The views expressed herein are those of the author and should not be attributed to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management. Reproductions of this material, or any parts of it, should refer to the IMF Statistics Department as the source. IMF Statistics Department Andreas Hake April 14, 2014 Streamline, Standardize and Automate Statistical Data Processing - Case Study

IMF Statistics Department Business Context  In 2009 the international community identified important data gaps that needed to be addressed by the IMF and other international organizations  A report on these information gaps was prepared by the FSB and IMF staff, and endorsed by the G-20 Finance Ministers and CB Governors in Nov 2009 (G-20 Data Gaps Initiative)  As a result, it is anticipated that the volume of data processed by the IMF Statistics Department will increase by a factor of four over the next five years  To cope with this significant increase, the IMF Statistics Department needs to redesign its business processes and extend the capabilities, scalability, accuracy, reliability and timeliness of strategic business operations 2

IMF Statistics Department Goal: standardized business processes  Strategy strongly recommends a generalized, flexible and scalable approach that could be reused across statistical products  An exercise of this magnitude will span across multiple years, impacting people, processes and tools with a significant investment, which makes it critical for achieving the desired results  Design principles: business process change and not IT tools implementation Based on an enterprise data and metadata model Reduction of manual steps through automation and standardization Preparation of IT tools 3

IMF Statistics Department Organizational Specialization and Operational Independence 4 CollectionProduction Dissemination Standards, Processes and Technology Interface

IMF Statistics Department Process Automation and Resource allocation (To-be) Collection Production Dissemi- nation Standards, Processes and Technology Interface

IMF Statistics Department Standard Production Process Template 6

IMF Statistics Department Goal: support increased demands and improve timeliness of data delivery  To validate the approach for streamlining, it was recommended to implement the new processes on a pilot dataset.  Two possible options for the pilot Parallel run to compare and validate an existing dataset; or New dataset.  First approach would be safer but could result in possible delays due to conflicting priorities, while the later approach poses high risks by relying solely on new processes and tools. 7

IMF Statistics Department Pilot selection  The Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) dataset required a major change due to the expanded coverage, which almost doubled its size  The change was impacting all full data process including collection, processing and dissemination  Analysis confirmed that the existing tools and processes would not be able to deliver the desired results in the expected timeframe  Hence the expanded CPIS was taken up as the pilot implementation for the new streamlining exercise 8

IMF Statistics Department Pilot implementation  Support for increased data demand (data coverage expanded to approx. 34,000 series per country from 17,000) Reduce the size of report collection forms Just in time processing Readiness to disseminate data real-time  Automation and easy data validation: The new implementation has eliminated most of the manual steps by implementation of automated workflows  Transparent workflow through data workflow dashboards  Performance improvements and access to business user tools 9

IMF Statistics Department Pilot results - Collection 10 BeforeAfter Time series Collected17,00034,000 File Size10-20 Mb1-2Mb ICS Processing Time> 1 hour< 5 minutes Correspondent Download speeds 2x faster Download required before Upload YesNo Correspondent-side errors SomeNo errors to date File Formats supportedReport Form onlyReport Form, CSV Future: ODP, SDMX

IMF Statistics Department Pilot results - Processing 11 ProcessingBeforeAfter Submission ProcessingManualAutomated Data TransformationsOvernightAutomatic upon receipt of submission Submission ReviewManualSemi-Automated On-demand Management reports NoYes ValidationBeforeAfter Validation ReportsStatic, Excel-basedDynamic, Integrated Other data sourcesNoIntegrated MetadataNoIntegrated ChartsNoYes Diagnostic SummaryNoYes

IMF Statistics Department Submission status reports 12

IMF Statistics Department Work in Production - Validation 13 Charts Detailed Diagnostics Cross-Database Comparisons Diagnostic Summary OLAP Analytics Metadata Integration

IMF Statistics Department Pilot results – Dissemination 14 BeforeAfter Publication ReviewEnd of cycleIn cycle Data PublicationManualAutomated Early access for Fund Staff NoAvailable upon departmental approval Future: Need to Re-review Outputs in EDD Staging YesNo Future: PortalsNoYes Future: Report/Portal Creation Double workOne time creation

IMF Statistics Department Success indicators 15  Business ownership at end user level  Strategic buy-in from Senior management  Allocation of budgets for capital investment Sentiments in the business community “Can we be next?”

IMF Statistics Department Critical areas identified  The successful pilot implementation demonstrated the benefits of standardization and automation  Key areas to be addressed for full implementation: Organizational structure People change management Outreach and communication Governance Plan overall at high level, but detailed for next six months Share success and celebrate 16

IMF Statistics Department Next Steps  Establish steering group to oversee and govern the change process  Detail the overall high-level plan for the coming months  Adjust the organizational structure  Communicate, communicate, communicate… 17

IMF Statistics Department Thank You 18 Andreas Hake +1 (202)