Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Short-Term Business Statistics Section

Litostrojska cesta 54, p.p. 3570, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija

The index of services production (ISP) is a business indicator which measures the monthly changes of the price adjusted output of the services industries (excluding financial and public services).

NACE Rev. 2

The survey covers enterprises registered in Divisions 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68, 69, 70.2, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 of NACE Rev. 2.

Index of service production measures the volume of sales in selected activities and is derived from turnover at current prices, which is converted into constant prices. Since the intention is to measure changes in the volume of gross output, data on added value from the survey on structural business statistics are used as weights in the calculation of the index of service production.

Turnover comprises the totals invoiced by the observation unit during the reference period, and this corresponds to market sales of goods or services supplied to third parties. Turnover also includes all other charges linked to the buyer, even if these charges are listed separately on the invoice. Turnover excludes VAT and other similar deductible taxes directly linked to turnover as well as all duties and taxes on the goods or services invoiced by the unit. Reduction in prices and discounts must be deducted. The sale for loan is registered in the month of invoicing.

Volume turnover is a turnover at constant prices. The conversion of data from current to constant prices is called deflation. Deflation of turnover in services and trade is carried out using appropriate deflators.

The observation unit is an enterprise.

The basis for calculating the production index in service and trade activities is the data of the units that are observed in the surveys Monthly report on service activities, Retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles and Wholesale. Observation units in these surveys are selected based on threshold coverage. The criteria for the definition of units included in the surveys are the principal registered activity, annual turnover of the enterprise and the number of persons in paid employment according to the Statistical Register of Employment. The surveys cover all enterprises whose main activity is classified into one of the service activities within the sections G, H, I, J, L, M and N of NACE Rev. 2, that:

      have annual turnover higher than EUR 180,000 for the units from previous coverage or EUR 300,000 for newly selected units,

      have annual turnover higher than EUR 90,000 and more than 2 persons in paid employment for the units from previous coverage or EUR 150,000 and more than 2 persons in paid employment for newly selected units,

      have more than 5 persons in paid employment.

Data on employed persons are obtained from the Statistical Register of Employment (SRDAP). These surveys include approximately 18,700 units.

National teritory of the Republic of Slovenia.

From January 2010 onwards. Until the end of 2022, the length of the series is 156 months. Data for service activities L68, N77 and N81 are available since 2015. The length of the series for these activities is 96 months.

2015

Index.

A month.

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics

Annual Programme of Statistical Surveys

National Statistics Act (OJ RS, No. 45/95 and 9/01)

We do not send data directly to any other data-producing agency except to Eurostat.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20 (4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87,p.164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data. All data collected and published by the Statistical Office are governed by the National Statistics Act (OJ) RS No. 45/95 and (No. 9/01).

Only the aggregated data are published, from which the single data values can not be recognized.

The release calendar with advanced release dates for all months of the reference year is published at the beginnig of the year on a website of the Statistical Office. The release calendar is publicly accessible.

Release calendar

Data of the index of services production (ISP) are published on the release date at 10.30 am on the SURS's website. Simultaneously, data that are more detailed are published in the SiStat Database. None of the users has a prior access to the data. Data are available free of charge. After the release on the same day, data are transmitted to Eurostat.

Monthly.

The article called »Index of service and trade production« is issued according to release calendar at 10:30 a.m. on SURS’s website.

SURS on occasions publishes publications, which can contain data of the index of services production.

SI-STAT database (Indices of services and trade production). SI STAT database provides a modern way of preparing and exporting data for selected categories.

In Slovenia, the entities entitled to obtain the statistically protected microdata include the registered research institutions, registered researchers, and the researchers of government offices. Basic instructions concerning the access and the use of statistically protected microdata are availabe on the SURS's website.

The data on index of services production are transmitted to Eurostat according to STS Requirements under NACE Rev. 2 in order to compile EU aggregates and for the dissemination of national data in Eurostat’s dissemination database.

Methodological explanations for index of services production data are availabe on the SURS's website – Theme: Trade and Services; Sub-theme: either Trade or Other services; Index of service and trade production. There is an automatic link to the methodological explanations in the electronic version of the First Relase and at the SI-STAT database for the data set on indices of services and trade production.

Quality reports are available at the SURS's website – Theme: Trade and Services; Sub-theme: either Trade or Other services; Index of service and trade production.

Quality documentation can be reached on SURS's website.

Indices on index of services production are produced in compliance with methodological requirements and standards.

The key users of the data are Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS) and Eurostat.

The principle users are asked about their needs, wishes and interests at the regular meetings, i.e. at the statistical advisory committee on retail trade and service statistics.

Completeness of statistical results is 100% - all demanded data have been disseminated.

The survey utilizes microdata of the other surveys: Turnover in services; Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles; Turnover in wholesale trade. Accuracy is calculated on these surveys.

The survey is not conducted on the basis of a random sample, therefore there is no sampling error.

The survey utilizes microdata of the other surveys: Turnover in services; Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles; Turnover in wholesale trade. Non-sampling error is calculated on these surveys.

The publication schedule is fixed and announced in advance. The First Release is published 60 days after the end of the reference month. Data are at the same time also loaded into the SI STAT database on a website of the Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia, created for user friendly free of charge data manipulation. Data are published as provisional and they are revised monthly as the response rate increases. Data are considered as provisional 10 months after the reference period.

There was no time lag between the announced and actual date of the first release. All data were published according to the release calendar.

With the Regulation (EU) No 2019/2152 (European Business Statistics Regulation, EBSR) the calculation of monthly indices of services production became mandatory for Member States of the European Union (EU) in 2021. This ensures good comparability of data between countries and good quality of aggregates calculated from these data at the EU level.

Data for most of the activities are available from January 2010. Until the end of 2022, the length of the series is 156 months. Data for activities L68 Real estate activities, N77 Rental and leasing activities, and N81 Services to buildings and landscape activities are available from January 2015, so until the end of 2022, the length of the series for these activities is 96 months. 

Value added data from the quarterly Gross domestic product (GDP) statistical survey are used as a reference source. The sum of value in current prices (seasonally and working-day adjusted) for activities G, H, I, J, L, M and N are recalculated to indices with 2015 average as a base. The index of service production with the 2015 base year (seasonally and working-day adjusted) is recalculated to the quarterly average. The absolute value of the difference between the indices for each quarter is the value of indicator on coherence with the reference source.

Data are internally coherent. Each level of aggregated data is compiled directly from micro data.

Because Index of Service Production (ISP) survey uses the data from other surveys (Turnover in services; Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles; Turnover in wholesale trade), there is no time spent for activities such as selection of enterprises in the sample, preparing the address book and designing, printing and distribution of notification letters. Therefore, the burden compared to other surveys is reduced. Activities such as data verification, calculation of the results and their publication, plus calculation and verification of weights in the beginning of the year took about 717 working hours in 2022.

Types of data revisions in relation to planning:

a) Planned data revision is subject to the following reasons:

1. Due to the needs of users for timely information, data are published that meet the criteria of the quality of official statistical data, but do not meet the quality that can be met with additional statistical procedures. Final data are based on more complete answers about the phenomenon and/or analyses and are published later on;
2. Seasonal adjustment and/or elimination of calendar effects;
3. Change in methodology and classifications;
4. Due to change of base year.

b) Unplanned data revision is not part of the regular statistical process. It appears due to unpredictable changes in the methodology, unpredictable emergence of new and better data, unpredictable changes regarding reporting units that transmit their data to the Office, unpredictable obstacles in data processing and publishing, and errors in data processing and publishing (e.g. a key unit corrects its data for the past few months, an unpredictable change in the administrative data source).

Types of data revisions in relation to time of implementation:

a) Regular revisions: inclusion of a more complete/additional data source or a change in the data source, seasonal adjustment and/or elimination of calendar effects;
b) Occasional revisions are a consequence of including a new/more complete/additional data source that becomes the standard in later data releases or a consequence of an unpredictable obstacle in data processing and publishing, and change in methodology.

Types of data revisions in relation to the purpose:

a) Inclusion of a more complete/additional data source or a change in the data source;
b) Seasonal adjustment and/or elimination of calendar effects;
c) Transition to a new base period;
d) Improvement of methodology due to a change in the statistical method or a change in classifications, concepts and definitions;
e) Elimination or errors

More information about data revision are published in the methodological explanation on revision of statistical data.

Same revision policy is applied nationally and in transmissions to Eurostat.

Data revision of Index of Service Production is planned. Published data do meet the criteria of the quality of official statistical data required by the Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 and needs of users for timely information, but do not meet the quality that can be met with additional statistical procedures. Regular revisions of Index of Service Production data include a more complete data source (because of late unit response or updates of data for the previous months or inclusion of VAT data in Turnover in services, Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles and Turnover in wholesale trade) and change of data due to seasonal adjustment and elimination of calendar effects. Data on retail trade for the last 10 months are provisional. With each release on a monthly basis the data for the last 10 months can be corrected and supplemented with new data. Due to change of the base year a revision is planned every five years. Data was last revised due to change of the base year in 2018 (base year = 2015). Changes and revisions of methodology are announced in advance in our publications. Before that, the Advisory Committee discusses the proposed methodological changes. In a revision due to an error in data, a new edition with explanatory notes is published as soon as possible.

The basis for calculating Index of Service Production are the data of the units that are observed in the statistical surveys on monthly turnover in services and trade. The data are obtained with the statistical surveys: Turnover in services, Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles and Turnover in wholesale trade, namley by use of monthly electronic questionnaires.

Monthly.

In case of the Turnover in services, Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles and Turnover in wholesale trade statistical surveys, the turnover data for the most units (90%) are collected from the administrative VAT database of the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia. Data for the largest units (10%) are collected by on-line questionnaire.

Plausibility checks are already performed on the statistical surveys: Turnover in services, Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles and Turnover in wholesale trade. After the calculation of indices of service production, checking on a macro level is also done. If corrections are necessary, they are done on previously mentioned surveys, before indices are recalculated.

The data are obtained with the statistical surveys: Turnover in services, Turnover in retail trade, sale and maintenance of motor vehicles and Turnover in wholesale trade.

The deflation of turnover in services and trade is carried out using appropriate price indices. Deflation is carried out at the micro level, i.e. each data item is individually divided by the appropriate deflator, and thus (in terms of price changes) all data are converted to the same time point.

For each current month compared to the base month (i.e. average of the previous year), individual indices of particular representative NACE Rev. 2 activity group are calculated directly from data on turnover. From individual indices, indices at higher levels (i.e. group, division and section indices of NACE Rev. 2) are calculated with weighted arithmetic mean. Each index is calculated with weights from the same base period. Weights are based on value added at factor cost from structural business statistics. Weights for the reference year T are based on structural business statistics data for year T-2. Monthly base index, which shows turnover changes in the current month compared to the average turnover of 2015, is calculated indirectly from this index using chain linking.

Seasonal adjustment is the main part of time series analysis. With seasonal adjustment, seasonal effects and calendar effects are removed, if they are significant. In this way, the data are simplified so that they can be more appropriately interpreted, because seasonal fluctuations can blur other important movements. JDemetra+ 2.2.0 software, TRAMO/SEATS method, is used for seasonal adjustment. In seasonal adjustment the guidelines of the European Statistical System are also taken into account. Whenever the original data are changed, the time series is seasonally adjusted once more. Models are revised in detail about once a year, taking into account the period available at that time. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the models are checked monthly. If the model is changed, we strive to minimize the changes. The results of seasonal adjustment depend on the software, method and model used. In 2016 we started using JDemetra+ instead of Demetra+ 2.2.0 software. Time series models were carefully revised and, if necessary, changed. The entire period was taken into account. Due to software replacement and changed models there were no longer revisions in seasonal adjustment results. Selection of the model is manual, but some automatic tests are used for help (test for transformation, automatic detection of outliers, automatic selection of ARIMA model). For each new release of unadjusted data, the parameters of the models are re-estimated; the models mostly remain the same, but sometimes they are changed (e.g. an outlier at the end of a time series is added). Major changes of the models usually occur every few years. For each new release of unadjusted data, the whole seasonally adjusted time series are revised. Critical value for outlier detection depends on the time series, usually it si between 2.5 and 3.5. Most of the time series don't have the possibility of outlier detection. Filter length is automatically chosen. All the time series are seasonally adjusted directly. Residual seasonality is checked when the model is selected. Afterwards, residual seasonality diagnostics are taken info account. All the time series are seasonally adjusted directly, so seasonally adjusted data of an aggregate are not composed of seasonally adjusted data of its components. When models are selected or changed, connection between an aggregate and its components is taken into account (similar time series have similar models...).

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