Abstract

National Statistical Offices (NSOs) globally are under pressure to deliver more comprehensive and timely statistics, whilst operating in an increasingly complex survey environment. Declining response rates, rising costs, increasing respondent burden, and expanding operational workloads mean the efficient allocation of resources is a crucial challenge. In 2025, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) presented its ‘Active Collection Management’ (ACM) model for establishment data collection. Integrating technology, methodology and operational practice, ACM delivers a quality-driven approach whereby collection programmes are dynamically adjusted based on effort, reward, and opportunity costs. This holistic reform emphasizes proactive and coordinated management both within and across business survey programmes, to better balance the operational and strategic priorities of the NSO. The model breaks down operational silos, automates several aspects of survey campaigns, and expands the quality framework beyond a purely response-rate-focused strategy. It is enabled by the paradata-driven Collection Management Dashboard (CMD), which provides the information and tools required by survey managers to optimize their data collection processes and engage in more responsive campaigns. This paper presents the initial efficiency gains from the CSO Enterprise Statistics Division’s implementation of ACM. These include shorter survey campaigns, better survey timing and intervention targeting, more effective workload management, timelier results, quality improvements, and cost savings.