Preface

These pages constitute the Handbook on Methodology of Modern Business Statistics, abbreviated to: the Memobust handbook. This handbook was the main result of the eponymous ESSnet project which finished on 26 March 2014, after being active for three years. It contains contributions from several European national statistical institutes.

The subject matter of the Memobust handbook is subdivided into 22 topics. Each topic defines a specific area relevant to the design and production of business statistics. Each topic comprises one or more modules (to be considered as chapters), dealing with a specific sub-area of the corresponding topic. In the handbook each module has its own, separate web page. Each web page contains a summary of the corresponding module, as well as a link to a PDF file containing the full text.

For more details on the handbook – such as intended readership, form of the modules, etc. –, the interested reader is referred to the Introduction. A comprehensive list of topics and modules in the handbook can be found here.

The modules of the Memobust Handbook have been written using two templates that were especially designed for the handbook. One template is for so-called theme modules and the other one for so-called method modules. To understand how the modules have been ‘filled out’ by the various authors, the interested reader is referred to the templates and invited to read the instructions which can be found at the end of these documents. The templates can be found here.

Your feedback is appreciated. Please send your remarks, suggestions for improvement, etc. to memobust@cbs.nl.