Proposed methodology and infrastructure for standards development and implementation within a national statistical agency

Abstract

The principal objective of the Data Management and Information Delivery (DMID) project in Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is to develop an infrastructure that supports the business of a statistical organisation, which includes data stores and tools for streamlining the process of statistical production. Standards are the building blocks that would allow for integration. To address this, one of the five DMID sub-projects is Standards Development, for which we have proposed a good practice methodology and infrastructure for selecting, developing, implementing and refining standards across the whole of Stats SA. The methodology and infrastructure are for all types of standards, including specifications, classifications, definitions, policies, procedures, guidelines and other methodologies. We propose that there should be a permanent infrastructure for standards in Stats SA, comprising: Chief Standards Officer (CSO) – with overall responsibility for standards support and standards policing; Standards Steering Committee – to provide oversight, provide feedback from their constituencies, and promote the use of standards in their environments; Standards Secretariat – to support the CSO and the standards development processes; and Standards Experts – to facilitate standards development by providing expertise on standards and standards development. This permanent infrastructure will be complemented by a temporary infrastructure, created as and when needed to implement the various stages of the standards life cycle, which have been encapsulated into the good practice methodology. These stages include proposal assessment, developing and publishing draft standards, getting buy-in from stakeholders, testing or piloting the standard, training and maintenance of all documentation. The temporary infrastructure includes panels, teams and committees, with individuals designated as a standard’s project leader and editor, and as the chair of an editing committee, for example. This paper presents an overview of this proposed methodology and infrastructure for standards development and implementation in Stats SA.