e Census 2011 A case study IBM Smarter

e. Census 2011: A case study IBM Smarter Planet – e. Census Rod Hennegan Lead Architect e. Census 2011 & 2006 Global Business Services IBM Australia e. Census 2006 awards

Mass Scale Internet Event • Event – e. Census 5 weeks – Australian open 2 weeks • Mass scale – 2011 e. Census • 4. 8 million users (50% of dwellings in Australia) • Peak (Census night) – 2011 Australian Open • 10 Million users • Peak (final) 2

e. Census and Open/Olympics • e. Census – Collection system – Private data • Tennis Open/Olympics – Dissemination – Public data (Broadcast) SSL encrypted tunnel Private data 15 Public data 3 1

Census night - very public event “Call me cynical but I was just waiting for e. Census to fall over in a pathetic heap…. ” Personal BLOG of • Census night – High visibility (Census night) – Peak load period • System outage on Census night – Shhhhh, maybe no-one will notice – ABS and IBM reputations • Key areas – – 4 Hardware/Software/System failures Malicious attack Human error Impact on other systems/clients Computer World Journalist Rod Gedda 9 Aug 2006

The ABS – IBM relationship IBM (Data collection & delivery) • Contract – Application development – Create hosting environment – Testing • • System testing Usability Web security testing Performance & Availability – Hosting the event • • 5 Operations management Security operations ABS (Data analysis & dissemination) • Contract – Requirements & Questions – User Acceptance testing – 3 rd Party testing • • Usability Security (application & hosting) Performance Accessibility (Vision Aust. ) – Manage event • • Field force management Supervision of IBM access

Security/Privacy of Census data • Aust. Government (PSM/ISM) • Census and Statistics Act 1905 – Encryption on all network links – Employed under the act to access raw census data • Encrypted when written to persistent storage (database) – Custom security solution (Hardware security modules) – Decrypted (visible) only to » ABS after delivery » Respondent (application processing a respondent request) – ABS legal review (post 2006) • Access under the act = plain text, encrypted, or physical • No IBM Staff access to privileged accounts – Except under direct ABS supervision – Supervision process remote supervision of remote staff 6

Security/Privacy of Census data • Enforcement – Application source reviewed 3 rd party • Ensure implementation of these mechanisms • Prove production version = code reviewed – Extensive cutover process • All privileged accounts passed to ABS • Secure racks locked by ABS – Post production data deletion process • IBM still responsible operations – Extensive monitoring and automated failover – Automation of required functions (stop/start etc) – Supervised access 7

e. Census application • Web Browser based – why ? – Multi-platform • Run on browser on virtually any operating system – Removes install process support – Zero footprint solution • No plug-ins, no requirement to install Java, Active X controls • e. Census implementation – Two distinct user interfaces optimised for • User experience • Accessibility – (W 3 C Accessibility AA) 8

e. Census application • Implementation approaches – Use a Web Forms product • XForms standards based (Others like Adobe forms) • Pixel perfect replication of a paper form – Custom Web application • Build and present web pages containing questions • 2006 e. Census solution • Stateless application (0 MB per session at server) – Generic Questionnaire engine • Questionnaire definition in XML • Application interprets definition • Requires 1/3 server hardware of 2006 solution 9

Generic Questionnaire engine • XML definition (Abstraction of a questionnaire) – – – – Questionnaire –> Forms –> Questions -> Responses Question response types (Text, Date, Address, Selection) Question sequencing (Conditions based on responses) Use of response content Define business rules for responses/across questions Tabular presentation for Text and Select questions Consistent presentation through use of CSS • Support virtually any internet questionnaire – Population Census, Agricultural Census – ABS strategic surveying solution 10

Using the e. Census intellectual property • How can we utilise the e. Census technology – ABS provides surveying services – e. Census application and technology • e. Census is not a product • ABS - rights to the IP for the application – Contact Paul Lowe (paul. lowe@abs. gov. au) • IBM - e. Census application & all related services – Commercial: Robert Howdin (rhowdin@au 1. ibm. com) – Technical: Rod Hennegan (rod. hennegan@au 1. ibm. com) • IBM - Smarter planet initiative – Innovative solutions to business opportunities – Services, COTS/custom software, middleware, hardware • Innovating for 100 years – its what we do and we do it well 11

e. Census 2006 Awards • 2007 Computer World Honours Laureate – Honouring Those Who Use Information Technology to Benefit Society http: //www. cwhonors. org/view. Case. Study. asp? Nomination. ID=312 § Winner 2007 Australian Excellence in e-Government Awards http: //www. finance. gov. au/publications/excellence-in-e-governmentawards-2007 -finalist-case-studies 12