EXPERIENCES FROM DISTRIBUTED REGISTERING OF METADATA IN METAPLUS

Klas Blomqvist and Lars-Göran Lundell

Statistics Sweden

Agenda

• Background– The metadata system– Organisational impact– Reorganisation

• Experiences

• Future plans

Statistics Sweden’s metadata system

• SCBDOK

• Description of the statistics

• MetaPlusMetadata repository

SCBDOK

MetaPlus

Description of the statistics

KDB

Quality Declaration

Organisational impact

• Decentralised organisation– Strong subject matter departments– Functional departments

• Decentralised registration of metadata– Central support and coordination (R&D dept.)– Central dissemination (Info dept.)

Organisational impact

• New organisation– The Process Department – The Research and Development Department – The Communication Department

– Classifications, metadata and content harmonisation (KMI)

Re-organising Statistics Sweden

• Standardised production and tools– Process orientation– Customer focus– Efficiency– Standardisation– Quality control

MetaPlus - Contents

• Standard variables

• Variables

• Object classes

• Classifications and value domains

• Registers created and used

• Population

MetaPlus current functionality, some examples

• Documentation

• Reuse

• Harmonisation

• Classifications

• Variable groups

• Advanced search

• Web interface

• Longitudinal registers

• Time series

• Historical information

• Administration

• Personal Data Act Administration System

• Archiving

MetaPlus - Model

Object class

Value domain

Context Population

Variable

Population

Context variable

Object variable

Register

Register version

Register variant

Conceptual value

domain

Value

Registering metadata with MetaPlus

• Organisational issues for registering metadata– Decentralised organisation – Stovepipe production model– Documentation is a burden

• The KMI Group

• Networks

The KMI Group

• Governance and development of the metadata system – Implementation and maintenance of MetaPlus– User training, helpdesk and support– Presentation on the web

• Harmonisation – Classifications and classification related methods– Contents within the metadata systems

The documentation network

• All departments represented

• ”Standard”

• PCA – Supplying methodology resources

• Bridge between central knowledge and subject matter expertise

PCA

Graphical view

Dept. A Dept. B

KMI

WWW.SCB.SEKOM

Contents Harmonisation

• History: The Metadok system

• A constant demand

• Lack of understanding from users

• Stepwise approach1. Classify contents

• Statistical, Administrative and General variables

2. Remove duplicates

3. Subject matter control

Statistics and evaluation

• The Management– Monitors overall progress– Follows up and takes relevant actions

• The KMI Group – Follows up and evaluates the detailed contents of

the MetaPlus database– Reports to Management

Experiences from working with MetaPlus

• Disadvantages of the decentralised mode:– Central control is more difficult– Coordination and harmonisation of contents is

more difficult– Registration of documentation is not always

prioritised locally

Experiences from working with MetaPlus

• Advantages of using a decentralised mode:– Relatively sparse and efficient use of central

resources– Enforces knowledgeable participation from the

subject matter specialists– Possibility to join the metadata system with other

systems

MetaPlus and archiving

• Long-term archiving– Data sent to the National Archives

• Dedicated archiving system– Creates archive files in required format– Converts archive files to database tables – Uses MetaPlus information

• Metadata from MetaPlus and SCBDOK is a required part of the archived material

Future plans

• Web presentation of metadata based on the MetaPlus database– First version to be launched later this year– Documentation (variables, micro registers,

statistical units, populations, etc)– Classifications

• MetaPlus used by other Swedish providers of statistics

Future plans

• Planned additions– Web presentation will include links between

metadata on micro and macro levels – End-user tool for metadata driven production

of tables– Expanded classification database

Use in the life cycle