EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EUROSTAT
Directorate B: Methodology; Corporate statistical and IT services
Unit B-1: Methodology and corporate architecture
EXPERT GROUP ON STANDARDISATION
VIRTUAL MEETING
30 MARCH 2017
10H00-11H30 CET
Item 04 of the agenda
Programming the 2nd year of the pilot phase
1
Introduction
The implementation of the ESS standardisation process has started with a 2-years piloting phase,
which is now reaching its mid-term. During its first year of activity the EG on Standardisation
had to set its tools and procedures and has achieved the publication of the first series of 10
official ESS Standards, registered in the freshly released Catalogue of ESS Standards.
Stakeholder involvement has occurred on ad hoc basis for candidate ESS standards and some
communication material has been released, notably on the ESS standardisation area on the CROS
portal:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cros/content/ess-standardisation_en
The programme of 2nd year coming year will be based on priorities from the initial work
programme of the EG on Standardisation but also include guidance received from ESSC and
DIME-ITDG in February 2017. The second year would most likely include the following
activities:

Systematise involvement of stakeholders.

Prepare a second series of ESS standards and review of the catalogue of ESS standards,
notably with regard to need for maintenance of ESS standards.

Intensify communication, notably concerning the added-value of ESS standardisation and the
expected use of standards in the day-to-day work.

Implement more completely the process of ESS standardisation, beyond the adoption of fasttrack candidates ESS standards.

Produce an assessment of the pilot phase and report to DIME-ITDG and ESSC in the first
half of 2018.
This document includes proposals for a yearly cycle of activities and a communication plan to
cover these topics. The Expert Group on standardisation is invited discuss and refine this proposal
in preparation of the work during the 2nd part of the pilot phase of the ESS standardisation
process.
2
Yearly ESS standardisation cycle
Based on experiences so far it seems the following series of events will rhythm cycles of the
process ESS standardisation:

The EG on Standardisation has up to 6 virtual meetings per year based on needs.

A yearly consultation of Eurostat units will allow collecting information about on-going
initiatives. This would occur in June and July, based on information available in May, and
may concern different types of initiatives, mainly:
o Need for development or maintenance of existing ESS standards;
o On-going work concerning the development of potential standards;
o Identification of candidate to be promoted as ESS standards.

Consultation of ESS governance groups to validate candidate ESS standards to be promoted,
depending on the calendar of considered governance groups.

Review of the catalogue of ESS standards: Once a year the EG on Standardisation reviews
the catalogue of ESS standards to identify possible needs for maintenance of standards (f.i.
based on the age of standards).

Reporting through ESS standardisation governance: the EG on Standardisation reports to the
WG on Standards in June and may consult DIME-ITDG plenary in February.

Consultation of the ESSC in May for the ratification of new ESS standards and possibly for
the approval of proposals on development, maintenance or withdrawal of ESS standards.

Maintenance of the catalogue of ESS standards after consultation of the ESSC, update of the
catalogue to add and remove items from the list based on opinions expressed by the ESSC.

Communication actions:
o Each of the interaction with stakeholders mentioned above may be considered as an
opportunity to communicate on ESS standardisation, of course adapting the message
to the audience.
o Additional actions through internal communication channels of NSIs and Eurostat
could be considered once a year when the catalogue of ESS standards is updated.
3
These events can be organised as follows to form a yearly cycle for the ESS standardisation process:
YEAR
YEAR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
Consult Eurostat units
Consult ESS governance groups
Report to WG Standards
Consult DIME-ITDG
Prepare consultation of Eurostat units
World Standards Day
Review the catalogue of ESS Standards
Update the catalogue of ESS Standards
Consult ESSC
4
Communication plan
In the initial implementation phase of the ESS standardisation process communication was
identified as a key issue to be better dealt with. To achieve the goal of increasing efficiency and
robustness of statistical processes stakeholders need to be aware of the initiative, its value and
expected use for day-to-day work, where to find ESS standards and how to interact with the
process. A communication plan is proposed based on objectives of the communication, target
audiences, types of messages and communication channels which are elaborated a bit hereafter:

Communication issued by the EG on Standardisation will mainly have the following goals:
-
Convince of the added-value of the overall ESS standardisation initiative, increase the
level of buy-in and support from ESS members. Clarify the basic notions of ESS
standardisation (e.g. what is an ESS standard and how does it differ from a legal act).
-
Raise awareness about the Catalogue of ESS Standards and its content, present the major
use cases of the ESS standards and promote the use of ESS standards.
-
Run the process of standardisation and inform on expected role of stakeholders in the ESS
standardisation process and the possibilities of interaction with the process.
-
Collect feedback on fitness for use and relevance of the Catalogue of ESS Standards

Audiences of the communication plan will be targeted according to the 6 roles defined in the
ESS standardisation architecture and described in the annexe.

In the communication plan the following types of messages are proposed:

-
Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
-
Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
-
Role in the process of standardisation
-
Standard-specific technical communication
A number of communication channels can be used to reach selected audiences:
-
Publication on the Web: ESS standardisation area on CROS, Catalogue of ESS standards
on RAMON, Workspace of the EG on Standardisation on CROS.
-
Mailing, in particular e-mail announcements to given mailing lists.
-
Internal communication in NSIs and Eurostat (e.g. intranets, internal newsletters).
-
Written consultation of governance groups.
-
Meetings of ESS governance groups, incl. groups related to ESS Vision 2020 or meetings
of bodies part of ESS standardisation governance.
-
Participation to events such as conferences or workshops, this may include presentations
or posters or participation as discussant.
The EG on Standardisation will drive the translation of the communication plan into concrete
activities.
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Objective(s)
Audience
- Convince of the added-value ESSC as ESS standardisation authority
- Run the process
- Raise awareness
ESSC as representant of users of ESS
standards
Message(s)
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Role in the process of standardisation
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
Channel(s)
- Written consultation
- Meeting
- Publication on the Web
- Internal communication
Timing
1x/year
- Convince of the added-value ESS directors groups as owner and maintainer - Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Raise awareness
of ESS standards
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Publication on the Web
- Internal communication
1x/year
- Convince of the added-value ESS working groups , expert groups, task
- Run the process
forces as owner and maintainer of ESS
standards
- Raise awareness
ESS working groups , expert groups, task
- Collect feedback
forces as users of ESS standards
- Convince of the added-value ESS.VIP steering groups as owner of ESS
- Run the process
standards
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Role in the process of standardisation
2x/year
- Raise awareness
- Collect feedback
- Raise awareness
- Run the process
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Standard-specific technical communication
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Role in the process of standardisation
- Publication on the Web
- Mailing
- Internal communication
- Written consultation
- Meeting
- Publication on the Web
- Mailing
- Internal communication
- Written consultation
- Meeting
- Publication on the Web
- Mailing
- Participation to events
- Publication on the Web
- Mailing
- Meeting
- Meeting
- Mailing
- Publication on the Web
- Internal communication
- Mailing
- Meeting
- Publication on the Web
- Mailing
- Internal communication
- Written consultation
- Meeting
- Participation to events
- Publication on the Web
- Mailing
- Internal communication
- Written consultation
- Meeting
ESS.VIP steering groups as users of ESS
standards
External organisations as owners of ESS
standards (e.g. HLG, SDMX)
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Standard-specific technical communication
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Role in the process of standardisation
- Convince of the added-value ESAC as representant of users of ESS
- Raise awareness
standards
- Collect feedback
- Convince of the added-value DIME-ITDG as part of ESS Standardisation
governance
- Convince of the added-value WG on Standards as part of ESS
- Raise awareness
Standardisation governance
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Run the process
- Standard-specific technical communication
EG on Standardisation as part of ESS
Standardisation governance
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Standard-specific technical communication
- Convince of the added-value Eurostat units as Eurostat maintainer of ESS
- Run the process
standards
- Basic notions and value proposition of ESS standardisation
- Role in the process of standardisation
- Raise awareness
- Collect feedback
- Catalogue of ESS standards and available standards
- Standard-specific technical communication
Eurostat units as Eurostat users of ESS
standards
6
1x/year
2x/year
2x/year
2x/year
1x/year
1x/year
2x/year
2x/year
6x/year
3x/year
3x/year
ANNEXE: ESS standardisation architecture
In support to the second year of the pilot phase an architectural view of ESS standardisation has
been developed based on the Archimate1 standard notation. The following notions are included in
the architecture:

Goal: Represents a high-level statement of intent, direction, or desired end state for an
organization and its stakeholders.

Value: Represents the relative worth, utility, or importance of a core element or an outcome.

Actor: A business entity that is capable of performing behaviour.

Role: The responsibility for performing specific behaviour, to which an actor can be
assigned, or the part an actor plays in a particular action or event

Process: Represents a sequence of business behaviours that achieves a specific outcome.

Principle: A qualitative statement of intent that should be met.

Business object: A concept used within a particular business domain. This notion is further
split into the following:
o
Catalogue of ESS standards
o
Types of normative document
This representation can be used as a tool to develop communication material as it shows for
instance relationships between actors and the process according to their roles, and how the
process of ESS Standardisation relate to goals and value creation.
1
http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/archimate3-doc/
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