Rapport202301

Rapport BIPM-2023/01

Evaluation report - Survey on digital transformation

Olav Werhahn, Gregor Dudle

 

Abstract

In 2021 the CIPM initiated a survey on the current and planned activities of National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) on digitalization. A questionnaire was designed and circulated to recent delegates of all CIPM Consultative Committees (CCs).

The survey was carried out in the first half of 2022 by circulating the questionnaire to 827 CC participants. In total, 174 questionnaires were returned. The average return rate was thus 21 %, though this varied from question to question and between CCs.

The main findings of the survey are:

  • Digital transformation is of interest to many NMIs.
    • 56 % of all respondents have at least one digital transformation project or plans to start one.
    • At many NMIs digital transformation is still at an early stage. On average, 29 % of CC members reported stakeholder contact on digital topics over the last 5 years - though this value varies significantly between CCs, ranging from 43 % (CCU) to 12 % (CCQM).
  • Digital Calibration Certificates (DCCs) are of particular interest to NMIs.
    • Among the different DT topics, digital calibration certificates were the most mentioned topic of interest to NMIs. Of all respondents with digital projects, 68 % reported work on DCCs.
    • Even amongst the respondents with little experience with DCCs (typically those without ongoing DCC projects), 39 % considered that DCCs would be beneficial to their customers.
    • The best-known format for DCCs is XML.
  • How to provide a statement of metrological traceability in DCCs is not yet clear.
    • Amongst the participants expressing an interest in DCCs, only 15 % were able to articulate how metrological traceability to the SI could be addressed in a DCC.
  • The KCDB Application Programming Interface (API) is still at an early stage of usage.
    • On average, 7 % of the respondents had used the KCDB API, and another 42 % planned to do so.
    • 22 % of the participants felt they have sufficient information about the KCDB API. This is less than a third of the participants indicating an active role in the KCDB.

DOI: 10.59161/Rapport202301

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