Business Case. Digital communication, User analytics and Innovative products (ESS.VIP DIGICOM)

Transcription

1 EUROSTAT Business Case Digital communication, User analytics and Innovative products (ESS.VIP DIGICOM) Date: 22 October 2015 Version: Status Approved PM² Simplified Version Template V.0.5 (May 2015)

2 Document Control Information Settings Value Document Title: Business Case Project Title: Digital communication, User analytics and Innovative products (ESS.VIP DIGICOM) Document Author: Martin Karlberg and Britta Gauckler Project ID (from PMR-site): 746 Project Owner: Emanuele Baldacci Project Manager: Martin Karlberg Doc. Version: Sensitivity: Limited Project Type: Critical With IT relevance Approval Date: Document ESSC 2015/27/2/EN of 19 November 2015 Document Approver(s) and Reviewer(s): Name Role Action Date TF DIGICOM Review of version July 2015 Crista Filip Eurostat s Project Management Office Review of version August 2015 TF DIGICOM Review of version August 2015 TF DIGICOM Review of version August 2015 VIG Review of version September 2015 TF DIGICOM Review of version September 2015 DM Eurostat s Directors Meeting Review of version September 2015 DWG Review of version September 2015 VIN Review of version October 2015 ESAC Review of version October 2015 CG1 Eurostat s Coordination Group for Vision Implementation Review of version October 2015 VIG Review of version October 2015 ESSC Approval of version November 2015 ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

3 1. PURPOSE ACTION REQUIRED CURRENT SITUATION AND MANDATE FOR CHANGE Problem statement Mandate (legal base) OBJECTIVES AND DELIVERABLES Scope User Analysis Innovative and shareable products and tools Open Data Dissemination Communication and promotion Objectives User Analysis Innovative and shareable products and tools Open Data Dissemination Communication and promotion Deliverables and Key Milestones Indicators What the project does not include ESS data warehouse Certain outreach and statistical literacy activities Estimates based on models ESS coordination activities ESS-wide roll-out Turning user needs into new data collection IMPACT ASSESSMENT Stakeholder Analysis Project Environment Related conferences The Dissemination Working Group The ESS Vision portfolio Eurostat project on renovation of the dissemination chain Open Data Microdata access Research projects High-level ESS stakeholders International organisations Cost-Benefit Analysis Alternative A do nothing Alternative B multiple projects Alternative C integrated DIGICOM project Risk Analysis Suboptimal development ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

4 Standardisation Implementation and maintenance APPROACH Methodology General Description Resources and Lead Times Resources Roadmap Project Funding Member State input External expertise PROJECT ORGANISATION Project Manager Reporting Structure Project Team Project Documentation ANNEX 1. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS A possible user taxonomy ANNEX 2. RISK ANALYSIS ANNEX 3. ESS.VIP DIGICOM ROADMAP AND DELIVERABLES WP1. User Analysis WP1.1. User profiling exercise WP1.2. Set-up of a social network platform for users of statistics WP1.3. User surveys WP2. Innovative and shareable products and tools WP2.1. Development of a new innovative biennial ESS flagship product WP2.2. Development of tools to support ESS flagship product WP2.3. Improving the visual dissemination of European statistics WP3. Open Data Dissemination WP3.1. Linked open data WP3.2. Facilitation and harmonisation of APIs to European data WP3.3. Development of a European re-use policy WP3.4. Improved access to microdata WP3.5. Search and extraction tools WP4. Communication and promotion WP4.1. Communication and marketing strategy WP4.2. Outreach activities WP4.3. Statistical literacy WP4.4. Communicating the value of European statistics ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

5 1. PURPOSE The purpose of this document is to outline the scope, approach, objectives, resources implications and impact on stakeholders of this project for agreement by the ESSC. The proposals are based on an ESS stakeholder consultation (mainly conducted via the Task Force Digital communication, User analytics and Innovative products (TF DIGICOM; see 3.2); the Vision Implementation Group, the Vision Implementation Network and the Dissemination Working Group (see 5.2.2) have also been involved in the inception of the project and have also been duly consulted during the elaboration of the present Business Case). The aim of the DIGICOM project is to enhance the capacity of the ESS to be agile and responsive to our users needs. By necessity, the project will have a twopronged approach; on one hand it will improve our methods for gaining insight into unmet needs of current and future users, and on the other hand actually developing the innovative solutions meeting those needs. Moreover, user needs are not only about expressed needs, but also concerns actual necessities such as policymakers need for reliable evidence and citizens need for information to support life decisions. For this reason, the DIGICOM project includes the promotion of, and the communication of the value of, European Statistics as a reliable basis for evidence-based decision-making and an unbiased picture of society. Throughout the DIGICOM project, there will be several reflection points. These reflections should not only take stock of project results so far, but also include an element of business intelligence, i.e. monitoring of results (including technical advancements) achieved elsewhere, as well as direct communication with reference groups of users. By subsequently updating and re-prioritising among the actions, aligning deliverables with outside activities, revising project objectives and updating the roadmap, the DIGICOM project will stay agile. 2. ACTION REQUIRED The ESSC is asked to provide feedback and approve the approach outlined so that the project may proceed to the detailed planning phase and implementation. 3. CURRENT SITUATION AND MANDATE FOR CHANGE 3.1. Problem statement As described in the ESS Vision , decision making in Europe continues to be built entirely on the assumption of a sound evidence base, although the resources to support the production high-quality official statistics are diminishing. Moreover, there is an increasing demand among users for 1 The ESS Vision 2020; document presented at the 21st meeting of the European Statistical System Committee; for readability it is generally referred to as the Vision throughout this document. ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

6 official statistics to incorporate new metrics to capture the new and complex reality that has emerged. In addition, the data revolution leads to more competitive pressure from new data producers which can eventually change the role of official statistics. The Vision requires that the ESS should respond to these challenges by, inter alia, engaging with users proactively and meet their demands in a costefficient and responsive manner; improving the responsiveness to new user needs; delivering information in an interactive and easily comprehensible way; improving the statistical literacy of European citizens and institutions by guiding them through the deluge of data and information from various origins; making improvements in key aspects such as agility and flexibility in general; being agile and looking for innovative solutions; working together, in sharing methods and tools; increasing its value by communicating products and services in an active and coordinated way. The DIGICOM project, which is part of the ESS Vision 2020 portfolio, is taking on several of these tasks, by identifying solutions in user analytics, innovative and shareable products and tools, promoting the value of European statistics and improving information delivery by means of engaging users and enhancing digital communication Mandate (legal base) The Digital communication, User analytics and Innovative products (ESS.VIP DIGICOM) project is part of the ESS Vision 2020 portfolio of 8 projects adopted by the ESSC in February A Task Force (TF DIGICOM) with 11 member states (BE, AT, DE, ES, FR, GR, IT, LT, SE, UK and CH) was established to develop this business case. 4. OBJECTIVES AND DELIVERABLES 4.1. Scope One priority area of the Vision is Identifying user needs and cooperation with stakeholders: ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

7 We will engage proactively in a regular dialogue with users to understand deeper their needs. Our strategic alliances with both public and private partners will help to respond flexibly to users needs. We recognize that different user groups have different needs and we will address this diversity by offering the right information in the right way. We will respond to the need to provide policy-makers with reliable, comparable and timely statistics to execute economic and financial policy. We will strive to be a respected partner and a leader for driving innovations and progress in the global statistical community. while Dissemination and communication on European statistics constitutes another priority area: We aim for a future-proof dissemination and communication strategy that satisfies divergent and ever-changing user needs at both national and European level, is flexible enough to adapt to emerging technologies, gives guidance in a world of data revolution and serves as a reliable pillar of democracy. We recognise that different user groups have different needs and capabilities, both in terms of products and dissemination channels and we will address this diversity by offering a variety of output channels and services. We will explicitly introduce the brand of European Statistics that guarantees a reliable basis for evidencebased decision-making and an unbiased picture of society. The DIGICOM project has been set up to deliver within these two interrelated priority areas. According to a linear approach, (see Figure 1) we would first of all need to understand who our current (and potential) users are, i.e. conduct a user profiling exercise. With this information, we would then proceed to elicit user needs for the various user categories. This would, in turn, be used as a basis for solutions, in the form of innovative products and tools to address unmet needs of various categories of users (see 5.1). Moreover, proactive user engagement, aiming to facilitate users understanding of the value of good official statistics would take place. The DIGICOM project focusses on users of European statistics; this means that national as well as European users are considered. As illustrated in Figure 1, user engagement (influencing users) and user analysis (learning about users) are separated into two different work packages. WP 1 - User analysis WP2 - Innovative and sharable products and tools User profiling Tools to profile Actual profiles User needs (By profile) Tools to elicit needs Actual needs End users Solutions To meet needs Tools Products User engagement Linked to unstated ( actual ) needs Statistical literacy/outreach Branding Open data dissemination APIs Open data Portal Public use files WP4 - Communication and promotion WP 3 - Open data dissemination Figure 1. Work packages of the DIGICOM project ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

8 Figure 1 is a simplification of a complex reality. Most importantly, it should be noted that the ESS does not depart from a tabula rasa. The DIGICOM project would thus not be sequential (user analytics first; solutions later), since there are instances where needs are already known, and work on solutions (tools and products) could start early on. Moreover, the process is iterative rather than linear, with user needs driving solutions which then are subject to user feedback, which is used to update the solution and so on. 2 Notwithstanding the interrelatedness between the various aspects of the DIGICOM project, it has been subdivided into work packages to be rendered manageable (see the boxes of Figure 1). The work packages are outlined in Sections Due to the interrelatedness and the fast changing nature of the products, techniques and tools it is essential to be flexible, adapt necessary actions and maybe change actions accordingly during the DIGICOM project. The actions shall therefore be considered in this view as it is an important fact of the DIGICOM project to be agile and responsive. Furthermore the project deliverables ought to be released on basis of precedent beta versions of the process cycle to ensure agile as well as prompt adjustments to technological developments, changing needs, competition, etc. Where feasible the dissemination could be as early as possible, e.g. on basis of a later beta version if beneficial. This will be important to take into account when the working groups will uptake their processes. A key feature of the DIGICOM project is that it will contribute to building capacities and skills in the ESS in concerned areas. It is indispensable to create networks inside and also incorporate external knowledge from outside to reach the envisioned targets User Analysis The User Analysis work package will address the stated Vision priority to obtain a better insight into our users: their needs for statistical services as well as their professional knowledge. It will involve various activities to identify the requirements of current users as well as the needs of potential future users, possibly also the consultation of enterprises to identify their data needs as well as the assessment of the relative weight of quality dimensions like timeliness and accuracy from a users perspective called for by the Vision. In doing so, it will contribute to the Vision objective to improve the ESS agility in dealing with core users, increase responsiveness to emerging questions in society and reduce time-to-market of new statistics. 2 In order to practice this iterative process the timetable shows the main user consultations whereas in some cases the users need to be consulted in the work package itself as it follows after the action, e.g. in the case of the communications actions. Here the users can be consulted on basis of the platform developed in work package 1 for example, but the user consultation action itself takes place in work package 4. This is why not every iterative process is displayed in the timetable. ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

9 Innovative and shareable products and tools In the Innovative and shareable products and tools work package, the Vision principle to use common methods and tools will be applied to the tailored products and services (including interactive tools and apps called for by the Vision). 3 The work package will thus focus to a large extent on customisability, be it the Vision requirement for customised supplies (indicators for special purposes) to as many users as possible, services facilitating benchmarking (e.g. of enterprises with competitors in the same line of industry). It will also cover new tailored products and services, including a novel ESS statistical portrait report with an associated biannual conference, visualisations, animations, interactive tools and apps. This work package will also address visualisation principles (in close coordination with the Innovative and shareable products and tools work package, which would address the tools aspects of visualisation) Open Data Dissemination Open Data is an emerging discipline with a huge potential for the (re-) dissemination official statistics. 4 There are numerous questions to address for the statistical domain. This work package will answer to the Open Data aspect of the Vision s objective of development of products giving as much freedom as possible to active users to create their own products based on official statistics data and statistics. This would concern application program interfaces (APIs) for enhanced access to the statistical databases of ESS members. Another strand will explore the possibility of capitalising on other initiatives in the area of open data, in particular linked open data, (such as current activities in the area of open data, i.e. the OpenCube project and other European projects). 5 Moreover, the particular aspect of micro-data dissemination will be covered by this work package, thereby addressing the Vision objective of customised supplies (micro-data access) to as many users as possible. The openly available public use files will be in the centre of interest of this work package. Public use files are micro-data files which are anonymised in such a way that they are no longer confidential When designing products the difference between "need to know" and "nice to know" statistics should be taken into consideration. Open data can be defined as Open data and content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose. See also: (Open Data) and (Research projects). ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

10 Communication and promotion The Communication and promotion work package will satisfy the Vision objective of adoption of a new dissemination and communication strategy. This strategy might include the development of ways to disseminate nice to know statistical facts to increase the public profile of official statistics, requested in the Vision. The Vision priority of ensuring public trust in official statistics which is the cornerstone of any statistical system by promoting the value of European statistics would be at the core of the Communication and promotion work package. This would partly be achieved (as prescribed by the Vision) by increasing the emphasis on publicising quality as a driving force for all our activities (and develop new meaningful and transparent ways of communicating the user-oriented quality assurance mechanisms applied to our statistics). Moreover, this work package would deal with statistical literacy, addressing the Vision objective of activities targeting the public at large to guide them through the pitfalls of statistics and enhance statistical literacy. This would be part of the investment (as foreseen in the Vision) in educating users to increase their statistical literacy in particular to mitigate the risk of improper and unjustified use of ESS statistical products and services. This work package would also comprise general outreach, such as the constant contact with potential user groups to meet their expectations as set out in the Vision, and the Vision objective of activities targeting special interest groups Objectives The various objectives of the work packages are outlined in Sections User Analysis The aim of this work package is to actively engage with ESS users in order to: Conduct a user profiling exercise (in close collaboration with ESAC) in which ESS users (and to some degree also the not-yet or the non-users) are categorised according to their needs and requirements (complemented with an in-depth analysis on actual user behaviour), followed up by a user survey and other user analysis activities based on those profiles. Several dimensions regarding the user groups and needs shall be considered: the need to know and the nice to know as well as the EU use and the national use. Users of national as well as European statistics should be considered. 6 As a 6 In practice national users and users of European statistics are not disjoint groups. While some users almost exclusively use national statistics, some almost exclusively use European statistics, and others may use both sources in the same domain. Whereas the centre of gravity of the DIGICOM project is ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

11 starting point data from the user support as well as web analytics data (for instance) can be used and shall be enriched with innovate data analytics tools. In order to target not-yet users or non-users as well as help shaping the profiles a user survey is part of the exercise. ESS experiences will be used in involving experts in the evaluation of user needs and channels will have to be established how these inputs can help shaping the planned initiatives. Set up a social network platform for users of European statistics 7 with the specific aim of identifying efficiently the ever changing needs of users. The information harvested in the user profiling exercise will serve to establish ex ante maps of users which could be used as the point of departure for deciding which information to collect via the platform. This platform would also help design appropriate social media policy guidelines at the ESS level and governance templates. The platform will allow ESS members to have a direct dialogue with the participating user groups, to elicit their needs and will enable the testing of innovative dissemination tools. Moreover the platform will enable profiles to be extracted which can be used to request user inputs on statistical issues to get responses using post-stratifying methods to incorporate population distributions of variables into survey estimates. 8 The social network can also lead to the creation of expert user communities that could interact with statistical producers. A customer relationship management system may, if feasible, be integrated into this social network. The platform may also be used for targeted communication to users, to implement part of the communication strategy foreseen in the Communication and promotion work package. A precondition for the success of this platform will be that sufficient resources are allocated to animate, curate and host it. on European statistics, it is expected that there will be considerable overlaps and considerable synergies. Whether the European/national dimension is central to the user categorisation will be considered during the user profiling exercise (WP1.1). 7 8 See The Users of Statistics and their role in the European Society, paper by Maurizio Vichi, Maria João Valente Rosa and Frances Ruane. ESAC document 2015/1175; This categorisation (used in the stakeholder analysis of the present business case) is tentative and an example of what could be achieved. The definition of user categories that will actually be applied in the DIGICOM project will be developed during the user profiling exercise (WP1.1). Appropriate analysis methodology will be applied to duly manage e.g. the bias resulting from surveying only voluntary, registered users. ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

12 Under this work package the following low-hanging fruit 9 will eventuate from the establishment of inventories for sharable practices: current CRM practices, practices in user satisfaction/ user need assessment, practices in user profiling, practices in user interaction via social media. Another low hanging fruit, which strengthens the direct dialogue between users and statisticians, will be the support to the organisation of national conferences. As has been done in 2015 in Latvia and Luxembourg, these conferences will give the opportunity for users of European statistics in a Member State to exchange views with representatives of the NSI and Eurostat Innovative and shareable products and tools The first aim of this work package is: To develop a new innovative biennial 10 ESS flagship product based on the EU data pool complemented by tools to facilitate the consumption of the relevant statistical data. 11 The product, which is envisaged to have a modern, non-traditional, dynamic/interactive format is aimed at strengthening the dialogue between users and producers. It would contain a statistical portrait of Europe (edited by a team of ESS experts) to be presented at a high-level and highly visible conference with the participation of senior representatives of the ESS as well as high-level stakeholders, organised in a format inspired by the Davos example, containing a series of panels, workshops, etc. This product will fill a gap by providing policy makers with a statistical portrait of Europe that is well-rounded, indepth and suitable for discussion in high-level fora. The product will be complemented by a multi-channel ESS promotion campaign 12 and innovative tools for the support. Further dissemination would take place by means of the innovative tools developed in the work package. A particular attention will be given to the reusability of the tools developed to support the product. The second aim is to further improve the visual dissemination of European statistics by promoting the exchange of best practices, supporting regular training of ESS experts, developing common Low-hanging fruits are considered as being quick gains under the action as they are based on sharable, good practices (as well as failures) that will be shared among the ESS. It might be useful to change the recurrence from biannual to annual, but this shall be decided after the first event. Other than the Eurostat flagship products, the ESS product will heavily rely on a joint editorial work from Eurostat and the NSIs. As a complement to the European dimension provided by Eurostat, the NSIs will better illustrate the national dimension of the chosen statistical topics conveying a message that the ESS is capable of providing interesting and timely statistics of interest to a broader audience. There are possibilities in the promotion, for instance it could be promoted with an ESS logo, an ESS promotion campaign like a press conference on the same day by all heads of NSIs in their countries. The conference would be a related event to discuss issues raised in the statistical portrait of Europe and raise the visibility of statistics with high-level users and stakeholders. ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

13 guidelines and sharing of visualisation tools. The outcome of the Task Force Visualisation (see section 5.2) can provide input for a pilot in this work package. For this work package an inventory of shareable tools in general and in the visualisation area will eventuate as low-hanging fruits Open Data Dissemination The aim of this work package is to: Further facilitate the automated access to European aggregate data for heavy data users or re-disseminators. Re-disseminators of European data may serve as quality enhancers by adding value to the statistical information supplied. Their users/clients can find relevant statistical information presented in a way which is tailored to their specific needs or context. The strengthening of this service towards the re-disseminators will enable the ESS to reach more audiences than it would achieve solely through its own dissemination products. This work package will be accomplished by the following actions: Linked open data (LOD): establishment of an ESS open data strategy, and actions to implement this strategy, including publication of ESS aggregate data to the Pan-European Open Data Portal 13 and also an ESS Open Data Gateway with metadata services as a key gateway component, and links with corresponding national open data portals. Linked open data means (in comparison to open data) that data can be linked to Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) 14 from other data sources, using open standards for data exchange on the Web such as RDF. 15 Facilitation and harmonisation of APIs to European data to improve access to aggregate data. Actively promote re-dissemination by third parties (i.e. data journalists) via a European re-use policy; channels could be twitter, Facebook, workshop with data journalists, etc. Improved access to micro data, e.g. through the development of new methodologies for the production of Public Use Files (PUFs) to enhance access to these data for heavy users (e.g. researchers) See The portal is expected to go live in late A uniform resource identifier (URI) is a string of characters used to identify the name of a resource. For a definition please see ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

14 Under this work package the stocktaking in the open data field as well as the inventory of existing ESS APIs as well as search and extraction tools are considered low-hanging fruits Communication and promotion The first aim of this work package is to elaborate and implement a communication and marketing strategy which underlines the value of official European statistics 16 in combination with outreach activities to raise the visibility of the ESS including a strategy towards statistical literacy. This line of activity would include the preparation of guidelines for a visual identity. This would also be build on concepts developed by the QUAL@ESS Vision 2020 framework (see 5.2.3), and would concern communicating the value of European statistical products and services through modern communication systems and professional communication campaigns. The second aim of the work package is to set up a policy and framework for the dissemination of experimental statistics (meaning non-standard statistics) rarely produced by the ESS but highly requested by users. These data and statistics include experimental statistics based on new data sources, model-based statistical analyses, assumptions and innovative supplements to more traditional statistics of sufficient quality to be used for analytical purposes. 17 The definition of experimental statistics (mainly based on all relevant conceptual output from QUAL@ESS Vision 2020) will be further elaborated during the operational phase of this work package. For this work package the low-hanging fruits will be the hackathon 18 and the inventory of existing statistical literacy practices Regarding the concept European Statistics, Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics states that European statistics are relevant statistics necessary for the performance of the activities of the Community. European statistics are determined in the European statistical programme. For further clarification on experimental statistics see the Towards a Eurostat framework for disseminating innovative/experimental statistics paper: by Marie Bohata, Martina Hahn, Antonio Baigorri and Gian Luigi Mazzi presented at Session 26 (on Experimental statistics ) at the 2012 European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics). A hackathon is an event where computer programmers and others involved in software development and hardware development, including graphical designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects. ( The hackathon is considered to fall under outreach activities (see Annex 3.WP4.2) which belongs to the work package 4 Communication and branding. Outreach activities are intended to impact on the general public and to increase the public profile of official statistics. ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

15 At this stage, it is not always possible to provide details of all actions and deliverables foreseen in the DIGICOM project. During the first half of 2016, most of the activities will focus on a stocktaking exercise and on an inventory of best practices for each of the work packages. Based on this information, further actions and final deliverables will be defined more precisely Deliverables and Key Milestones The key deliverables of the DIGICOM project are outlined in Table 1. The start date of the DIGICOM project is the beginning of 2016 and the end date is 31 December In 2016, nearly all the work packages will start, often with stocktaking and inventory activities frontloaded. This exercise should also include inventories of non-eu countries as well as work done by UNECE, CES which are more advanced in some respective domains. Multiple intermediate deliverables are expected already in The intensive development phase of the different project streams will peak in 2017 and The work packages will end in 2019 (for overviews see Annex 3 ESS.VIP DIGICOM roadmap and deliverables). Further details on intermediate deliverables, as well as specifics of the actions envisaged to achieve these deliverables, are provided in Annex 3. ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

16 Table 1. Key deliverables of the DIGICOM project Work Package Deliverable no. Instrument for Delivery Deliverable implementation date WP1 User Analysis WP1.1 User profiling exercise DIGICOM.D1.01 Own resources 2016/03 Online inventory of shareable practices DIGICOM.D1.03 Contract 2017/06 User profiling report, including profiling criteria and piloting WP1.2 Set-up of a social network platform for users of statistics DIGICOM.D1.08 Contract 2017/06 ESS social network platform for users of statistics WP1.3 User surveys DIGICOM.D1.09 ESSnet 2018/03 ESS user survey based on user profiling exercise WP2 Innovative and shareable products and tools WP2.1- Development of a new innovative biennial ESS flagship product DIGICOM.D2.01 Contract 2017/06 Statistical portrait of Europe DIGICOM.D2.04 Contract 2017/12 ESS conference on the statistical portrait of Europe WP2.2 Development of tools to support ESS flagship product DIGICOM.D2.05 Own resources 2017/06 Repository of shareable tools DIGICOM.D2.10 Contract 2018/06 Innovative tools rolled out WP2.3 Improving the visual dissemination of European statistics DIGICOM.D2.14 Own resources 2017/06 ESS visualisation guidelines DIGICOM.D2.15 Contract 2018/06 Visualisation tools rolled out WP3 Open Data Dissemination WP3.1 Linked open data DIGICOM.D3.03 Contract 2018/06 Eurostat data published to Pan-European Open Data Portal DIGICOM.D3.04 ESSnet 2019/06 National LOD portals developed DIGICOM.D3.06 Contract 2019/12 European Open Data Gateway rolled out WP3.2 Facilitation and harmonisation of APIs to European data DIGICOM.D3.07 Own resources 2017/06 Inventory of existing (shareable) APIs across the ESS DIGICOM.D3.08 Own resources 2018/03 ESS standard for APIs WP3.3 Development of a European re-use policy DIGICOM.D3.09 Own resources 2017/06 ESS re-use policy WP3.4 Improved access to microdata DIGICOM.D3.12 Contract 2018/12 Microdata access solutions for the ESS WP3.5 Search and extraction tools DIGICOM.D3.15 Contract 2018/12 Search and extraction tools rolled out WP4 Communication and promotion WP4.1 Communication and marketing strategy DIGICOM.D4.02 Contract 2017/12 ESS communication and marketing strategy DIGICOM.D4.03 Own resources 2018/06 Communication kit WP4.2 Outreach activities DIGICOM.D4.06 Own resources 2018/03 Hackathon carried out DIGICOM.D4.07 Own resources 2018/12 Gamification product rolled out WP4.3 Statistical literacy DIGICOM.D4.11 ESSnet 2017/06 Statistical literacy products WP4.4 Communicating the value of European statistics DIGICOM.D4.12 Contract 2018/06 Study/survey on the value of European Statistics DIGICOM.D4.15 Contract 2019/12 Platform for experimental data and statistics rolled out Note: For WP4.4, it will be investigated during the detailed planning phase whether an early piloting, based on existing solutions, could be performed already during Indicators Short-term output indicators of the success of the DIGICOM project will be the provision of the various deliverables according to specification. There will also be medium-term outcome indicators, focused on the uptake of the various products (e.g. use of literacy products in schools), the participation rates in the various activities (e.g. the number of hackathon participants, the number of users of the ESS social network platform), the feedback of users by monitoring the new products and tools and the compliance with the normative documents produced by the DIGICOM project (e.g. the visualisation guidelines) What the project does not include There are numerous potential strands of the scope of the DIGICOM project, but in view of the need to focus the project to render it manageable and possible to resource the activities below are not foreseen to be part of the DIGICOM project ESS data warehouse For the purpose focusing the overall scope of the project and increasing the emphasis responding to user needs with concrete products, the statistical ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

17 infrastructure aspect of the DIGICOM project is reduced, and will therefore not include an ESS data warehouse IT project (whereas an EU data pool is in scope) Certain outreach and statistical literacy activities While numerous potential outreach and statistical literacy activities exist, the outreach and literacy dimension of the Communication and promotion work package of DIGICOM project will be rather focused, and exclude outreach activities such as an ESS blog as well as training, workshops, awarenessraising activities which are already currently being undertaken by the European Statistical Data Support 19 (ESDS). The promotion of further European Statistical Training Programme 20 (ESTP) training is also not seen as being part of the DIGICOM project. A tool for the assessment of statistical literacy and a tool for literacy based dissemination are not foreseen. The focus in the DIGICOM project will be in the development of concrete joint products for increasing statistical literacy particularly in the area of universities and schools. A practice currently applied by a number of NSIs which could be expanded in the area of Statistics Explained is the statistical school ; websites could be set up across the ESS by creating a library or a set of articles describing and defining statistical concepts and methodology. However, this will not be pursued as a separate action within the DIGICOM project Estimates based on models The development of model-based estimates is not foreseen to be part of the DIGICOM project. Activities along these strands are rather foreseen for the ESS.VIP project on Big Data and Administrative Data (see 5.2.3). A possible approach to get timely data on phenomena not covered throughout the ESS by current official statistics would be to conduct Eurobarometer surveys (or otherwise incorporate untraditional sources of data) to allow products to be augmented by adding new dimensions and conduct more timely releases. However, as the blending of such data and official statistics would normally have to rely on modelling, this augmented input approach is out of scope of the DIGICOM project. From this it follows that while daily statistics would render an official statistics app more likely to be consulted on a daily basis, it would (considering that the underlying set of data would be updated far less frequently) have to rely on modelling and/or augmented input ; such daily statistics are thus out of scope of the DIGICOM project ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

18 While crowdsourcing could serve simultaneously as a vessel for user engagement and for improved statistics, it would also imply modelling to achieve representativeness, and is therefore out of scope of the DIGICOM project ESS coordination activities While there could be synergies from using the communication and visualisation expertise active in the DIGICOM project to improve the Vision website, this is not viewed as a core task of the DIGICOM project itself, and therefore considered to be out of scope. This doesn t preclude the soliciting of the individual expertise assembled in the DIGICOM project by other ESS stakeholder for this, or similar, activities, but it would not be part of the DIGICOM project. One possible activity to enhance ESS coordination is the development of a tool for rapid propagation/assessment across the ESS of new ideas. For instance, if an NSI creates a new index (or set of statistics) on some area of statistical interest, for national use, this index may be valid for the rest of the NSIs. The idea is to create a mechanism (e.g. a software package) which could advise on the applicability of the new index for other countries. This could be used by other Member States NSIs to see if they also could deploy the same index. Alternatively, it could be used centrally to assess whether the index could be produced at European level. While promising, this idea is not perceived as a high priority of the DIGICOM project, and therefore deemed to be out of scope ESS-wide roll-out The DIGICOM project will conduct proof of concept type development, conduct inventories of (and develop) shareable solutions, develop an annual ESS flagship product (with the associated activities), as well as a strategy on communicating the value of European Statistics. Whereas the DIGICOM project will include promotional activities, the actual uptake of the output of the project is outside the control of the DIGICOM project team, and has to be assured by the appropriate ESS stakeholders Turning user needs into new data collection The DIGICOM project helps the ESS to meet the Vision objective to enhance the capacity of the ESS to be agile and responsive to user needs. However, in certain respects it is a stepping stone: we will have more information about who our users are and what they needs, but this information will only become actionable if there are structures in place to rapidly conduct new primary data collection. The ESS also needs the technical dexterity to respond to user need quickly, ahead of their expectations changing. The technical and organisational infrastructure needed to enable fast turnaround of product development is ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

19 out of scope of DIGICOM project. The DIGICOM project would feed into such infrastructures. 5. IMPACT ASSESSMENT 5.1. Stakeholder Analysis In Annex 1, the stakeholder analysis of the DIGICOM project is presented. As could be seen from that analysis: While WP1 has users at its core, the outcomes will only serve users indirectly, in enabling improved European statistics. The stakeholders in direct need of for the outputs of WP1 (user profiles, user needs) are rather those colleagues of the ESS who strive to meet user needs, and therefore need to know who the users are and what they need. The ESS flagship product foreseen in WP2 should be designed to meet the needs of a wide range of users, from the institutional users to the general public. The improved tools for visualisation foreseen in WP2 would serve the ESS colleagues in charge of developing, producing and disseminating statistics, whereas the users would benefit from the actual outcome (i.e. improved visualisation). WP3 on Open Data Dissemination would serve the need of (very) heavy users of statistics (including re-disseminators). The outreach and statistical literacy activities of WP4 correspond to an unmet (but unexpressed/unknown) need among light users and non-users (as well as heavy (mis)users ) of statistics in order to allow them to, by becoming better informed, take better decisions Project Environment The DIGICOM project will be carried out in a dynamic environment, with several parallel activities ongoing which address issues closely related to the DIGICOM project; a subset of those activities are presented in the following sections. It has to be underlined that a number of DIGICOM project activities depend on the output of such activities, and will only become possible to launch (or conclude) if and when those activities have been successfully concluded. This means that certain DIGICOM project activities are only possible to launch during the latter half of the project, and that some activities might not be launched at all (in the event of parallel activities not rendering the expected output) Related conferences There are three important conference series which address issues connected to the DIGICOM project. First, there is the conference of European Statistic ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

20 Stakeholders (CESS 21 ) which enhances the dialogue between European methodologists, producers and users of European statistics and was held 2014 in Rome. Second, there are regular modernisation workshops that focus on statistical modernisation activities within the ESS, the most recent one was held 2014 in Valencia. 22 Third, the biennial conference on New Techniques and Technologies for Statistics (NTTS) which also addresses issues related to the DIGICOM project. The most recent NTTS conference 23 was held 2015 in Brussels The Dissemination Working Group First, the Dissemination Working Group (DWG) works on Vision topics and two task forces related to the working group are implemented, first a task force on Visualisation and Infographics and second a task force on Statistics Explained. The Task Force on Data Visualisation and Infographics serves as a platform to exchange practices and information on existing or planned data visualisation tools and their reusability, as well as to identify possible fields for cooperation between Eurostat and the NSIs. The aim is to propose priorities and actions in the field of data visualisation as potential components of the DIGICOM project. The Task Force on Statistics Explained explores the possibility to use Statistics Explained as a common electronic platform for disseminating statistical articles. The Task Force will select a topic of interest for a large public, assess the feasibility to release articles in all EU countries and define working arrangements, such as technical requirements, translation and validation The ESS Vision portfolio The ESS.VIP project on Big Data (ESS.VIP BIGD) is likely to render output of utility to the DIGICOM project including the basis for certain experimental statistics. Coordination between the two projects is needed to ascertain that ESS.VIP BIGD renders output that is compatible with the platform for experimental statistics that the DIGICOM project will put in place. The ESS.VIP project on Administrative Data (ESS.VIP.BUS.ADMIN) will, as well as ESS.VIP BIGD, render certain model-based outputs (which is why this is out of scope for the DIGICOM project). With the emphasis on shareable solutions, the modalities for actually sharing the output of the DIGICOM project are important. The principles under NTTS ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50

21 development in the ESS.VIP project on Shared Services (ESS.VIP.CRC.SERV) will be important in this regard. The Quality supporting framework of the ESS Vision 2020 Portfolio Vision 2020) investigates among others key quality elements for the Vision which are relevant for the DIGICOM project. The exact definitions of these elements will (once developed by Vision 2020 and adopted by the appropriate ESS body) feed directly into the DIGICOM project, which will base its strategy also on these very key elements in communicating the value of European statistics Eurostat project on renovation of the dissemination chain Eurostat is currently running a major project on renovation of the dissemination chain. This project is foreseen to render outputs of use to the DIGICOM project Open Data A number of initiatives and projects aimed at improving dissemination and communication of European and national statistics as well as promoting the value of official statistics are currently on-going in the Member States. This vast experience should be further exploited in refining the scope of the DIGICOM project Microdata access Commission Regulation (EU) No 557/2013 on access to confidential data for scientific purposes established new procedures of access at the EU level. Access to confidential data is restricted to accredited researchers. The future developments in the area will focus on confidential data users needs (improved microdata transmission, development of metadata, organisation of trainings for the users etc.) 24. Notwithstanding, the DIGICOM project will focus on the development of public use files (PUFs) i.e. microdata available for the general public. In December 2014 Eurostat launched a specific grant agreement aiming at the development of PUFs (on EU-SILC and LFS data) mainly for testing and training purposes. The first PUFs will be available in the beginning of 2016 and will provide input for DIGICOM Research projects Activities carried out under the EU research framework programmes (FP7 and Horizon 2020) may render outputs relevant to the DIGICOM project. For example, OpenCube 25 is an EU funded project involving partners from the UK, Greece, Ireland, Germany and Belgium that aims to publish and enrich linked open statistical data for the development of data analytics and See more: item 15 of the 26 th meeting of the ESSC " Implementation of the Commission Regulation (EU) No 557/2013 on access to confidential data for scientific purposes". ESS.VIP DIGICOM Business Case [PM² Simplified Template V.0.5] Version: (Approved) Date: 22 October / 50