The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) makes a priority of satisfying its users and of having an in-depth understanding of their needs. It ensures that its statistical information portfolio always responds to the actual needs of Swiss society. The FSO regularly consults its main stakeholders to this end, including the Federal Statistics Committee (in French), Fedestat (in French), Regiostat (in French) and the Experts groups, and aims to continue this procedure in the future.
At the same time, the FSO undertakes additional steps with regard to quality such as:
- FSO visits to the federal departments: in 2014 the new FSO director established a series of visits with the top-level management of other departments to learn more about their needs and expectations with regard to official statistics. Information garnered from these visits has been particularly useful in establishing the current multi-annual programme for statistics (2016-2019). These visits have been worthwhile and henceforth will be conducted twice a year.
- When creating or revising statistics: the main users and experts are consulted on the design and realisation of new or revised statistics. The team in charge of the project uses this feedback to find solutions best designed to meet users’ needs while bearing in mind the resources available to the FSO.
- Regular meetings with the main users: most divisions hold regular meetings with the main users and experts in their specialist field. These meetings take place on an occasional basis, generally when an FSO unit wishes to present new statistical results.
- Analysis of visits to FSO website: the FSO’s dissemination section (DIAM) analyses the visits made each month to the FSO website. If necessary, it contacts the production units to assess steps that could be taken to improve the readability of publications.
All of these measures are instrumental in creating and evaluating the multi-annual programme for Federal Statistics.
