1. Developing Business Data Collection and measuring Response Burden European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics Helsinki 4-6 May 2010 Johanna Leivo, Statistics Finland

2. Contents of the presentation Use of adminstrative and register sources Enterprise data collection service Measurement of Response Burden in Statistics Finland Imlementation Response Burden Inquiry 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

3. Use of administrative data at Statistics Finland and sources 95 % of data used at Statistics Finland comes from administrative and register sources, the rest 5 % is covered by direct inquiries Business ID widely in use Principles of the Finnish Statistics Act (2004) It is compulsory to use suitable existing data Guarantees access to administrative sources State government and social security institutions are obliged to deliver their data to Statistics Finland 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

4. Direct inquiries vs. administrative and register data in statistics on enterprises 18.8.2015 Number of Enterprises Direct inquiries Administrative and register data Structural Business Statistics 8 000 (4%) 180 000 Business Register 25 000 (5%) 500 000 Short Term Business Statistics Turnover 2 000 (1%) 250 000 Wages 93 (<1%) 110 000 Industrial Production 2 000 (10%) 20 000 Statistics Finland

5. Enterprise data collection service

6. Allows enterprises to check which Statistics Finland’s data collections consern them Inform enterprises about data collections, response date and changes made to them Aim is to facilitate enterprises the preparation for and responding to its data collections The service contains data collections starting from 2006 New data collections are added to it as samples are drawn for them The service requires identifiers 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

7. 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

8. 18.8.2015 Enterprise data collection service -content Name of data collection Name of data supplier Start of data collecting Frequency of data collecting Contact person for data supplier Energy use in manufacturing Enterprise 15.3.2010 Yearly Mikko Räsänen Inquiry on manufacturing commodities Enterprise/ Helsinki 1.2.2010 Yearly Mikko Räsänen Financial statements inquiry for enterprises Enterprise 1.2.2010 Yearly Tuija Virtanen Business Register inquiry for single-establishment enterprises Enterprise 28.1.2010 Yearly Sirpa Nieminen Statistics Finland

9. Measurement of the response burden

10. Statistics Finland and the National Board of Customs together measured response burden of direct enterprise data inquiries during 2008-2009 Main objects were to report statistical response burden yearly to report response burden by individual direct enterprise data inquiries to enterprises of different sizes (category of personnel) to repeat response burden measurements regularly 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

11. The response burden inquiry 1) How many persons participated in preparing and filling in the answers to the questions included in the inquiry? Within your enterprise ___ persons, outside your enterprise ___ persons. 2) How much time did you spend on acquiring and processing the inquired data prior to their actual entry onto the questionnaire? (total time for all participants) ____ hours and ____ minutes. 3) How long did it take you to actually fill in the questionnaire? ____ hours and ____ minutes. 4) Have any changes been made to your information systems in the past three years to make it easier for you to answer to this inquiry?  None  Minor changes  Some changes  Extensive changes  Don’t know 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

12. 5) Did you find that answering to the inquiry was?  Very easy  Fairly easy  Neither easy nor burdensome  Fairly burdensome  Very burdensome 6) How did you find the inquiry you just answered? There were too many questions  Yes  No The questions were complicated  Yes  No The inquired data were available at the time of answering  Yes  No The answering required lengthy calculations  Yes  No The data had to be gathered from two or more sources  Yes  No Help was needed from other persons  Yes  No The inquired data were available at your enterprise  Yes  No It was difficult to decide which answer would be correct  Yes  No The definitions and instruction were not very clear  Yes  No The layout made the questionnaire difficult to read  Yes  No There were technical problems with the web-based questionnaire  Yes  No Other reasons that increased the burden of answering? ______________________________________________________________ 7) Feedback and suggestions for improvement concerning the questionnaires, instructions, customer service, data collection application or other matters related to the inquiry: 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

13. Implementation of response burden measurement Planning the inquiry and testing spring 2008 Response burden measurements was made between 08/2008 – 12/2009 In every inquiry more than 100 data suppliers On average about 250 data suppliers responded response burden inquiry in each data collection Response burden measurements was made using either electronic data collection or paper form 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

14. Response burden 2008 The number of staff-years (Source: Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) estimation about employees average working hour per annum (year 2008), staff-year = total of working hour / 1717,5) Statistics Finland direct business data collections190 staff-years The National Board of Customs: Intrastat210 staff-years Costs (Source: Private sector monthly salaries average, year 2008, in Classification of Occupations: Clerks) Statistics Finland direct business data collections8,3m€ The National Board of Customs: Intrastat 9,2m€ 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

15. The most burdensome inquiries: Total time spent on acquiring and processing the inquired data and filling in the inquiry top 10, year 2008 18.8.2015 Name of data collection Frequency of data collecting Number of respondents Estimated response burden The number of staff-years Statistics on agriculture Yearly 8 697 22,9 Financial statements inquiry for enterprises Yearly 7 358 15,1 Authority data collection (Virati) Quarterly 1 600 x 13,6 Labour cost index in the private sector Quarterly 9 236 12,7 Outstanding credit Quarterly 2 401 10,2 Monthly inquiry for accomodation statistics Monthly 13 011 9,8 Inquiry on manufacturing commodities Yearly 4 016 9,6 Business Register and employment statistics inquiry for multi-establishment enterprises Yearly 4 922 9,6 Inquiry on volume index of industrial output Monthly 12 720 9,0 Inquiry for industrial establishments Yearly 1 731 6,6 Statistics Finland

16. Statistics Finland total: How much time is spend on acquiring and prosessing the inquired data and filling in the questionnaire? 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

17. Statistics Finland total: Did you find that answering to the inquiry was? 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

18. Statistics Finland total : Sources of response Burden 18.8.2015Statistics Finland

19. Thank you for your attention! Contact information: Johanna Leivo Business Trends Statistics Finland email: johanna.leivo@stat.fi tel: +358 9 1734 3525 www.stat.fi/index_en.html 18.8.2015Statistics Finland