| 9 February 1999
- This "December" Newsletter was prepared
behind the intended schedule. This issue
reveals some of the activities that caused the
delay; another is the upcoming fifty-fifth session
of the Commission from 22 to 28 April 1999.
The Editor has been contributing a section to
the ESCAP theme study entitled "Asia and Pacific
into the twenty-first century: information
technology, globalization, economic security
and development".
This issue highlights the outcome of the Seminar
on Application of Information Technology in
National Statistical Offices (NSOs), which was
held at Taejon, Republic of Korea from 15 to
18 December 1998. The Seminar adopted
a set of best practices in the application of
IT in NSOs. The generic formulation should
make the practices useful for all government
offices.
THE COUNTDOWN TO Y2K is ticking with its determined
pace. The Taejon Seminar indicated that
governments have moved on to make inventories
of date-dependent equipment and software, request
compliance information from vendors, and start
remediation work for mission-critical systems.
The Committee on Statistics heard of similar
experiences in November 1998. Our Y2K
coverage refers also to the activities of the
United Nations General Assembly, and summarizes
the latest activities of the World Bank's Y2K
initiative.
COMING IN 1999 - Apart from the Commission
session and the theme study, the 1999 programme
on public sector computerization includes a
seminar on information technology management
for decision makers. ESCAP will fund the
participation of senior decision makers from
14 countries for the seminar, which will examine
how computerized information systems affect
organizations and discuss ways of increasing
the benefits from IT through more effective
management. One of the expected outcomes
of the seminar is a curriculum that can be used
for increasing awareness among senior (government)
executives about the benefits of IT and train
them to be active adopters rather than passive
followers of IT.
A WEB SITE FOR YOU - Remember to visit occasionally
the Public Sector Computerization home page,
http://unescap.org/stat/gc/pschome.asp,
and the Division's home page, http://www.unescap.org/stat,
and check what is going on. Our resources are
small, but we are trying to update the pages
regularly. This and old issues of the Government
Computerization Newsletter are maintained
at http://unescap.org/stat/gc/gcnl/
gcnlhome.asp.
Taejon Seminar offers guidance on best IT practices
A recent seminar held in the Republic of
Korea examined the latest trends and key problems
in IT development in developing countries. It
formulated a set of good practices that could
help government organizations in exercising
more control over their IT development and increase
the benefits from it.
Trends
in IT development recorded
The Seminar reviewed the status of information
technology (IT) in national statistical offices
(NSOs) on the basis of country papers presented,
and observed the following general trends in
developing economies:
- IT has become essential
in statistical and administrative work irrespective
of the size of statistical office, but coping
with its rapid evolution is a challenge
- New IT is changing data
collection, data processing and data dissemination
methods radically, with digitization of data
taking place at the data source and electronic
records from government administration forming
a substantial data source for statistics.
- Basic national telecommunication
infrastructures have developed noticeably,
but are still far from adequate for the purposes
of electronic data collection from remote
areas and effective communication and information
retrieval from the Internet.
- Mainframe computers are
being phased out in many small and medium-size
offices in favour of open systems running
on PCs (personal computers) or client-server
environments.
- In some countries, statistical
surveys are being digitized at the source
by using notebook and hand-held computers
to record interview results. However, paper-based
data collection is still a feasible choice
for many countries, at least until hand-held
computers became much more affordable and
easier to launch in wide-scale field use.
- Electronic mail has taken
off rapidly, not only becoming a major channel
for internal correspondence but is also quickly
establishing itself as a means for transferring
data from field locations to statistical centres.
- Most NSOs have established
departmental local area networks (LANs) and
many already have wide area networks in place,
which facilitate information sharing, internal
communications and data collection.
- The Internet is greatly
affecting the design of new statistical and
administrative systems of NSOs. Web browsers
are being considered a standard interface
to statistical data, databases and information,
and Internet technologies (TCP/IP) are replacing
legacy systems in internal network and communication
development.
- The penetration of PCs
has increased but the situation remains far
from satisfactory, some offices having no
dedicated computers for subject-matter statisticians.
- NSOs are increasingly
directed by government-wide IT policies, but
many of them still lack organizational IT
policies, including standards for hardware
and software.
- Powerful PCs and graphic
user interface - (GUI-) based development
packages are making end-user-developed applications
more common.
- The high cost of the
state-of-the-art statistical packages has
prompted many NSOs to seek cheaper alternatives
for their data analysis, including the use
of generic databases and spreadsheets, reliance
on free or cheap and light statistical packages,
and even the development of their own analytical
software.
Many
common problems hampering effective utilization
of IT in developing countries
Participants found many common problems that
hampered the effective utilization of IT in
their organizations:
- The most significant constraint
in all offices is inadequate human resources,
both in terms of number and skills. There
is inadequate blending of statistical and
IT skills, and even the presence of the two
is not sufficient to guarantee success. They
have to be complemented with planning and
project management skills without which applications
cannot be developed.
- Another problem is the
very high turnover of IT personnel. Sometimes
IT training defeats its purpose by facilitating
the transfer of newly-trained IT staff to
more lucrative fields, including the private
sector.
- Hardware is still costly
for many purposes. For instance, hand-held
or notebook computers are prohibitively expensive
for wide-scale survey use.
- Similarly, application
development is not cheap when the costs of
purchasing equipment, software and development
tools are taken into account. The lack of
organizational software standards and of standard
development methodologies, an insistence on
using traditional ways of processing data,
and general resistance to change are also
hampering IT development.
- The absence of trainers
with sufficient skills in both statistics
and IT and the lack of financial resources
are a challenge for organizing effective training
for NSO staff.
- Basic infrastructure
services, especially electricity supply and
telecommunications, are poorly developed in
some countries, making it very difficult to
establish electronic data collection and information
dissemination systems. Devices are needed
to secure uninterrupted services and prevent
the loss of data, which adds directly and
indirectly to operating and maintenance costs.
- In some offices, IT staff
are overwhelmed by relatively simple user
support work because other specialists and
administrative staff are unwilling to accept
the fact that new technology, particularly
the power available in today's desktop PCs
and the sharing of resources through networks,
requires them to pick up new skills.
- The still prevalent mainframe
applications are increasingly difficult to
maintain as the pool of staff knowledgeable
in related computer languages is getting smaller.
- Many NSOs are facing
problems in the development of client-server
systems and in the transfer of data and statistical
operations to a new environment.
- The operating environments
of many NSOs consist of many types and makes
of computers, operating systems, statistical
packages and development tools, which add
directly and indirectly to operating and maintenance
costs.
- There are shortcomings
in statistical database development, with
many NSOs lacking centralized systems and
integration of related functions.
- Underdeveloped national
information infrastructures deprive many NSOs
of the possibility of using the Internet for
data collection and dissemination.
- Existing data entry and
verification systems are often equipped with
inadequate features to ensure the quality
of data.
- Data back-up systems
are still inadequate in some statistical offices,
and tape media in particular are not suited
for long storage; those deficiencies have
resulted in the loss of valuable census and
survey data
The Seminar recommended that NSOs should identify
bottlenecks in statistical information systems
and IT management and develop action plans to
address the problem areas. It emphasized the
need to review non-computerized processes and
organizational structures critically in connection
with IT development projects, and to involve
senior management in IT development.
Best
practices help in increasing benefits from information
technology
Inspired by a presentation and paper by Michael
Page-Hanify of the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(ABS), the Seminar decided on a set of recommendations,
which were best considered jointly by both senior
management and senior IT staff of the organization.
By adopting best practices in the application
of IT, government offices can avoid mistakes
and wastage caused by piecemeal development.
Best practices are more effective if written
down and communicated to everyone within the
organization and to external stakeholders with
an interest in the organization's effective
operation. The Seminar stressed that best practices
were not a straightjacket tying an NSO to a
particular IT path irrespective of its size,
but an IT management tool with long-term applicability
and a contributor to achieving organizational
goals.
ESCAP was urged to continually advocate efficient
utilization of IT in NSOs and to encourage developed
countries to accelerate their help to developing
countries, and recommended that similar seminars
be organized more regularly for IT professionals
within the region.
The Seminar on Application of Information Technology
in National Statistical Offices was held from
15 to 18 December 1998 at Taejon, Republic of
Korea. It was organized jointly by the secretariat
of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the National Statistical
Office of the Republic of Korea, and attended
by 39 representatives from 22 members and associate
members of ESCAP (Armenia; Australia; Bangladesh;
Bhutan; China; Fiji; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia;
Kazakhstan; Lao People's Democratic Republic;
Macau; Malaysia; Maldives; Mongolia; Myanmar;
Nepal; Republic of Korea; Samoa; Sri Lanka;
Tonga; Vanuatu; and Viet Nam) and by the representatives
of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Pacific
Community (SPC), and the Statistical Institute
for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP). The Seminar
Web site is: http://unescap.org/stat/meet/itnso/itnso.asp
| Best
practices in applying information technology
in national statistical offices
- A high-level
committee consisting of senior management
and senior IT staff should be formed
to consider strategic data and information
management and policy issues.
- An IT strategic
plan should be developed by senior IT
staff which takes into account the overall
mission and goals of the organization,
to be used as a firm guideline by the
IT department.
- Official IT standards
on the development of application systems
should be established.
- The usage of
software should be streamlined, the
different versions of existing software
being used should be reduced, and a
policy for the acquisition of new software
and equipment should be put in place.
- A disaster recovery
plan should be developed; the plan should
formulate a policy on the procedures
needed to ensure a timely resumption
of services in the event of a major
breakdown in the IT environment.
- Strategic relationships
should be established with major data
providers (e.g., other government agencies)
to coordinate the data collection process
by applying agreed standards.
- NSOs should play
a more active role in defining the terms
of reference of technical cooperation,
ensuring sustainable skills transfer
with objectives in line with the organization's
policies.
- The training
of subject-matter statisticians in IT
should be initiated and enhanced so
that more effective processing is done
at the workstation level. The training
should be focused and adjusted to the
tasks and responsibilities at the various
levels.
- NSOs should implement
a plan to retain IT staff by way of
a carefully developed training programme
geared to upgrading skills, combined
with an active programme aimed at better
job satisfaction.
- NSOs should follow
the existing trend to implement LANs
so as to share IT resources as efficiently
as possible and also enable more advanced
data sharing.
- NSOs should pay
greater attention to security requirements
for data, which will continue to increase
with extra accessibility.
They should note that to secure an internal
network having outside electronic access
a firewall, audited externally where
possible, is the only reliable method
of avoiding unwanted intrusions and
possible introduction of viruses. For
smaller NSOs where the cost of a firewall
is not practical then a dedicated "stand
alone" PC could provide a viable alternative.
- Efficient electronic
filing of documents, backup and archiving
procedures should be implemented using
modern technology.
- Data holdings
within the agency should be identified
and documented and metadata developed
with standard classifications to ensure
that efficient data management is practised
with prompt information delivery. This
will assist commonality of definitions
across the various collections.
- An inventory
should be made of all hardware
and associated software, and of individuals'
access to software. This will provide
for a smooth upgrade of software as
well as for keeping users fully informed.
- The possibilities
should be explored of organizing electronic
communication within NSOs by implementing
an electronic network. This will enable
efficient communication and also help
to initiate electronic data collection.
- Emerging trends
in data capture techniques, such as
the use of mobile computers and electronic
communication, should be considered
when developing new systems or redeveloping
existing systems.
- The possibility
of organizing electronic data dissemination
via the use of advanced IT should be
explored, including CD-ROMs, static
or dynamic Web pages, etc. The approach
would depend on the volume of data to
be disseminated.
- When providing
IT services, the focus should be on
user requirements with an easy - to
- use solution which is stable, reliable
and secure. IT staff should be
closely involved with clients and wherever
possible, should be located in the user
area during the development phase to
assist them in familiarizing themselves
with the organization's business.
- Levels of service
should be agreed on with internal stakeholders
in order to improve response to users.
Service could cover timeliness, outages,
response times, and general support.
- For larger NSOs,
a permanent help desk should be established
to assist in providing a better service
for user queries. The service would
be facilitated by the formation of a
solutions database that the help desk
staff populate with the resolution of
queries.
- A local network
of IT professionals should be developed
for cooperation and exchange of views
on current IT issues.
The recommendations can be modified to
be used in other government departments
|
The
region is at least more aware about the Y2K
problem
The Taejon Seminar on Application of IT
in national statistical offices confirmed that
the general preparedness level had improved
significantly in the region during 1998. In
particular, NSOs had made inventories of their
hardware, software and systems containing embedded
chips, which allowed them to estimate how affected
they were by the problem. However, a significant
proportion of the necessary remediation work
was only about to be started in many of the
affected countries.
Many NSOs, including those in Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, were in the
process of phasing out mainframes that could
not be made compliant at all or for which remediation
was not feasible. Macau had completed that kind
of migration earlier in 1998. While client-server
systems, including powerful PC servers, were
natural replacements for those mainframes, the
Seminar cautioned that such development and
the migration of data and statistical operations
usually took much longer than originally planned,
and it urged such NSOs to expedite related procurement
and application development by using all available
means. Testing is a very time-consuming part
of system rectification; it was also important
that systems stated to be compliant undergo
testing.
Many small NSOs were thought to be protected
by the fact that they have fairly new stocks
of stand-alone PCs with few date-dependent applications.
The Seminar, however, cautioned them to pay
attention to the compliance of data suppliers
and government agencies that they depended on.
For PC-based environments, the upgrade of motherboards
only was a fairly commonly used measure to lower
replacement expenses.
The Seminar concluded Y2K preparedness appeared
satisfactory in Australia and in Hong Kong,
China, which had started remediation work fairly
early and were progressing on or ahead of the
established schedules to achieve compliance;
compliance information and internal guidelines
were provided on the World Wide Web. It also
noted that the Asian Development Bank and the
Secretariat of the Pacific Community were planning
to test soon the compliance of their smart building
systems by advancing all clocks to the change
of the century.
Most countries represented in the Taejon Seminar
had established committees to coordinate and
monitor the resolution of the Y2K problem at
national and sometimes also at the local government
level. Many governments had also approved additional
funding for Y2K projects on a priority basis,
while some countries were coping with the problem
within their normal budget frames. While the
compliance of critical systems had to be the
priority, the Seminar reminded governments to
ensure that valuable old data holdings with
the year coded with two digits were protected
from corruption, currently while still archived
and later when read into compliant systems.
Several participants of the Seminar had attended
the SIAP/ESCAP Workshop on the Year 2000 Problem
in Computers and Strategic Issues for National
Statistical Offices held at Bangkok in June
1998 and reported on follow-up actions to that
Workshop. The Seminar noted that the Workshop
and its recommendations (which had been made
available in hard copy and on the ESCAP Web
site) had been useful for NSOs in increasing
awareness about and expediting action on the
Y2K problem.
***
Committee
on Statistics on Y2K
The ESCAP Committee on Statistics, the eleventh
session of which was convened from 24 to 26
November 1998, appreciated the work ESCAP had
undertaken in creating awareness about the year
2000 problem in computers. Governments appeared
to have a better understanding about the problem
and they had proceeded to request Y2K compliance
information and guidance on available solutions
from equipment and software suppliers. Although
the Committee had no basis for estimating the
overall Y2K preparedness level in the region,
the slow progress in many quarters prompted
it to urge government departments to maintain
a high level of awareness and to persist with
remedial action throughout the remaining months
of the century.
General Assembly, World Bank act on Y2K concerns
In compliance with its June 1998 resolution
(52/233), the General Assembly at its fifty-third
session deliberated in November on the "Global
implications of the year 2000 date conversion
problem of computers". The report of the Secretary-General,
"Steps taken within the United Nations system
to resolve the year 2000 date conversion problem
of computers" (A/53/574, http://www.un.org/members/yr2000/
a53574.htm) contains information on the
internal efforts in achieving compliance at
the United Nations Headquarters, regional commissions,
UNEP, UNIDO, UNCHS, and other United Nations
organizations. The report mentions also the
activities of ESCAP, ESCWA, and the World Bank
in creating awareness about the problem within
member States.
World
Bank puts together a global survey
The World Bank published recently the results
of a survey it made on the Y2K preparedness
among developing countries. Although the
survey deals with governments at an aggregate
level and does not reveal the range of decentralized
Y2K efforts, it is evident that much remains
to be done. Of the 139 countries surveyed, only
54 had initiated national Y2K policies; just
21 were taking concrete remedial steps to safeguard
their computing systems; and 33 reported high-to-medium
awareness of the problem but were not currently
taking action (for a complete list of countries,
see http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/extme/
2078.pdf). The Bank says that a general
failure of critical systems could endanger the
health, security, and economic well-being of
people in the developing world. Accordingly,
the Bank emphasizes that the governments should
use the remaining months of 1999 to make contingency
plans to safeguard their most important computer
systems from failure.
(Source: World Bank
News Release No. 99/2078/S)
World
Bank's Y2K activities
The World Bank's campaign to help developing
countries prepare for the Y2K problem embraces
three priorities, namely: (1) raising borrower
awareness through InfoDev seminars and the disbursement
of small grants, as well as Y2K loans to client
countries; (2)
securing the Bank's existing loan portfolio
from the Millennium Bug in conjunction with
borrower governments; and, (3) ensuring that
the Bank's internal computer systems are Y2K-compliant
and can allow the institution to work without
disruption.
The Bank has now approved two loans for specific
Y2K preparations, and others are being prepared.
A US$ 30 million loan was approved for Argentina
on December 17, 1998; followed last week by
a US$ 29 million loan to Sri Lanka on January
19; a substantial Y2K loan of US$ 100 million
for Malaysia is being prepared for discussion
by the Bank's Executive Directors in March;
and Y2K components have been added to loans
being processed for Turkey and Ukraine.
On top of this, InfoDev - under its country
outreach programme - has held 18 regional and
national seminars in Latin America and the Caribbean,
sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa,
Europe and Central Asia, and South and East
Asia, with the participation
of over 1,500 individuals from some 120 countries.
Audiences consisted of high-level government
ministers and senior Information Technology
managers. In partnership with the OECD and other
sponsors, InfoDev organized the Global Year
2000 Summit in London last October, which focused
on the need for international cooperation to
address year 2000 problems.
InfoDev has also received requests from 62
countries for grants totaling US$ 9.6 million
for help in devising Y2K bug solutions. Of those
requests, 45 have been approved for a total
of US$ 6.9 million. In addition to the early
UK donation, InfoDev's Y2K initiative has received
new funding commitments from the United States
(US$12 million), Canada (US$ 650,000, and Italy
(US$ 350,000).
InfoDev has also developed a Year 2000 toolkit,
How to Develop a National Plan for the Year
2000 Problem for Developing Countries (http://www.worldbank.org/infodev/y2k/toolkit.htm)
for use by national governments.
(Source: World Bank
News Release No. 99/2078/S)
WWW accessibility is more than the connection
The World Wide Web is a prime source of
information for many of us. It offers unprecedented
opportunities for governments to provide up-to-date
information and services to citizens in a cost-effective
way. While it is quite natural to experiment
with new page designs and attempt to provide
impressive home pages, information providers
should focus on benefiting their target groups
and making their pages truly accessible.
Three
necessary conditions
The most important accessibility factor of
the Web site is the Internet connection between
the site and the users. In developing countries,
most potential readers of Web pages are behind
a slow and expensive Internet connection. For
every byte of pages accessed, they would like
to receive content that has value.
The second critical issue is the authoring
of substantive content, i.e. provision of information
and services in an understandable and logical
way.
The third necessary condition is to let the
audience to know about of the availability of
the content, in other words to do some marketing.
Simple when listed, but the introduction of
Web services seems to be very challenging for
many organizations. An enthusiastic start is
too often followed by a relapse, a failure to
keep the Web site up to date. That is an indication
of inadequate planning and implies shortcomings
in the content provision process.
Bad
page design is common in the region
For a serious information provider, the issue
of accessibility should be much more than establishing
a site at a Web server and putting the pages
together. Without pointing a finger, it is surprisingly
common in certain countries that are thought
to be relatively advanced in network development
to find Web sites practically inaccessible.
The inaccessibility is caused by a combination
of two factors: the Web server is connected
to the global Internet through a narrow "pipe",
and the pages are bloated with unessential material
(graphics and scripts that do not add anything
to the content). The resultant download and
viewing times become unacceptable, which cuts
initial visits short and effectively discourages
revisits.
Considerate
design does not cost extra
A wealth of literature is available in bookshops
and on the Internet for those wanting to learn
HTML syntax. Therefore, the Newsletter
offers here only a few simple guidelines.
Convey all information that you can in textual
format, because
- images are large in size
and take a long time to download
- search engines find only
text
- the network and traffic
conditions in the region are so bad that many
users prefer not to load images automatically,
and show images only when necessary
This does not mean that graphics must be avoided
at all cost, or that two sets of pages - text-only
and graphics - must be maintained. It only means
that images should be given proper textual alternatives.
Test your pages with different browsers
because
- Some page authoring software
use non-standard tags and write gibberish
HTML that cannot be interpreted by all Web
browsers.
Have your pages tested from different locations
because
- The response time in
an authoring PC-environment gives no indication
of Internet download times.
Consider alternatives to using Java code
because
- The initialization of
Java takes time and all browsers do not support
it. Some users disable Java and JavaScript.
- The chance for errors
occurring in different browsers is high. (For
instance, Java-implemented pop-up windows
are often wrongly programmed.)
Do not squeeze too many items on one page
because
- Scrolling to the right
is annoying
- Small fonts are difficult
to read on the screen and print in too small
size with most users' default options.
.. but do keep papers and documents intact,
or offer a possibility to retrieve them in one
piece. The practice allows users to work on
something else while the document is downloading
in the background; it also facilitates easier
archiving for later off-line use.
As a general rule, avoid using the following:
moving and flashing items; font face and font
size definitions, especially absolute ones;
and colour choices that do not provide sufficient
contrast. It is a good idea to print the page
in order to make sure that it is readable in
hard copy format. Many people prefer reading
printed pages.
Probably the most important rule is to write
pages in understandable language and structure
them logically. Give all pages a descriptive
title and insert meta tags for keywords and
abstracts. All pages should have a date of the
last revision and an address to send comments
and to contact for more information. The textual
information on the page, including the invisible
meta information in the source code, is more
important than graphics since it can be used
by various search engines to locate the pages,
and can be read by speaking browsers. Hyperlink
anchors should be understandable on their own.
In other words, redundancies like "Go to" and
"Click here" should be avoided.
Promising
style sheets
Cascading style sheets (CSS) are a relatively
new, and therefore still relatively little used
extension of HTML. The CSS concept is, however,
attractive, as it allows page authors to conveniently
control the presentation of their pages without
compromising their structure. HTML style sheets
work in many ways like styles in word processors:
the appearance of all HTML tags can be manipulated
centrally with styles. In other word, individual
HTML tags for headings, lists, quotations, etc.,
are left intact and will still be displayed
properly with browsers that do not support styles.
However, a distinct difference is that style
sheets do not make HTML a desktop publishing
language. They give more control over how documents
are presented in a browser, but the authors
cannot dictate the presentation fully because
users have (cascading) style sheets of their
own to adjust for human or technological handicaps
(poor vision, colour blindness; unusual screen
resolution and limited colour display capacity
of monitors).
At the initial stages of style concept development,
advanced browsers had their own proprietary
codes and interpreted pages using style sheets
differently. Fortunately, the main developers
have recently agreed to support a single CSS
standard. The experience with word processors
shows that the concept of style sheets - as
powerful and simple as it is - is a very difficult
one and that organizations seldom have policies
to use them, which makes it the single most
under-utilized feature of modern word processors.
Most organizations have a proliferation of document
formats, sometimes exceeding the number of employees.
Centralized, well-designed style sheets are
a powerful tool for the Web page authors and
site managers, and they should be considered
early on as a long-term solution for creating
a uniform look to Web site and for rationalizing
the maintenance work. Read more about style
sheets at http://www.w3.org/Style/
Use
on-line code validators
The use of online validators is a simple way
to check that a document adheres to the syntax
rules for HTML. The Web Design Group has a list
of validators at http://www.htmlhelp.com/links/validators.htm.
See also the World Wide Web Consortium's CSS
validator at http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/.
The Newsletter hopes to return to Web
site management in its next issue by examining
ways to integrate Web maintenance into daily
operations.
END OF NEWSLETTER
|
