ADP advocating for improved microdata management in UNESCAP's meeting (Bangkok, 17 December 2010)

The UNESCAP Committee on Statistics held its second session on 15-17 December 2010 at the UN Convention Center in Bangkok. Upon the proposal of Australia and Kazakhstan a session on modernizing statistical information systems was organized on 17 December, as a side event, to exchange information and generate discussion on the need for national statistical offices to adapt their organizational structure and business processes in response to the Internet revolution and the new needs of data users.
Presentations were made by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Statistics, BPS Indonesia, Statistics Korea, and the ADP. The discussions that followed the presentations highlighted the need for standards, ensuring the relevance of official statistics, and potential areas of regional cooperation.
ADP’s advocacy for microdata management was supported by the call of ABS for documentation of survey operations and microdata. The important role of proper microdata management was acknowledged in addressing the different issues raised. Towards this end it was conveyed that the major challenge for the institutionalization of survey and microdata documentation and archiving is how to make every member of the organization appreciate the importance of the undertaking. After the event there were several who expressed interest in the ADP and the IHSN tools. For more details on the side event go to:
http://www.unescap.org/stat/nl/nl-Q4-2010.asp#Modernizing_stat_info.