DIME/ITDG SG 2016

DIME/ITDG Steering Group

28JUNE2016

Opinions and Actions

Version 4 July 2016 (final)

This document summarises the opinions of the DIME/ITDG SG meeting held on 28June 2016, in Luxembourg.In agreement with par 5 of the mandate of the DIME/ITDG SG, minutes are limited to statements of opinions agreed in the meeting. They are prepared by the secretariat and distributed to the members of the group no later than seven working days following the meeting. Group members should advise the secretariat of any proposed amendments to the minutes within three working days.

Agenda itemswith opinions and actions

Agenda
DIME/ITDG Steering Group
28June 2016
Room B2/404
Item / Topic / Purpose
Opening - Agenda Adoption / D
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG agreed on the Agenda with the addition of the following two topics:
  • Reviewing process for the DIME/ITDG Governance
  • Participation of classification experts to the WG Standards

1 / ESS Vision 2020: ADMIN
Eurostat will present the progress of the ESS.VIP ADMIN, in particular the one of the ESSNet on quality of multiple sources statistics. / F
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG had a brainstorming discussion, focusing in particular on:
  • The governance structure of the project
  • The mapping of the initiatives, including the link with the UNECE work
  • Criteria for the selection of the financial tools
  • WP5:the kind of European sources concerned and if they could be made accessible to NSIs
Actions
  1. Eurostat will circulate the business case of the ESS.VIP.ADMIN and a governance paper document that was already presented to the VIG with the aim of clarifying the role of the DIME/ITDG.
  2. DIME-ITDG opinions will be shared with the ADMIN Steering Group

2 / ESS Vision 2020 DIGICOM
The members of the DIME/ITDG SG are invited to have an exchange on the orientations of the “linked open data” work package of DIGICOM taking into account own experience and the work under the umbrella of the UN ECE HLG. Eurostat will provide information on the discussions so far, including following the May 2016 Visualization workshop held in Valencia. / F
Opinions
The DIME-ITDG SG welcomed the report on the DIGICOM project and had a first exchange of views on the future ESS open data strategy. The strategy should take into account the different levels of development of NSIs in terms of open data and clarify user needs.It may address the role of NSIs in the open data community, in particular regarding open data portals, ontologies and standards. It was clarified that the ongoing work of DIGICOM on experimental statistics focuses only on communication aspects, while conceptual issues will be discussed in the ESS High Level Task Force on Quality.
Actions
  1. Eurostat will disseminate the link to CROS once the report on the Visualisation workshop becomes available
  2. DIME-ITDG opinions will be shared with the respective Work Package Teams and the DIGICOM Steering Group

3 / ESS Vision 2020 VALIDATION: implementation of deliverables
Eurostat will present the work programme of the recently created Task Force Validation and on the next steps to be taken in the area of validation. / I
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG took note of the planned implementation actions for the ESS Vision 2020 project, including development of an assessment framework for the pilots in collaboration with the Validation TF.
Eurostat clarified the motivation and considerations for the selection process of the intended pilots.
Actions
  1. Eurostat will report regularly to the DIME/ITDG on the evolution of the follow-up actions to the ESS.VIP Validation. In particular, the DIME/ITDG will be involved at the appropriate decision gates, as set out in the May 2016 ESSC document.

4 / Networking Seminar on Indicators
Held by Prof. Filomena Maggino from the University of Florence on "From indicators to synthesis: Methodological issues in the construction of complex indicators". / I
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG welcomed the seminar session.
Actions
  1. Professor Maggino extended an open invitation to the statistical community to work with her and the scientific community on further investigating the issue that classical process of indicator construction may not work in the area of big data.
  2. Members are invited to propose topics and speakers for the future seminars to be organised

5 / Enterprise Architecture
UK will present its approach to service design and assurance and the relationship between the EA and SOA.
Eurostat will present the recent development in the ESS. / F
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG had a brainstorming discussion on the pivotal role of the EA in the Digital Transformation of the ONS. In particular it was welcomed the link was welcomed between the theoretical model and the practical implementation. It noted the recent developments with regard to EA in the ESS.
Actions
  1. Countries are invited to propose topics for discussion to be presented by Member States at the next DIME/ITDG SG meeting

6 / Big Data beyond 2020
Eurostat will present its draft strategy to collect feedback / F
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG agreed on the need to discuss strategic goals for the use of Big Data in the ESS beyond 2020, however there is a need for a common ESS data strategy beyond 2020, focusing on all primary and secondary data sources (data collections, administrative data, Big Data, other). Strategic goals and directions for Big Data should be included in this ESS data strategy and not be discussed separately from the strategic goals for all other data sources. In particular, there was:
  • a suggestion to focus the strategy on concrete actions in sub-areas and a work plan. Such an action-oriented approach should include a focus on the new skills needed
  • include a reference to the multi-mode and multi-source
Actions
  1. The Big Data task force will revise the strategy taking into account the provided feedback. Further feedback will be sought from the VIG meeting taking place on the 30 of June 2016 in Stockholm

7 / ESS IT Security Framework -Assurance mechanism.
Eurostat will present for discussion, the mechanism to be put in place for certifying ESS members. / F
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG supported the envisaged roadmap for the IT Security assurance mechanism. In particular, there was:
  • agreement on the relevance of the exercise
  • discussion on the frequency of the required certification
  • discussion how to deal with non-compliance and incident management
  • concerns expressed about the role of NSI’s in relation to the certification
  • concerns expressed about the ambitious timeline for certification in 2017-2019, in particular for the self-assessment
  • a call for clarification on the eventual expansion of the scope,the confidentiality of the audit reports and the adequacy of existing ISO27k certification
  • A possible sharing of information from the self-assessment
Actions
  1. Eurostat will issue the call for tender for the central certification service in July and the 1st call for proposals end of September 2016.
  2. The document taking into account the comments of the ITDG/DIME SG will be presented to the ITDG in written procedure, and to the VIG before final submission and endorsement by ESSC in November 2016
  3. EUROSTAT confirmed that there will be support for NSIs in case there are upcoming issues during the self-assessment period.

8 / Reporting on Quality issues
Follow-up of the February ESSC strategic 'Workshop on Quality in the ESS': first meeting of the High-level Group on Quality; Report from the 18th meeting of the Working Group on Quality in Statistics; Q2016 conference – Overview, main results; Progress report on the implementation of SIMS 2.0 / ESMS, ESQRS 2.0 / I
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG took note of the progress in the field of quality. SIMS 2.0 was approved by the ESSC in November 2016 as standard for quality reporting. It is composed by ESMS (user oriented) and ESQRS (producer oriented). SIMS 2.0 is currently being implemented; further reflection could be launched in the coming years around the need to keep the two distinct sub-structures of SIMS or to conceptually merge them into one single structure. Following the VIG meeting of September 2015, strategic guidance on further quality developments in the context of the ESS Vision 2020 was provided by the ESSC during its February 2016 strategic workshop on Quality in the ESS. The mandate of the High-level group on quality was approved by the ESSC in May 2016. The QUAL version 2.0 was aligned to this strategic input. Work is currently being re-launched with full involvement at European level of the Quality Working Group and the establishment of a QUAL Steering Committee. This will also provide an opportunity to reinforce communication channels at national level.
Actions
  1. Eurostat will organise the 1st meeting of the Quality High-level group to prepare a declaration on Quality
  2. Eurostat will investigate the possibility to merge the SIMS and ESQRSinto one format consistent with SIMS

9 / Dissemination of methodological work: exchange of good practices
The members of the DIME/ITDG SG will be invited to present national experiences. / 9
The item was postponed to the next SG meeting
10 / Proposed items for the next DIME/ITDG Plenary
The DIME/ITDG SG will be invited to propose items for discussion. / 10
Opinions
For the next DIME ITDG SG (Budapest, 19 Oct 2016) the following agenda items were proposed:
  • Draft agenda for the 2017 DIME/ITDG plenary meeting
  • Dissemination of methodological work: exchange of good practices
  • Methodological implications of moving to of Big Data
  • Standard Accounting System (NL)
  • Peer Review results on good practices
  • Experimental statistics
  • Geo-spatial data
  • Record Linkage (IT)
  • Stakeholders engagement
  • Block chain and secure encryption techniques
  • Trade in data

AoB / DIME/ITDG Governance and the participation of classification experts to the WG Standards / 10
Opinions
The DIME/ITDG SG agreed on:
  • Keeping the DIME/ITDG governance structure as it is till the end of 2017
  • To collect feedback in the second half of 2017 to be then discussed at the November 2017 DIME/ITDG SG
Actions
  1. Eurostat will launch the review of the governance by collecting feedback in the second half of 2017. A respective progress report will be then discussed at the Nov 2017 DIME/ITDG SG
  2. For the next meetings of the Working Groups under the DIME/ITDG governance, videoconferencing facilities will be ensured as far as possible and relevant to enable the participation of people to dedicated session experts discussions.

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