Stefan Schweinfest Acting Director, United Nations Statistics Division International Seminar on Modernizing Official Statistics: Meeting Productivity and Data Challenges Tianjin, China, October 2013 Modernization of Management and Structure of Statistical Organization (Session 2)

2 “Never has so much been expected from statistics; never have statisticians had such means at their disposal; and never has there been so much willingness to learn from each other and standardize internationally the outcomes of that learning.” Handbook of Statistical Organization, Third Edition, 2003 The Operation and Organization of a Statistical Agency

3 Institutional Set up Today Centralised systems As administrative data is increasingly used for statistical purposes, more work is undertaken outside of NSOs Decentralised systems Even in these systems, there is always a central statistical agency Tendency to improve coordination to improve reliability and cohesion of statistical system Centralised/Decentralised Recent trend is for these two approaches to be coming together Not the issue anymore but we need to: Coordinate Modernize Communicate

4 Why Modernizing the Official Statistics? Opportunities Huge volume of data become available – IT revolution New methods and technologies provide opportunities for significant efficiency savings Integration of statistical and geospatial information gains importance Demand Users want MORE: more data, more detail, more rapidly, more access New measures e.g. wellbeing Instant web access

5 Competition by the Private Sector Private sector understands the value of data Google Store cards Credit agencies Could they provide alternatives/complements to official statistics? The Official Statistics has to react to the new realities or it will risk losing its relevance

6 Addressing increasing demand: Restructuring of the NSOs? All reorganizations should accomplish the following: Create new ideas Lead to efficiency gains Improve the organization’s focus on strategic objectives However, an organizational restructuring is not necessary to achieve these goals in many circumstances

7 How to Modernize? Modernization of products Detailed and integrated datasets; geocoded data Available more rapidly Combination of various data sources Data solutions created by the users Modernization of production processes Use of new devices for data collection Use of SDMX to facilitate the integration of IT systems Use of common generic business processes across all statistical domains Modernization of organizational and human resources dimensions Organization to adapt to the new data environment Staff to be trained and equipped with relevant new skills

8 The larger picture: from NSO to NSS: Improving Coordination As demand for data increases, consistency across data sources becomes more important (quality assurance framework) Improved efficiency can result from sharing infrastructure across statistical agencies within a National Statistical System

9 NSOs Driving the Modernization Leadership, vision, strategy Adequate Statistical Legislation Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics endorsed by the ECOSOC and General Assembly provide a strong foundation of NSOs Improved structure and coordination – vertical and horizontal Rethought business processes along which data are produced and disseminated Modernized resource management – human, financial and IT resources upgrade computers – upgrade human skills

10 To do list Differentiate between needs and “wants” and focus on needs Review relevance of existing data vs. user requests Pilot test new statistical collections Explore new partnerships Find new/sustainable funding sources in order to increase statistical dissemination capacity of NSOs

11 Key points National Statistical Offices should modernize to survive Modernization is not only IT related Modernization is strategic – to define the future of Official Statistics

12 Thank You! Stefan Schweinfest Acting Director UN Statistics Division