1. Seasonal Adjustment software Cristina Calizzani - Unit B2
Item 4.5 of the Agenda
Seasonal Adjustment software Cristina Calizzani - Unit B2
21 & 22 October 2009

2. Background
Seasonal Adjustment important step of short term analysis of development of the economy
Availability of modern & reliable software tools for SA in friendly environment important precondition
In 2008 following approval ESS guidelines on SA (by SPC and CMFB) Eurostat started development more sustainable and flexible tool for managing complex SA algorithms
Solution presented to ITDG in 2008 driven by NBB IT development in time series domain (library of reusable components)
Technology easy to be embedded in many environments, fast developments and extensions allowed
21 & 22 October 2009
IT Directors Group

3. Project’s stakeholders
Developers’ group
Eurostat, BoS, USCB, NBB, ECB (Cooperation agreement for collaborative development)
Assure proper development, maintenance and testing protocols
Coordination of the policy of revisions /upgrade engines
NBB: grant beneficiary for adapting the NBB toolkit to the needs of the ESS
User testing group (launched in January 2009)
Experts of Tramo-Seats, X12Arima, Demetra from some NSIs and NCBs
Testing and validation of components as they become available
Issuing of recommendations for aligning the tool to user requirements and guidelines
Community created in OSOR for reporting and exchanging experiences
SA Steering Group
- High level group coordinating SA activities in NSIs and NCBs
21 & 22 October 2009
IT Directors Group

4. Development phases Iterative prototyping approach: 4 prototypes
To improve communication between developers and users
To figure out usefulness/consequences of specific designs before building the entire system
Development Demetra+ follows Eurostat work plan
Close cooperating with user testing group
Prototype I in 2008; Prototype II March 2009
Prototype III (October 2009): integrates main requirement expressed by users on prototype II, storing of parameters, basis for final specification and identification missing features
Prototype IV (expected February 2010): beta version of the tool
February 2010 – May 2010 Intensive testing
June 2010: Release Demetra+ (V1)
June June 2011: Porting to Java
December 2011: Release Demetra+ (V2)
21 & 22 October 2009
IT Directors Group

5. Demetra+ solution Components of Demetra+ .NET and C# technologies
Basic API
SA production tools with “Demetra like” functionalities
A multi-application (research) environment
SA cruncher
.NET and C# technologies
Adequate technology for the current phases of development:
Allowing fast development
Best solution for iterative/adaptive approach based on reinforced communication (Eurostat, users, developers)
Demetra+ V1 June 2010
High level interactivity (new way approaching SA methods)
For Windows only
Validation of the tool by all stakeholders
Demetra+ V2: Java version
Portability to multiuser environments (UNIX)
Involvement of key actors into additional module development activities
First step for a future reengineering of the core engines in Java
Compatible with Eurostat requirements for batch processing
21 & 22 October 2009
IT Directors Group

6. Conclusions Demetra+ very challenging project
Suitability and potentiality of the approach confirmed by the commitment and interest expressed by the actors involved
Coherence of development with SA native engines assured by developers
New SA IT architecture flexible enough to cope with continuous advances in research and challenging users’ requests.
Additional issues related to future governance of Demetra+ (i.e. versioning, property, documentation, OSS) have to be addressed in the next phases of the development
Development of Demetra+ expected to contribute to the enhancement of expertise and harmonisation of SA procedures in the ESS
21 & 22 October 2009
IT Directors Group

7. Thanks for the attention!
21 & 22 October 2009
IT Directors Group