Experiences with an Internet based data collection system: WEBEDI

Koltai Tamás <tamas.koltai@office.ksh.hu>

Központi Statisztikai Hivatal

. <eds862@mailop.ksh.hu>

Központi Statisztikai Hivatal


Next month following the announcement of a pilot proJECT for electronic raw data collection ( in “e-CORD at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office”, invited papers MSIT, Geneva 2001) the Joint Effort of CSO and Telecom in Hungary resulted in a fully operational system called WEBEDI.


The idea of the project was formed in March 2000, followed by a contract between HCSO and MATÁV signed in October. The first respondents started to report in March next year.


In Hungary the county offices of the CSO are traditionally responsible for data collection for economical surveys. The first steps toward a less de-centralised system have been done in the previous years. A centralised “registering and monitoring” system called GESA and a “data input and validation” system called ADEL have been developed and put into operation. Both systems are working with a centralised data base running under Oracle.


The projection of the future of data collection shows the co-existence of paper based and electronic questionnaires for at least a decade. GESA and ADEL are relatively well integrated and both designed according to the most up-to-date principles. The four years old EDIFACT reporting of the largest companies became part of the integration. The web-based solution naturally accommodated itself into this environment and was designed to strengthen uniformity rather than emphasise differences.


Recruiting electronic respondents to report via the Internet was limited for three counties only ( out of 19 ) to be able to keep organisational aspects of the project under strict control as one of the basic objectives. It was important to involve a few of the county offices to make the pilot part of the “real life” and to get feedback of the day-to-day operational difficulties.


The project proved to be a success. The decision to include this Internet based data reporting facility in the future for as many surveys as possible has been taken. In 2002 all respondents of the integrated economical survey in the country were approached and the monthly, quarterly and annual reporting via the Internet was offered to each.


The pilot showed the feasibility of the chosen technology together with the weaknesses of the implementation. It is part of the success that in the so-called “e-government” project lunched by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office, the system was accepted as the basis for future developments and gained a considerable amount of financial support within the scheme.



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