The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) uses its online metadata registry, METeOR, to manage and share data standards with the Australian community. This shared metadata forms the basis for consistent, comparable and linkable data collections that can create valuable statistical information for policy making and planning in Australia.
Background
Australians receive services from thousands of organisations across the country, from hospitals, community services organisations, charities, medical practitioners, governments, local councils and more. Managers and policy makers need to organise and plan these services so that people’s needs are met and funding goes to the areas of greatest need.
The basis for planning and organisation is good information about activity levels and performance. Information needs to be collected from many sources, such as administrative systems or surveys, and brought together to create useful measures (statistics) for policy makers and managers.
Data standards for better statistics
The challenge is to make sure these statistics are all measuring the same thing. If we are trying to count “apples”, we don’t want any “oranges” accidentally included. And we don’t want 2006 figures mixed up with 2007 figures, or some hospital operations left out of the total. If data are inconsistent the statistics created from that data cannot be compared and are not useful.
The solution is for all the data providers and statistics users to agree on data standards. This includes agreeing on the meaning of each data item as well as using standard naming methods and standard formats. It also means that there needs to be a process for reaching agreement.
For health and welfare statistics, Australian governments (Commonwealth, states and territories) have established national standards governance committees that approve data standards. The standards are managed and shared through the AIHW’s online metadata registry, METeOR.
Start with data dictionaries
In Australia the need for a formal approach for standardising national health data for statistical purposes was identified in the late 1980’s. This resulted in the print publication of the first National Health Data Dictionary in 1989. This dictionary included a set of data standards for transmitting specific data from state and territory health authorities to national agencies. National data dictionaries for the community services and housing assistance sectors followed. Data dictionaries were used by people in the health, community services and housing assistance sectors to make data collections for statistics consistent.
Online metadata registry maximises information sharing
From the mid-1990s, there was a new way to communicate and manage data standards—the internet. To take advantage of this opportunity, the AIHW developed the Knowledgebase to store and display data standards from the national data dictionaries on the web. An upgraded metadata registry, METeOR, was released in 2005.
METeOR provides online access to the National Data Dictionaries. The interface makes it easy to use data standards, and the metadata can be exported in XML format.
METeOR also stores metadata about how the data standards were approved through their governing committees. METeOR is a registry, not just a repository, because it contains endorsed data standards which have been registered as standards after a rigorous approval process.
While the printed national data dictionaries contained the data standards information that health, community services and housing assistance sectors needed, their availability was limited. The online registry makes the information far more accessible to a wide range of users.
METeOR’s support for the metadata approval process makes it easier to change metadata in the registry. Basing the METeOR registry on an international metadata registries standard (ISO/IEC 11179 Information technology—Metadata registries), and using XML-based software, makes it easy for the registry to share metadata with other systems.
Shared metadata can be re-used
Accessible data standards can be used widely, for example, as seed content for specifications being developed by the National E-Health Transition Authority, by state and territory governments, or by software developers. METeOR is also the first stop for answering questions about what health and welfare data and statistics mean.
The use of metadata to standardise data for national statistics has a long and successful history in Australia. However, since this metadata has been shared through web publication, appreciation of the usefulness of metadata for standardising data has accelerated. Many new data set specifications are being developed for registration as standards, and METeOR will also be used to store metadata for performance indicators underpinning the national Health Care Agreement for the Australian health sector.
What lessons were learnt?
The AIHW’s online metadata registry, METeOR, provides the means for sharing common data standards, and these standards form the basis for consistent, comparable and linkable data collections for national statistics in Australia.
METeOR is a successful metadata registry because:
• it supports established governance processes for data standards, and therefore has stakeholder buy-in;
• it is based on the international ISO/IEC 11179 Information technology— Metadata Registries standard, which provides its conceptual rigour;
• its user interface was customised to meet user expectations and to provide continuity with earlier registry and data dictionary products;
• it stores metadata from different sectors in one place, which facilitates cross-sector statistical reporting;
• it provides a mechanism to share metadata freely across the internet; and
• it is managed by a dedicated team which performs regular quality reviews to keep the metadata current and consistent as related standards evolve.
DATAfitness – what shape is your data in?
Data standards registry means better data for policy and planning
The PDF file of this information is attached:
Want to find out more?
For more information about AIHW and METeOR, visit meteor.aihw.gov.au.
For more information about the NSS, visit www.nss.gov.au
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