Official statistics at national & international levels. Data governance

1. 1
The role of international organizations in producing
official statistics
Pietro Gennari
Editor-in-Chief Statistical
Journal of the IAOS
Ex-FAO Chief Statistician
Master in Statistical Methods and Applications
‘La Sapienza’ University of Rome
Lecture 2 - Official statistics at national & international levels

2. The National Statistical System
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1. Introduction: Official statistics at national and international levels
• The National Statistical System (NSS)
• Delineation of the NSS
• Components of the NSS and the role of the National Statistical Office
• Models of National Statistical System
• Coordination of the National Statistical System
2. The International Statistical System: an overview
• The UN System
• The UN Statistical System
• Non-UN Statistical Organizations
• OECD & The European Statistical System
3. Data Governance of the global statistical system
• The UN Statistical Commission and its subsidiary bodies
• The Regional Statistical Commissions
• The Committee of the Chief Statisticians of the UN System
• The Committee for the Coordination of the Statistical System (CCSA)

3. 3
What is
Official Statistics?

4. Official Statistics at national level
4
• Official statistics are numerical information (aimed at describing the demographic, economic,
environmental, & social situation in a given country) that are regularly collected, compiled,
processed, and published by national governments & their agencies, the so called National
Statistical System (NSS).
• Statistical data in a country can be also produced by a variety of other public & private
organizations, research institutions, NGOs, etc. However, only those produced by national
government authorities are defined as official statistics.
• Almost all countries have set up statistical systems as part of the central government. The
mandate to produce official statistics is generally set out in the statistical law, which
identifies the organizations included in the NSS or identifies the criteria that the
organizations should fufil to be member of the NSS (and a designated National Committee
establishes which statistical activities and which Institutions should be included in the NSS).
• The National Statistical programme of work should have an allocated budget financed from
general tax revenue, not from ad hoc taxation (it may be discontinued).

5. Official Statistics at national level
5
• Recently the definition of Official statistics has become more stringent.
• Official statistics are currently defined as statistics developed, produced and disseminated by
the NSS in conformity with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and other
internationally agreed statistical standards, codes and recommendations.
• This is to ensure that the statistics produced by national authorities can be seen as reliable,
objective, not influenced by political or personal interests.
• The risk of political interference is higher, the more sensitive are the statistics to be
published, and the more the Institutions of the NSS are dependent from the Government
rather than the Parliament.

6. Official Statistics at international level
6
• The role of IOs as independent producers of official statistics is more controversial.
• The opinion that IOs should limit themselves to just compiling already‐existing governmental
statistics is still widespread, especially among many national statisticians from developed
countries.
• Many IOs have received a mandate by members countries to perform statistical activities
(e.g. Art. 1 of FAO Constitution)
• Moreover, according to the SDMX Guidelines, official statistics also include all statistical
activities carried out “under the statistical programme of an intergovernmental
organization”.
• This definition is based on the assumption that member states have the opportunity to
review and endorse the statistical programme of intergovernmental organizations.
• This is normally the case in most UN agencies even if several UN membership-based
organizations do not have an autonomous statistical governance system. In this case the
statistical programme is discussed and endorsed by diplomats, not by statisticians.

7. Official Statistics at international level
7
The role of IOS as independent “producers” of official statistics is essential:
1. to ensure the harmonization and international comparability of country data
2. to validate national data (possible lack of objectivity and independence of the data
produced by certain NSS)
3. to address data gaps (i.e data not produced by the national statistical systems) and to
complement national data with additional indicators.
4. to produce statistics derived by “non-traditional sources” (Big data, geospatial data, etc.). In
fact, non-traditional data are more efficiently produced at global level. Moreover, only at
global level the statistics proced are comparable across countries. IOs have therefore a
comparative advantage in producing them.

8. 8
The National
Statistical System

9. Components of the NSS
9
• The national statistical system (NSS) of a country comprises the national statistical office
(NSO) and all other producers of official statistics in the country.
• As we have seen, many countries lack a clear delimitation of the NSS. This may be provided
either by the statistical law (explicit enumeration of producers of official statistics) or by the
multi-year statistical programme. However, explicit criteria for being included as producer of
official statistics are rarely defined.
• The UN FPOS may provide key criteria for a clear delimitation of the organizations included
in the NSS (e.g., those that respect professional independence, data confidentiality, data
quality).
• These criteria, however, may also be satisfied by Institutions that are not part of the
government.

10. Components of the NSS
10
• In most countries, the NSO is the specialised government agency entrusted to perform the
majority of the activities in the field and the leadership in official statistics.
• Other public agencies may work on official statistics alongside the NSO, such as statistical
units of government ministries (like ministries of agriculture, education, health, labour and
transport), producing statistics on their subject matter, alongside with their main functions
of formulating and implementing policies and performing their administrative duties.
• Moreover, ministries of finance may be responsible for government finance statistics. It is
also quite common that central banks are responsible for monetary and balance of
payments statistics (and sometimes of national accounts).
• In many countries, the NSO is entrusted with the bulk of the dissemination of official
statistics, irrespective of the domains covered by its statistical programme.
• In those cases, the ministries, departments, and agencies, (MDAs) are often providing
essential data inputs for the official statistics compiled by the NSO.
• Otherwise, the MDAs directly disseminate the data they produce. The NSO may exercise a
quality assurance of the data disseminated by the MDAs (Data stewardship)

11. Organization of the NSS
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The organization of NSSs can be grouped into the following 3 categories:
1. A fully centralised NSO as the only member of the NSS, including its executive board, if
placed as an autonomous agency outside the main administration. The Central Bank's
statistical department will also produce official statistics but may not be formally part of the
NSS. There are no independent sub-national statistical offices.
2. An NSO as the core producer, in most cases located within the national government
administration, and a limited number of other national producers, with various degrees of
functional centralisation. The Central Bank's statistical department may be a part of such an
NSS as authorised by the law of the Bank. There are no independent sub-national statistical
offices.
3. In a federally organized countries, an NSO with a high degree of functional centralisation
acting as a federal statistical office, a very limited number of other producers at the federal
level, and independent sub-national statistical offices involved in the production of
federal statistics. The chief statistician has the mandate to coordinate the system.

12. Organization of the NSS
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Historical and institutional reasons, as well as deliberate policies, can explain the division of
labour between the NSO and the different ministries and departments.
Two main principles need to be observed in all cases:
• no matter where they are carried out, the statistical activities are very specialised and
require specific skills and expertise besides the subject matter knowledge, and
• irrespective of the division of responsibilities, there is a need for close cooperation between
the NSO and other producers of official statistics in the MDAs in order to:
• ensure that the coverage of the official statistics is adequate, both as regards subject
matters and geographic coverage;
• avoid duplication of data collection and dissemination;
• ensure that all official statistics are based on common scientific methods and standards.

13. 13
Coordination
arrangements of the NSS

14. Coordination arrangements and the role of the NSO
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The governing and coordination arrangements of the NSS vary from country to country:
• determined by statistical laws (in this case they are legally binding);
• more informal arrangements, sometimes centred around the NSS statistical programme of work, or
reinforced by formal agreements, such as memorandum of understanding (MoUs) setting out in
detail the role and responsibilities of the different partners.
Most countries recognise the role of the NSO in providing the professional leadership to the NSS. The
NSO is most often the country’s representative in international statistical forums with the responsibility
of ensuring that international standards and recognised scientific methods and procedures are followed.
The role of leading the NSS includes taking the initiative in coordinating activities of all institutions
involved in the production of official statistics.
Some developing countries lack a functional NSS within which statistical cooperation is coordinated and
carried out regularly. In the absence of an NSS, statistical development programmes financed by
international institutions and other development partners have as their may aim to help countries
establish and operate such a system (national strategies for the development of statistics - NSDS)

15. Coordination arrangements: the Chief Statistician
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• In most countries, the chief executive of the NSO is also assigned by law the responsibility of
chief statistician, i.e. the leader and coordinator of the whole NSS. In particular, at the
international level, the CS represents not only the NSO but the entire NSS.
• In addition to the managerial responsibilities as chief executive officer of the NSO, the chief
statistician is generally made, by law, responsible for the professional integrity of the whole
NSS, for ensuring the credibility & trust in official statistics.
• The appointment of the CS should be based on his/her professional know-how and sound
experience in statistics, managerial and communication skills.
• In view of the principle of non-political and impartial character of the post, the minimum term
of office for a chief statistician should be at least 4 years; its conclusion should not coincide
with the terms of office of the appointing body and be affected by changes in the government.
• It is furthermore important to avoid that the chief statistician is perceived as directly or
indirectly linked to one or the other side of the political spectrum. This requires a transparent,
non-political process of hiring the chief statistician to make the final appointment on purely
professional grounds. This applies even if the appointing body often is, in most cases, the
government.

16. Coordination arrangements: the Chief Statistician
16
• The impartiality and professional independence of the chief statistician must be explicitly protected
in the statistical law, to discourage threats of dismissal by superior or other influential bodies. The SL
should exhaustively list the possibilities by which a term of office can exceptionally be terminated
before expiry. The SL should also regulate the number of times the term of office can be renewed.
• Given the importance of drawing a clear separation of the NSS from the rest of the administration, it
is recommended that the chief statistician is not seen as a regular member of the government and is
invited to take part in meetings at government level only occasionally when issues of official statistics
are on the table.
• Normally, the CS reports directly to the government, sometimes directly to the Prime minister. More
rarely, the CS reports to the President of the country. The reporting line, anyway, should be stable and
minimise the perception of political influence and proximity to the general communication function of
the government
• A few countries have established the NSO as an autonomous agency located outside the main
administration with a special status defined in the statistical law. In this agency model, the chief
statistician no longer reports directly to a member of the government but reports to the executive
board of the NSO. Such a solution is a solid signal to underline the special status of the NSO in terms
of professional independence. However, it implies a high degree of centralisation of official statistics.

17. Coordination arrangements: The Statistical Law
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• A well-developed national legislation framework, regulating the production of official
statistics is necessary to ensure the implementation of the UN Fundamental Principles of
Official Statistics. The overall objective is to ensure the production of official statistics with a
high level of quality, meeting users' needs and being trusted by users.
• As legal structures and traditions vary between countries, legal frameworks for the
production of official statistics have to be adapted to the national context.
• The legislative frameworks should be flexible, able to respond to changing conditions and
circumstances, minimizes legislation changes and the associated risk of political
interference with legislation revisions.
• It is therefore advisable that the Statistical Law:
• does not to list the different producers of official statistics belonging to the NSS, but to
regulate only the criteria for their identification.
• does not to list one by one the statistical domains and outputs of the NSO/NSS,
preventing the development of new statistics and the termination of
redundant/obsolete statistics.

18. Coordination arrangements: The Statistical Law
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A flexible legislative frameworks might combine several legal instruments:
a) The national law on official statistics which should remain rather general, translate the
UNFPOS into the national legal framework and be endorsed by the legislator;
b) Regulations, orders and decrees, which implement the law on official statistics with regard
to the NSS composition, structure and organizational issues, and the content of the
statistical programmes;
c) Guidelines and handbooks, endorsed by the chief statistician, should clarify in more detail
technical or methodological approaches/standards to be applied across the entire NSS.

19. Coordination arrangements: The Statistical Law
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Other legislation, not directly related to statistics, might conflict with the statistical legislation,
and should be revised avoiding, in particular, any breaches with the principle of confidentiality
and professional independence of statistical authorities. For example:
a) Government Act: this describes the position of the NSO, the chief statistician, etc.;
b) Information Security Act: this describes the information security procedures for the NSO;
c) Public Servants Act: this could conflict with the appointment procedure and the mandate
of statistical staff, affecting the principle of professional independence of statistical
production;
d) Public Finance Act: this may affect the process for budget allocation to the NSO and the
statistical system.
e) Privacy and Data Protection Act: this regulates the protection of individuals with regard to
the processing and sharing of personal data obtained exclusively for statistical production.
f) Public Information Access Act: governs the procedures which ensures everyone free access
to and right to reuse public information.

20. 20
The International
Statistical System

21. The United Nations System
21
• The UN is an international organization founded in 1945 after WW II by 51 countries committed to
maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and
promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. The main bodies are:
• General Assembly: main deliberative, policymaking & representative organ of the UN (193 members)
• Security Council: responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security (15 Members-5
permanent & 10 non-permanent). It can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force
to maintain or restore international peace and security. Permanent members has veto power.
• Economic and Social Council: main body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and
recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of
internationally agreed development goals.
• International Court of Justice: judicial organ of the UN. Its role is to settle, in accordance with
international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal
questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.
• UN Secretariat: comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of UN staff who carry out the
daily work of the UN as mandated by the GA and the Organization's other principal bodies.

22. FAO in the UN system
WHO WE ARE
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23. The UN Statistical System
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The set of all statistical units of the UN agencies. It has grown significantly over the years.
Four broad groups of UN System entities with statistical mandates can be distinguished:
a. The secretariat units, including UNSD, UNPD, the Statistics Divisions the five regional commissions, OCHA,
OHCHR, UNCTAD, UNEP, UN-Habitat, UNODC. They report to UN SG and the General Assembly.
b. The statistical units of Funds and Programmes and other entities – e.g. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNWomen.
Each has its own funding and, therefore, its own administrative and programming procedures.
c. The statistical units of the Specialized Agencies – e.g. ILO, UNESCO, FAO and WHO, each with its own
mandate and governing body, whose members are the representative of the government of member States,
that decide the budgets and programmes.
d. The statistical units of related organizations—IAEA, IOM and the WTO. These organizations have cooperation
agreement with the UN similar to that of Specialized Agencies.
This decentralized approach has enabled the various UN statistical units to develop a high degree of technical
specialization, thereby allowing them to serve their specific constituencies and users well.
On the other hand, this decentralization has created a need for a functioning coordination mechanism, to ensure
coherent methods and data outputs and the effective utilization of scarce resources across the units.

24. 24
Non UN: Statistical Programmes of International Financial Institutions (IFIs)
International financial institutions with statistical programmes include multilateral development banks
(MDBs), central banks and other IFIs.
a. Multilateral Development Banks (WB, AfDB, ADB, CDB, IaDB, IsDB).
b. Central Banks (ECB).
c. Other IFIs (IMF, BIS).
MDBs support the national, regional, and international statistical systems to improve the scope and
quality of basic data and statistics.
The IMF and the World Bank, even if being specialized agencies in the UN system, are also referred to as
Bretton Woods institutions (established in July 1944 by 43 countries).
In 2013, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in statistical activities was signed by the heads
of regional MDBs, the IMF, the WB and the UN—now known as the MoU Group. The objective of this
Group is to enhance collaboration so as to support the strengthening of statistical capacity in the
Member States and facilitate the sharing of data, tools, standards and analysis to improve statistics for
the monitoring of development outcomes, including the SDGs.

25. 25
Non UN: Statistical programme of Regional and sub-regional organizations
Regional/sub-regional entities have statistical programmes focused on a specific geographic area. They
participate in the UNSC annual sessions, as well as in the intergovernmental statistical bodies of the
UNRCs as observers.
Africa
• African Union (AU);
• Economic and Statistical Observatory of Sub-Saharan Africa (AFRISTAT);
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA);
• East African Community (EAC);
• Economic Committee of Central African States (ECCAS);
• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS);
• Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD);
• Southern African Development Community (SADC);
The Americas
• Andean Community (CAN);
• Caribbean Community (CARICOM);
• South Common Market (MERCOSUR);
• Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS);
• Central American Integration System (SICA).

26. 26
Non UN: Statistical programme of Regional and sub-regional organizations
Asia and Pacific (including Arab regions)
• Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS);
• Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN);
• Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO);
• Statistical Centre for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC-Stat);
• Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC);
• ESCAP Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP);
• Pacific Community (SPC).
Europe and other countries (including Eurasian organizations)
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS);
• Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC);
• European Free Trade Association (EFTA);

27. 27
Non UN: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
• The OECD is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961
to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
• Precursor of the OECD is the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation established in 1948, to
help administer the Marshall Plan which supported the economic reconstruction of European countries
after WW II.
• The majority of OECD members are high-income economies and only recently access has been granted
to some emerging economies.
• The OECD is recognised as a highly influential think thank on economic development policies.
• Statistics is an essential input to the analytical work of the Organisation. Moreover, the production of
internationally comparable data is a fundamental output for the OECD. Lastly, OECD contributes to
developing international statistical standards as part of its political role
• The OECD Committee on Statistics was established May 2004 with a broad mandate. The Committee is
supported by the work of about 20 statistical working parties and other expert groups, where counytry
representatives meet to discuss new statistical methods, new indicators, and peer review the quality of
their national data.

28. 28
Non UN: Eurostat and the European Statistical System
• 1953: a statistical service of the European Coal and Steel Community was created. The need for
harmonized European Statistics dates back to the very beginning of the European Union:
• 1958: the service became part of the new established European Communities
• 1959: the Statistical Office of the European Communities is named Eurostat
• In June 1997, Article 285 was inserted in the EU Treaty, providing Community statistics for the first
time with a constitutional basis.
• 2009: Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament establishes the legal framework for
the European statistics. It consolidated the activities of the ESS and improved its governance.
The ESS is a partnership between the Commission (Eurostat), the NSOs and Other National Authorities
responsible in each Member State for the production and dissemination of European statistics.
Today, the ESS includes the 27 EU Member States and the countries that belong to the European Free
Trade Association (EFTA): Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission (EC) and the statistical authority of the
European Union (EU). Eurostat’s role is to ensure the production of European Statistics at Community
level, leading the way in their harmonisation. Most Eurostat statistics are collected from member states
on the basis of European Regulations, which are binding.

29. 29
Governance of the
global Statistical System

30.  Established in 1946 and convened for the first time in 1947.
 Apex entity in the international statistical system, that brings together the chief statisticians of member states
as representatives of the entire NSS
 Functional commission that reports to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
 Intergovernmental body with 24 member countries elected by ECOSOC every 2 years
• Only 24 countries as members (from 2027, expansion to 54 members); all other member states of the UN
invited to attend as observers
• International Organizations and NGOs as observers
• UNSD as Secretariat
 The UNSC convenes formally in a four-day annual session.
 Assists ECOSOC in:
• promoting improvement of national statistics & their international comparability;
• promoting the development & implementation of statistical methods & standards worldwide;
• coordinating the statistical work of specialized agencies;
• endorsing the statistical programme of work of the Secretariat;
• advising the organs of the United Nations on general questions relating to the collection, analysis and
dissemination of statistical information. 30
United Nations Statistical Commission

31. • The five Regional Commissions foster intra- & inter-regional economic cooperation
and promote multilateral dialogue, knowledge sharing and networking at the
regional level
 ECA: Economic Commission for Africa
 ECE: Economic Commission for Europe
 ECLAC: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
 ESCAP: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
 ESCWA: Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
• All Regional Commissions have specific statistical mandates. The statistical
mandates are carried out by intergovernmental statistical bodies (Statistics
Committees) serviced by a statistics unit of the secretariat. The Statistics
Committees report to both their Regional Commissions and to the UNSC.
• In general, the statistical mandate of the UNRCs includes: technical cooperation
with NSOs in the implementation of international standards, methods and analytical
frameworks; collection and dissemination of statistical data on the region, including
SDGs; and preparation of regional SDG progress reports.
• Their bi-annual work programmes are deliberated on and endorsed by their
Regional Commissions and Regional Statistics Committees
31

32.  Established in 2014, at the request of the UNSC (following UNSC criticism of the HDR produced by UNDP).
Proposal to create Chief Statistician of the UN System and to request UNSD to provide Quality Assurance to the
data produced by the entire UN Statistical System (not implemented)
 MoU between UNSD and UN specialized agencies that defines the statistics domains under the responsibilities
of the specialized agencies
 Comprises the statistical services of UN funds and programmes, specialized agencies and the Secretariat, as well
as the regional economic and social commissions, the mandates of which include the provision of international
official statistics
 UNSD as Secretariat;
 Chair, for a 2–year term, renewable, elected by the CCS-UN members. The Chair of the CCS-UN is also the co-
Chair of the CCSA (see later)
 Reports to the UN Statistical Commission every 2 years
 Main results:
 Selection of the Global Indicator Framework to measure the SDG targets
 Developed the generic Statistical Quality Assurance Framework for the UN System
 Contributed to define the IAEG-SDG Guidelines of SDG data flows and global reporting
 Developed the “System-wide Roadmap for Innovating UN Data and Statistics”, an ambitious collective effort
by the UN system's chief statisticians to innovate UN data and statistical outputs in support of Member States
and the international community.
32
Committee of the Chief Statisticians of the UN System (CCS-UN)

33.  Established in September 2002, the CCSA is comprised of 45 international and supranational organizations,
whose mandate includes the provision of international official statistics and have a permanent statistical service
in their organization.
 Reports to the UN Statistical Commission every 2 years;
 2 co-Chairs (1 from the UN; 1 from non-UN); UNSD as Secretariat
 ToRs (2017) - Key functions:
• promotes interagency coordination and cooperation on statistical programmes;
• ensures the efficient functioning of the international statistical system;
• develops common standards, platforms and methodologies for Int. Org.;
• provides inter-institutional support;
• coordinates statistical capacity development activities of its members;
• advocates for high quality official statistics.
• Main results:
• Development of Principles Governing International Statistical Activities & Best practices
• Recommended Practices on the Use of Non-Official Sources in International Statistics
• Microdata dissemination best practices
• Global Inventory of Statistical Standards 33
Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA)

34. Thank you
34

35. 35
Internal organization
of the statistical
production process

36. Internal organization of the statistical production process
36
For any statistical agency, the process of producing official statistics can be described as involving three logical
steps: the collection of data, processing and analysis of the statistics, and reporting and disseminating the findings.
Traditionally, all these steps of a single statistical process have been undertaken within a specific unit of the
NSOs. Thus, for example, the agricultural division of the NSO has taken care of all the individual steps of producing
agricultural statistics (designed the surveys, collected the data, checked for errors, cleaned, processed and
tabulated the data, analysed the statistics, and reported on the findings). This traditional system is referred to as a
stovepipe or silo system.
The strength of this system is that it ensures that within each unit there is systematic knowledge of the subject
matter and the methodological steps for which the statistics are to be compiled. The weakness of the system is
that it does not focus on the statistical functions that are common to all statistical production processes and does
not allow internal cooperation across the boundaries of different departments.
Many NSOs have sought to alleviate these shortcomings by organizing centralised support for different
departments in areas like questionnaire design, survey methodology, data collection, IT services, data editing and
dissemination, all of which have helped increase the efficiency of the statistical production.
However, this has been considered insufficient and in recent years many NSOs have initiated developments to
create a more functional system for the statistical production processes, improve efficiency, and produce outputs
that better satisfy user needs. These developments manage the evolution from the classic insular ‘silo’ approach,
to a more integrated and modular approach where processes are shared and reused.

37. Internal organization of the statistical production process
37
With an integrated system, statistical processes are subdivided in homogeneous modules first on the
basis of the data source and then on the basis of the steps in the production process, assigning each
module to a single unit, independently from the specific statistical domain. An integrated system enables
an NSO to transition from a fragmented stove-pipe oriented production, with specific systems for each
domain, to the modern generic and standardised statistical production environment.
A fully integrated production system uses standard applications that can help reduce the time, cost, and
risk-related barriers for implementing innovations in statistical production processes by working in a
more efficient and optimised way.
NSOs constantly need to improve the production of statistical information and its quality, while
simultaneously reducing both the total cost for its production and the respondent burden.
In a silo-based production system, each specific domain has its own set of custom processes that lead to
duplication of efforts and other inefficiencies. Such production systems are difficult to modernise and
automate, and make it difficult to reuse information, methods, and technology.
An integrated production system involves the development and application of common methods and
information technologies. This approach leaves the possibility to choose the underlying technologies and
is a key enabler for sharing and flexibly re-using IT components. Applying such a modular approach
facilitate a greater automation of statistical production processes, thus leading to reduced running and
development costs.