The usage of a data capture tool in

The usage of a data capture tool in statistical surveys on enterprises Rossana Balestrino, Patrizia Larese Istat - Via C. Balbo 16 - 00184 Roma - Italy UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Classes of respondents Institutions Total surveys Web and Internet Adequate technological equipment Known profile Sampling surveys Heterogeneous technological equipment Information systems not homogeneous Unknown and changeable profile Self-interviewing Households Enterprises Sampling surveys Limited coverage of technological equipment and access to the Net Face-to-face and CATI/CAPI techniques UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Multi-technique approach to data collection • lets us introduce innovation in the processes without forcing the respondent environment; • overcomes population coverage problems in selecting sample units; • favours the respondent who can select the way he prefers; • provides the advantages of CASIC techniques (timeliness, cost, quality) but implies a higher management cost; UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Teleform - (VERITY U. S. A. ) • Teleform product is a bridge between paper forms and electronic forms; • It turns paper into digital forms treated through OCR engines; • It can generate electronic forms HTML or PDF, which can be administered by web or by e-mail; • It allows the fax-server use for mailing and receiving paper forms; • At ISTAT Teleform was selected in 2000 because of the positive relation between quality and price; UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Teleform architecture Designer Mail server Web Server Control Center cgi/ASP Reader Directory Verifier Directory img Fax Server Fax Scanner Database Image Storage Posta UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Surveys list 1. Survey on retail sales (monthly - 2 forms for three pages - 2, 700 respondents); 2. Survey on Telecommunications (annual – 3 forms for nine pages – 534 respondents); 3. Survey on employment, working time and salary (monthly – 2 forms for three pages – 1, 500 respondents); 4. Survey on vacancies and worked hours (quarterly – 1 form for four pages – 8, 000 respondents); UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Perception of the statistical users Positive perceptions: • Reduction of time and costs; • Increase in productivity; • Instant storage and retrieval of data immediately available in the production data base; Negative perceptions: • Lack of product experts for assistance during the collection procedures; • Long response time using the Verifier module to fix data coming from paper forms; • Impossibility for respondents of saving partial versions of PDF forms; UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004

Central IT Directorate Evaluation • Teleform is an effective data capture software to deal with simple forms; • It’s necessary to support costs for installation and maintenance of more adequate infrastructures (100 Mbps network); • It’s crucial to get tools for monitoring and managing service levels of involved servers and network; • Teleform is not the only possibility: let’s analyze the survey process peculiarities to choose the right solution. UNECE/Eurostat OECD meeting on Management of Statistical Information Systems (MSIS) Geneva 17 -19 May 2004