Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka

IPS Support Services__Information Systems UnitIPS Corporate WebThe prototype of the main corporate web wasdeveloped towards the latter part of the year.One of the key objectives of the developmentof the Corporate Web was to locate the largecollection of IPS economic research data anddatabases accessible to staff members via thecorporate web round the clock in acomprehensive, user friendly and a secureway. The corporate web, accessible onlywithin the Institute LAN will serve as aknowledge management platform, integratingexisting online facilities such as the LibraryIPS Corporate Web Home PageCatalog and the newly developed Economic Research Databases section and providing a platform to hostresearch information etc. online and updated. It will also help the Institute’s administrative and maintenancefunctions.Data & DatabasesThe ISU maintains a vast range of economic research databases and data sets (such as Macroeconomic data,Trade data and Agriculture data obtained from various Government Departments, NGOs and other relevantOrganizations as well as primary data collected by the IPS) that are necessary for the Institute’s researchactivities. Database analysis & development, data entry and processing as well as questionnaire/surveydesigning based on the needs of research projects are also handled by the ISU.In 2005, the following data sets were incorporated into the IPS data bank: Annual Customs Returns (Imports/Exports) in 2004, Customs Tariff Guides 2005, Child Activity Survey, School Census 2003 and 2004, LabourForce Survey 2004, Public and Semi-Government Sector Employment Survey, and Tsunami Data publishedby the Department of Census and Statistics, Petroleum data from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, ConsumerFinances and Socio Economic Survey Report 2003/2004 Part 1 and 2 from the Central Bank and Sri Lanka,India Free Trade Agreement Data for 2004, 2005 from the Department of Commerce.SoftwareA range of econometric, statistical, mathematical and related software packages are made available to theresearchers along with installation, usage and maintenance support by the ISU. Several training sessionswere conducted by the ISU to various staff members in this regard.PersonnelHaren Kodagoda, Nandaka Pothuwewa, Indika Siriwardena, Deepika NawavickramaLasitha Fernando and Dumidu Karunaratne37__________ Annual Report 2005