They are also helping agencies to prepare more data to post on Web pages. In the long term, the task force will encourage agencies to improve their information about how data are compiled, what they describe, and how they relate to other data. Tupek foresees a day when most major federal statistical series will be posted on the Internet, where users can open and use them with a single all-purpose software product. Users may even be able to download tables and charts that look the same from agency to agency. Several thorny questions loom before the proponents of one-stop shopping.
Different agencies collect and define income data in different ways.
The Census Bureau, for example, has over a dozen definitions of the word. But until these definitions are standardized, the data will remain more confusing than it has to be. Another question is how quickly one-stop innovations can be put in place. Funding for several statistical agencies is in jeopardy. Several agencies, including the Census Bureau, must cope with significant budget cuts.