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Metadata for an Integrated Survey Framework: Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP)
*Judy Lee, Enterprise Statistics Division, Statistics Canada 


Keywords: Metadata, IBSP

The new Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP) at Statistics Canada was initiated to realize greater efficiency, robustness, timeliness and responsiveness by harmonizing survey content, streamlining processing, and integrating more business surveys. A key element to achieving these efficiencies while maintaining flexibility will be to expand the use of metadata by integrating it into every component of the survey process. This paper will focus on the operational implementation of metadata for the IBSP project. It will identify some guiding principles, list key requirements gathered from stakeholders, and outline the desired outcomes to be achieved. This paper will also chronicle the major challenges of developing a metadata framework especially given the scope of the project; and the presence of metadata in all components. By using a systematic approach, aligning to corporate and international standards, and ensuring coherence with business, information, and system architecture models, the implementation of metadata for the IBSP is progressing well, able to meet its challenges and will continue to influence the development of a metadata framework at Statistics Canada.