UNITED NATIONS, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND
THE PACIFIC, STATISTICAL INSTITUTE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
UNITED NATIONS, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS,STATISTICS DIVISIONECONOMIC RESEARCH AND REGIONAL COOPERATION DEPARTMENT,ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

e-Learning course
Foundational course on Statistical Business Registers
26 September – 11 November 2022

I. Background & Rationale
Statistical Business Registers (SBRs) are part of the statistical infrastructure and form thebackbone for producing economic statistics that meet the increasing demand for betterintegrated, coherent, and comparable statistics across countries and statistical domains.
Traditionally, the primary role of SBRs has been to provide sampling frames for businessstatistics. However, the SBR also provides the framework for the production of specificbusiness statistics (such as business demography statistics) and serve as a data integration
framework for multiple sources. With increasing demand for business statistics on new
phenomena such as business dynamics, business demography, and entrepreneurship,
globalization, digitalization, well-being and sustainability, the SBR offer the integration
framework for the coherent measurement of these phenomena. With the multipurpose use1

of the SBR, an inclusive and exhaustive SBR becomes a central element of the statisticalinfrastructure for maintaining the relevance, responsiveness, and quality of economic
statistics in order to measure the structure and dynamics of economic activity.
The SBR is also a critical element in the transformation of the national statistical system in
adopting a responsive, efficient and cost-effective data collection strategy with a response
burden as low as possible. This means efforts must be made to modernize the production
processes, to use administrative data to reduce survey burden, to redesign survey systems,
to harmonize surveys and variables, to comprehensively link administrative data andsurvey sources, and to cooperate more closely with administrative authorities on acontinuous basis to improve the quality of the SBR. Better consistency between the various
statistical areas at national and international level has also become a much more important
goal than it was in the past, when economic development was less affected by international
dependencies, and globalization of production and markets was at a lower level. Therefore,
the statistical business register (SBR) plays a key role to address current and future needs
for economic and business statistics.

II. About the Foundational Course
This e-Learning course was developed by the United Nations, Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Statistical Institute for the Asia and the Pacific(SIAP); the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD); and the Economic Research andRegional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB). In 2021, out of 114
participants from over 30 different countries, 62 learners (54%) completed the course
successfully.
The objective of this course is to provide a strong foundation for the concepts, methods
and framework required to build high quality SBRs. This will facilitate the international2

harmonization of economic statistics in terms of coverage, statistical units, and frame
methodology.
The course is comprised of seven modules. Each module consists of 30~40 slides and isaccompanied by Exercise for evaluation. Module 1 starts with an introduction to statisticalbusiness registers and provides a broad overview of topics discussed in latter modules.
Modules 2 discusses in detail the uses of SBRs, and module 3 continues with coverage ofthe SBR. Module 4 highlights the data sources for maintaining and updating the SBR, andthe challenges entailed. Module 5 addresses the legal framework in support of a SBR,organizational concerns and the related IT infrastructure and tools. Module 6 introduces
SBR Maturity Model to allow for a self-assessment of the level of development or maturityof the national SBR and the formulation of a strategic plan for its further development.
Finally, Module 7 describes profiling and global/regional registers.

III. Target Audience
This e-Learning course is designed for statisticians from national statistical offices,
ministry of finance and tax authorities who are involved in the development andmaintenance of registration of enterprises and the SBRs, preparation and use of samplingframes for business surveys, or production of economic statistics from SBRs. It is also
recommended for users of SBRs inside the compiling agency.

IV. Learning Outcomes
By the end of the foundational course, participants will be able to:3a) Describe the main concepts of SBR and the important role of SBR for producing
economic statisticsb) Identify data sources, investigate other potential data sources, and understand theimportance of the legal framework around the access to administrative datac) Recognize the challenges in developing procedures for the update and maintenanceof SBRd) Use the SBR Maturity Model to assess the stage of implementation of SBR in thecountry and identify possible areas for improvemente) Share country practices on SBRs and understand new emerging topics related toSBRs

V.

Course Design and Content

The e-Learning Course has been developed as an interactive training on the key conceptsof statistical business register. It is organized in seven modules. Each module includes alecture, self-assessment quizzes and hands on practice exercises to reinforce the major
concepts taught. Participants are expected to complete one module each week. There willbe three online meetings, each one hour long. First online meeting will be held duringsecond week of the course and cover modules 1 and 2; second online meeting will be held
during week 5 and cover modules 3-5 and third online meeting will be held during week 7
and cover modules 6 and 7. Each meeting will start with a short presentation to supplement
the e-Learning course. Participants can ask questions about the content covered in therelevant modules and the lecturer can also ask questions to engage participants andencourage discussion. Instructions and discourse are in English.

4The course is expected to take an average 15 hours to complete. This includes theparticipation in online meetings and other course activities.

ModuleCoverage

1. Statistical Business Register- An

Part 1. What is Statistical Business Registeroverview(SBR)
Part 2. Users of SBR
Part 3. Requirements of SBR

2. Roles of SBR

Part 1. The role of an SBR as a live register
Part 2. The role of SBR as a coordinator ofsurveys
Part 3. Statistics and researchPart 4. Other roles of SBRs

3. Coverage of the SBR

Part 1. Entities recorded in the SBR
Part 2. Types of institutional units in an SBRPart 3. Special cases of economic activities
Part 4. Summary of coverage
recommendations
Part 5. The types of units included in an SBRPart 6. Statistical units
Part 7. Other units included in an SBRPart 8. The characteristics of SBR units

4. Data Sources, maintenance, andPart 1. Data sources of an SBR

updatePart 2. Maintenance of an SBRPart 3. Quality assessment and improvement
55. Legal framework, Organizational,

Part 1. Importance of legal frameworks

and IT considerations

Part 2. Organizational considerations of anSBRPart 3. IT considerations

6. SBR Maturity Model (SBRMM)

Part 1. Characteristics and requirements of theSBRMM
Part 2. Use of SBRMM to identify areas forimprovement

7. Profiling and Global/Regional

Part 1. Importance and benefits of profiling

Registers

Part 2. How profiling is performed
Part 3. Profiling in the global context

The course is hosted on the SIAP Learning Management System (LMS), which contains adiscussion forum for general questions and interactions with the lecturers (or experts).
Active participation and interaction in the discussion forum are strongly recommended.
Lesson materials will be made available on a staggered basis to assist learners follow therequired sequence in mastering the material and achieving the learning outcomes.

VI.

Evaluation

Evaluation will be based on•Three online meetings-Participation in online meetings (30% of score, 10% each)First online meeting:Date and time

Second online meeting: Date and time6Third online meeting: Date and time
Further details about the online meetings will be shared in due course.
•Seven open book online graded exercise (70% of score, 10% each). Maximum threeattempts, with the highest score out of the three attempts to be recorded.

The overall evaluation of the participants’ performance is based on the total score obtainedin the above.
A certificate of successful completion will be issued to participants securing a total scoreof at least 70%.

NO EXTENSION WILL BE GIVEN TO PARTICIPANTS WHO FAIL TO
COMPLETE THE COURSE DURING THE DESIGNATED PERIOD.
Successful participants are required to complete a course evaluation form, which will bemade available to them immediately after the completion of the course. Participants will
be able to print the certificates in the system after the completion of the course.

VII.

Source Material

This course draws upon a number of reference materials, including the United Nations
Guidelines on Statistical Business Registers (2020), the Eurostat European businessstatistics methodological manual for statistical business registers — 2021 edition; theADB User Guide for ADB Statistical Business Register December 2018; the StatisticalBusiness Register Maturity Model (United Nations Task Team of Exhaustive Business
Registers and Task Team Capacity Building, 2020); the Eurostat European business7

profiling — Recommendations manual — 2020 edition; and Global Group Register –Experimental Release User Guide (18 December 2020).

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