows end users
to tap into an organisation's vast store of
data to track and facilitate forecasting and
planning. BOS obtains the opportunity
to do development for a sophisticated data organisational
scheme.
For the various policies for Information Resource
Management discussed, operational data should
be accessible through a single access method
regardless of its form. One of the major
challenges that BOS is faced with is the formulation
of a coherent data synchronisation policy of
its databases.
Apart from the expense of the software and
steady stream of upgrades, training users on
multiple packages carries its financial pitfall.
It makes most sense to shop for access and analysis
tools that are flexible and span the spectrum
of access features that users need. Organising
an effective set of tools catering for the processing
needs of BOS which is cost-effective is another
challenge.
Another major challenge that BOS would have
is to develop the datawarehousing strategy that
provides the following benefits:
- that everyone throughout
the organisation works from the same data,
data that has been cleansed and transformed
for consistency
- that users will be
able to query and report from warehouse
data without affecting transactional and
other operational systems
- that end user query
time is improved
- and that a properly
integrated data and warehouse is implemented
allowing reduced maintenance and updating
of application.
Conclusion
To be able to gain productivity in the Statistical
Processing of data, it is recommended to have
a system coherent in its conception to be able
to accommodate the various tools used for analysis
in the sector. At the final step, information
would appear as the result of the computation
of data coming from different sources.
This information would be characterised by its
accuracy, level of integrity and timeliness.
For an efficient Information Resources Management,
ensure that :
- clear, defined and explicit
goals from a business perspective are available
- you consider defining
metadata right from the instigation of your
project
- you maintain consistency
with data definitions
- your software tools
are fully integrated
- and that the Information
Resources Management policies are transparent
with all staff of the organisation familiar
with it.
The success of the process of organising data
for users will depend on the way it can be utilised
by the users and not on the efficiency of the
data model. It is important to give a
high priority to advance and intermittent communication
with end users. A serious commitment should
be made to ensure that the required training
is made available to the users for them to excel
in the management of information resources.
| PART II
Information
Resources Management - Successes and Challenges
of Selected
Statistical Series, Bureau of Statistics,
Fiji Islands. |
Statistical information is a national resource.
It is important that the information compiled
is correct and reflects the true picture.
In accomplishing it's role as the National Statistics
Office, the BOS in Fiji has three major Statistical
Divisions as highlighted below. Successes
and challenges in the compilation of selected
statistical series by these divisions are discussed
in this paper.
Population, Demography
and Household Surveys Division
Data Collection: In the past
all data on births were obtained from Hospitals
and Medical institutions in the form of Birth
Chits. A year ago a computerised Births,
Deaths & Marriages (BDM) system for the
Registrar General was put in place. With
this new system the staff at the hospitals &
medical institutions enter details of the new
born immediately after the event. The
coverage of this system is still limited to
big hospitals and therefore hospitals and medical
institutions which do not have the facility
still provide the information to BOS via the
means of the Birth Chits. Data on deaths
and marriages used to be collected from the
Registrar General but are now recovered from
the BDM system.
Data Processing: The BDM
system is on VAX/VMS environment and maintained
by ITCS. Extracts of data relating to
the reports for Births, Deaths and Marriages
are downloaded from the BDM system and processed
on PC platform at BOS.
Data Dissemination: Report
on Vital Statistics are compiled using PC platform
software and published as hardcopies.
Challenges:
At the initial stage BOS was member of the BDM
committee and therefore ensured that data required
for BOS was made available through the BDM system.
However during the download stage some problems
were encountered due to communication problems.
The communication between the Information Technology(IT)
staff and the final users is extremely important.
Though there are certain rules to be followed
for such communication, for eg. Signing off
User Requirements, doing a pilot test, etc.
there is a tendency to bypass some of these
steps when small amount of data is being processed.
But when problems do arise the IT staff do realise
that lots of time is spent is rectifying problems
which could have been avoided if the automation
was planned properly.
To this system is also associated the merging
of data from two different processing schemes
and therefore a strict policy for this process
has to be established. Another challenge
that BOS is currently faced with is to establish
a rudimentary communication protocol with the
users to ensure that time is not spent unnecessarily
on problems which could be avoided.
National Accounts, Trade
and Balance of Payment Division
Data Collection: Data for
the compilation of Trade Statistics is entered
into the system by the Customs Department.
A copy of the original document is obtained
by BOS. To ensure that all information
required by BOS is entered into the system,
BOS checks the contents against that of the
original document. The sort of discrepancies
found are: documents not entered and incorrect
data. BOS on identification of theses
differences proceeds to the correction.
Data Processing: Some data
entered in the system has to be modified or
re-coded to satisfy the needs of the report
formats. A copy of the Data entered by
Customs department is downloaded on a regular
basis for BOS to make the necessary changes
and compile the report. The entire electronic
data-processing is done on VAX/VMS environment
and the system is maintained by Information
Technology and Computing Services, the central
computing agency for government (ITCS).
Data Dissemination: Trade
Statistics report are compiled in the VAX/VMS
environment. Hardcopies of this report
are used to re-enter some data into the PC environment
for additional reports.
Challenges:
There is a serious problem of System Maintenance.
When compared with the services available through
the Trade System when implemented (1986) and
now, there is a reduction. It appears
that the expertise required to re-establish
the services lost during the years does not
exist at ITCS. It will be extremely important
that people be trained to ensure that the replacement
system is maintained properly.
The technology used for a number of systems
maintained by ITCS is outdated and some are
not year 2000 compliant. This is the case
for the Trade Statistics System. The replacement
system will be dependent on the actions that
the Customs Department undertakes. As
is mentioned above, there are certain fields
in the current system which has to be modified
for BOS reports and while implementing the replacement
system these problems need to be solved and
therefore implies that BOS needs to work very
closely with Customs Department to ensure that
their needs are met.
It is also important that data be available
on PC formats so that subject matter staff could
easily process it as these days there is an
increase of expertise in the PC processing environment
and officers are trained in-house on the usage
of available software. Establishing a
reliable data transfer system is a challenge
for BOS.
Economic Statistics Division
| 1995 Censuses of
major Economic Sectors |
Data Collection: A detailed questionnaire
complying with the international standards for
collection of economic statistics was designed.
Unfortunately all businesses do not necessarily
have an accounting system as detailed and therefore
could not supply accurate information on every
aspect. However estimated breakdown for
the figures were accepted. It was also
difficult to obtain an acceptable level of response
rate for which reminders had to be sent to the
non respondents.
Data Processing: Batching schemes had
to be organised to ensure that the documents
could be handled in a systematic way and be
accessed after data-entry. A system of
unique identification of the records was also
designed. During the data-entry phase
the operators had a user manual and at the end
of each batch editing of the data was done for
logical checks. Registers were maintained
to record entries for edit checks, data backup
and completion of data entry. It is important
to round off the data-entry and editing of the
survey in an appropriate manner to avoid any
further changes to the final dataset which would
be used for the production of tables.
Data Dissemination:A standard
set of tables were created and programmed to
run with the validated data. Formatting
the tables to ensure that the users' requirements
were met and at the same time ensuring that
the layout was presentable was a difficult task.
As for the report on these censuses, once again
international standards of data dissemination
are used. Lack of human resources to compile
reports of the standards fixed did affect the
work of BOS. Tables and Reports for some
of the Censuses are yet to be done.
Challenges:
Ensuring satisfactory response rates for the
surveys conducted has always been a challenge
for BOS. However, for certain surveys
it becomes extremely difficult to arrive to
the required response rate for statistical validity
without an intensive follow-up of the non-respondents.
With the processing of all Economic Statistics
Censuses and Surveys done in-house it was found
that BOS was able to develop the skills of the
staff involved in the processing. Furthermore
troubleshooting problems were quite efficiently
done as the users and developers were both aware
of the system. It is anticipated that
more of the data-processing activities will
gradually be done by the IT staff at BOS.
With an increased demand of reports of the
1995 Economic Statistics Censuses and extracts
of data for further analysis, one of the major
challenges that BOS is faced with is to be able
to minimise on the time spent by BOS staff to
attend to these requests. The current
technology does provide us with manageable tools
to tackle this issue. It is planned that
electronic publishing of information be done
before the end of the century. However,
a sound system of data security needs to be
established and certain publishing standards
be organised beforehand. |
