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The aim of these activities is to promote the use of EDI to exchange statistical information.The success of this depends on the existence of appropriate messages and effective mapping of messages to real data flows between organisations.

... EDIFACT ... XML ...

Contents:

• Aims and Benefits

• Description

• Achievements and Work Program

• EDI Messages Used

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Aim and Benefits

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The aim is:

• to set up the EDI strategy for the collection and the dissemination of statistical data within Eurostat, the National statistical administrations and their respondents;
• to design EDI messages and liaise with the relevant standardisation bodies (ISO, CEN, UN/EDIFACT, EBES, SGML, XML,…);
• to integrate these EDI messages into operational data flows which support the Community Statistical System;
• to get the EDI messages used by the statistical sector well integrated into commercial software products and services by closely working with software houses;
• to support, advise and co-ordinate the EDI design and implementation activities relating to statistics, in particular for the work carried out by the various working groups (WG) of the EEG6: The working groups are:
• WG1 - Generic Statistical Message;
• WG3 - Message for classification structures and definitions;
• WG4 - Raw Data Reporting Message;
• WG5 - External trade statistics;
• WG6 - Balance of payment statistics;
• WG7 - Transport statistics.

Benefits of Electronic Data Interchange and associated format standards are:

statistical information is sent in a proven and consistent electronic format; timely delivery of statistical information - reduced from weeks to a matter of hours; the opportunity for automatic dissemination, receipt and processing of statistical information; in many cases the volume of paper used will be dramatically reduced; inter-operability of computer systems of different kinds. The function of inter-operability is more or less transparent to users; low operational cost per message.

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Description

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The use of EDI is becoming pivotal in the areas of raw data collection, reference data transfer and the dissemination of statistics. Many statistical authorities in Western Europe (and further afield) are using EDI across trans-European networks.

As a result of the trials being conducted, DSIS organisations will be in a position to exploit the power of EDI to dramatically increase the efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness of statistical data exchange. The main focus is Transport, National Accounts and Industrial Indicators.

The successful use of EDI to exchange information requires the existence of appropriate messages and effective mapping of messages to real data flows between organisations. The DSIS framework includes trials in the use of EDI to support the exchange of statistical information. The trials not only facilitate the future mapping of messages to data flows and the implementation of those messages in the relevant statistical sector, but also provide feedback into the working groups of the European Board of EDI Standardisation/Expert Group 6 - Statistics (EBES/EG6 or EEG6) and thus influence the continuing development of EDI messages. Many of the Competent National Administrations are already involved in electronically exchanging information with Eurostat.

The trials address such issues as: ease of use; degree of integration into the statistical process; the creation and observance of "interchange agreements" (which form agreed bases for the exchange of data between partners); cost effectiveness; and security and confidentiality. The trials also consider the appropriateness of complementary solutions (such as Extensible Markup Language for the Internet or ISO's Standard Generalised Mark-up Language) for document exchange, statistical reports, and even multimedia objects such as graphics, maps, animations and sound.

Integration of EDI technology, the GESMES message in particular, in exchange mechanisms of aggregated data between Eurostat's main partners, involves identification of data flows, partners, trial scenarios and design of interchange agreements.

EBES/EG6: The group is developing guidelines on how to implement security measures in data exchange and its work increasingly involves several syntax and close co-ordination with the Metadata Task Force and European Workshop on Open Systems.

The EBES/EG6 Interest Group can be found on the DSIS Information Resource Centre at: http://forum.europa.eu.int/dsis/

EBES activities can be followed on the web site at: http://www.cenorm.be/ebes/

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Achievements and Work Programme

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The UN/EDIFACT syntax has been poorly supported by standard software in the past; new techniques for EDI are now emerging, getting by far more attention of the standard software vendors. EEG6 has decided to create XML (extensible mark-up language) versions of the generic messages and to liaise with the Object Management Group for CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) implementation. The link between the different implementations will be a common data model, described in UML (unified modelling language). Since converters UN/EDIFACT to XML and vice versa are or will be available, the UN-EDIFACT standard will be supported to protect the existing investment.

EEG6 has set up three task forces: the Hypercube Modelling Group to derive a UML model for GESMES, and XML task force and a task force on security and legal aspects. With the standards becoming operational, EEG6 is expected to turn more into a user group, but still maintaining the message standardisation process.

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EDI Messages Used and their Current Status

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This section describes the EDI messages being designed and integrated by the European Board of EDI Standardisation (Expert Group 6 - Statistics).

Note: MIG = Message Implementation Guide, WG = Working Group, BOP = Balance of Payments