Build a decision support system

Directorate of Economics and Statistics spends less time on data management, more time on research

Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) is the nodal statistical body of the Government of Maharashtra, India. It collects official statistics, conducts surveys and provides statistical guidance to various government departments driving policy decisions for the state's socioeconomic development.

DES uses SAS^® Business Analytics to generate and analyze key DES statistical reports. The comprehensive – yet streamlined – SAS solution is complete with data integration, analysis and reporting structures. SAS frees DES' analysts from managing data, allowing focus on more creative projects that will help the state make better policy decisions.

Previous DES in-house applications catered to varying data needs such as compilation, validation and report preparation, which caused a huge delay in disseminating information. Also, before SAS, DES kept two decades of data stored in different file structures, lacking the means to perform analytics.

"The role of DES is to provide timely, reliable and accurate data for decision support systems. While providing critical information to decision makers of our state, it is sacrosanct that we provide a 'single version of truth.' With SAS solutions, we at DES can do this easily and timely, effectively and efficiently," says S. M. Aparajit, Director of DES.

Back-end help for better planning

"SAS technology empowered us to create expertise in analytics and information management so as to create decision support system in times to come. The savings in time that we see today to analyze and generate reports by using SAS, clearly indicates that. In long term, considerable resources will be saved from the user-friendly and effective system," says S. M. Aparajit.

DES relies on SAS for top-notch statistical analysis too. DES is charged with analyzing economic trends in areas such as:

• The economy as a whole.
• Different sectors.
• Different sub-sectors.
• Structural changes.
• Demographical changes.

In addition, SAS disseminates DES data through an integrated environment involving Web-based scheduled and ad hoc reporting. DES enjoys the multilingual capabilities of SAS to satisfy regional language needs. According to Bhosale, this is effective when reporting information both within the department and to external constituents like government agencies, businesses and even the media and general public.

Collaboration leads to quality

SAS partnered with Blue Star Infotech Limited (BSIL), a Mumbai-based software solutions and IT services provider, to implement systems for DES. "As a longtime SAS partner, we are excited to work with DES to apply solutions and provide training. We look forward to continuing our partnership and support in the future," says Satish Gaonkar, Vice President, Consulting Services for BSIL.

DES relates to SAS' approach because both organizations' core functions are very similar: DES provides critical statistics and counsel for strategic policy planning and SAS provides seamless data and analysis for better decision making.

"SAS provides a central repository of the information, available to all offices / officers. Constant upgradation in SAS solutions will enable DES to perform its defined job more effectively," explains S. M. Aparajit.