Revision Project of the Business Register (BR) and Business Statistics in 2009-2014

3-4 September 2013Tuula Viitaharju

Background of the revision project

Business Register in Finland: 570 000 active legal units The origin was Business Censuses in 1953,1963Regular maintenance started since 1968 the technical service life of the present BR data system is

coming to an end; the previous system revision was made in 1995-1998

The project was started first as Business Register revision project

Very soon in the definition phase it was realised that it would be more feasible to establish an integrated Business Statistics System

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Background / present status description

Overlapping work is made between different business statistics systems

Data copies are made and data are processed differentlyChanges are made to several different databases or in the

worst case errors are corrected only in one place! Different definitions in different databases/production systems

Unit structures (establishment, enterprise, etc.), varibles (NACE, sector, turnover, employment...) -> inconsistent statistics

Modernisation of the whole Business Statistics system was needed

Move from separate stovepipe data systems to an integrated and consistent Business Statistics System

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Present status description

4

Publication1

Publication2

Publication3

Process B

Process C

Process D•Strategies

•International regulations

and decrees

•Technical age

Process A

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Statistical systems in the integrated system (defining phase 2009)

1. ”Dependent” statistics of the integrated production database A. Business Register B. SBS and other statistics:

* Financial statement * Regional and industrial statistics * International trade in services * FATS statistics (inward and outward) * Industrial output / Commodity (PRODCOM)C. STS statistics (partial integration)

2. ”Independent and small” statistics to the warehouse: Business services (the first system) Others in near future

22.04.23 7Yritysten suhdanteet / Yritysrekisteri

Collected results of the desired state

Yritystilastojen yhteiset asiatYritystietovaraston määrittely

System part Key development targets Benefits to be gainedReception of administrative data

• Utilisation of metadata• Process management• Variable editor and editing

• Intensification / Introduction of uniform practices to pre-checking of data

Direct data collections

• Uniform tools• Facilitation of responding

• Improvement of quality and intensification of activity

Databases • Adoption of the enterprise concept• Uniform production database

• Improvement of quality • International comparability• Non-response and response burden get smaller

Application programs and processing of data

• Intensification of processing (decrease of applications)• Introduction of a process management application

• Improvement of quality and intensification of activity

Warehouse of data on enterprises

• Uniform location for data on enterprises• Basic data search• Comparison of data

• Coherence of statistics

Statistics and products

• Introduction of a unit information service (Internet)• Adoption of a chargeable target group definition service (Internet)

• Improvement of quality and intensification of activity• Improvement of customer service

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Clarification of the Vision

Raw warehouses of data collections

Original data from both administrative files and direct data collections are in safekeeping and usable

No corrections are made to data contents Data are technically corrected (formats), Data are as ordered Validity of data has been established (no major deficiencies) Source data have been described into the metadata system Standardised procedures (e.g. data descriptions) and tools for

data reception

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Enterpriseproduction database Place for processing unit-specific data Unfinished data (controlled with quality variables) Automatic and manual validation phases, editing and

imputation Conversion of data collection units into statistical units Unit-level data are validated with the "Unit data processing

application”

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Enterprise data warehouse Data selections and inquiries Updating once a day, timed overnight Data in a consistent place and format

(classifications and unit structures) Passive, i.e. data are not validated direct into the data warehouse but

changes are made via the production database Initially comprises the contents of the enterprise production

database) All data of business statistics in the long run Different application alternatives for browsing data

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Data extractions

Unit data extractions File extractions

Compilation processes of statisticsUpdates of external information services (Internet)Information and researcher servicesNational Accounts system extractionArchiving

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Progress of the process

Managed with the process management applicationWe know where we areTasks are performed in the right order (e.g. data selections

after certain checks)Activation of automatic and manual work phasesTasks have contact/responsibility persons Documentation on sub-tasks easily accessiblePlanned dates of completion and tracking of adherence to

them (→ automatic email messages)

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Metadata

"Technical and file metadata", e.g.: Names and properties of variablesClassifications

Managed with variable and classification editors "Application program metadata" "Process metadata"

Information from the process management application, e.g.Who has done and whatSchedules, etc.

Managed with the process editor

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Where we are now

Plan: Implementation 2014 in phasesImplementation will start 2013

Data conversion November – December 2013 After that data collection for annual statistics concerning

statistical year 2013 will start

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•Further information about the revision• Mr Sami Saarikivi

• tel. +358 9 1734 3345• email: yritys.rekisteri@stat.fi

Thank you for your attention !Tuula Viitaharju

tel. +358 9 1734 3378email: yritys.rekisteri@stat.fi

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