Fulfilling user-needs, improving quality and efficiency using GSIM and other standards

Since 2011, Statistics Denmark has been working on building a common metadata system based on DDI and other standards, among which quality standards from Eurostat play a key role. In January 2015, the standardised description of quality was in place for 237 statistics. The ongoing work focuses on variables, concepts and classifications. The modelling work aims at building models compliant with GSIM. As in all other metadata systems, the important part is to work towards reuse of common metadata. By common metadata, we understand metadata about concepts, classifications, variables that are stored only in one place, linked together, and reused across various domains and in all relevant business processes, including dissemination processes. The implementation of this idea introduces a lot of complexity and requires effort from various disciplines and from the whole organisation. The claim in this paper is that the path towards common metadata, fulfilment of user-needs, improved quality and efficiency require a) improvement and precision in the terminology that is used when we talk about metadata b) better understanding of the role of metadata in relation to our users and c) better understanding of the role of metadata in the production processes and d) the use of common overall models for business process change and Enterprise Architecture to ensure successful implementation.