125. The original aim of the GSBPM was to provide a basis for statistical organisations to agree on standard terminology for discussions on developing statistical metadata systems and processes. However, as the model has developed, it has become increasingly used for many other purposes, in particular, related to modernisation of official statistics. Several papers describing actual and potential uses of the GSBPM are available on the UNECE wiki platform 1 . The list below aims to highlight some current uses, and to inspire further ideas on how the GSBPM can be used in practice.

  • Providing a structure for documentation of statistical processes - The GSBPM can provide a structure for organising and storing documentation within an organisation, promoting standardisation and the identification of good practices;
  • Facilitating the sharing of statistical methods and software - The GSBPM defines the components of statistical processes in a way that not only encourages the sharing of methods and software tools between statistical business processes, but also facilitates sharing between different statistical organisations that apply the model;

  • Describing which standards are or could be used for different phases of the statistical production process. For example, Annex 2 of the SDMX 2.1 User Guide 2 explores how SDMX applies to statistical work in the context of a business process model;

  • Providing a framework for process quality assessment and improvement - If a benchmarking approach to process quality assessment is to be successful, it is necessary to standardise processes as much as possible. The GSBPM provides a mechanism to facilitate this;
  • Better integrating work on statistical metadata and quality - Linked to the previous point, the common framework provided by the GSBPM can help to integrate international work on statistical metadata with that on data quality by providing a common framework and common terminology to describe the statistical business process;
  • Providing the underlying model for methodological standards frameworks - Methodological standards can be linked to the phase(s) or sub-process(es) they relate to and can then be classified and stored in a structure based on the GSBPM;
  • Developing a business process model repository to store process modelling outputs and allow them to be linked to the statistical business process model;
  • Providing an underlying model to design a training framework and a set of standard terminology to describe skills and expertise needed in the statistical production process;
  • Measuring operational costs - The GSBPM can be used as a basis for measuring the costs of different parts of the statistical business process. This helps to target modernisation activities to improve the efficiency of the parts of the process that are most costly;
  • Measuring system performance - Related to the point above on costs, the GSBPM can also be used to identify components that are not performing efficiently, that are duplicating each other unnecessarily, or that require replacing. Similarly, it can identify gaps for which new components should be developed;
  • Providing a tool for aligning business processes of providers of non-statistical data (e.g. administrative data, geospatial data) facilitating communication between statisticians and experts from other domains and for harmonising related terminology;
  • Providing a tool to build capacity and to build technical knowledge methodically by referring to each phase's details;
  • Providing a tool for development/revision of statistical classifications.


  1. UNECE Statistics Wikis - Uses of the GSBPM (https://statswiki.unece.org/display/GSBPM/Uses+of+GSBPM)     
  2. SDMX community (http://sdmx.org/index.php?page_id=38)     


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