FINDICATOR.FI —The Society at Large

Dr Ulla RosenströmPolicy-analysis Unit

Indicators are much wanted but less often used

• Indicators have been around for a good while, but the indicator industry has really boomed in the past 20 years

• Most initiaves have concentrated on indicator development, selection and data collection

• Most processes are technocratic and specialist driven

• Lately many have asked ”who is actually using the indicators?”

Despite the doubts…

• The Finnish Prime Minister’s Office decided to launch a new indicator project in 2007

• Linked with a growing effort to strengthen the evidence-based policy-making culture within the Finnish Government.

monitoring of the Government Programme with indicator-based policy-analysis.

Finland participates in the OECD Global Project, "Measuring the Progress of Societies"

• The PMO did not want another set of indicators without realistic opportunities for use, hence a feasibility study was conducted.

Preliminary study on need for indicator service and qualities of a smoothly functioning service

Drafting started in autumn 2008 as joint project between Statistics Finland and the PM’s Office

03.05.23

So, who is using the indicators? Why or why not?

20 interviews in spring 2008:

• Members of the parliament• Assistants of the MPs• Civil servants• Journalists• Teachers• Researchers• Regional decision-makers• Consultants• Press officers

Five central problems emerged:

1. ”There is a lot information, but I can’t find it”

2. ”The information is too old” 3. ”Information does not match the

user needs” 4. ”The information is too

complicated” 5. ”The information is not policy

relevant”

1. ” There is a lot information, but I can’t find it”

2. ” The information is too old”

How important is it to have up-to-date information?

Super important

The whole point with informatio

n in the Internet

As fast as the

statistics are

collected

Very important, currently terrible

time lags

Must have something

new everyday,

must find it

Continous updates,

the updating must be obvious

Monthly, the next update

should be indicated

clearly

Must have!

Statistics must be found when

published, within 6 months

Extremely important

Timeliness of data production has not improved

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

Time lags in data in different environment reports 1979-2010

Years

Source: Modified after Rosenström and Lyytimäki 2006.

3. ”The information is too complicated”

Imagenary data!

4. ”Information does not match the user needs”

5. ”The information is not policy relevant”

Findicator was set up in response to a need

1. Information can be found from the Findicator. Special focus on marketing and dissemination.

2. The indicators are timely: up-dated directly from a database. The service highlights the most recent updates.

3. The users have been engaged in the development process. Increased interest, commitment, pre-marketing.

4. The information is not complicated and the service is easy to use. The graphs are pretty.

5. The policy relevance is ensured by the involvement of the users, the Prime Minister’s Office and a feedback function.

INDICATORS CAN BE BROWSEDTHROUGH THEMES OR GOVERNMENT POLICIES

THE FIVE MOST POPULAR INDICATORSLAST WEEK

THE FIVE MOST RECENTLY UPDATED

IN THE ORDER OF UPDATESIN ALPHABETHICAL ORDER

SEARCH

LAST UPDATE – NEXT UPDATE

ALTHOUGH GENERATED AUTOMATICALLYFROM A DATABASE, THE GRAPH IS BEAUTIFUL!

SHOW TABLE

OPEN IN EXCEL

MAGNIFY

LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION

ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION

03.05.23

The Findicator.fi in a nutshell

• Joint project between the Prime Minister’s Office and Statistics Finland

• Measures the progress of the Finnish society with about 100 indicators

• Improves the availability and accessibility of indicator-like information

• Supports evidence-informed decision-making• The Findicator is not only about indicators —technology,

frequent updates, and links to further sources of information are equally important

• The choice of the indicators is based on existing international and national sets, although a number of politicians, their assistants, civil servants and statisticians participated in the selection process as well

03.05.23

Findicator was published on 14 October 2009

• 14 650 visitors and 179 149 downloads during first day

• Currently approx. 5 000 visitors and 20000 downloads every month

• International award: Best Use of New Technology (Oct. 2009, OECD)

03.05.23

Contacts

Steering Group ChairmanHeli Mikkelä, Director, Information Services, Statistics Finlandheli.mikkela@stat.fi, tel. +358 9 1734 3200

Secretary to the Steering GroupFindicator Coordinator Laura Mäkelä, Coordinator, Information Services, Statistics

Finlandlaura.makela@tilastokeskus.fi, tel. +358 9 1734 2941

Chairman of Contact Person NetworkSirpa Kekkonen, Counsellorsirpa.kekkonen@vnk.fi, tel. +358 9 1602 2145

Secretary to the Contact Person NetworkUlla Rosenström, Senior Specialistulla.rosenstrom@vnk.fi, tel. +358 9 1602 2353

Future plans for the Findicator

• Service provision in Swedish and English to be expanded by end of 2011

• Usability study spring 2011• New framework? (OECD)• New indicators (e.g. Information

society)• New Government spring 2011 will

affect the structure, also new indicators?

Beyond the GDP-movement in Finland

• Finnish Government Programme goal• Working group 1.10.2010-31.5.2011• The Genuine Progress Index is not a

useful measure for decision-making• Working group recommendations:

1. Improve the Findicator2. Strenghten knowledge brokerage > a

new structure3. Regular dissemination of relevant well-

being information by concise leaflets and seminars

Thank you!