Computerization in the
Monitoring and Control of Staff
and Payments

Arie Aharon

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

Tel. 972-2-655 3417

FAX 972-2-655 3531

General

In Israel, the Census of Population and Housing is conducted once in each decade.
The great majority of the workforce employed in the census (particularly the
fieldworkers) are unfamiliar with census work, and must learn it from scratch.
Naturally, people recruited for this work are unskilled; they learn the necessary
skills during the census, or more precisely, at the end of the Census. Census
recruits possessed a range of abilities and experience and were from all over the
country; they were recruited to what they were aware was temporary and one-time
work.

The nature of the workforce on the one hand, and the requirements of the census
on the other, make it indispensable to maintain close and strict supervision and
control over all employees.

The supervision and control in the census was realized in two ways:


1.	Through a range of computer-generated reports.
2.	Visits to the various offices in order to verify compliance with procedures.

This paper is concerned with supervision and control in the census through the
computer system.

The Computerized Monitoring and Control
System in the Census

The census computer system was an integrated system comprising the following
systems:


1.	Enumerator's Report Book (ERB) system.
2.	Manpower administration system.
3.	Supervision and Control system.
4.	Enumeration area (EA) classification system.
5.	Payments system.

Enumerator's Report Book System

The ERB system was the central system of the census: in it enumerators recorded
all actions at all three stages of the census (drop-off, pick-up, clean-up). These
records made it possible to monitor and follow up the enumerator's work, and the
output and quality of the enumeration.

Staff Administration System

The manpower administration system handled, mainly, recruitment, training, placement,
attendance records, etc. The system allowed us to monitor and control these tasks.

The main stages of recruitment and training were:


1.	Recruitment advertising in the media and circulation of application forms. Each candidate filled in the form and recorded address, ID no., experience, age, bank account no. etc.
2.	Candidate data keyed in to computer (from application form).
3.	Retrieval of report on number of candidates in every region, in order to verify the existence of an adequate candidate pool and to check the need for increase advertising or the transfer of candidates between adjacent regions.
4.	Candidates invited for examination; the number invited and the number reporting for the examination are recorded in the computer.
5.	Report of examination results.
6.	of the number of job slots invited for individual interview (from those who had passed the examination).
7.	Report of interview results.
8.	General weighting (statistically) of examination and interview results.
9.	of the number of job slots invited for training.
10.	Report of examination scores and instructor impressions of the trainees.
11.	Selection of candidates who successfully passed training.
12.	Placement of recruits in job positions and report of job slots vs. actual recruitment (placement recorded by candidate no., region, sub-region, section, and EA).
13.	Assignment of EAs far from home of enumerator (enumerators who live a distance greater than 15 km from their EA get additional payment).

Census Headquarters was responsible for monitoring the recruitment and training of
Regional Office (RO) staff and monitoring worker performance at both RO and Sub-
Regional Office (SRO) level for compliance with instructions. Similarly, ROs had
responsibility for SROs in their region.

Supervision and Control System

The computerized ERB permitted monitoring of output (number of questionnaires
dropped off and picked up) at all levels: from EA level, the responsibility of an
enumerator; via section level, the responsibility of a supervisor; via sub-
regional level; the responsibility of a sub-regional director; via regional level, the
responsibility of a regional director; to nationwide level at Census Headquarters in
Jerusalem. Ongoing monitoring reports enable immediate detection of problems and,
thus, enable quick response and strict adherence to schedule. It should be noted
that, during the census, we detected cases of enumerators who were unable to keep
to schedule; we were able to increase the pace of enumeration through
reinforcement with additional enumerators.

Specimens of the progress monitoring forms, used at the various enumeration levels,
can be found below.

Enumeration Area Classification System

The EA classification system is a computerized system which enabled the grading of
EAs by difficulty of enumeration. Examples of distinctions between easy-to-enumerate
EAs vs. hard-to-enumerate EAs are: EAs with communications problems due to
language, detached villas vs. apartment blocks, an area where there are dogs in
most of the dwellings, an area with a hostile population. The objective was to give
enumerators incentive to enumerate in difficult areas by suitable financial reward.
EAs were classified by three grades of difficulty -- regular, special and
exceptional. The grade of difficulty was determined by a computer program
according to weighting of different parameters recorded in the field (by the
regional and sub-regional offices). In some cases, the computer's decision to award
extra payment increased enumerator motivation; problems arose in other cases,
however, when, the computers decision was not always automatically accepted in the
field, and authorization from Headquarters to change the grade of difficulty was
requested in order to compensate the enumerator with higher pay.

Payments System

The wage payments system was based on two categories of payees: monthly salary
contract State workers, and piece-work workers. Enumerators were piece-work
workers and received their wages according to their outputs, i.e. the number of
questionnaires dropped off, the number of questionnaires picked up, and the number
of solutions they furnished for non-residential buildings. All other workers worked
under monthly salary contracts.

Enumerator wage payments were calculated on the basis of output reports, which
were based on ongoing records in the ERB and subsequently checked and
corrected during and after enumeration. The output reports also included data such
as the enumerator's personal details, the EA grade of difficulty, and the distance
of the EA from the enumerator's place of residence (more or less than 15 km).
Personal information provided by enumerators when hired allowed the transfer of
payments direct to bank accounts as soon as the census was finished. About 90%
of enumerators received payment during the month the census was completed
(December 1995).

Specimen Monitoring Forms

The following examples of monitoring forms used in the census are appended to this
paper:


1.	Census Progress Report at Pick-up Stage, Enumeration area level of detail
2.	Census Progress Report at Pick-up Stage, Section level of detail
3.	Census Progress Report at Pick-up Stage, Sub-region level of detail
4.	Progress Maintenance in Regular Enumeration Areas at Pick-Up Stage
5.	Enumeration Production Turnout.

Computerization in the Monitoring and Control of Staff and Payments