This programme of work is a combination of activities arising from work started previously, new activities and recurring tasks. The period covered is the interval between the joint UNECE / Eurostat and OECD Meetings on the Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS), therefore the 2012/13 programme of work runs from May 2012 to spring 2013.
With the exception of the recurring tasks, the activities are prioritized using the MoSCoW prioritisation technique (Must, Should, Could, Wont) to make sure that the most important work gets done.
A. RECURRING TASKS
A1. Maintenance of the SAB wiki and website
The SAB wiki (private), and the SAB section of the MSIS wiki (public) are the primary means of communication. It is particularly important to keep the public pages up to date to reflect the activities of the SAB and to give the proper impression that the SAB is an active body. Members of the SAB should be constantly reviewing these wikis so that they retain their value to the official statistics community.
A2. Production and distribution of the newsletter
The SAB produces a twice-yearly newsletter, so there is ongoing activity in order to get it published. This includes writing and commissioning short articles or other texts or some research.
A3. Software inventory
Although the inventory should be kept up to date by contributing organizations, some periodic maintenance is needed, such as checking for dead links and checking that entries are still being used etc. The SAB also monitors the success of the inventory, and updates the guidelines for collaboration models as necessary, to reflect the activities in the inventory.
The SAB should be actively represented in initiatives and events of other organizations concerning statistical software sharing, statistical business architectures and other topics related to the work of the SAB, to ensure the coordination of international work in this area. Examples are SISAI, HLG etc.
An annual report and programme of work should be prepared for presentation to the MSIS meeting and approval by the HLG.
B. SPECIFIC TASKS FOR 2012/13
New activities in response to demands from the official statistics community, or activities that were proposed in earlier years but were not carried out.
B1. Develop standards and guidelines
B1 (i ) Produce a paper on Software for Data Integration (Must)
B1 (ii) Architectural recommendations linked to GSBPM, GSIM and CORE/CORA and encourage parties to do joint development of "plug and play" capabilities (Must)
B2. Sharing information
B2 (i ) Add wiki pages to share information on requirements, specifications, software evaluations and other documentation (Should)
B2 (ii) Conduct a survey among UNECE members about concrete plans for new developents to identify collaboration opportunities Top three projects etc.(Must)
B2 (iii) Set up an information hub for innovation on statistical standard, outputs or products as indicated in the HLG strategy, start with inventory of initiatives. Divide in subjects like in the HLG strategy(Must)
B2 (iv) Start a page on the wiki for information on Open Data standards, best practices, licenses and Statistical Organizations' experience (Must)
B3. Communication and outreach
B3 (i ) Conduct survey or brainstorm at MSIS to identifiy new needs for SAB (Must)
B3 (ii) Publish data about the usage of the Sharing Advisory Board pages on the MSIS wiki (Must)
B3 (iii) Explore new ways of communication, e.g. Webex, LinkedIn, use the linking capacities of the web. (Must)
C. ACTIVITIES CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS WORK PROGRAMMES
These are activities have already started, and will require further work in 2012/13.
C1 (i ) Complete a study on prerequisites on sharing of software (or pre-requisites for multi-national collaboration) (Must)
C1 (ii) Complete a study on communication methods and tools for effective multi-national collaboration activities (Must)
C1 (iii) Continue to monitor different cooperation models for software development, as well as governance / management models for the outputs from collaborative development projects. Identify those that are successful, and document best practices (Must)
C1 (iv) Create facilities for users to post information about software tools, including questions, experiences and case studies. Create links to existing shared software user groups, and pages for sharing feedback and problems. Part of the input for this task can come from already published material in the newsletter and case studies in the inventory (Must)
C2. Provide infrastructure for collaboration projects
C2 (i ) Enhance the possible forms of collaboration with templates and prefab agreements etc.and have them ratified by the MSIS countries. In this way creating an international collaboration will be easy to give form and easy to be approved in different countries if the "mother form" of the agreement has been approved already (Should)