National Statistical Service of Greece

Eurostat project "Use of administrative data for business statistics"

Starting date: 1 February2010

Duration: 12 months

Project leader: Ms Vassiliki Benaki

Description of the action

Background Information

In the light of increasing pressure to national statistical institutes (NSIs) to produce efficiently and timely statistical information, the availability of accurate and updated statistical data is emerging as an immediate necessity; not only for government-led policy design, but indeed for the business community, which lies at the spotlight of global competitive markets and strategic decision making.

Analysts are looking for detailed data covering a range of subjects across various sectors, which lead NSIs to raise the level of data requirements from enterprises (core source of data) in order to complete demanding and long-winded questionnaires. With the statistical burden on enterprises increasing exponentially, and human resources in NSI shrinking at the same rate with resources in enterprises supportive of the surveys, there is an eminent challenge for statisticians to come up with alternative solutions for efficient data collection.

The production of business statistics by the National Statistical Service of Greece (NSSG) relies solely on survey data from a sample-based survey to all enterprises, stratified by size class and sector (4 digit NACE classifications). The sample is drawn from the Business Register of NSSG, which is updated on an annual basis. The collection of statistical information from businesses is conducted via two ways: (a) on-line through the portal of the main website of NSSG (b) hardcopies sent by post. Depending on the volume of non-respondents, we conduct site visits by permanent or temporary staff as a mean to increase the response rate of surveyed enterprises.

Aim of the Project:

The aim of the project is to improve the production of enterprise statistics by better use of the data that already exist in any administrative source and thus to avoid double burden to businesses, thereby collecting data with greater efficiency and increasing their quality.

The project has a set of objectives to achieve starting from the identification of relevant administrative data sources and the investigation of data availability. Throughout this process we will address methodological and practical discrepancies in reporting data, mainly of the fiscal register and other identified administrative sources. In an effort to devise data linkage and matching techniques, we would primarily want to reinforce the communication relations between core registries (e.g. fiscal). In addition, we will instigate a collective action including all parties involved such as businesses and users of official statistics (analysts) and potential data sources such as national bodies and professional associations. Within a Workshop, we will open a consultation process, where views and solutions will be raised with the involved parties in order to shape a holistic approach at this early stage of integrating administrative sources. Subsequently, we will set up a Working Group, which will collaborate with the bodies that have demonstrated overlapping reporting of data and thus the need for adaptation of statistical production systems is urgent. Within the context of this project, the actions will be focused on Structural Business Statistics in a pilot scheme for Manufacturing and Construction sectors.

With this project we intend to modernise the production of enterprise statistics, having a direct effect not only on the quality of data produced but also on the reduction of the statistical burden in terms of time and staff resources required both for enterprises and the National Statistical Service of Greece (NSSG).

Objectives:

  1. Analysis of different sources of information available in national administrations (or other public or professional bodies ) that can be used for producing official business statistics
  • Establish a clear and operational inventory methodology of potential data sources with focus on the fiscal register. An initial range of administrative sources that could be used for statistical purposes is as follows:
  • Public Administration Bodies
  • Ministry of Economy and Finance

-TAX Register

  • Hellenic Ministry for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works (YPEXODE)
  • Ministry of Interior, General Secretariat of Public Government and e-Government
  • Ministry of Development

-General Secretariat of Commerce

  • General Secretariat of Information Systems (GSIS)
  • Social Security Funds
  • Professional Associations
  • Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV)
  • Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE)
  • Hellenic Organisation of Small and Medium Enterprises and Handicraft (EOMMEX)
  • Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE)
  • Union of Hellenic Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UHCCI)
  • Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI)
  • Providers of statistical and analytical surveys
  • Centre for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE)
  • Information Society
  1. Investigating of usefulness of available sources for business statistics (risk analysis)
  • Elaborate the methodology of the adaptation of statistical systems for each one of the data sources:
  • Identification of the main data sets and variables of the administrative source
  • Examination and evaluation of existing statistical business data
  • Study of definitions related to business statistics and introduce a technical adaptation model of all data sources to harmonized definitions of variables of NSSG
  • Assessment of available data regarding data quality, target group coverage, etc
  • Examination of the frequency of data collection and production
  • Assessment of technical constraints and merits for data collection (e.g. surveyed reports)
  • Technical assessment of technologies (e.g. software) used to retain useful data information
  • Assessment of data technical constraints and merits.
  • Evaluation of criteria for the selection of harmonised variable definitions and statistical classification
  • Quality assessment of methods and data
  • Assessment of costs at each stage of statistical generation

Flow chart 1: Methodology of Investigation of Sources
  • Generation of risk analysis report, consisting of:
  • Identification of Risk
  • Level of Possibility of Risk
  • Level of Impact of Risk on the integration of administrative sources
  • Description of Impact
  • Mitigation Action / Degree of Reversibility

Methodology:

  1. Workshop

A Workshop will be organised in which we will invite all parties involved in statistical production of business data and experts from other EU Member States. This will give the opportunity to exchange opinions, considerations, and experiences with the view to open a gate on a dialogue about utilising administrative data in Greece for SBS.

A constructive discussion will be pursued with representatives from:

  1. Administrative bodies (as aforementioned)
  2. Users of official statistics (e.g. academics, ICAP etc)
  3. Staff from the National Statistical Service of Greece
  4. Experts from NSIs of other EU Member States (MS)
  5. EUROSTAT
  6. Businesses (e.g. accountants)-indicative sample

Aim: The workshop will be the official instigation of a discussion around the production of business statistics. Guidance and Information sessions will be included offering the opportunity to participants to give an individual insight into the benefits of using administrative sources. The discussion will cover also the barriers that need to be overcome, as well with the frameworks required to facilitate access to administrative sources (e.g. legal, policy, organisational, technical).

Output: Through the Workshop we expect to reinforce and consolidate the relationship between national bodies. The conclusions are anticipated to be useful so as to lay the foundations for the cooperation between NSSG and with the administrative sources. In addition, awareness will be raised on existing integrated sources in other EU MS, which will broaden our knowledge on utilising data from other sources and adapting our statistical systems.

  1. Working Group

Aim Expert staff from NSSG will set up a Working Group which will work actively with each one of the administrative sources in order to analyse the availability of data from alternative sources and overcome methodological and practical problems. Ideally it would endeavour to devise an implementation plan of harmonised data deliverables.

Output The outcome of the Working Group will lead to an inventory of data available from the selected Administrative sources, which will be compiled of:

A detailed list of variables necessary for SBS statistics and also available in the source in question. The list will include the definition of variable so that the usefulness of the information can then be studied

An examination of the timeliness of data that could be provided so that this guarantees the production of statistical data according SBS obligations

A study of the possibility of variables in question meeting quality standards for statistical purposes before they are inserted in the data base. We know in advance that administrative data are not collected for statistical purposes by definition so some information included might not be accurate. As an example, we could mention the Sector of activity of an enterprise retrieved from Security Funds Register. In this context we will do a pilot use of a very short sample of all data ‘manually’ in order to check if the replacement of survey data with administrative ones fits well.

An investigation of the availability of metadata for each variable provided in the sense that each variable must be accompanied with information regarding the date it refers to as well as the detailed description of any code used for the identification of the variable.

An assessment of the form of data storage and maintenance (e.g. hardcopy or digital).

An assessment of the software (if used) of the sources in question so as compatibility with our information system is achieved. It must be clear that at this stage, we will not produce any software for capturing these data.

  1. Assistance from National Statistic Institutes from EU Member States

Experts from other European Institutes will be invited to contribute to the methodology. Being aware that the degree of use of administrative sources in the statistical production process varies considerably from country to country, we will refer to the ones that have developed fully functioning register-based statistical systems. Thus, collaboration is foreseen between Denmark Statistics and Finland in order to learn from their expertise and know how. The reason behind choosing these institutes is that the experts from Denmark and Finland have transferable knowledge of the problems and difficulties in the use of Administration Registers, whereas statisticians from Netherlands and INE Portugal seem to be facing similar problems with us, as they are now applying this methodology for the first time.

Experts from NSIs will also participate in the Workshop in order to present their experience, acknowledge the national environment of Greece and identify areas of cooperation. We will exchange study visits with the NSIs for discussion of subjects and further collaboration that may arise.

Expected results of the action

  • Integrated inventory for statistical business data production in Greece for the Manufacturing and Construction sectors.
  • Reinforcement of the communication levels between administration bodies in Greece.

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