6th Euro-Indicators Working Group

1. 6th Euro-IndicatorsWorking Group Luxembourg, 11-12 July 2002 Eurostat - Unit A6Statistical Indicators for Euro-zone Business Cycle Analysis

2. Item II - 1 of the Agenda One year of Euro-Indicators: state of the art and perspectives Doc 091 / 02 Eurostat - Unit A6Statistical Indicators for Euro-zone Business Cycle Analysis

3. Euro-Indicators Homepage

4. Euro-Indicators Homepage Access to Free Data

5. Euro-Indicators Homepage Banner

6. Euro-Indicators Homepage Eurostat web-site common services

7. Euro-Indicators Homepage Eurostat short-term News Releases

8. Euro-Indicators Homepage Latest News from Euro-Indicators

9. Euro-Indicators Homepage The Euro-Yield curve

10. Euro-Indicators Homepage Access to service “Eurostat Alert”

11. Euro-Indicators Homepage Access to the Euro-IND database

12. Euro-Indicators Homepage Ad hoc data requests

13. Euro-Indicators Homepage Links to Eurostat Data Shops network

14. Euro-Indicators Homepage Euro-Indicators Release Calendar

15. Euro-Indicators Homepage Access to the homepage of Eurostat web-site

16. Browsing Euro-Indicators • Euro-Indicators can be browsed in two ways: • By Statistical Subjects • By Source of Information

17. Browsing Euro-Indicators • Euro-Indicators can be browsed in two ways: • By Statistical Subjects • By Source of Information

18. Browsing Euro-Indicators • Euro-Indicators can be browsed in two ways: • By Statistical Subjects • By Source of Information

19. Browsing by Statistical Subject The main classification is by domain: Eight domains corresponding to NewCronos classification+All Subjects For each domain a page gives direct access to the corresponding Free Data

20. Browsing by Source of Information The main classification is by typology For each typology a page gives access to the corresponding information - in general to downloadable PDF documents

21. Contents of Euro-Indicators The Euro-Indicators web-site contains:  Data Comprehensive set of of harmonised infra-annual series for the euro-Zone, the EU and its fifteen Member States  Information Supplementary information aimed at complementing the data supply (metadata, quality reports, etc.)  Services A section containing useful services related to business cycle analysis and Eurostat’s activity

22. Data The data supply is available through two products:  Free Data accessible by all users 46 indicators, with some breakdowns 370 series for the euro-zone and the EU data are presented in a standard template  the Euro-IND database accessible by privileged users and site subscribers daily updated  breakdowns by country, sector and products more than 24,000 series whole tables download or user defined extractions

23. Access to Free Data Free Data are grouped by domain For each domain a summary page allows to access the pages containing the different series

24. Presentation of Free Data Free Data are presented in a standard template, i.e. a HTML page containing: the definition of the indicator and a brief methodological summary a table containing the most recent twelve figures for euro-zone and EU a graph comparing the euro-zone and EU figures the NewCronos reference for the indicator 1 3 2 4

25. Access to the Euro-IND database To access the Euro-IND database the user must first log in Data can be downloaded in two ways:  Predefined tables  User defined extractions

26. Download of predefined tables For each domain the user can download a compressed archive containing:  a spreadsheet with the full names of the indicators  a comma delimited text file with data (one per table) 1 2

27. User defined downloads User defined extractions can be obtained through a user friendly graphical interface called EVAlight Such a download requires three steps:  definition of the subset of data to extract  definition of the layout of the table to download  definition of the data extraction format 1 2 3

28. Information Euro-Indicators contains a body of supplementary information aimed at complementing the data supply Most of this information is contained in freely downloadable PDF documents Objectives of these publications:  providing information on the data production process  monitoring the quality of the database  knowing Euro-Indicators users  signalling main events to the business cycle community  disseminating methodological contributions

29. Euro-Indicators metadata All European aggregates in the Euro-IND database are provided with their metadata Euro-Indicators metadata are compiled according to the IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard Metadata provide users with important information such as: • definitions • classification schemes • compilation practices • seasonal adjustment • etc.

30.  Quality reports The main components of Eurostat’s definition of quality have been re-defined in a time series context The quality of Euro-IND is checked on a monthly basis The outcome of the quality check is contained in two monthly PDF publications:  State of Affairs detailed Monitoring Report synthetic

31.  Knowing Euro-Indicators users The analysis of our users and of their needs is the starting point for any strategy of future improvements of the web-site The analysis of users is contained in a monthly PDF publication called WebTrends The main objectives of the publication are providing:  an overview of the activities hosted on Euro-Indicators  an analysis of users’ behaviour  an analysis of the development of the site on the basis of users’ interest

32.  Signalling main events • A section of the site in entirely devoted to the promotion of various events organised by Eurostat or by other public and private institutions: • conferences • seminars • workshops • etc. This information is available in Euro-Indicators through the monthly PDF publication Newsletter

33.  Methodological contributions Euro-Indicators Working Papers section contains the intermediate results of some methodological and applied research projects on euro-zone business cycle analysis Main fields of research are currently: • Flash estimates of some key indicators (IPI, GDP, etc.) • Back-recalculation techniques • Estimation of proxies for missing indicators • Time series de-trending and business cycle extraction • Techniques for temporal disaggregation • Detection of turning points

34. Services Euro-Indicators also contains a section of various services related to business cycle analysis: • a new Links & Contacts section • containing links to the most important public and private institutions working in the field of short-term statistics and business cycle analysis • a direct link to DG ECFIN’s Economic Forecasts • can now be downloaded directly from the site. • the Eurostat Alert service • that allows users to receive, by e-mail, the latest News Releases, Statistics in Focus and other publications on the themes that he/she selected in the registration form. • a detailed yearly release calendar for the Euro-zone and EU data

35. Euro-Indicators release calendar • detailed yearly release calendar • currently covering all 2002 • updated every week For each release of each indicator it contains:  the reference period  the date of release and its status the presence of a press release  the data source

36. Euro-Indicators users: main interest

37. Professional Interest Educational Interest European Media European Media Institution Blank Statistics 1.2% Institution 1.3% Statistics 0.8% 0.9% 0.6% 0.8% 0.6% National National Resellers Resellers Admin. Admin. 0.3% 0.3% 8.2% 2.1% Company/ Company/ Organisation Organisation 89.0% 94.0% Euro-Indicators users: typology

38. Euro-Indicators users: country of origin

39. Euro-Indicators users: language preferences

40. Item II - 1 of the Agenda Improvements of the Euro-Indicators Web-site Doc 092 / 02 Eurostat - Unit A6Statistical Indicators for Euro-zone Business Cycle Analysis

41. Introduction The aim of the Euro-Indicators web-site is to be a portal for business cycle analysts interested in the evolution of European economies. It intends to provide: • data • methodological explanations • general information • technical papers • publications related to the situation of the European economies.

42. Introduction • The Euro-Indicators web-site is completely coherent and consistent with the Eurostat site  working in a constraint environment. • Euro-Indicators web-site and the Euro-IND database run under two different philosophies and structures  not a complete integration of the database into the Euro-Indicators web-site. • Multilingual version  the translation of the Home page into German and French.

43. Some improvements in the services section • Creation of a site map • Preparation of a guided tour for new and non-expert users • Preparation of a synthetic document presenting the Euro-Indicators team • Preparation of a section devoted to the Frequently Asked Questions concerning short-term statistics.

44. Improvements in the latest news • Monitoring report • Webtrends • Newsletter "News from the Member States" • Selected Readings Forthcoming

45. Free data • Extension of the data coverage (mainly concentrated on euro-zone and European Union figures) • Increasing the length of the series • Supplying more readable and useful graphs • Using a more friendly template • Replacing existing methodological notes with a link to the corresponding data files • Creating a downloadable file containing all Free Data.

46. Item II - 4 of the Agenda Extension of Euro-IND Database Doc 096 / 02 Eurostat - Unit A6Statistical Indicators for Euro-zone Business Cycle Analysis

47. Objective • To integrate data from EEA, Accession countries, United States, Japan and Switzerland in the existing content of the Euro-IND database. • To supply the business cycle analysts with a set of short-term indicators giving an overall picture of the economic situation of those countries.

48. Principles • The same principles already stated for Euro-IND database and Euro-Indicators web-site: • Promptly available; • Long enough time series; • Fully documented according to the SDDS format; • Available in the sectoral domain of NewCronos.

49. Domains concerned • New countries will be split into 2 main categories • The first one including the European countries (EEA + AC) • The second one including USA, Japan and Switzerland. • Data for EEA and AC will be included in the already existing corresponding domains.

50. Domains concerned • A ninth domain, called "Country Specific Indicators" will be added in the Euro-IND database. • This domain will include: • Data for the United States, Japan and Switzerland; • Non-harmonised indicators for Member States, EEA and Accession Countries.