IT and the Business – the CSO experience MSIS Oslo Margaret McLoughlin & Joe Treacy Central Statistics Office Ireland

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 2 Key issues in this paper Governance Change Management Application of corporate standards Lessons learnt for future enterprise initiatives … In the context of NSI culture

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 3 About the CSO… 60 years old in 2009 (Anniversary event – 3 June) About 900 persons work in CSO 750 full-time equivalent Office locations in Dublin and Cork 140 professional statistical staff Big increase in recent years IT divisions – total of about 70 staff Some IT functions in other parts of organisation e-Government Census of Population

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 4 Our IT Organisation – “ a loose federation” 200 Power users Director General Director IT & Corporate Services IT Corporate Services (ITCS) IT Service Delivery (ITSD) Administration & Finance Human Resources Director Statistical Support & Innovation E Government and Dissemination Quality Assurance/Audit, Statistical Methodology & Development Data Linking & Integration Business Statistics Integration Director Business Statistics Director (ADG) Social& Demographic Statistics Director (ADG) Economic Statistics Director Census of Population Census IT Unit

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 5 Statement of Strategy Strategic issues for CSO Corporate Priority Areas More statistical outputs – scope, quality, timeliness Developing the Irish Statistical System Reducing response burden IT and e-Government Skills; Training; Efficient work practices European Statistics Code of Practice Changing economic climate - pressure on resources Strategic review being completed by CSO management demand for IT application development to support organisational change

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 6 CSO’s organisational culture Professional statistical group was small Cohort of senior / top managers – most recruited in 1970s “Brain drain” imminent! Need to plan for continuity. Culture and communications in a small organisation Informal Based on personal networks more than on formal management processes Effective in “getting things done” CSO has grown – especially in past 10 years More staff overall More professional statistical and IT staff Projects are more complex than in the past

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 7 Implementing corporate standards to support a larger organisation Corporate Data Model (CDM) Statistical data an important asset of NSI Management of that asset at each stage of the production cycle Conceptual basis for corporate Data Management System Professional standards for IT services CMM – application development ITIL – service delivery (from 2007)

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 8 Corporate IT Projects - Enterprise applications and systems Data Management System (DMS) Corporate databases for statistical data Central processing applications Reduction in “islands” of data and processing Went live – September 2007 SAS Enterprise BI migration Migration of 200+ PC SAS users during 2009 Enterprise rather than desktop system Greater control & standardisation of end-user computing

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 9 Paths to IT service delivery ITIL request CAB Service Desk Request to Project Office Request to Peer Local hero Self request ITIL = the official way In practice, users take many routes to get IT services … often bypassing corporate standards …

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 10 Moving beyond the status quo - Driving and Restraining Forces Advancing a corporate vision – enterprise-wide systems Behaviours which drive or restrain the achievement of a goal: Driving forces often “top-down” Reflect corporate benefits Don’t acknowledge individual cost or effort Restraining forces often involve individual behaviour Benefits not obvious at individual level Time taken to realise benefits Costs & effort are more visible Need to get balance right: encourage achievement of shared vision.

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 11 How quality assurance can help European Statistics Code of Practice Principle 4 – Quality Commitment Principle 7 – Sound Methodology Principle 12 – Accuracy and Reliability Quality assurance of the IT aspects of statistical production End-user computing - particular quality assurance issues Spreadsheets – managing the risks

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 12 IT and the Business - Future lessons for CSO’s IT Strategy Governance: Build on implementation of ITIL Not an “extra layer” – integrate with existing decision making and management systems Assign new customer service roles within IT Establish Business Intelligence Competency Unit Business analysts Dialogue between IT and the Business Work with our organisational culture Power users Communications / networking “Champion” the governance process.

Central Statistics Office, Ireland 13 End of Presentation Any questions?