INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR SUPPORT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT (INFOREG) IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC INFOSTAT, Bratislava, Slovakia Prepared by Lenka Priehradnikova, Anton Bencic, Miroslav Hudec

I. THE PROJECT BACKGROUND This project was one of the research projects sponsored by the Ministry for Construction and Regional Development (MCRD). INFOSTAT’s solution, in a form of a prototype, was tested on a specific collection of indicators, and will be implemented. The main objective of the project is to develop a statistical system aimed at improving the quality of regional data. The project deals with the design of a fully functional backup of regional data originating from a number of different sources. It will contain tools for updating data and metadata in a regional database. The resulting IS will support macro-economic and socio-economic analysis of specific regions of Slovakia.

Stable territorial units and their systematization within the NUTS classification NUTS1-whole country NUTS2- group of regions NUTS3- regions NUTS4- districts NUTS5- municipalities Up-to-date registers of reporting units Correctly defined statistical units Harmonization of methodology of statistical indicators according to EU standards Good legislation, mainly law on official statistics, legislative of regional development allocating competence The stable base pillars for successful production of regional statistics:

Project aims The main aim of this IS is to obtain and expand on the information about social and economic activities of regional actors for better regional assimilation and total regional development. The collection of the indicators is done according to the EU statements and comparative analysis of specific indicators, reflecting the philosophy of regional development. This IS will be the effective tool for drawing on financial support successfully from structural fonds to achieve the business and economic development with the aim of raising its productivity, improving the infrastructure, creating new jobs, developing human resources, improving education, culture, social affairs, healthcare, etc.

Expected results of the project Optimization of the decisionmaking processes on the provision of financial support for each region Higher resource use from state, public and foreign investments through State and public resource savings through effective division among the regions Effective information provision for strategy building, management and realization of a regional policy at central and regional levels of administration organs Extensions of the representativeness of statistical determinations Improvement of indicator comprehensibility for budget planning Development of sophisticated indicators system, which reflect the economic and statistical level of regions, natural resources and living conditions

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INFOREG The Ministry for Construction and Regional Development has defined basic requirements of the system. The significant advantage of this information system is its flexibility. It is an open system with a direct insert characteristic, it allows for the flexible reflection in the changes of the regions. The system should ensure open access, consistency, data reliability and timeliness for data from various sources. There are 4 main sections: A Architecture of IS B Functional model C Data model D User interface

A. Architecture of INFOREG Proposed as an independent application Cooperates with other applications by means of functions enabling automated data retrieval and database updating Data exchange standards are defined with respect to bulk data sources The application is integrated within the IT environment of MCRD and interconnected with ISSO and GOVNET The application layer describes the services provided by user interfaces. This layer consists of three types of services: data updating output generation system services

Architecture of IS

B. Functional model of INFOREG For the representation of the functional model was used Unified modeling language (UML) with following properties: Visualization of system entities in graphic representation Specification and complete definition of system elements and their relationships Construction based on visualization and specification Documentation for all system elements Describing of all processes (collecting, storing, presenting and administrating of IS For functional model we used 2 types of diagrams: Static (class diagrams) Dynamic (state, sequential, use-case diagrams)

Use-case diagram – Analysing and comparing of regions

Sequence diagram

C. Data model The data model describes the data warehouse as a structural depository. It contains primary data, summary data, derived data and preprocessed data about the regions, along with time references. Metadata assist in providing a logical, consistent and integrated data environment and the interoperability of individual components within the system. Basic metadata elements are:  Registers – complex information about topics covered by the system  Code lists – codes and names used by individual dimensions  Converters – correspondence tables between code lists  Catalogs – lists comprising metadata  Evaluation criteria of regions – a metadata object comprising the proposals of region evaluations with indicator relations  Geographical reference – permits identifying the regions

primaryRegisters Code lists Catalogs Evaluation criteria of regions Converters Region data summary derived preprocessed Matadata DATAWAREHOUSE Data warehouse of INFOREG

Data are situated in a cube of three dimensions (region, indicator, time) enabling easy data analysis. Each dimension uses its own classifications: Time: Region: Indicator: └ 10 years └ region 1 └ Manpower └ 1-5 years └ Bratislava region └ Demography └ 1 year └ district Senec └ Labor market ↓ └ Veľký Biel └ Employment ↓ └ Living standard ↓ The realization of data model in this way enables building an open system with a dynamic view of monitored regions.

The structure of multidimensional cube Data–number, text,indicator, value Period Region (SR, region, district, municipality) Indicator

D. User interface of INFOREG The system consists of two parts:  Thick client - interface for special services of applications, installed at the user; - applications of administration IS;  Thin client - interface using the application services by the Internet or Intranet; - running on application server and user obtain the results of requirement through the Internet. The system uses different ways of data presentation - Texts Tables Graphs Maps Combined reports.

Combined substandard report for specified selection

T h a n k s f o r a t t e n t i o n