1 Joint UNECE/EUROSTAT/OECD METIS Work Session (Geneva, March 2010) The On-Going Review of the SDMX Technical Specifications Marco Pellegrino, Håkan Linden (Eurostat) Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation)

Benefits of SDMX XML-based (“open” format) neutral in terms of underlying technologies Can be used by national and international agencies as a key building block in internal IT systems used for collecting, compiling and searching statistical information Avoids duplication of efforts in developing and maintaining standards and IT tools for processing statistical information: pools the expertise and resources working on data/metadata issues (community of developers) Can improve quality and efficiency in the exchange and dissemination of data and metadata (harmonisation and coherence of data, focus on meaning) Can reduce the reporting burden It is an international standard anchored in recognised bodies such as ISO

SMDX important dates Version 1.0GESMES/TS Version 2.0 SDMX-EDI SDMX-MLSDMX Registry 2008 Acceptance of SDMX at UN level ISO/TS September 2004 Version 1.0 accepted as an ISO technical specification Version 2.0 approved and published November 2005 February 2008 SDMX recognised and supported as the preferred standard

The SDMX main components SDMX Information model Content- oriented guidelines IT infrastructure for exchange and sharing...not just a data transmission format

5 years after the SDMX version 2.0… Proposed amendments: 1.Bugs in the published SDMX technical standards and inconsistencies to fix; 2.Missing information in order to broadly implement the information model; 3.New features (including convergence with other standards, e.g. DDI and semantic web) Attention: only the changes really needed should be made to the SDMX technical standards

DDI and SDMX SDMX Aggregated data Indicators, Time Series Across time Across geography Open Access Easy to use DDI Microdata Low level observations Single time period Single geography Controlled access Expert Audience Crucial overlap and mappings, normally not well documented Interoperability would provide users with a full picture of the production process

Main issues at stake Backwards compatibility Analysis of the most common use cases behind each change (e.g. need of adapting some of the data formats) Impact assessment: costs Vs benefits expected Use of a common terminology: SDMX technical vocabulary

Technical Workshop on the review of the SDMX technical standards held Luxembourg in February 2010 Workshop attended by more than 30 participants coming from 11 national agencies (statistical institutes or central banks) and from 6 SDMX sponsoring organisations Main issues discussed: analysis of the change requests for the technical standard, use cases, impact assessment, backward compatibility, ………. 8

Agreement on the following points The new version of the SDMX technical standards must fix bugs and inconsistencies, while providing solutions to well-identified use cases; The improved SDMX technical standard 2.1 should not get too complex; this could block its further use and implementation and cause higher costs….. There is a need for a proper documentation.

Technical subgroups installed Technical subgroups working on the following issues: 1.Web services (work already started) 2.Structure Query And Registry Interface Reconciliation 3.Code-lists 4.Cross-sectional format 5.Compact format 6.Query format Additional issues to be tackled in a second step: Business registers, transformations and expressions

Timeline and planning 1.March-April 2010: Comments, follow-up, working of the sub-groups 2.May 2010: Technical report on the SDMX Technical Standards June 2010: Submission to the SDMX Secretariat and SDMX sponsors for defining the further process