Developing A Quality Assurance Program For The US Census Bureau

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Developing A Quality Assurance Program For
The US Census Bureaus Business RegisterDavid.
D. Chapman US CENSUS BUREAU 
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What I Want to Talk About

• Overview
• Business Register Quality Team
• Team Projects
• Recommendations
• Lessons Learned

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OVERVIEW

• US Census Bureau
• Economic Area
• Business Register

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Business Register Purpose

• to served as a comprehensive central source of
  list frames for the business censuses and
  surveys

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Secondary Purposes

• Central Administrative Record Repository
• Central facility (data and services)
• Data Source for County Business Pattern and
  Nonemployer Tabulations
• Source of Data for Economic Research and
  Custom Tabulations

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Statistical Universes

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Employer Units
• Survey Units

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Business Register Quality Team

• Purpose
• Membership
• Oversight
• Projects

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Team Purpose

• to develop a plan that ensures the continuous
  quality, reliability, and integrity of all
  business register processes, information, and
  products.

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Team Membership

• BR Designers/Managers
• BR Programmers
• BR Users
• Quality and Process Improvement Staff

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Team Oversight

• Team Leader
• ADC Research and Methodology
• Chief, Economic Planning and
  Coordination Division
• Steering Group
• Census Managers

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Team Projects

• Transition to New Business Register
• Administrative Records Processing
• How Surveys Use Business Register
• Identify Customer Problems
• Recommend Changes

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Transition To New Business Register

• Coverage
• Compare Data Values
• Anecdotal Comments
• Critical Variables

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Team Projects

• Transition to New Business Register
• Administrative Records Processing
• How Surveys Use Business Register
• Identify Customer Problems
• Recommend Changes

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Admin Records Processing

• Team examined the current system for
  administrative records processing and recommended
  changes

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Admin Records Sub-teamRecommendations

• Create Centralized Admin Record Tracking System
• Systematic Review of Post-Processing Admin Record
  QA
• Increase Focus on Key Business Register Variables
• Standardize and Automate QA Reports

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Team Projects

• Transition to New Business Register
• Administrative Records Processing
• How Surveys Use Business Register
• Identify Customer Problems
• Recommend Changes

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Current Survey Use of Business Register

• What do programs need from BR?
• Looked at three(3) Surveys
• Business Sample Revision (BSR)
• Annual Capital Expenditures (ACES)
• Industrial Research and Development
• (IRDS)

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Current Survey Requirements

• Each survey documented use
• Purpose to identify similarities and
  differences in use of BR
• Great differences in detail, definitions, and
  terminology
• Difficulty in consolidating information

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Team Projects

• Transition to New Business Register
• Administrative Records Processing
• How Surveys Use Business Register
• Identify Customer Problems
• Recommend Changes

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Identify Customer Problems

• Focus Group versus Questionnaire
• Focus Groups with BR Users
• Different Surveys Different Jobs
• Focus Group 12 people two hours

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Focus Group Comments

• Two Types of Comments
• Quality
• Management

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Comments on Quality

• More Accurate and Timely Contact Information
• Add 2002 Economic Census and Current Survey Data
  to Business Register
• Mergers and Acquisition / Company Structure
• BAD data

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Comments on Management

• Communication
• Documentation
• Training
• Interactive Use of the Business Register
• Management

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Team Projects

• Transition to New Business Register
• Administrative Records Processing
• How Surveys Use Business Register
• Identify Customer Problems
• Make Recommendations

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DeterminingFinal Recommendations

• Reviewed Individual Recommendations
• Consolidate Recommendations
• Added New Recommendations
• Created Final List
• Ranked Entries on Final List By
• Importance
• Difficulty
• Final Set of Recommendations

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RecommendationsShort Term (Next 6 Months)

• Administrative Records
• Administrative Record Repository
• Wrap-Up Edit
• Business Register Quality Checks

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RecommendationsLong Term (Over 6 Months)

• Identify a clear list of activities associated
  with Business Register QA plan
• Problem / Issues Log
• Annual Meeting with Customers
• Periodic Audit of Business Register Processes and
  QA plan
• Monitor Quality of key variables
• Monthly Analytical Tables
• Identify Current State of Business Register
• Determine Trends and emerging problems

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Lessons Learned
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Lessons Learned

• Project was too BIG

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Lessons Learned

• 2. You can get a lot done when you dont care
  who gets the credit.

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Lessons Learned

• 3. All quality problems are management problems.

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Lessons Learned

• 4. Introducing a Quality approach is a wearing
  experience.

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Lessons Learned

• Team members should be accountable for their
  work.
• The team should be blend of junior staff and
  enlightened senior staff

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Lessons Learned

• Need for both Technical Documentation
• and Management Documentation

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Lessons Learned

• 7. Focus Groups are worth the effort

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Lessons Learned

• 8. Similar processes in different programs should
  be documented with common format and common
  definitions

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Questions?

• David.d.chapman_at_census.gov

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