Dale Atkinson
USDA/NASS
3251 Old Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22030-1504
email: datkinson@nass.usda.
In 1997 the responsibility for the quinquennial census of agriculture was transferred from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (BOC) to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This fulfilled a goal of NASS to become the national source of all essential statistics related to U.S. agriculture, and provided an opportunity for the Agency to improve both the census and its ongoing survey and estimation program through effective integration of the two. However, the timing of the transfer severely limited the changes NASS could make to the procedures and processing tools for the 1997 Census of Agriculture (COA). Following the 1997 census, however, a team was assembled to reengineer its entire survey program, more effectively integrating the census. One of the immediate needs in effecting this integration was the development of a new processing system for NASS surveys. Considerable progress has been made on the specification and develo! pment of the new processing system, planned for initial use with the 2002 census.
This paper focuses on one of the key components of the new system the analysis module, which features a graphically oriented state-of-the-art macro-editing approach to identify problematic data values and correct erroneous data. The system contains considerable capability in identifying problems through statistical graphics and data roll-ups, with comparisons to administrative and historical data. All analysis screens provide drill-down capability to individual records, with linkages to the Agency's data warehouse for historical data and to its sampling frame database for name and address and sampling information. The module also provides tools for managing the analysis process, so that the analyst can efficiently perform all necessary review without omission or duplication.