The National Bureau of Statistics hosted the International Workshop on „Moving to a Process-Based Statistical Organisation ", between 19-21 November 2024. The workshop is jointly organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova and also with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Moldova.

The event brings together experts and other representatives of UNECE, EFTA, the National Statistical Offices and other institutions from the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Serbia.

Mr. Oleg Cara, Director General of the NBS highlighted that „The Workshop aims to empower each of National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) to move beyond traditional methods and embrace proven frameworks such as Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM), Generic Statistical Information Model (GSIM) and Generic Statistical Information Model (GSIM). This workshop serves as a platform for collaboration, innovation, and progress. Perhaps most valuable is the opportunity to learn from each other. Sharing practical experiences—from overcoming challenges to implementing solutions—will help us collectively address the complexities of transitioning to a process-based organization. Together, we can strengthen our statistical systems to better serve our societies and decision-makers.”

Mr. Michel Di-Pietro, Director, EFTA Statistical Office mentioned: „Today’s NSIs face many challenges, including rapidly changing technologies, increasing public demand for timely, relevant and up-to-date statistics, and decreasing budgets. These challenges require NSIs to employ more skilled staff and improve their infrastructure. One way of doing this is to move to a process-based organisation. In addition to efficiency gains, it will also improve the quality and reliability of official statistics disseminated by NSIs. The workshop on „Moving to a Process-Based Statistical Organisation”, jointly organized with UNECE and the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, formed part of the 2024 EFTA Work Programme for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Statistics, as approved by the four EFTA States Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The EFTA Secretariat extends its sincere gratitude to all participants for their valuable contributions to the workshop, particularly colleagues from UNECE, as well as from the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova and from Statistics Iceland. 

Mr. Taeke Gjaltema, Inter-Regional Adviser Statistics UNECE - Statistical Division (UNECE) emphasized that „The workshop builds on work developed under the High-Level Group for the Modernisation of Official Statistics and recommendations from Global Assessments and Sector Reviews conducted in EECCA countries. It showcasesd the many advances made by the Bureau of National Statistics of Moldova and by the other countries present, in implementing international modernisation models. The event provides a great opportunity to share experiences, best practices and tools that can be reused by other agencies”.

The participants stressed out the advantages of using these statistical models internationally applied, including in EU Member States, by serving as key elements in standardizing statistical processes, harmonizing the terminologies applied by various institutions and aligning with international quality standards in official statistics

Moreover, the participating countries also reported on actions and strategies undertaken, on how to overcome challenges as well as future plans in implementing the statistical models at national level.

Mr. Lilian Galer, head of General Division for Statistical Methods and Innovations within the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova (NBS), presented details on stages and current situation on the implementation of the statistical models GSBPM and GAMSO within the institution. At the same time, he presented future plans, including: implementation of the statistical process evaluation program; documentation of all statistical works according to the GSBPM; gradual implementation of the GSBPM documentation in the entire national statistical system; use of the GSBPM in the quality assessment procedure and the research costs estimation etc

Another NBS representative, Mr. Vasile Bujor, Head of Designing of Computer Applications Division spoke about the development and implementation principles of the Integrated Automated Information System (IAIS), the objectives and advantages of using IAIS, the challenges of standardization, interoperability, security, etc.

The three models GSBPM, GAMSO and GSIM are key standards for the modernization of official statistics, which aim to provide common rigor, improve communication on the statistical production within and between organizations, and to facilitate collaboration and exchange of best practices in the field. These models are widely used by EU Member States as well as other countries around the world.

The practical implementation by the NBS and NSS specialists will allow the standardization of statistical processes, the harmonization of terminologies applied by various institutions and the alignment with international quality standards in official statistics. Workshop materials can be accessed here.