COOL USER GUIDE
We are currently in a transitional phase in COOL, working on replacing the legacy Collect and Process views with the new Transmissions view. For an interim period all three views will be available in parallel.
Present guide introduces COOL through the Transmissions view.
- What is COOL?
- General functionality
- Dashboard
- Transmissions
- Publications
- Legacy views: Collect and Process
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Last update : 10-08-2023 |
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Related User Guides |
What is COOL?
COOL is a web application for Eurostat statisticians who, through a single portal, wish to access information on the data transmission and data validation process. COOL enables Eurostat users to monitor and manage several aspects of data and metadata exchange and validation. In particular, COOL enables users to:
- View key information on files transmitted to Eurostat, including the number of files received, their format, the transmission date and the outcomes of the validation of the submitted data.
- Download validation reports provided by Eurostat’s structural and content validation services, as well as associated data files and service logs.
- Take action to reject or accept data files as needed.
- Track outgoing (data exchange) transmissions.
- Track the complete submission history of datasets, and follow the complete history of user notes and comments associated with individual submissions.
As COOL evolves, further key areas of the statistical production and dissemination process are expected to be covered by the application.
The application is open for use to all Eurostat internal users working in statistical domains. Users must receive permission from the Domain Manager (DMA) of their subject area to access data transmissions in COOL. Users may have access to datasets in one or more statistical domains.
To gain access to COOL, the following pre-requisites need to be in place:
- The user must have and active ECAS account
- The user must have an Edamis account, with the appropriate user role and data access parameters configured. This must be in place as all systems, including COOL and Input Hall inherit information regarding user roles and access rights form Edamis.
Should you need access to Edamis, contact: ESTAT-DATA-METADATA-SERVICES@ec.europa.eu
For more information on Edamis, see the Edamis user guide here.
Once these pre-requisites are met, permissions will automatically update on the first login. Should any change or correction be needed later, the change needs to be likewise requested in Edamis first.
Users of statistical domains may access COOL with the following roles:
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COOL Role |
Role in Edamis |
Permissions |
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Manager |
Domain Manager, Domain Co-Responsible |
Full domain functionality, including access to multiple datasets or domains |
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User |
Any other, non-manager roles by dafault |
Full domain functionality, access typically to a limited number of datasets |
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Viewer |
Any other, non-manager roles on specific request |
Permission to read data and documents, no permission to execute actions |
After accessing COOL, you may navigate to the following views:
- Main menu to functional sections:
- Dashboard – A high level overview of the complete data transmission traffic
- Collect – Overview of transmissions in Edamis, including incoming and outgoing traffic (legacy view)
- Process – Detailed view of the results of the validation process (legacy view)
- Transmissions – Combined and enhanced view, incorporating information from both Collect and Process
- File uploader – Interface available to Managers in the Acceptance environment for testing purposes
- Press Office – News on data publications and communications (under development)
- Search bar and Presets functionality
- Administration and Help
Please note that the number of menus you have access to may vary based on your role, and the visual presentation of the application may slightly change over time.
General functionality
In all views the search bar is available with a variety of options to search for transmissions.
The search bar allows you to use the following parameters:
- Production domain – Selection options are dependent on individual permissions
- Dataset – Select one or more datasets
- Filter By
- Date – Set the time frame, either by Loaded date or custom dates
- Period – Set the Periodicity in the search parameter that appears when Period is selected
- Publication – You must have a publication created for this, see details below
You may refresh your search result using the 
button left to the search bar.
You may prefer to save specific search parameters for future use. You may use the Presets functionality after setting your parameters in the search bar:
When opened, Presets allows you to name and save your search for future use, and generates a unique link to the particular search. You may share the link with others who will then access the same search results easily. Sharing the link is external to COOL, e.g. email.
You may save as many presets as you need. Presets can be easily selected from the dropdown list in Your Presets, then immediately used by clicking Apply.
Presets may be edited or deleted, and set as your default search with the flag icon. When clicking the share icon, the unique link to the query is copied to the clipboard and easily shared via email or messaging.
In the top right corner of the application you may find a variety of useful administrative tools.
Help – When clicking the question mark icon, useful links become available, including links to user guides, and to the My IT Support pages where you may submit requests of bug reports
Settings – This menu offers access to an array of useful tools, most notably:
- Administration
You may create and manage Publications in this menu, as well as have acces to an administrative overview.
- Workflow
Here you can see a read-only, real time view of the dataset list and configuration information from the Input Hall. Note that the same information is available in the Transmissions view.
- Calendar
This functionality helps visualize the Publication schedule (see Publications below).
The Avatar contains your user profile. In addition, you may find here a useful functionality for Managers to simulate roles.
By setting a role lower than Manager, you may see the functionalities of the application the same way the selected lower role can see them, e.g. actions available in Administration for Managers are not visible for the User role. Simulation mode is indicated in both the main menu in the top left of the interface and in an info box on the bottom right. If you click the info box, the simulation will be terminated and you will return to Manager view.
Note that the role simulation only applies to interfaces and functionalities, not data. You will see data that is accessible with your own profile and not the one with the simulated user role. Individual users cannot be impersonated via this functionality.
Dashboard
The Dashboard provides an overview of the data files transmitted to Eurostat, as well as the data files that have been processed by its validation services. When opening the Dashboard, first you need to select if you want the transmission overview displayed by Publication or Period. Note that you need to create Publications for your files in Administration before searching for data per Publication is available.
Once the filter is selected, the Dashboard loads:
The Collect section of this view provides information on all incoming and outgoing data file traffic by origin, and provides both a total and the number of mandatory submissions completed.
The Process section provides and overview of all data files that complete the Eurostat standardized validation workflow. In this section, both the total of data files processed and the breakdown by outcomes are displayed per error severity detected. Using the 
icon you may flip the card over to see the breakdown of results per dataset.
Detailed information about each one of the indicators listed displayed by the Dashboard is available via the 
button in the top left of the screen.
Transmissions
In the Transmissions view, the legacy Collect and Process views are consolidated into a single interface, with the collection steps incorporated as operational steps within the overall transmission flow, see an example below.
This means that now all process information received from both Edamis and Input Hall will be accessible in a single place, helping the overview of the status of the complete collection and validation process covered in COOL.
Along with data transmissions, metadata transmissions are also available in Transmissions.
You may find the Transmissions view if you click the
icon in the main menu of COOL.
The main view displays all data transmission the user has permission to see. Note that some functionality (e.g. performing Actions) may be restricted or limited under different permission levels.
Key features of the main view include:
- Search bar and customizable search Presets
- Global search
- Filtering and export functionalities
- Grouping and un-grouping option for transmission versions
- Actions - Open actions in case user intervention is required
- Downloadable files - Transmissions presents the key downloadable files in the main view. The files available here include the HTML report and the Original submitted data file. Note that the same files are available in Transmission Detail in the Files tab, and also presented for individual operations in the Operations tab.
Filters and export functionalities
When searching for data in the Transmissions view, you may also use column filters instead of the search bar.
The filters offer the following options:
- Country: The country (or organization) sending to the data file
- Domain: Statistical domain
- Dataset: The name of the dataset as per EDAMIS
- Period: Reference period for the data collection
- Version: File version number
- Files: Key files downloadable when clicked: validation report, and the Original dataset
- Submission Date: The date and time of the data file received in EDAMIS
- Source: The service in the validation flow the last status is reported from
- Status: Status of the transmission. Note that the status displayed it that of the last service called; this however typically co-incides with the status of the overall process.
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Status |
Definition |
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Completed |
The validation process completed. |
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In progress |
A service call is currently in progress. |
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Pending action |
The process is pending user intervention. |
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Rejected |
The file is manually or automatically rejected. |
- Operations: Filter by last operation.
- Actions: Manually executable actions for pending process steps.
The blue icons on the left provide filtering and export options:
The funnel icon resets all filters.
The Export icon enables the export of the search results in a CSV files with configurable options.
The icon resets to default column width in the results table.
The Export KPIs icon provides access to the KPI reporting tool (select domains only).
The Table Settings allows you define the columns you want displayed, as well as the width of the columns.
Grouping and un-grouping of results
Transmissions with a history of multiple versions submitted can be listed with all versions grouped together or presented separately in Transmissions. The default option is the non-grouped view where transmissions are listed in order of the Submission Date. Should you need a view where transmissions are presented in a group incorporating all file versions, click on the label icon next to Version to activate the grouping view.
Transmission statistics in the Dashboard will not be affected by changing the view between grouped and ungrouped. The view will by default be ungrouped if you leave Transmissions.
In case user intervention is required to continue or conclude a process, the available actions are indicated in the Actions column of the main view.
There are a variety of scenarios where user intervention is required, including the general cases where
- the data fails validation, i.e. violates the pre-defined validation rules with Warning severity.
In this scenario, the user has the option to reject or accept the data. In case of rejection, the transmission must be repeated by the data provider, in case of acceptance the data is accepted by Eurostat for statistical processing. In both cases, the user of COOL has the option to submit a comment explaining the decision before executing the action. The comment will be archived and available in the Transmissions Detail window unter the Comments tab, as well as sent to the data provider via the feedback flow.
Validation may also be Repeated for content validation (Repeat CONVAL action).
- action on notifications is required. Actions on notifications are available in the Operations tab of Transmission Detail.
- validation services or related services in the process fail to execute. In these scenarios, the service may be called again via the Retry action. The Retry action is available for multiple services.
When an user has previously taken an action, their initials will be displayed in the Status column.
Note that the Actions column only lists options related to the last operation. There may be cases where actions related to previous process steps are also available (even multiple actions simultaneously), notably in case of actions related to Notifications. These actions are available in Transmission Detail, under the Operations tab, in the line of the specific operation.
COOL also offers the option to execute actions in bulk. For this, select the desired transmissions via the checkboxes on the left of the Transmissions view. A blue ribbon will appear on the top of the page with the available actions in the top right corner. As with single actions, you may add a comment, please note that for bulk action only a single comment can be added.
Only transmissions with identical actions can be selected for bulk actions; in case transmissions with differing actions are selected, the blue ribbon remains empty. Note that identical looking icons in the Actions column may refer to different actions, e.g. Retry (
) may refer to Retry CONVAL or Retry Transformation. You may see the label with the exact actions represented by the icons by hovering the mouse pointer over them.
When using the bulk actions option with the transmission version grouped together, the action is executed on the latest transmission version. Should you need to execute an action for a previous version, you will need to ungroup the transmissions and select the appropriate version.
The option also exists to select and download any or all files associated with more than one transmission in a single package. On the Transmissions interface, you may select any number of transmissions and a download icon in the blue ribbon on the top appears. Once you click Download, a dialog opens up where you may select any or all files you want to be included in the downloaded package:
When you click Download, all files are downloaded in a single ZIP, containing files organized into separate folders per transmission.
In Transmission Detail, you may now also download all files associated with one particular transmission. When you click All Files, your files are downloaded in a single ZIP package.
When clicking any transmission line in the main view, the Transmission Detail window opens containing all additional information and files related to the particular transmission.
When opening the Transmission Detail view, you may see:
- Identification of the transmission and functionality to navigate between file versions
- Metro line map indicating the status of the global steps of the process
- New tabbed view of operational details, list of downloadable files, comment history and KPIs
- Downloadable files per operation (same files as in the main view or under the Files tab)
- Actions per operation - note that actions related to notifications may not immediately visible, you need to open the notification sub-steps to see these (+1 icon in the example above)
- Issue reporting tool (see below)
Operations tab
This view contains all operational steps during the data transmission and presents related files, open actions and notifications organized for individual operations. Note that the Main Workflow Execution Log available under Files contains the same detailed breakdown of events.
The files, actions and notifications are presented per operation in this tab. Actions on notifications may be executed in this view only.
Files tab
The Files tab presents all files related to the transmission for download, including input datasets (original and converted), validation reports and log files.
Validation reports and log files are available in COOL indefinitely. Data files fall under a retention policy and are retained for 5 years after transmission by default.
Available files include:
- Original file: The original input file transmitted to Eurostat may support users to view and analyse the outcomes of validation.
- Converted File: Depending on the input file format, files may need to be converted to another format before being processed by CONVAL. In such cases, the automatic conversion is performed by the Transformation Service (TRASE), and the converted file is also available for download. In case of multiple conversions, all converted files are downloadable.
- Validation Report: The results of the validation process are available in HTML and XML formats by default (CSV and Excel formats may be in use for specific domains). The HTML format contains the outcomes from both the STRUVAL and CONVAL services.
- Workflow and Notification Logs: Logs contain all operations and their outcomes executed during the validation flow and may prove useful for diagnostic purposes.
Data files containing confidential information, as well as validation reports not treated for confidentiality are marked with the red padlock icon (
), both in the main view and Transmission Detail. For details on filtering validation report for confidential information, see our guide for validation reports.
Comments tab
The Comments tab presents the complete comment history of individual transmissions. The comment history includes comments added via user actions in COOL (e.g. Accept or Reject Warning actions), comments added in Edamis during data submission, and individual comments added to transmissions directly in the comments section. Comments are presented separately for each version of a file, however users can navigate through the comments for different versions with a single click by changing the file version in the top left corner of Transmission Detail.
Indicators tab
Indicators is populated with a variety of calculated key performance indicators on transmission accuracy metrics. This content is in large part dependent on individual requirements of statistical domains.
Metadata tab
The Metadat tab contains general process information about the Transmission, as well as contact details of data providers and team members of the statistical domain in Eurostat.
Issue reporting tool
Clicking on the red Report Issue button in the bottom right corner of the Transmission Detail window, you may submit a report to the Eurostat validation support team. You may select from general areas where you see the issue present, and provide a description. The issue reporting tool will send a message with the transmission details and your comment directly to the support functional mailbox.
Publications
In the ESS, Members States are often required to send data within an agreed timeframe, making the transmission deadline an important milestone in the data process management. The Publication and Publication Date functionalities allow users to group data in line with specific requirements. Creating a Publication will enable users to monitor a set of data, while the Publication Date will establish the timeframe.
Publications may be created by Manager or User roles. Once a Publication is created, transmissions can be searched per Publication in the Transmissions view, the Dashboard and in legacy views (Process and Collect).
In order to create Publications, navigate to Settings > Administration > Publications and click Add Publication in the top right corner:
In the Add Publication window, fill in the required fields:
- Domain
- Periodicity
- Name of the publication (free text)
- Time interval for the publication (T-Offset) which will be used when adding a Publication Date
- Select the dataset(s) that will be part of the Publication. A Select All button is also included, checking this option automatically adds all datasets of the domain.
If several publication items are created, you may want to mark each with a colour to help you and other users identify them in the Calendar.
You may save your Publication, or save and immediately navigate to the Calendar to create the publication date (note that this is optional). The Calendar is also available via the Settings menu at any time.
In the Calendar, select the date you want to use as publication date, right click and select Add Publication Date.
In the pop-up window, please select a Publication. The details provided when the Publication was created are loaded automatically. Set the cut-off date for the Publication and indicate whether it should be a recurring event in the future by increasing the number of Occurrences. Note that the Reference period is determined by the T-Offset and is calculated automatically by the application (it may be changed manually if needed).
The Publication Dates may also be displayed in a list format if you change from Calendar view to List view (next to the Domain selection in the top left corner. The Calendar may be exported to your Outlook calendar (LCS), or to CSV, as well. Click the icon in the top right corner:
Legacy views: Collect and Process
The Collect section displays the list of transmissions initiated in Edamis to Eurostat by external data providers, as well as outgoing data transmissions initiated by Eurostat as part of our data exchange activities.
The Collect view is available by clicking the 
icon in the left pane. You may also navigate to Collect by either clicking the Collect icon or the indicators (Total, Origin, Mandatory, Revision) in the Dashboard.
In the Collect view you may filter transmissions for the following:
- Country: Data provider country or organization
- Dataset: The name of the dataset as per the EDAMIS naming convention
- Period: Reference period of the data collection
- Version: Version number of the submitted file
- Format: The format of the data file transmitted
- Provided Date: The date and time of the data submission in Edamis
- Comment: Comments added by the data provider
- Note: Additional note file accompanying the data file
- Sender: Email contact of data provider
- Contact: Email contact of data provider (click icon to open)
Search, sorting and export functionalities work identically to Transmissions, please see details above.
Note that there are transmissions that are only visible in the Collect view and not in Transmissions, notably the ones that are not processed in the Input Hall, including metadata transmissions and outgoing transmissions for data exchange.
The Process view lists the complete and detailed overview of all data transmissions that went through the standardized validation flow of Eurostat.
The Process view is available by clicking the 
icon in the left pane. You may also navigate to Process by either clicking the Process icon or the Total indicator in the Dashboard.
In the Process view you may filter transmissions for the following:
- Country Data provider country or organization
- Domain Responsible Eurostat statistical domain
- Dataset The name of the dataset as per the EDAMIS naming convention
- Period Reference period of the data collection
- Version Version number of the submitted file
- Format The format of the data file transmitted
- Type File type and name of the original input file
- Loaded Date Time and date when the data file entered the validation process
- Status Outcome of the validation process
- Operation Expected action, operation or status as per the outcome of the last operation
- Summary Additional information on next action
- Action Enables the user to intervene and decide how to proceed with pending transmissions, including accept or reject Warnings and re-launch validation services. See details above.
Search, sorting and export functionalities work identically to Transmissions, please see details above.
Above the list of transmissions, you may select the Status via checkboxes, these will yield the same results as the Status selection in the filters.
When clicking any of the transmission in the main view, the window Process Detail opens. Process Detail contains all additional detail and downloadable files related to the specific transmission version.
Key features of the Process Detail view include:
- Identification of the transmission and functionality to navigate between file versions
- Metro line map indicating the status of the main steps of the process
- Dedicated menus for each downloadable file type
- Step-by-step view of operations executed during the process, with associated files and actions
Clicking any of the file menus will display all downloadable files in the category. Note that retention policy applies to data files (Original file and Converted file): files are deleted after 7 calendar days in the Acceptance environment and 30 days in the Production environment. All other files are available indefinitely.
Available files are the same as in the Transmission view, see here.
Data files containing confidential information, as well as validation reports not treated for confidentiality are marked with the red padlock icon. For details on filtering validation report for confidential information, see our guide for validation reports.
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