Sistan: a network

A network of institutions
Sistan is a network of public bodies and private agencies that provides official statistical information. The following bodies belong to Sistan: Istat, organisations dealing with statistical information (Isae - Institute for Studies and Economic Analyses, Inea - National Institute of Agricultural Economics, Isfol -Institute for the Development of Vocational Training for Workers); statistical offices belonging to such Public Administration bodies as the Government, Provincial and Municipal offices, Chambers of Commerce, other public bodies as well as private subjects having public functions. Sistan was established with the Legislative Decree no.322 of 6 September, 1989: that was the starting point of a public statistics reform process that has involved all the Italian administrations. The sharing of experiences, knowledge, technologies and information is the most important wealth of the System.

A network of achievements
In more than ten years, Sistan - in co-operation with all its bodies - has allowed a huge production of statistical projects and surveys. The core production is the National Statistical Programme (NSP), that gathers about one thousand projects carried out each year. The NSP is the result of a joint work which ensures scientific autonomy of surveys and the safeguard of private subjects and agencies. Quality Groups, composed of representatives of both the users and system bodies, give their contribution to the NSP. The data produced within the NSP, integrated with other local data sources, result in a more and more advanced local statistical production.

A network of operators
Thousands of operators work or collaborate with statistical offices. After years of common activities and technical comparisons, Sistan can be considered a network of professional competence. A great number of training events is foreseen. Every two years Istat promotes the National Conference of Statistics and the Exhibition of Statistical Information. Both events are a good opportunity to share experiences and knowledge. Since 1989, official statistics operators have grown in terms of number and quality and have also acquired non-statistical competence. As a result, they can satisfy users' information needs, providing a reliable, impartial and user-friendly statistical information that safeguards privacy and aims at reducing response burden.

Serving the network
Istat directs, co-ordinates, promotes and gives technical assistance to bodies and offices belonging to the National Statistical System. Section for Coordination and Development of the National Statistical System (Sistan) is the reference point for the fulfilment of those tasks.
However, each Istat Department contributes to reach this goal. The site www.Sistan.it allows a fast and continuous dissemination of information. In addition to the site, the Sistan Magazine contributes to circulate Sistan news on a four-month basis.