Principle 10: Cost Effectiveness

Internal and independent external measures monitor the statistical authority’s use of resources.

INSEE is subject to the State expenditure monitoring procedures applied to the entire public sector. INSEE’s resources are in the budget of the “220–Statistics and Economic Studies” programme, which is part of the “Economy” mission. Under Articles 57 and 58 of French Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletOrganic Law No 2001-692 of 1 August 2001, as amended, on Finance laws (LOLF), as amended, the INSEE Director-General makes a report to the French Parliament each year on the achievement of objectives and the use of funds. However, since the 2020 French Finance Bill, INSEE now includes its actions in a multi-annual resources programme.

In addition, INSEE, like all public administrative bodies, is subject to the monitoring of the French Inspectorate General of Finances (IGF), and the “Cour des comptes “.

In addition to these external evaluations, there are internal indicators used for managing human and financial resources centrally. The “three-year programming of work” is thus a procedure used for the allocation of resources in accordance with the estimates of the workloads carried out by the various project managers of statistical or support operations. The allocation of human resources is also assessed by the Human Resources Department.

In addition, the INSEE Investment Committee examines application projects, including innovative or structural statistical surveys, before their presentation to the National Council for Statistical Information (Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletCNIS). It issues an opinion on the maturity, feasibility and identification of the risks of the investment before its launch, based on strategic elements, in particular the cost of the operation.

INSEE’s operations and work are also subject to internal audits by the INSEE Internal Audit Unit. Efficiency audits by the Internal Audit Unit examine the proper use of resources and the potential for savings or redeployment margins on a constant budget, while ensuring the expected level of quality of the work and products.

The productivity potential of information and communication technology is being optimised for the statistical processes.

The information system is a key component of INSEE’s operations and an essential driving force behind the transformation of the statistical processes for which the Institute is responsible. In particular, it follows guidelines aimed at increasing the potential offered by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

INSEE undertakes numerous projects based on new technologies to optimise statistical processes. An illustration of this is the construction of a new survey chain using online collection platforms for both business surveys (Coltrane) and household surveys (Metallica programme), with a questionnaire generator, which is itself based on a formal description of the questionnaires using the international Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletDDI (Data Documentation Initiative) standard. This is complemented by a questionnaire design tool, available in open source format on the online software development and version management platform Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletGitHub. These new tools make it possible to increase productivity and adaptability, as evidenced by the posting of surveys online in very short time frames during the Covid-19 crisis in spring 2020.

While the industrialisation of surveys is an emblematic example of redesigns of INSEE’s information system, many other projects include innovations to better exploit the potential of ICTs, not only in the area of production but also that of dissemination. The use of scanner data from major retailers for the consumer price index is made possible by the application of big data techniques. In particular, it provides comprehensive information on sales in supermarkets and hypermarkets, thus ensuring better representativeness of the products monitored and increased detail for the index. Capitalising on this success, the teams have also implemented webscraping techniques for the targeted price survey collection for certain services. A new project on the use of scanner data is also underway, resulting in experimental work using innovative text analysis methods for the classification of product labels. These examples are evidence of a way to build the future information system based on the desire for an optimised use of ICTs.

Finally, in order to identify the most promising areas within the European Statistical System (ESS), INSEE also participates in collaborative networks (ESSNets) focusing on the best use of ICTs, such as the ESSNet Big Data 2, connected in particular with the tests carried out on mobile phone data.

Proactive efforts are made to improve the statistical potential of administrative and other data sources and to limit recourse to direct surveys.

Many statistical production processes are based on administrative sources, which demonstrates the importance of the French Official Statistical Service’s commitment to using administrative sources as much as possible and improving their statistical quality in order to further develop their use.

The aim is to replace survey data with administrative sources. For example, the calculation of the consumer price index is based in part on scanner data from major retailers, which now supersede some of the field price survey collection conducted by interviewers in major food retailers. In addition, the matching of survey data with administrative data is common and should continue to develop in line with the recommendations issued by the INSEE Internal Audit Unit and the CNIS.

Statistical authorities promote, share and implement standardised solutions that increase effectiveness and efficiency.

As part of a process of streamlining its statistical production processes, INSEE aims to retain, as a priority, generic and standardised solutions that can be pooled.

In the area of survey design and management, a vast streamlining programme allows for the industrialised creation of household and business surveys using metadata from RMéS (statistical metadata repository) and relying on applications to design questionnaires, to generate collection media, etc. This programme thus consists of a set of building blocks and services that can be reused by other French Official Statistical Service projects.

The creation within INSEE of a Methodology, Statistical Coordination and International Relations Directorate contributes to standardising, optimising and pooling methods and tools, in the fields of methodology, process quality analysis, metadata management, the use of new sources, etc. This Directorate has, for example, developed and made available pooled sample drawing tools, as well as automatic coding systems for surveys.

In the field of studies aimed at informing public debate in the regions, pooled investments make it possible to increase efficiency and quality. They are based on standardised statistical methods and can be used in all INSEE establishments.

Finally, in terms of IT, the values of pooling and standardisation are at the heart of the application developments carried out by INSEE. As the leader of the Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletESSNet I3S (Implemented Statistical Shared Services), INSEE aims to experiment with the pooling of application services at European Statistical System level. Thus, the Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletARC application (receipt, acceptance, control), designed to receive large amounts of administrative data and ensure their statistical compliance, was chosen within the framework of this ESSNet to be made into a prototype of a shared service on a European scale. In a similar vein, INSEE is testing the reuse of other European tools in its chains, such as the Relais matching tool developed by IStat.