Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA): Reproducible Analytical Pipeline Strategy Implementation Plan for 2025 to 2026

In 2022 the Government Analysis Function published a Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP) Strategy. The strategy acknowledges that RAP improves the value, efficiency and quality of outputs when it is used effectively within statistical and analytical processes.

The strategy outlines an ambitious vision for analysis in government that the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) aspires to adopt. The three main goals of the UK RAP strategy relate to tools, capability, and culture. As part of the strategy, public sector organisations have been asked to develop local plans detailing how they will tackle these three priority areas.

This page outlines:

• the work NISRA has already completed to implement the Analysis Function RAP Strategy
• how NISRA will continue to develop the tools, capability and culture within the organisation and outposted statistical branches to fully implement RAP

Progress on RAP at NISRA

The NISRA Corporate Plan for 2025 to 2029 has six strategic enablers, one of which is Digital Infrastructure. The plan states that NISRA will:

“Promote the use of new technologies and techniques which will help achieve efficiency and coherence. This will include the use of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP) to produce outputs efficiently and to a consistently high standard and examining the feasibility of using artificial intelligence tools in statistical production.”

For NISRA outputs there is usually an existing process that must be followed step-by-step to get from raw data to final output. However, legacy processes are typically:

• outdated
• inefficient
• require manual intervention
• require the use of multiple software packages

Given the importance of RAP and the associated benefits that can be garnered from its implementation, NISRA has plans to use Reproducible Analytical Pipelines across the Agency. This also applies to NISRA statisticians outposted in Departments across NI.

The long-term goal is to “implement Reproducible Analytical Pipelines for all our major statistical processes and statistical outputs within 5 years”. The main objective is to eliminate manual intervention where possible, increase automation and move away from the use of multiple costly software packages, to wrap the streamlined processes into one open-source software such as “R” where feasible.

NISRA has already made significant progress on the implementation of RAP. Many NISRA branches have started to introduce RAP into their processes to make outputs reproducible, improve efficiency, and address accessibility requirements. RAP projects have covered all parts of the statistical production process, and many have included the production of the statistical publication in an accessible HTML format alongside spreadsheet outputs. Benefits include:

• improved process documentation
• higher quality outputs
• enhanced staff coding skills
• significantly faster processing times

RAP implementation

It is understood that the implementation of RAP across the Agency will take time, training and support to embed and is likely to be an iterative process.

Teams currently have process flows for their statistical production and outputs. However, in many cases they are disjointed and require human intervention and the use of several software packages. Before any RAP development, teams should review the current processes and ensure that process maps are in place. A process map allows the pipeline and process to be broken down into manageable chunks for coding.

Each branch and team will develop their RAP processes and experiences over time, continually improving their outputs, code and automation processes. Support will be provided by a RAP Working Group which has been established to promote the use of RAP and support its implementation. The NISRA Tech Lab will also be a significant source of support, helping with technical advice and code development.

Peer learning and support will form a significant element of the approach to implementation. Sharing code and approaches with others across teams, branches and departments will facilitate continual improvements across the Agency.

Each team will start with some minimum RAP requirements and develop towards full RAP implementation.

To achieve this, we have included two specific targets in the NISRA Business Plan for 2025 to 2026:

1. “Promote the RAP Strategy with teams and monitor its implementation. Report on the proportion of all regular outputs have been produced through a RAP process.”
2. “Host training sessions on RAP and provide support through the RAP working group and Tech lab projects.”

The Director of Analytical Services within NISRA is the NISRA RAP owner and oversees the implementation of this strategy. Branches will be supported in the development of their implementation plans and will be expected to engage with the RAP Working Group.

The NISRA RAP objectives and Implementation Plan are aligned with the three goals outlined in the Analysis Function RAP Strategy.

Goal 1: Tools

Ensure that analysts have the tools they need to implement RAP principles.

Goal 2: Capability

Give analysts the guidance, support and learning to be confident implementing Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP).

Goal 3: Culture

Create a culture of robust analysis where:

• the RAP principles are the default for analysis
• leaders engage with managing analysis as software
• users of analysis understand why the use of RAP principles is important

Our aim is to embed RAP in all appropriate and relevant outputs across the Agency and to empower statisticians to adopt RAP as default going forward. This applies to NISRA statisticians working across all NI government Departments. We will work with our colleagues to achieve our goals.