The Federal Reserve Board adopted the SDMX standard to improve how statistical data is organized and made available to users through their Data Download Program (DDP). While implementing SDMX presented challenges due to unfamiliarity with its data modeling approach, it provided benefits like an interface entirely driven by data structure definitions. Initial user feedback on the DDP has been positive, with over 250,000 visits since its launch. Future plans include adding more data sources and preparing for SDMX 2.0.

1. The FRB and SDMX:
National data and International
standards
San Cannon
Federal Reserve Board
SDMXConference
9-11 January 2007

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Background
• The Fed is a statistical agency as well as a
central bank and regulatory agency.
• Lots of data and information are available on the
public website.
• Statistical data are varied: monthly industrial
production indexes, daily interest and exchange
rates, quarterly financial flows for various sectors
of the economy, surveys of small businesses
and consumers, etc.

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Serving our users better
To some, it may appear that the statistical agency
role is secondary.
• Data are not always easy to find.
• Downloads are not customizable.
• Example: Trying to extract one industrial
production series requires retrieving two text
files, cutting and pasting, reformatting….
• Complete – yes. User Friendly – no.

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Data Download Program (DDP)
• XML designated as key format but project team
wrestled with implementation details.
• Staff weighed a homegrown DTD setup against
the new SDMX standard.
• SDMX looked to have greater benefits and was
adopted.
• Good decision: additional internal applications
as well as interagency projects using SDMX are
in the works.

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A lot to learn
• SDMX is based on data structure definitions
(‘key families’) and codelists, with every concept
represented by a code with a corresponding
definition.
• We were unfamiliar with this type of data
modeling, so it proved challenging.
• Two of our pilot datasets translated easily to this
new format; others needed more work.

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Data structures differ
Some data structures are readily adapted to the
concept/codelist representation. Series “keys”
have no real mnemonic value.
HBBA Int. Rate, Official, Discount rate/Base rate
HBCA Int. Rate, Official, Intra-day loans
SCBA Indust. Production, Motorvehicles, NSA
SCBB Indust. Production, Motorvehicles, SA

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Hierarchical relationships
We allow data to be modeled hierarchically, and use
mnemonics that reflect this.
RIFSPFF_N.B
R.*:Rate
R.I.*:Rate of interest in money
and capital markets
R.I.F.*:Federal Reserve System
R.I.F.S.*:Short-term or money
market
R.I.F.S.P.*:Private securities
R.I.F.S.P.FF.:Federal funds
_N.:Not seasonally adjusted
.B:Business (Five days, Monday-
Friday)
JQI_I02Y3361T3_N.M:
J.*:Indices except of prices
J.Q.*:Production
J.Q.I.:Industrial
_I.*:NAICS-based industry
classification
02Y:codes from year 2002
3361.:Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
T:thru
3363:Motor Vehicle Parts
Manufacturing
_N.:Not seasonally adjusted
.M:Monthly

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Applying the SDMXmodel
• Data represented by a concrete number of concepts are
much easier to represent with key family dimensions and
attributes:
JQI_I02YMF_N.M → Topic_Industry_SA.Freq
FA156900005.Q Prefix (2 digits), Sector(2),→
instrument type (5), series type (1), frequency
• Hierarchical relationships and varying number of concepts
makes life more difficult:
RIFSPPNA2P2D30_N.B → Topic?_SA.Freq
RIFLGFCY20_XII_N.B T→ opic?_Inflate_SA.Freq

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Decisions we made
• Allow a variable number of data structure
definitions per dataset.
• Use the compact format for internal
exchange and external downloads.
• Stick with SDMX 1.0, for now.
• Use a relational database to store data
and XML information for retrieval.

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Final product: DDP!
• We have a flexible application whose interface
is entirely driven by the data structure
definitions.
• “We store the XML as carefully sliced text in a
relational database and we can build an index
structure that allows us to respond to ad-hoc
queries very efficiently, even for large volumes
of data.”
Data Download Program

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Strengths and weaknesses
• Because interface is entirely data driven, it is
easy to add new data.
• Internal architecture is complex, due to security
and the data workflow:
– SDMX files are generated by data staff and
transmitted to public website staff for processing.
– These files are made available on the website and
“shredded” for database entry and lookup.
• Current structure is not set up for codelist
sharing.

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What do the users say?
• “Really excellent. One of the
best I’ve used on the web.”
• “This Data Download thing is
better than sliced bread.”
• “I downloaded the XML files, but I
cannot run them. All I see is the
xml code.”

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What do the numbers say?
• More than 250,000 unique visits since April –
about 50,000 per month.
• Data Download Program is the 6th most visited
area on the Federal Reserve website.

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Next steps
• Add more data: reserves, exchange rates,
consumer credit.
• Continue working with other central banks and
statistical agencies on common framework.
• Prepare to move to SDMX 2.0 to take advantage
of additional features.

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The last slide…
Questions? Comments?
Thank you for your attention!
San Cannon
scannon@frb.gov
(202) 452-3710