The 12th meeting of the International Roundtable on Business Survey Frames Helsinki 28. . ! 2.1".

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Session No. 1 Paper No. 11 Country: New Zealand Ian Ewing Statistics New Zealand

Progress Report

Integration:
Integration of the Balance of Pay ents !B"P# $irectory and Sur%eys with the Business &ra e: 1. #hen the Business Frame $BF% &as develo'ed in (e)ember 1 *+ a se'arate frame )alled the Balan)e of ,ayments (ire)tory e-isted for Balan)e of ,ayments Surveys. Statisti)s .e& /ealand0s Balan)e of ,ayments surveys &ere one of the ma1or set of business surveys that &ere not fully integrated &ith the Business Frame. ,ri)e Indesurveys and Building 2)tivity )olle)tions are the only remaining sets of surveys not integrated &it the frame. The Balan)e of 'ayments dire)tory along &ith the Balan)e of ,ayments Surveys &ere on different servers and used different soft&are. 2t the end of 1 3+ a 'ro1e)t &as established to merge the Balan)e of ,ayments dire)tory &ith the Business Frame+ and to im'lement a frame maintenan)e strategy based on revised 4uestionnaire design+ and e-tended use of ta- data. This 'ro1e)t &as )ombined &ith an IT 'ro1e)t that &as under&ay to integrate Balan)e of ,ayments surveys into the general Business Surveys management system. ,rior to 1 8+ the BF 4uestionnaires asked only a fe& general overseas transa)tion 4uestions. These 4uestions determined &hether a business &as involved in overseas transa)tions. If the business on the BF indi)ated for the first time it &as involved in overseas transa)tions+ it &as added to the Balan)e of ,ayments (ire)tory. 2 se)ond 4uestionnaire &as then sent out to determine &hat ty'e overseas transa)tions the business &as involved in. The detailed overseas transa)tion information from the se)ond 4uestionnaire &as then )a'tured on the Balan)e of ,ayments (ire)tory. The Balan)e of ,ayments (ire)tory and Balan)e of ,ayments Survey 7anagement System $S7S% had no me)hanism for dete)ting &hen a business began to engage in ne& ty'es of Balan)e of ,ayments transa)tions. 2lthough the BF surveyed business that &ere likely to be involved in overseas transa)tions annually+ the overseas transa)tion 4uestions &ere not detailed enough to dete)t ne& ty'es of Balan)e of ,ayments transa)tions for businesses that &ere already involved in overseas transa)tions. To enable the BF to a)t as a frame for Balan)e of ,ayments surveys+ additional overseas transa)tion variables &ere added to the Business Frame+ and to all the BF 4uestionnaires. These 4uestionnaires no& )ontain s'e)ifi) 4uestions on overseas transa)tions. 2s it is no longer ne)essary to send a se)ond 4uestionnaire+ this has redu)ed both res'ondent load and 'ost out )osts. 2dditional overseas transa)tion information is also )a'tured on the BF system. By )a'turing mu)h more detailed Balan)e of ,ayments transa)tions annually+

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the Balan)e of ,ayments Survey 7anagement System is no& able to use the BF to dete)t &hen a business has begun ne& ty'es of Balan)e of ,ayments transa)tions. 3. In addition+ Statisti)s .e& /ealand has been using annual ta- returns to identify businesses that have overseas transa)tions so that they )an be added to the Business Frame and the Balan)e of ,ayments Surveys. 2s the final stage of develo'ment the Balan)e of ,ayments Survey 7anagement System has been redevelo'ed+ so that it is 'art of the ne& Business Surveys System. The Business Surveys System is on the same server as the BF and uses the same o'erating language as the BF. 2ll surveys that use the Business Surveys System use the Business Frame as their survey frame.

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'he integration of B& data into the new Sur%ey Processing 'e plate !SProce'# . 2 ne& e)onomi) survey 'ro)essing system has been develo'ed in 9otus .otes soft&are to run in a )lient server environment. It &as develo'ed as 'art of our overall u'grade of Information Te)hnology designed to move all S./ fun)tions to a )lient! server environment. The :uarterly ;)onomi) Survey of 7anufa)turing &as the first survey to use S,ro)eT. ,reviously+ mainframe <=B=9 systems+ S2S+ #ord and ;-)el &ere used to 'ro)ess+ run and analyse data. .o& all the data )a'ture+ editing+ im'utation and treatment of outliers )an be done on the one system. =ne of the main features of this 'ro)essing system is the link to the BF system. This integration of the t&o systems has allo&ed dire)t )om'arison bet&een survey system values and BF values. The fle-ibility of the BF system and its integration &ith S,ro)eT+ has eliminated the need for )ostly and detailed 0hard )o'y0 re)on)iliations of survey res'ondents and the frame and has streamlined the sam'le maintenan)e 'ro)edures. The main advantages of S,ro)eT are that it is integrated+ fast and very easy to use. =n the old mainframe+ running estimates &ould take around t&o or three hours. 9otus .otes )an 'ro)ess the same information in minutes. The a''li)ation design team are )urrently &orking on the se)ond survey to utilise S,ro)eT ! the .ovember 1 8 :uarterly ;m'loyment Survey. There is a t&o year 'lan for migrating most business surveys to the S'ro)eT environment.

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&ra e Co%erage Issues:

Ceased Business In%estigation 11. Follo&ing a )om'arison of business details re'orted by householders in our Household 9abour For)e Survey &ith businesses on the Business Frame $BF%+ it &as found that the BF )ontained a number of business that &ere >)eased> on the BF but &ere still o'erating $either as em'loyers or non!em'loying sole traders%. 7ost of these businesses &ere )orre)tly )eased at the time+ as they had either sold an e-isting business a)tivity or had )eased their business a)tivity. Ho&ever+ the e-isting frame maintenan)e 'ro)edures+ &hi)h are based on surveying ne& ta- $?ST% registrations and annually surveying live business on the BF+ are unable to dete)t business restarts. For e-am'le+ a motel o&ner may sell their motel and kee' their ?ST registration a)tive+ as they intend to start a ne& business a)tivity &ithin * months. Be)ause the ?ST registration is ke't a)tive and re!registration is unne)essary+ if they

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start a ne& business a)tivity+ su)h as building a ne& motel+ the ne& business a)tivity may not be dete)ted. 15. To find those businesses that &ere )eased on the BF but &ere still o'erating+ all businesses that &ere )eased on the BF &ere )he)ked to see if they &ere still registered for ?ST $a @2T ta-% and &ere still 'aying the ?ST ta-. 2fter allo&ing for timing differen)es+ and business &inding do&n+ et). it &as found that the head!)ount under )overage of business on the BF &as 6.*A. 2n investigation into the B)hara)terC of these under!)overed businesses has been )om'leted+ and a number of strategies to im'rove )overage in this area have been im'lemented.

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Respondent (oad:
)ey *ord Strategy 18. The Dey #ord strategy re'resents an effe)tive use of the ta- database enabling Statisti)s .e& /ealand to redu)e both 'ost out )osts and Res'ondent 9oad. The strategy has redu)ed the 'ost out siEe of the Business Frame0s 0Birth0 4uestionnaire by 28!5"A monthly. The strategy &orks by mat)hing a 'redetermined industry des)ri'tor &ith the industry des)ri'tor re)orded on the ta- database. If there is a 'erfe)t mat)h+ the ne& taregistration )an be assigned an industry )ode+ and the business is not sent a 4uestionnaire. The Dey #ord strategy does not a''ly to those businesses that are em'loying or im'orting and e-'orting. It also e-)ludes businesses in the agri)ultural+ a))ommodation+ manufa)turing+ retail and &holesale industries. It is anti)i'ated that further Dey #ord initiatives &ill )reate even more res'ondent and )ost savings for S./ in the future.

"ther Business &ra e $e%elop ents:

'a+ation $ata: 1*. #hen the Business Frame &as develo'ed+ the Ta-ation =ffi)e Registration Re)ords and the ?oods 2nd Servi)e Ta- $?ST% information &as able to be vie&ed from the Business Frame. 2t the end of 1 3+ additional data+ in the form of the 2nnual Salaries and #ages ta- dedu)tion return and the 2nnual 2))ounts return $a 'rofit and loss a))ount form &ith sele)ted balan)e sheet items% &as added to the BF system. This has enabled survey staff to )arry out more detailed analysis of BF units+ to make use of this data dire)tly in )om'iling 4uarterly )om'ensation of em'loyees )om'onent of ?(, and to monitor )hanges in business siEe+ offering 'otential to further redu)e the level of annual surveying re4uired for frame maintenan)e.

,eocoder 13. F' until 7ar)h 1 8 the Business Frame $BF% &as still using a mainframe $off!line% based lo)ation )oding tool )alled auto)a). 2s all our systems are e-'e)ted to be removed from the mainframe by (e)ember 1 8+ the BF needed a lo)ation )oding system that is able to o'erate in the BF0s )lient server environment. 2s the BF had already su))essfully used Sear)h Soft&are 2meri)a $SS2% >.ames> for its name and address mat)hing system+ the SS2 names &as used again+ as the bulk and on!line lo)ation )oding tool. The ne& ?eo)oderG

is able to assign a lo)ation )ode from a given address to a high degree of a))ura)y $3*A mat)h )om'ared &ith the *6A &ith the 'revious system%+ in both on!line and bulk o'erationsH is intelligent enough to return lo)ation )odes on unformatted addresses and )o'e &ith minor miss'ellingsH and s)reen dis'lays all re4uired information ! road side indi)ator+ address+ meshblo)k $lo)ation )ode%+ area unit+ narrative+ urban area+ regional )oun)il I 'ost )ode. Business &ra e International 18. S./ has su''lied its Business Frame system to the Irish <entral Statisti)al offi)e last year. The system is due to go live in (e)ember 1 8. Further e-'ressions of interest have been re)eived from the South 2fri)an and Fi1ian statisti)al offi)es. 2 'ro1e)t team &ill arrive in South 2fri)a to assist Statisti)s South 2fri)a undertake an evaluation of the S./ system. The Fi1ian 'ro1e)t &ill involve a s)aled!do&n version of the system designed to run in the Fi1i environment.

$e%elop ent of a Strategy to assign classifications to s aller -usinesses 1 . 2 'ro1e)t is under&ay to assign industry and se)tor )lassifi)ations to businesses that are not 0maintained0 by the BF+ but are held on the ta- database. =ne of the aims of the Btadata )oding 'ro1e)tC is a fully )oded data set that is able to be )onsistently )oded over time. ;-tending use of ta-ation data re4uires )onsistent )om'rehensive )lassifi)ation. If a''ro'riate )lassifi)ations are able to be a''lied to the ta- database it may be 'ossible toG

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<reate Inter!$'o'ulation% <ensus estimates of internal migration and 'o'ulation gro&th Investigate Small Business 'enetration rates <reate =&ner ,rofiles for Small Business =&ners $2?;+ S;J% <reate Household In)ome ;stimates+ et). 21. The 'ro1e)t is still in its early stages.