Office For National Statistics – Statistical Modernisation Programme and Neighbourhood Statistics

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is a UK government organisation responsible for the provision of statistical data, primarily for consumption by the UK government, which are then used as the basis for resource forecasting. Their products range from economic monitors (RPI, CPI) through to more complex analyses of the national demography and the effects of this on service provision and budgeting (e.g. schools provision). A familiar data source for this work is the UK Census, which is performed every ten years. The Census data, like other ONS products, are made available to the general public.

Two of the many projects undertaken by ONS since the year 2000 were the Statistical Modernisation Programme and Neighbourhood Statistics (NeSS). For both of these programmes, ONS sought consultancy from Headway specialists on the strategy, analysis, design and verification of the systems.

Headway provided the Analysis and Design leads for the National Accounts and Metadata Repository sub-projects. Our specialists were able to steer the adoption of cutting-edge technologies by mentoring the techniques and toolsets employed. For NeSS, we helped ONS to adopt a strategic approach to the verification of large-scale databases, which had unusually high bursts of activity. We also supervised the introduction of performance testing tools, which automated and significantly reduced the cost of stress testing.