Statistics are collected from about 15 million economic operators, trade associations and intermediaries.The overall aim of these activities is to reduce the burden of supplying statistical data by introducing technology to make the process more efficient, cost effective and timely.
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| Aim and Benefits |  top |
The aim is to extend and prototype the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messages for raw data collection and to integrate electronic questionnaires into administrative procedures. This will reduce the burden on economic operators and Competent National Administrations (CNAs) in the collection of raw data.
| Description | top |
| The collection of raw data for statistical purposes relies on
a group of organisations and individuals known as Providers of Statistical Information
(PSI) to supply their raw data. These are the people, shops, businesses, importers and
exporters, and other organisations that perform the economic activities that statistical
organisations investigate and report on. Any statistical report, whether it concerns
financial statistics, labour force analyses, population details, industrial indicators or
many others, is produced by the aggregation of raw data provided by PSIs. This
administrative burden is especially acute for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)
that may not have access to large and flexible information gathering and reporting
resources. The development of the RDRMES message and the trialing of the use of EDI messages for the reporting of raw transport statistics are formally part of the DSIS framework. This message will be trialed in the TELER and SERT project. |
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SERT
(Statistiques d’Entreprise et Réseaux Télématiques) aims to lower the
burden on Providers of Statistical Information caused by statistical surveys and to
improve the accuracy and timeliness of the results. TELER (Telematics Enterprise Reporting) assists the collection of raw data by using EDI related techniques in combination with the existing European telematics infrastructure. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a common model and related standards for the exchange of statistical data between enterprises and data collectors. The TELER project is attempting to design a consistent system, which will take into account the different variants of size and industry of an enterprise and the practices of the country.
The DATAMED project is concerned with automating the collection of raw data from very small enterprises and households (VSEs) of 9 or less people in European Mediterranean countries. This is a very difficult task as conventional data collection methods tend to treat the household and enterprise as two separate entities. The objective of DATAMED is to analyze existing Data Capturing procedures, identify and focus on the related problems, and propose improvements in data capturing in those areas of the labour market and production activities that, for structural reasons, have traditionally given problems to the Statistical Information Systems of the Southern European countries. |
EDICOM (Electronic Data Interchange on Commerce) is an EDI project in the field of foreign trade statistics. It aims to facilitate the flow of Intra-Community Trade Statistics (INTRASTAT) returns from PSIs to Competent National Authorities by using automatic data processing and electronic data transmission, using electronic forms, e-mail and Internet.
EDIFILE follows on from the EDIVAT project which concerns the development of electronic declarations for VAT returns in Belguim.
| Achievements and Work Programme | top |
The TELER project is drawing to an end after three years. The conclusions drawn from the project suggest that it may be feasible to use management and support software packages to collect primary data for statistical and administration purposes. For further progress to be made, it will be necessary to extend the concept to cover many different surveys and to encourage more involvement by the government and different software houses in order to widen the market interest. The final report on the project will be made in March 1999.
SERT projects in Belgium, France and Greece have investigated the possibility of adding a statistical module to existing accounting packages in order to collect data. A number of prototypes have been successfully piloted. The SERT tourism projects in Italy and Greece, have also been completed successfully. Collaboration between the Greek Statistical Office, the Athens Technical University and a hotel management software company has resulted in the development of an efficient reporting system. In Italy, the national statistical office (ISTAT) has created a central database system which sends structural enquiries on tourism to the sampled hotels of the pilot.
The DATAMED project has so far concentrated on producing the user requirments, a legal description of the environment and a description of the data capturing system. Now, the work program is concentrating on analyzing the existing collection procedures and the framework for the dissemination of information; in order to define potential improvements. There is a web site at: http://www.istat.it/detamed/detamed.htm
The EDICOM project is encouraging the use of a data entry package called IDEP/CN8. The aim of IDEP/CN8 is to reduce the burden on businesses and administrations who need to provide information for Intrastat declarations. It is an electronic form used by over 30,000 PSIs in 12 Member states. IDEP/CN8 can also be used by Third Declarants, who make declarations on behalf of importers and exporters. A generic "Member states" package has been developed which can be customised by each country to allow for their own rules, language and currency etc. At the moment, a Windows version of the software is under development. Also, a parallel package known as IRIS, has been developed by Netherlands Statistics, and is used in the Netherlands and Germany.
The EDIFILE project has demonstrated an electronic version of the Belgian VAT declaration form to potential users. The project now intends to address certain problems that arose from this demonstration, such as the usability of the system when hundreds of clients are involved and the integration of the system with the firm's workflow management system.
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