The Content-oriented Guidelines (like most other international statistical collaboration) currently take a domain-based view of statistics. E.g. Cross-
domain concepts / code-lists. However, statistical production in many countries is increasingly being organised more according to
processes than domains. This is supported by initiatives like the METIS Generic Statistical Business Process Model (
www.unece.org/stats/gsbpm), and there is interest in exploring how SDMX can be used for data and metadata flows between different parts of the statistical process.
What implications does this have for the content-oriented guidelines? To what extent are the cross domain concepts and code-lists also "cross-process"? To what extent should standard terminology for describing processes and sub-processes be included in the Metadata Common Vocabulary?
These and related questions will be considered by a new working group on SDMX statistical standards later this year, but it would be good to get some input and ideas from the wider community as well.
