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Australian Bureau of Statistics |  |
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2006 Census: Table Builder |
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What is TableBuilder? An online tool for creating your own tables of Census data, of all variables contained in the Census Output Record File. Some of these include age, education, housing, income, transport, religion, ethnicity, occupation, family composition, for all ABS geographic areas. TableBuilder allows you to customise your own tables. Who is TableBuilder designed for? For clients who already have a high level of experience with Census concepts and using data. Where can I find more information about TableBuilder? A brief overview about TableBuilder is available in TableBuilder at a Glance. More detailed information about TableBuilder is available from the TableBuilder Product Brief. How do I register for TableBuilder? Go to the TableBuilder home page where you can click on the Subscribe link, and download the Application and Undertaking form. To transfer an existing licence from one person to another, visit TableBuilder - Licence Transfer. I have forgotten my password. Click the 'Forgot your password' link on the log-in page. After entering your current registered email address, you will be prompted to answer the secret question you chose when you initially registered. Once the answer to your secret question has been validated, an email will be sent to your registered email address containing a link which allows you to change your password. The system is timing out. TableBuilder has a 30 minute idle time out. If no action is taken for 30 minutes, the session will end. What is the Application and Undertaking form? TableBuilder allows greater access than ever to Census data, and allows users to create their own tables. Users are asked to sign an Application and Undertaking form, agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions, including completion of the online training, and not sharing their licences. How long is the TableBuilder subscription valid for? Once users have paid for access to TableBuilder, they have access to it for the life of the product. Access to future Census years in TableBuilder will be treated as a new subscription. How many people can access TableBuilder under each subscription? Only one person can access TableBuilder under each subscription. By signing the Application and Undertaking form, users agree to not share their passwords with other individuals. What happens when a TableBuilder subscriber leaves the organisation they work for? If a TableBuilder subscriber leaves their organisation the subscription can be transferred to another person within the organisation. The new subscriber will need to sign a new Application and Undertaking form. Please see the TableBuilder - Licence Transfer form for further information. Do I get a discount for multiple licences? There is no discount for multiple licences. I have registered for TableBuilder, but when I try to log-in I get an error. This may be due to the web browser you're using (e.g. Firefox or Chrome), which may have an auto-complete function for entering passwords. Delete the dots in the first password box before setting your password. If you continue to have issues, please send an email to census.software@abs.gov.au. or call the Census Technical Helpline on 1800 676 646 between 9:00-12:30, and 2:00-4:00 Monday to Friday. If a licence is transferred to another person, will the custom groups and saved tables remain? No. Who should be the Contact Officer? What does the Contact Officer do? Individual users can nominate themselves as the Contact Officer if they don't plan to transfer their registration to anyone else during the life of the product. The Contact Officer is responsible for the licence and acts as an alternate point of contact to the registered user. It is recommended that they secure the TableBuilder licence number and any other material relating to the licensing of the product. The contact officer also has the authority to request a transfer of registration. Which types of online help are available? Accessible from the TableBuilder homepage are: 1. The interactive training tutorials, designed to demonstrate the basic functionality and enhance your usability of the product. 2. The TableBuilder dictionary, a reference guide designed to assist users interpreting 2006 Census data. 3. The TableBuilder manual, explaining how to make the best use of each feature in TableBuilder. There are online help documents explaining the functionality of each page. All help documents link back to a full index which lists all help documents available. Must I do the training? Yes. By signing the Application and Undertaking form you agree to complete the training package; and you'll get the most out of the product if you've completed the training. What can I include in my table in TableBuilder? Unlike CDATA Online, TableBuilder is not topic based. You can add any combination of variables to your table. The only restriction is that the variables must be valid for the chosen summation option (i.e. what you are counting). To ensure this, the variables available to you are restricted by the summation option you are using in the table. The following 5 combinations apply. 1. Counting Dwellings, Enumeration - contains dwelling variables only 2. Counting Families, Enumeration - contains dwelling and family variables only 3. Counting Persons, Enumeration - contains dwelling, family and person variables 4. Counting Persons, Place of Usual Residence - contains person variables only 5. Counting Persons, Place of Work - contains person variables only Which variables are available in TableBuilder? Almost all variables in the 2006 Census Dictionary, and many popular custom fields. Please see the 2006 TableBuilder Classification Index for more details. Can I build a table that shows where people live compared to where they work? Yes - the option is available in the 'Counting Persons, Place of Usual Residence Database'. The 'Place of Work' classification is listed under the Persons Variables. What geographic areas are available in TableBuilder? TableBuilder data is available for all ABS geographic areas, including the ASGC, Census Specific Areas, Natural Resource Management Regions and the Murray Darling Basin. How large a table can I build? The maximum table size is 5 million cells. When I submit a large table, it isn't returned. There may be other jobs in the queue that are being processed. 80% of tables submitted to the job queue will be returned in 1 day. Another reason may be that your table wasn't correctly constructed; for example, you may have included unnecessary totals or 'not applicable' categories. Try clicking the summation icon at the top of a column in your table to remove some totals, or the Customise Table link to remove unnecessary categories. If your table has been incorrectly constructed and failed to run, we will contact you. In what format is data extracted from TableBuilder? Tables can be downloaded in the following formats:
Can I define my own variables in TableBuilder? You can create custom groups within the same classification (e.g. an age group of Teenagers), including custom geographic areas. You cannot create groups across classifications (e.g. Female Teenagers). Does TableBuilder provide time series data? No. Users seeking time series data should use the 2006 Time Series Profile, which is part of the 2006 Community Profile Suite. The 2006 Community Profile Suite is available free of charge from the ABS website. Is data from the 2001 Census accessible through TableBuilder? No. Can I create medians and averages in TableBuilder? No. However, you can extract the data into spreadsheet format (e.g. for Microsoft Excel) and then create medians and averages with that software.Can I load my own customised geographic areas? No. Why does my table only show dashes, and why is the Retrieve Data button inactive? You are probably working in 'Large Table Preview' mode. This mode is activated once your table has more than 5,000 cells, because showing this amount of data in a web browser could significantly impact on the performance of TableBuilder. You will no longer be able to see every variable in the classifications you have added to your table due to its size, instead only the first two variables from each classification and their location (row or column) are displayed. Once you are happy with the tables structure and content, you can then submit the table for processing. When exporting tables in Excel 2007 format, sometimes it to fails to run (in the Job Queue list the status says "Error"). Press the 'View' button in the job queue to reopen the table in preview mode, and then resubmit it to the queue using the CSV format - this can still be opened in Excel. Is there a limit on the number of areas that can be included in my custom area? Yes. In the 'My Custom Data' screen, a maximum of approximately 2000 areas can make up your custom area. How much does TableBuilder cost? $1,655 (including GST) per individual registration. I am part of the Universities Australia Agreement. Do I have to pay? If you are applying under the Universities Australia Agreement, the cost of your registration is covered under the terms of the agreement. You will need to fill in the second page of the registration form with the appropriate university contact details, so we can confirm that you are covered by the agreement. Do I get a discount for multiple licences? There is no discount for multiple licences. Can I share licences? No, there should only be one user per licence. This is because we are asking all users to sign an Application and Undertaking form regarding their use of TableBuilder. By signing this, the user agrees to complete the online training and abide by the Terms and Conditions outlined in the registration. What geographic areas are available in TableBuilder? All ABS geographic areas as defined in the 2006 Australian Standard Geographic Classification (ASGC). What's the difference between TableBuilder and CDATA Online? CDATA Online is free, made up of 11 small databases. Once you have logged in to the product, you have the option to select a predefined table as your starting point or you can select the “Create my own…” table option. You will then be able to further customise your table with the classifications contained in the database by selecting the ‘Customise Table’ link. However, you will only be able to include the classifications that are included in current database. TableBuilder costs $1,655 per subscription. Subscribers can cross classify using the complete Census Output Record File, which is made up of 5 large databases containing most Census variables. TableBuilder also has some extra user-defined fields used in the Census Products, such as 'Indigenous Household'. Refer to Product Comparison.pdf document, which compares the classifications available in CDATA Online and TableBuilder, allowing users to determine what they can and cannot cross classify within each product. Has the data been made confidential? Yes. In accordance with the Census and Statistics Act 1905, no results will be released in a way that would enable particular individuals or households to be identified. All data that is returned by TableBuilder will have undergone a process of being made confidential. You will never have access to confidential data. However, this process is applied dynamically after your table has been constructed and the data aggregated. Therefore, the impact of the confidentiality process is not compounded if you create custom groups or geographic areas. It is important to remember that the confidentiality process has the greatest relative impact on small cells. No reliance should be placed on any small cell data. Further information on the confidentiality process and introduced random error can be found on the ABS website. How can I share my customised geographies and data groups with my colleagues? TableBuilder does not provide a facility for collaborative working. Custom geographies and data groups can be saved within TableBuilder by registered users and can be used later by the same user. The customisations cannot be exported and there's no facility to upload them to TableBuilder. Can I upload my table, graph or map back into TableBuilder? No, you can only save tables in TableBuilder and then open them in a later session. Within TableBuilder there are online help documents explaining the functionality of each page. All help documents link back to a full index which lists all help documents available. The TableBuilder User Manual is available via the TableBuilder entry page (cat. no. 2065.0) and contains detailed instructions on how to make the best use of each feature in the product. The interactive training tutorials are available via the TableBuilder entry page and designed to demonstrate the basic functionality and enhance your usability of the product. A full product description is available in the TableBuilder Product Brief. If the above documents do not assist in answering your query, the Census Technical Helpline is also available for assistance. Please contact 1800 676 646 or send an email to census.software@abs.gov.au. The Census Technical Helpline is staffed Monday - Friday, 9.00am-12.30pm and 2.00-4.00pm, Canberra time. We will endeavour to answer all calls within these times. Any queries outside these hours will be diverted to voice mail and will be answered as soon as possible. |
