The ESCB Task Force on “Shared SDMX tools”

1. The ESCB Task Force on “Shared SDMX tools” Attilio Mattiocco Bank of Italy SDMX Global Conference 2019 Budapest 2019-09-16

2. Reasons for an SDMX Task Force in the European System of Central Banks Scope and Goals of the Task Force In 2017 the ESCB Statistics Committee created the Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” with the objective of fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among National Central Banks, regarding the SDMX Standard and Tools. The main goals of the task force: • To promote the exchange of ideas, best practices, knowledge • To create and maintain a list of tools that are shared (or that could proficiently be shared) within the ESCB • To develop proof-of-concept's, prototypes and tools to make SDMX adoption easier and more efficient for National Central Banks • To facilitate information sharing and skill building Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

3. Main topics of interest for the Task Force The mostimportantwork streams for the Task Forcetoday • Validation and Transformation Language • SDMX Training and Knowledge Sharing • SDMX Converters and XBRL • Link with non ESCB SDMX Communities Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

4. Focus Area: Validation and Transformation Language VTL: needs and opportunities • VTL is a topic of greatinterest for ESCB members: in particular in the perspective of a harmonizing data checksthattoday are performed with varioustechnologies and languages • Still a youngtechnology, in rapidevolution (e.g. integration of VTL in SDMX) • VTL tools are available, butmost of themstill in development • Interestingopportunity to buildvalidsharedtoolsthat can be used in many production scenarios Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

5. Focus Area: Validation and Transformation Language VTL: actions for the task force • To increase the awarenesson VTL, buildskills, promote a discussionabout the opportunitiesat the ESCB level • To identify and analyzeexistingtoolsfor VTL (e.g. editors, executionenvironments) • To develop a workingprototypefor testing the capabilities of the technology and assessingitsapplicability to real world scenarios • To follow the work thatisbeingdoneby the SDMX Technical Working Group and its VTL Task Force for integrating VTL intoSDMX. Points 1 and 3 are directly linked to an ESCB pilot that is investigating the possibility to translate into VTL the current checks that are executed on the Balance SheetItems (BSI) data. Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

6. Focus Area: SDMX Training and Knowledge Transfer SDMX training and information sharing in the ESCB From the results of a recent survey it was clear that NCBs: • Are interested in training on SDMX, both from a technical and business perspective • Recognize that a large amount of information and documentation about SDMX is available, but it is not always easy to find the correct needed pieces • Would be interested in learning from the experience of other SDMX adopters Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

7. Focus Area: SDMX Training and Knowledge Transfer SDMX training: actions for the task force • To create a proposal for an effective ESCB SDMX Training. Business perspective, technical implementation, tools guidance should be covered. • To share ideas with thought leaders in relation to SDMX and the identification of how it can be used within an organisation. • To analyse the currently available resources about the SDMX standard and tools from both a business benefit and a technical implementation perspective, improving the effectiveness and accuracy of the information available for NCBs Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

8. Focus Area: SDMX Converters and XBRL Converters: needs and opportunities • Tools for SDMX format conversions are widelyused in NCBs • There are varioustoolsavailable for conversions, with differentfunctionalities • XBRL(DPM) iswidelyused by NCBs in the context of Supervisory Reporting Data and currentlythereis no toolavailable for an automaticmapping to SDMX • In the context of the SDMX Roadmap 2020 a joint ECB / Bank of Spain Task Force worked on a conceptual mapping between SDMX and XBRL (https://sdmx.org/?sdmx_news=mapping-between-sdmx-and-xbrl-standard) Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

9. Focus Area: SDMX Converters and XBRL Converters: actions for the task force • To analyze in detailsthe existingtools for convertingbetweendifferent SDMX formats, highlightstrength and weaknesspoints • To explore ways for harmonizing the use of convertersinthe ESCB • To develop a proof of concepton automatic conversions between SDMX and XBRL, based on the work done by ECB and Bank of Spain. This could be the first step to build a new conversion tool (or to add a new functionality to an existing one) Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

10. Focus Area: Link with non ESCB SDMX Communities Link with non-ESCB SDMX Communities Collaboration and community development has proven to be very effective in the SDMX history and it has produced tangible and long lasting results. One of the main interests of the Task Force is to build links with other parties that can be interested in collaborating on specific topics. In particular, we aim to create an active and efficient communication and collaboration link with the existing communities that are focused on SDMX, e.g. • The SDMX Technical Working Group • The Eurostat Shared Tools Expert Group • The Statistical Information System Collaboration Community Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference

11. Thank You attilio.mattiocco@bancaditalia.it Task Force on “Shared SDMX Tools” - 7th SDMX Global Conference