1. Restricted Daejeon, 26-29 April 2010 1 An SDMX based unified data catalogue (UDC) MSIS – Meeting on the Management of Statistical Information Systems 1 Gabriele Becker / Massimo Bruschi Statistical Information Systems Monetary & Economic Department Bank for International Settlements

2. Restricted 2 The SDMX vision Need: up-to-date numbers, data documentation, good quality data Data can be offered by: NSOs, CBs, IOs How to choose, filter out duplication, get the “fresher” ? Data providers (originators) offer their data “in SDMX” Dissemination = reporting = data sharing… single storage ! SDMX registries help users and organisations to find data How “real” is this SDMX vision? What do we still need to learn?

3. Restricted 3 The Unified Data Catalogue (UDC) concept Can we “implement” the vision ? UDC: a single data catalogue that allows to discover, select and retrieve statistical data from all registered data sources discovery implies access to metadata: DSD – data structure definitions concepts and code-lists category schemes An SDMX registry is a natural repository Unified Data Catalogue feasibility study to analyse this

4. Restricted 4 UDC study: Objectives Provide centralised access to a variety of internal and external data-sources Generic search facilities against “registered” data sources Directly retrieve data and metadata from all data sources Use SDMX technical standards, SDMX registry, web services Broaden SDMX knowledge within BIS (business area and IT colleagues)

5. Restricted 5 User stories Registrations Constraints GUI features Navigation / Search Query & retrieval Output handling Automation Security

6. Restricted 6 UDC prototype architecture Simplistic approach: to search and retrieve data from a data source all what we need to know are the data structures and the source query language If a source follows the SDMX-IM we also need a (web) service connected to it able to respond to SDMX Query SDMX-enabled data source: “native” or “adaptable” SDMX-ML file + DSD + “file-query-handler” = simplest SDMX enabled source

7. Restricted 7 SDMX Registry web appl. SDMX UDC GUI mappable data source SDMX query adapter web service SDMX data source web-service SDMX files web service Registrations Plan: schematic architecture Internal or external sources

8. Restricted 8 Components of the UDC prototype SDMX Registry (“off the shelf” SDMX Tool) Data structure definitions of all “connected” data sources Registrations for all data flows for all connected data sources URLs to SDMX-files and SDMX query services Updated via SDMX-ML messages or interactively (“KeyMaster”) UDC (developed for the study) GUI to navigate the registry information Queries the data sources Retrieves data and presents them to the user SDMX query web services (developed for the study) For the different types of data sources Data query services (partly existing, partly developed) For each of the connected queryable data sources

9. Restricted 9 BIS Data Bank DBQL output SDMX-ML proxy daemon medts.a Linux MarkIT SQL database SQL stored procedures mstat.s Win TS web service mstat.a Win MSTAT Cubes v.ds03 Linux SDMX-ML query web service /databank/query SDMX-ML query web service /mstat/query SDMX-ML query web service /markit/query SDMX Registry web appl. R/O Registry UDC web appl. SDMX-ML file browser Internet Explorer UDC GUI PC Win What we did: detailed architecture SDMX-ML data files.xml

10. Restricted 10 UDC GUI key features Browse the Categories / Data-flows / Provision registrations Browse selected DSD: dimensions, attributes, code-lists Build queries based on DSD (code selection) Run query and view results (simple table) Download results and DSDs in SDMX-ML format Search by Concept / Codelist

11. Restricted 11 1 2 3 Search by Concept/Codelist - 1

12. Restricted 12 Search by Concept/Codelist - 2 4 6 5

13. Restricted 13 UDC Prototype: some results UDC can provide (unsecured) access to BIS Data Bank: time series repository, SDMX-EDI IM, LINUX, FAME, Sybase, own query language + query adapter MSTAT OLAP: IBFS data multi-dimensional cubes, MS Windows, SQL Server, SDMX Query to OLAP / MDX adapter MSTAT Sandbox, research data in relational base, MS Windows, SQL Server, DSD on unstructured dataset + SMDX / SQL adapter SDMX-ML generic files + generic file adapter Practical use of registration, provisioning, constraints processing, … SDMX vision is real … with some practical issues

14. Restricted 14 Issues found (Aug. 2009, SDMX 2.0) Not possible to register compact or utility files in registry used Not possible to register files using message groups and annotations as not supported in registry used Missing functionality in SDMX Query message Some issues with registry implementation used Constraints processing on registry did not work ECB does not provide DSDs on their website (files are OK) Cross-platform communication with security not solved In general: access authorisation to query-able data sources is unresolved

15. Restricted 15 Conclusions SDMX vision is real: the UDC works Enhancements to standards already part of SDMX 2.1 Enhancements to registry implementation (eg industrial strength required) Non-SDMX issues (cross-platform connectivity and access authentication) exist and need to be looked into Current SDMX offerings from other organisations are rather diverse (message types, features used, version implemented) Diverse offerings make requirements for a UDC more complex

16. Restricted 16 Next steps for the BIS UDC can be a central part of future BIS environment Road to UDC will take a few years Continue the feasibility study in the next year Refine UDC More data sources More user facilities for search and navigation Work with SDMX standards experts on issues found Work with other SDMX data providers

17. Restricted 17 Thank you! gabriele.becker@bis.org massimo.bruschi@bis.org