1. National reference metadata and the National Reference Metadata Editor
SISAI Meeting
12-13 June 2012
National reference metadata and the National
Reference Metadata Editor
August Götzfried
ESTAT unit B 5
this is meant to be a presentation of about 15 – 20 minutes, giving you a down-to-earth summary of the project within the context of SDMX

2. National reference metadata
The ESS vision requests more horizontal and vertical integration in the ESS. This means that more ESS statistical standards need to be created and implemented in the ESS.
For reference metadata this means in particular:
The ESS standards for reference metadata are the ESMS (Euro SDMX Metadata Structure) and the ESQRS (ESS Standard Quality Report structure) (the latter is covering producer oriented quality reports).
Both standards are derived from the SDMX statistical standards.
Both standards are used at Eurostat and increasingly also for national reference metadata files.
Both standards will be incorporated into the EP/Council Regulation on processes, standards and metadata.

3. The National Reference Metadata Editor
The National Reference Metadata Editor (NRME) is the ESS on-line application which enables the production and exchange of national reference metadata files in the ESS.
The NRME has the following characteristics:
It is a Web application accessible for national reference metadata producers (for one designated central national administrator and for several national producers);
The NRME uses the ESS reference metadata standards ESMS and ESQRS; it is fully SDMX compliant.
It contains all data flows which have been opened for the respective statistical domains;
The NRME allows the production and exchange of the national reference metadata files (through a single entry point in Edamis) as well as its reuse for national purposes;
After having been processed at Eurostat, the national reference metadata files can also be disseminated on the Eurostat website.
Efficiency gains are expected through the use of the ESS statistical standards and through the use of the NRME.

4. The National Reference Metadata Editor (NRME)

5. The NRME - login
This is the login page. The user is authenticated by his circa credentials.
If one of the credentials is incorrect, the application will display a warning message and the user can try again to login by typing the correct credentials.

6. The NRME - select a reference metadata flow
After successful authentication, the user is directed to the next page where he can select a reference metadata flow.
The application shows the user name and role on the top right side of the screen (1)
The application shows the available reference metadata flows, depending on the role of the user (2).
A national user will only be able to see the RM flows for his country and his particular domain
A national administrator will see all RM flows for his country and all domains for that country
A Eurostat domain manager will see all RM flows for all countries, but for his domain only
The Super administrator can see all RM flows for all countries and all domains.
The application displays the selected reference MF at the bottom of the screen (3)
After having selected a RM flow, the user can press the Continue button on the left hand bottom corner of the page (4)
If the user has not yet selected a RMFlow the user will receive an error message when pressing the Continue button
After pressing the continue button, the application displays the next page of the wizard.
Comments for IBM:
Selected RM flow should be highlighted in blue with white font, - not gray – for readability.

7. The NRME - create the reference metadata file
We then come to step 2 of the wizard, where the user has to select a report structure.
At the moment only one report structure is available, but it is possible to add more.
Navigation buttons are foreseen, to facilitate browsing, in the event the report structure list gets longer.
Since there is only one report structure, based on the ESMS (Euro-SDMX Metadata Structure), this is automatically selected.
The user navigates to the next step by pressing the Next button.
Comments for IBM:
* Once an action is selected it should remain green throughout the rest of the action screens so the user knows where he is in the process.
* No warning is given to the user when he clicks the close button. He is just “catapulted” to the “Please select an action” screen”.

8. The NRME – edit the national reference metadata file
This brings us to the third step. Here the user can complete the Metadata message
Since this screen is quite large, several navigation options are available.
(2) The user can browse through a tree where all the concepts are shown.
(3) The tree can be expanded or collapsed entirely by clicking on the Expand all – Collapse all links or by clicking on the +/- signs in the concept tree.
(4) The user can also press the previous and next icons to browse through the concepts in a sequential way.
(5) When the user selects a concept in the tree, the corresponding field is shown in the right hand side of the frame. Here the user can type his text, or paste it from Word or another application.
An edit button is available, allowing the user to apply formatting to the text entered in the field.
For this report structure, all fields are mandatory. If all fields have not been filled out, the user can only save this Reference Metadata File as an incomplete version He will not be able to send it.
Concepts where the field is still empty are shown in red. As soon asAt the moment this only occurs whenever the user saves his work, but in future this should happen instantaneously, as soon as the user has filled out a field.
WHen all fields have been filled, the user can press the next button to go to step 4
The fill all button is very nifty but it is only there for development purposes….
Comments for IBM:
* No warning is given to the user when he clicks the close button. He is just “catapulted” to the “Please select an action” screen”, without being prompted to save.

9. The NRME - send the reference metadata file
Initially, the Send button will be de-activated in this screen. Before being able to send the file, the user must indicate whether the file is fit for publication or not. He does this by selection either the “for publication” radio button on top of the screen, or the “not for publication button”
(2) As soon as one of these radio buttons has been selected, the Send button is activated.
Comments for IBM:

10. The NRME – access the reporting guidelines

11. The European and national ESMS files disseminated on the Eurostat webpage

12. The Bulgarian ESMS file disseminated

13. Last news
Around 30 statistical domains in the ESS compile and exchange national reference metadata;
Around 20 statistical domains in the ESS compile and exchange national quality reports;
Since June 2010 we started:
to map and convert national files to the ESMS/ESQRS standards in opening the respective metadata flows in the NRME;
to train the Eurostat domain managers, the national administrators and the other national users for using the NRME (we provide courses on a regular basis; web training will start in July 2012;
to promote the NRME in ESS working groups, committees and at other occasions.
By 05/2012 we opened 15 ESMS flows in 6 statistical domains;
By 05/2012 we opened 12 ESQRS flows in 6 statistical domains.

14. QUESTIONS ?
Please contact unit B5 when you want to use the NRME:
Useful link for the NRME, the respective user guides, etc.: