SDMX Implementation

Overview

As a continuation of RealSoft’s success stories in implementing different statistical projects, we recently directed our expertise to select the best standards to improve statistical data and metadata exchange mechanisms and processes.
Worldwide, two technical standards for statistical and research data and metadata have recently received much attention; The Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) and Data Documentation Initiative (DDI). The adoption of such standards was relatively slow but has now begun to accelerate according to the benefits achieved by implementing such standards in the statistical process in general.

What is SDMX?

The stated aim of SDMX was to develop and use more efficient processes for exchange and sharing of statistical data and metadata among international organisations and their member countries. To achieve this goal, SDMX provides standard formats for data and metadata, together with content guidelines and an IT architecture for exchange of data and metadata

Common standards and guidelines followed by all players not only help to give easy access to statistical data, wherever these data may be and without demanding prior agreement between two partners, but they also facilitate access to metadata that make the data more comparable, more meaningful and generally more usable

SDMX aims to ensure that metadata always comes along with the data, making the information immediately understandable and useful. For this reason, the SDMX standards and guidelines deal with both data and metadata.

What We Do

Providing a statistical framework that is widely accepted regionally and internationally.

Standardizing concepts and standards and providing metadata organized within a defined structure.

Work within best practices in statistical and computer work in terms of standards, models, tools, and methods.

Enabling statistical agencies to control the governance of the statistical system at the national level.

Providing better access to statistical data, whether to the public, government, or the business community in all statistical fields.

Supporting the necessary strategic decision-making about what should be measured and how it is managed.

Improving the efficiency of collecting and disseminating national data and metadata by its producers without technical intervention through self-service dedicated to statisticians.

Enabling data banks to adopt a single access point for each of the data and metadata considering the data governance procedures.

Strengthening communication with users.

Our Experience

At first, RealSoft applied the SDMX standards gradually through small projects designed to facilitate the automated exchange and processing of data and metadata between a small number of organizations, which, indeed, built wide experience in how to describe a wide range of different types of data structures, and to map the data into and out of by the different organizations involved in the exchange.
The successful implementation of the previous SDMX projects proudly was the reason behind the selection of RealSoft to implement the SDMX for the National Statistical Data Bank Program (NSDP), signed with the General Authority for Statistics KSA.