The Statistical Metadata Repository

The purpose of statistical metadata is to allow for easy understanding of what a statistical result means in order to facilitate its interpretation or re-use. Metadata can take many forms: definitions, classifications, characteristics of the source used to produce the result, etc.
To make them accessible, INSEE’s statistical metadata repository, RMéS, structures and centralises the data, ensuring the coherence of the information based on identification rules.
The adoption of international standards to describe metadata facilitates their use (whether automatic or manual) and enables cooperation with other organisations. An environment allowing for communication with the repository has also been put in place: services are provided throughout the life cycle of a statistical operation, whether to feed into the repository or to access its content.

The use of RMéS goes beyond mere re-use: some customer applications use metadata to automatically produce components of the statistical process, for example to specify questionnaires or even to describe controls or dissemination products. As a cross-cutting and structuring tool for statistical production, RMéS represents a potential vehicle of coordination across the Official Statistical Service.