• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

CUSTOMER SERVICES

OBJECTIVES

The Customer Services Program provides leadership and expertise in dissemination, partnering with subject matter areas to effectively communicate official statistics through a wide range of high quality information products, services and communication channels.

Customer Services is in the business of maximising the informed use of our data by clients. The program aims to optimise the mix of dissemination channels and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of statistical communication. The program seeks to use leading edge communication and dissemination technology which will produce best practice communication of statistics. The program provides a range of information solutions to cater for a wide range of customers and their evolving information requirements including: self-service statistics and other information on the ABS website and social media; the free national information and referral service; user-pays information consultancies; and providing support for the complex needs of researchers through streamlined access to, and use of, microdata.

The program supports the informed use of ABS statistics through the ongoing simplification of licensing. We encourage use of ABS information in other products and services and ask others to attribute ABS material so customers can always find the original source and supporting information.

The program partners with ABS subject matter areas to provide many of the services and processes by which statistical releases are prepared. The program helps them produce web and database content efficiently and effectively and provides the tools, training and processes to help achieve this. In addition, the program ensures that the presentation and usability of ABS products are enhanced by the use of relevant standards developed using objective research of customer behaviour and needs.


OUTPUTS

The main output of the program is the provision of a range of ABS product and service delivery options to customers, which include:

• online dissemination services including the ABS website, Facebook and Twitter
• output database products, which provide large volumes of detailed statistical macro and micro data (confidentialised), such as TableBuilder, ABS.Stat and DataAnalyser
• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow two software systems to exchange data over the internet
• cost recovered information consultancies, providing data tailored to customers’ needs
• cost recovered subscription services, providing customised data on a regular basis and microdata access
• Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs)
• telephone/e-mail/fax information and referral services
• access to a defined set of key data through an iPhone Application 'ABS Stats'.

• update licensing ABS data from Creative Commons 2.5 to Creative Commons 3.0 - due 2014-15
• establish User Groups for the ABS website and microdata to ensure customer requirements and feedback are incorporated into developments - due 2014-15
• develop and implement a new ABS homepage and a new set of enterprise wide content types - due 2014-15
• improve search and analytics capabilities to support the ABS online presence - due 2014-15
• enable customer focussed views of ABS information using the new dynamic tools, such as by region (spatial), by theme, view indicators - due 2015–16
• update dissemination infrastructure and systems to meet the needs of users in a rapidly changing digital environment, including facilitating re-use of ABS data by external clients and third party portals while ensuring visibility of the ABS brand - due 2015-16
• progressively implement Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 compliance and engage in APS networks on accessibility - ongoing
• continue to take a leading role in an international collaborative project to develop and utilise a multi-dimensional publishing facility (.Stat) with the ability to view data as dynamic tables, graphs, maps and the functionality to provide machine-to-machine web services - ongoing
• expand the range of ABS data available for customers to use through APIs (an open data approach for sharing content and data between communities and applications) - ongoing.