Revising Data Together Across EIA

1
Revising Data TogetherAcross EIA

• Renee Miller and Alethea Jennings
• Statistics and Methods Group, EIA
• April 23, 2004

2
Why Revise Together?

• More data dependencies
• Web enables users to easily obtain data from
  different publications and notice if they dont
  match

3
Outline

• Current revision standard
• Discussions on coordinating revisions
• An opportunity for inter-office coordination on
  revising final data
• Next steps
• An example of a revision trail
• Showing the latest/greatest on the Web

4
Current Revision Standard

• No more than two revisions of same survey data
  cell
• Allows for unscheduled revisions to correct
  previously unrecognized errors
• Does not address modifications to final data

5
Discussions on Revisions

• Scheduling revisions
• Limiting the number of revisions
• An opportunity for revising together to address
  modifications to final data

6
Revising Together Through Inter-office
Coordination

• Data revision decisions no longer made in
  isolation
• Other offices must be notified and agree on
  pending change
• When there is disagreement, the Inter-office
  Issues Group will discuss concerns

7
Next Steps

• Issue policy on revising final data
• Update revision standard
• Address other issues pertaining to revisions
  before data become final

8
An Example of a Revision Trail

• Data on natural gas delivered to the residential
  sector
• Reporting period January 2002
• Publication period April 2002 January 2004

9
National-level Data at a Glance Monthly
Reporting Periods in 2002

• Natural Gas Deliveries to Residential Consumers
• (Million Cubic Feet)
• NGM
• Pub Date Jan Feb Mar
• Apr-02 829 - -
• May-02 R 818 696 -
• Jun-02 R 821 R 703
  660
• Jul-02 R 820 703
  660
• Aug-02 R 819 R 706
  R 666
• Sep-02 R 817 R 704
  R 665
• Oct-02 R 821 704
  R 666
• indicates that no data were collected for
  this period

10
National-level DataA Closer Look January 2002
Reporting Period

• NGM
• Pub Date Jan
• Apr-02 829
• May-02 R 818
• Jun-02 R 821
• Jul-02 R 820
• Aug-02 R 819
• Sep-02 R 817
• Oct-02 R 821

11
State-level Datafor January 2002 Reporting
Period.
TABLE C2
Residential
Natural Gas Deliveries to Consumers
(Million Cubic Feet)
Data in
Data in
Percent Change
Previous
Current
from Previous
Publication
State
Publication
Publication
Month
Date
May-02
WA
NA
11306
-
Jun-02
CT
3893
6197
59
Jul-02
ID
3735
3450
-8
NV
6793
5871
-14
Aug-02
WA
11306
10931
-3
12
Latest/Greatest-Advantages

• Errors would be corrected
• Users would have the latest data, so EIA would
  not have to scramble to produce it when it was
  requested

13
Latest/Greatest-Disadvantages

• Maintaining the site could be an added burden to
  EIA staff
• Different vintages of data could cause confusion
  for users
• The latest may not actually be the greatest

14
Latest/Greatest-A Closer Look
TABLE D1

Natural Gas Prices Electric Power
Sector
Source Publication Monthly Energy Review Table
9.11
MER
Data Reporting Period for 2002d
Publication
May
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
Date
Apr-03
R
3.13
2.87
3.38
3.81
R
3.82
R
R
R
May-03
3.11
2.86
3.35
3.78
3.80
R
R
R
R
R
Jun-03
3.11
2.86
3.35
3.78
3.80
Jul-03
3.13
2.87
3.38
3.81
3.82
R
R
R
R
R
Aug-03
3.13
2.87
3.38
3.81
3.82
Sep-03
3.13
2.87
3.38
3.81
3.82
Oct-03
3.10
2.86
3.38
3.80
3.78
R
R
R
R
Nov-03
R
3.13
2.87
3.38
3.81
R
3.82
R
R
Dec-03
3.13
2.87
3.38
3.81
3.82
dThe electric power sector is comprised of
electricity-only and combined heat-and-power (CHP)
plants with the NAICS 22 category whose primary
business is to sell electricity, or electricity
and heat, to the public.
15
Questions for the Committee

• When EIA developed its revision standard in the
  early eighties, we were trying to establish our
  credibility and thought that limiting the number
  of revisions was a good thing. Is this still a
  good assumption?
• Regarding the natural gas data for the
  residential sector, does the committee have
  suggestions for another approach for presenting
  revisions?

16
Questions for the Committee (contd)

• Would it ever be an acceptable practice to
  publish data where the components do not sum to
  the total?
• What does the committee think about showing the
  latest/greatest on the Web?

17
National-level Data at a Glance Monthly
Reporting Periods in 2002
Natural Gas Deliveries to Commercial
Consumers (Billion Cubic Feet) NGM Pub
Date Jan Feb Mar Apr-02 468 - -
May-02 R 434 388 - Jun-02
434 R 392 377 Jul-02 R
433 392 377 Aug-02
433 392 377
Sep-02 R 434 R 393 R
374 Oct-02 434 R 394
R 375 indicates that no data
were collected for this period