United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Software Approaches for the Dissemination of Statistical Information UNECE Training Workshop on Dissemination of MDG Indicators and Statistical Information Astana, Kazakhstan 23 – 25 November 2009 Steven Vale, UNECE

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 218 October 2015 Contents  How to choose software  What options are available?  Monitoring use  Constant improvement  Summary

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3 How to Choose Software  Trade off between three constraints: User needs Technical infrastructure Cost (money and staff)

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 4 Options Available  Database dissemination software in order of use in the UNECE region: PC-Axis DevInfo SuperWeb OECD.Stat National database systems

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 5 PC-Axis  Set of statistical dissemination tools originally developed by Statistics Sweden  Components developed by other countries PX-Map – Norway PX-Graph – Denmark PX-Edit – Finland and several others…. 

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 618 October 2015

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 718 October 2015 PC-Axis  Advantages Most popular data dissemination software Flexible, user-driven data extractions Strong user community Many optional add-ons are free  Disadvantages Annual license fee for core software Need to translate user interfaces to own language

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 8 DevInfo  Developed and managed by UNICEF  Specifically designed for disseminating MDG information  Supports tables, graphs and maps  Endorsed by the UN Development Group 

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 918 October 2015

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 10 DevInfo  Advantages Free software and support Used in many developing countries Specifically designed for MDGs  Disadvantages Specifically designed for MDGs May not be suitable for other types of statistics User interface not easy for first time users 18 October 2015

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1118 October 2015 Other Options  Statbank / PC-Axis – developed and used by some Nordic statistical agencies  SuperWEB – commercial software from Space-Time Research (Australia)  OECDStat – open source tools used by several international statistical agencies

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 12 National Database Software  Advantages Tailored to national requirements  Disadvantages Expensive to develop and maintain Duplication of effort in other statistical agencies

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 13 Monitoring Use  It is essential to regularly check how users are using a database to make sure it remains relevant! User surveys (discussed yesterday) Other user feedback Data downloads Web site “hits”

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 14 Data Downloads  Most accurate measure of use - records when users find something interesting  Monthly, weekly or even daily download information creates a useful time series  Consider splitting by type of data, language, and other relevant criteria

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 17 Web Site “Hits”  “Hits” refer to the number of times a web page is accessed  Some hits are due to automatic tools used by search engines, not real users!  Many tools for monitoring web site hits  We use “Google Analytics” because: It is free! It gives very detailed information

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 21 Constant Improvement  Information about users is only useful if it is used!  All statistical databases need regular updates and improvements  Consider increasing data for popular topics and removing less popular data sets  Remember that user needs change over time

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 22 Summary  There are many possible dissemination database systems available  It is often quicker, easier and cheaper to adapt an existing system than to create a new one  Monitor the use of dissemination databases so that you can target improvements to better meet user needs

Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 23 Questions?