Towards a National Quality Assurance Framework: the UN Statistical Commission Initiative

1. Towards a National Quality Assurance Framework: the UN Statistical Commission Initiative CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations Helsinki, Finland, 6-7 May 2010 Mary Jane Holupka, United Nations Statistics Division

2. Introduction Structure of the presentation: • Proposal for the development of a generic national quality assurance framework template • Reaction to the proposal • Feedback on the preliminary version of the Statistics Canada report sent for comments • Discussion at the Statistical Commission • Next steps in advancing the development of a generic template with guidelines for national quality assurance frameworks. CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

3. Background • Last session of the UN StatComm – NQAF topic put on the agenda • Draft Statistical Commission report by Statistics Canada • reviewed int’l quality practices and drew on Statistics Canada’s own practical experiences • discussed benefits and feasibility of a “generic internationally agreed national quality assurance framework” CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

4. Background cont’d Comments on the draft report were requested from NSOs and IOs: received from 23 Background information on quality initiatives: received from 9 Posted on UNSD website on quality assurance Written feedback was reviewed by Statistics Canada and considered in the subsequent official Statistical Commission version Final version of the report posted on the web in all UN languages (available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/nqaf.aspx or http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/sc2010.htm) CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

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6. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/nqaf.aspx CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

7. The report pointed out the following benefits: single place to record quality concepts, policies and practices mechanism to identify and resolve quality problems while maximizing interaction among staff makes the processes by which quality is assured transparent basis for creating and maintaining a quality culture within the statistical office mechanism for exchanging ideas on quality management with other producers of statistics. Benefits of having an NQAF CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

8. Basic components of an NQAF • Quality concepts • Quality assurance procedures • Quality assessment procedures • Quality and performance management and improvement procedures CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

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10. Reactions to the report Prior to the Statistical Commission • Agreement that having a national quality assurance framework was beneficial • Building connections with other quality frameworks • Development of a standard terminology • Sharing of experiences • Training programs • User participation CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

11. Feedback on the report During the Statistical Commission • Formulation of a quality assurance template • Flexibility • Guidelines • Build on frameworks already developed • User and stakeholder participation • Regional consultation • Training • Sharing of tools and guidance • Expert group CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

12. Next steps • Formation of an expert group to: • Define the scope and content of the NQAF template • Develop the actual template taking existing frameworks into account; establish a mapping to them • Develop guidelines on applying the template in a specific national context and as far as possible, formulate a standard terminology on quality • Formulate recommendations for a training and knowledge transfer strategy • Electronic exchanges first, physical meeting later • Transparent process. UNSD will continue to upgrade the quality website to be a platform for the exchange of information and experiences. CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010

13. . KIITOS! (=Thank you!) CCSA Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations, Helsinki, 2010