DDI-SDMX Integration and Implementation

There is a clear interaction between this project and the “Framework and Standards for statistical Modernisations” recently discussed by the High-Level Group for the modernisation of statistical production and services (HLG), in particular with the work tasks dealing with GSIM and its mapping to DDI and SDMX. A DDI-SDMX integrated production flow implies transitions from one standard to the other. For example, a typical case is DDI-documented statistical micro-data sets which can be
further aggregated and exposed as SDMX datasets. Various other cases can be considered, such as processing inputs in DDI and SDMX and outputting in one or another standard. The integrated use of DDI and SDMX requires concrete mappings between DDI and SDMX constructs, and some choices about how data elements are handed over from one model to the other. In this respects, the development and implementation of GSIM as a common abstract model, and mapping of GSIM to DDI and DMX, is a key step in this direction. The DDI-SDMX integration activity aims at assigning one or both standards to various possible production steps, possibly per data type (survey data, administrative data, register data) and provides a model for the transition from one standard to the other. In the end, ESS statistical institutes should know clearly which standard to use for which data and how to pursue their processing process at architectural and implementation level.