Monitoring Statistics of Income (SOI) Samples

Monitoring Statistics of Income (SOI) Samples

Joseph Koshansky, Internal Revenue Service

F

or most of its 90-year history, the main function of the Statistics of Income (SOI) Division

has been the collection of information for the

Department of Treasury and Congress [1]. One of the

beneficial practices of a Federal statistical agency, according to the Committee on National Statistics, is its

continual development of more useful and timely data,

including operational statistics, the latter objective even

noted in Internal Revenue Code 6108(a) [2]. SOI has

sought ways to improve the quality and timeliness of

its tax return information while fulfilling the requests

of its primary customers. Over time, it incrementally

improved not only the statistical abstraction of information from Federal tax returns, but also the statistical

operations associated with producing such information.

Moreover, among its various processing tasks, SOI

identified the monitoring of its samples of returns from

the point of selection to the point of delivery back to

the warehouse storage facilities as an essential part of

its strategy in achieving its mission.

of selection all of the documents in its weekly samples,

and not lose some of the returns to other IRS functions

requesting by chance the same return [7]. On the other

hand, the company may introduce new inventory methods or delivery techniques with benefits to SOI, such

as interchanges of record information about the pulled

returns with one of the SOI databases. Of course, this is

not the first time SOI has faced a challenge associated

with changes in the way the IRS accepts, controls, and

processes tax and information returns. Differences in

objectives frequently occur between “pipeline processing” and “postpipeline processing” functions, such as

SOI. Ironically, the company will return to an earlier

mode of operation SOI replaced through its Total Quality Organization (TQO) initiatives in the early 1990s,

shipping “cycles” (or large groups) of returns to the

SOI edit sites, instead of program-specific workgroups

that SOI units in files supplied to the SOI edit unit

editors [8].

This paper is a case study of the infrastructure SOI

developed to monitor its samples and deal with unexpected events in a bureaucratic setting. It focuses on

what happens after the SOI sampling programs select

returns for a project (or study). In addition, it provides an

account of the SOI efforts to improve the monitoring of

its samples of Federal tax and information returns, part

of a “Golden Age” in SOI history. Can regular monitoring of the returns in the various samples decrease the

length of time SOI controls returns, or reduce the length

of time it finds missing returns in the samples, or reduce

the length of time it delivers data to its primary customers? Based on interviews, participant observations, documents, and physical information, the paper shows how

SOI operating procedures and information databases,

and coordination among different staffs, monitor and

verify the control and timely processing of specific sets

of returns. In the first section of the paper, we provide

a brief historical perspective about SOI consolidation

efforts and technological advances. Then, we describe

the SOI workflow process in the second section. In the

third section, we spell out some of the SOI statistical

operations and procedures that systematically monitor

the SOI workflow process. The fourth section looks at

Because SOI functions within a larger bureaucracy,

one of its recurring challenges is coordination among

the different staffs laboring at tasks at different phases

of the SOI workflow process [3]. For example, in May

2006, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) awarded a

contract to a private company to manage the files function at the IRS submission processing centers [4]. This

company will store and maintain all the paper documents taxpayers file at each center for an established

period after the completion of IRS “pipeline” processing. It will ship the documents to one of the Federal

Records Centers at the end of this period, and fulfill

requests from IRS offices that need to examine tax and

information returns for either administrative or statistical purposes [5]. SOI is one of the major “downstream”

requesters of these stored documents since it produces

its mandated annual income, financial, and tax information from weekly samples of Federal tax and information returns, which the IRS usually processes during

the previous week [6].

A concern this particular competitive sourcing initiative raises is whether SOI will control within 2 weeks

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Koshansky

the application of management and statistical concepts

to the development of the SOI workflow process; and,

then, we conclude with several findings and remarks on

how SOI is shaping its future.

emphasis on continuous improvement or “Kaizen,” as

the Japanese call it…. Examples [include] more flexible and dynamic approaches to data capture, cleaning,

and completion” [11].

 Consolidation of Work and

Technological Advances

From this analysis, Scheuren and others on his

staff hypothesized that consolidating SOI editing operations at particular IRS service centers would free up

resources (staffing, travel, and training), improve editing (abstraction) productivity and quality, and enhance

its presence as a data producer within the community of

Federal statistical agencies. In May 1990, SOI notified

the now ten IRS service centers that it planned to consolidate edit processing for the SOI Corporation and

Individual Tax Return programs in six service centers

[12]. Four centers would only pull, control, and ship returns to one or more of the six processing centers (down

to five in 1992) [13]. In general, the number of returns

service centers processed for all of the SOI studies was

much smaller than the volume of returns the centers

processed for tax liability, administrative, and informational purposes. Competing with other functions

for skilled tax examiners to work the SOI programs at

the centers, as well as arguing about what IRS or SOI

programs merited attention first, were frequent occurrences before the consolidation initiative.

SOI performed most of its preliminary statistical

abstraction, data transcription, and error correction in

National Office, district offices (after World War II for

a period of time before the expansion in the number of

service centers across the country), and the few service

centers in operation, but moved operations to the centers as their number increased. Service centers not only

processed but also began storing the paper returns in

support of other IRS programs, such as Examination,

before final consignment to one of the Federal Records

Centers. IRS personnel at the different SOI sites, who

were available to edit SOI samples once regular pipeline processing work subsided or ended, used paper edit

and error register sheets to abstract information from

the returns, while National Office analysts produced

aggregate statistics and tables from the perfected data

for customers [9].

In the 1980s, under the direction of Fritz Scheuren,

SOI adopted the Total Quality Organization (TQO)

methodology to improve its operations at the service

centers and in National Office, primarily in response

to a request from analysts in the Office of Tax Analysis

(OTA) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) for earlier deliveries of SOI data. SOI analysts identified vital

activities and formed cross-functional teams to work on

these issues. The staffs in the different branches in SOI

National Office looked for ways to develop work processes and data systems that could improve the quality

and timeliness of the tax return information they produced for each of the SOI programs within the boundaries of regular IRS pipeline processing. The research

included traveling to the service centers to meet with

employees for the purpose of identifying, prioritizing,

and recommending improvements in SOI control and

processing of returns in its various samples [10]. According to Scheuren, “[t]he focus on process quality

that Deming and Juran urge, while not really new, is

having a revolutionary impact on us, especially in its

Concentrating the editing function at six service

centers led to the formation of additional units of SOI

editors (former tax examiners and data transcribers) at

some of these sites and the growth in the volume of

available work at all the sites [14]. Most of these edit

units were now dedicated to processing only the returns

in SOI samples year round. SOI ensured the volume in

each of the six processing centers was sufficient to support an SOI edit unit working full-time on SOI work.

Besides the formation of SOI edit units, SOI created

“SOI control units,” at least in name, in each of the ten

centers’ files warehouses to support its edit units. After

regular pipeline processing, each of the centers stored

for about 2 years its portion of the total population of

returns that filers mailed each year. An SOI control

unit consisted of a small group of service center employees, usually working in a miscellaneous unit in the

files, whose major tasks were the control, processing,

and shipping of returns in SOI samples to the SOI edit

units and refiling returns after edit units completed pro- 40 -

Monitoring Statistics of Income Samples

cessing these returns. SOI discovered a truly dedicated

group of employees, who shared their files expertise and

experience in searching for and finding missing returns,

as well as assisting National Office analysts in finding

additional information about certain returns [15].

While one National Office cross-functional team

was working on the consolidation initiative, other teams

were developing new online computer applications and

installing new hardware at the centers, solely dedicated

to SOI processing. Beginning in 1991, SOI procured

and installed hardware upgrades and telecommunication equipment for support of online editing, at the

Cincinnati and Ogden service centers, and in National

Office. Telecommunication lines connected online terminals for the editors in each of the processing centers

to the SOI minicomputers in Cincinnati and Ogden,

designated SOI minicomputer hub sites. The integration of editing, data transcription, and error correction

into a single operation with these online terminals began

with several smaller SOI studies (Partnerships, Exempt

Organizations, Controlled Foreign Corporations, Foreign Tax Credit, and Individual Sales of Capital Assets)

and expanded to the major Corporation and Individual

Returns programs. Online editing brought significant

improvements in productivity, timeliness, and quality

because editors spent much less time waiting for nightly batch-mode feedback on errors and corrections and

much more time processing completely sets of the same

type of return [16]. Groups of tax examiners became

experienced subject-matter experts on how filers completed forms, as well as knowledgeable about the content of the forms in question. Having honed their skills

from frequent and consistent editing of a large number

of the same type of return, they accelerated processing

and improved the quality of the final product—perfected and more meaningful return information [17].

The availability of returns to edit on a continuous

flow basis was an important concern now that service

centers increased the size of their SOI edit staffs, and in

some cases improved the grade structure, to deal with

the increase in the volume of work. Would the edit units

have enough work? Would the editors’ work habits outpace the delivery of new returns to process? Would

waiting for work adversely affect the earlier training

and skill levels of the editors? Managers in the SOI edit

units identified one of the requirements for successful

execution of the new plan as timely delivery of a sufficient amount of returns. Timely delivery of work supported the efforts of centers to commit employees to

SOI projects the entire year, so long as SOI work was

available. Consequently, another National Office team

developed an online database application, called the SOI

Automated Control System (SOIACS), to monitor, first

the shipment of 1040 returns, then all returns [18]. A

next-generation version of the application, now named

STARTS, would facilitate the “systematic control” of

1040 returns some service centers would ship to other

centers for edit processing, as well as the movement of

returns between an edit unit and control unit within the

same center [19]. Subsequently, when operational, the

application had a computer terminal and printer located

in the files of each of the ten service centers and the edit

units [20]. It connected the control units with the edit

units and both with National Office.

Soon after implementation of the application, an edit

unit manager’s need to know what returns to edit first

(i.e., the editing priority) surpassed the need for timely

delivery of returns because SOI began committing to

deliver data to its customers by specific dates during the

year. The centers needed meaningful information to answer this and other questions. For example, a question

an SOI edit unit manager might raise is, “Which returns

in the cycle (weekly pull) should we process first?” But

a new SOI files clerk might ask, “If another IRS function has the return, can I pick another one on the same

shelf (for SOI)?” SOI editors might ask, “What returns

do I edit?” or “Where do I move this money amount?”

An SOI National Office statistician might ask, “Can we

ask the centers to locate the missing returns?” An SOI

economist might ask, “Can the centers edit more of the

Type XYZ returns (for example, Sample Code 20 or

Cross-Sectional returns) before the deadline?” Finally,

an SOI scanner might ask, “How do I replace the illegible page?” These questions demanded better monitoring not only of the physical location of the returns while

en route to the edit units, but also better visualization of

the metainformation of the returns—i.e., information

that describes the information about a sampled return

[21]. Now that SOI created an IT backbone to support

its workflow process, managers asked for more details

about what actually was in a cycle of returns [22].

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Koshansky



SOI Workflow Process

Compared to IRS administrative processing, which

captures some information from all of the filed tax returns, SOI studies collect much more information from

samples of returns through its transcription and editing.

SOI editors add value to the administrative record information the IRS collects. This additional value makes

it imperative to control and monitor the samples and

continuously improve the entire SOI workflow process

to guarantee consistency over time. Similarly, information about the processing tasks adds value to the

corresponding returns that flow through the workflow

process. The results of the efforts of the TQO teams in

collecting information at each phase of the process about

the processing tasks; the performers of these tasks; the

relative order of the tasks; the possible synchronization

of some of the tasks; the flow of information in support

of the tasks; and the tracking of the tasks, was not only

a better understanding of the process, but also a cache

of aggregated information.

The SOI workflow process is the general term for

the movement of samples of “documents” or “containers of information” (e.g., paper returns, electronic

records, and digitized images), through the SOI sampling, controlling, and editing processes [23]. Each

of these three major subprocesses, or phases, relate

to specific tasks that personnel at the service centers

and in National Office execute to produce statistics for

publication and delivery to customers. Both operating

procedures and computer systems support the efforts

of the people involved at each of the phases of the process. This convergence of procedures, databases, and

people forms an underlying base, or infrastructure, for

the functioning of the workflow process.

The process begins when a project analyst adds a

new tax or information form to an existing study or initiates a new study with an SOI customer. After the SOI

sampling programs at the IRS computing center, or the

Ogden Submission Processing Center, selects returns

for a particular study, the programs then create sets of

output files for loading into both IRS and SOI databases [24]. Phases of the process include selecting documents, pulling documents, monitoring the success rate

of pulling documents, finding missing returns, storing

documents, scanning documents, photocopying documents, ordering documents, shipping documents, editing documents, managing documents in the edit unit,

and releasing documents back to files. The process involves constant change and update. For example, under

the new competitive sourcing initiative, the SOI edit

units at the centers will assume tasks the SOI control

units once performed after the contractor begins managing the Files function at the centers. The infrastructure alleviates some of the problems associated with

such a change.

 SOI Monitoring Operations

The Statistics of Income Automated Return Tracking System (STARTS) is the framework for management

of returns and digitized records as they move through

the various phases of the SOI workflow process at the

centers. This process control system is a structured set

of related components (people, procedures, processes,

subsystems, databases, reports, etc.) SOI established

to accomplish the major task of monitoring its samples

from the point of selection to the point of delivery back

to files. STARTS (the system) consists of online database

applications, as well as standardized business processes,

work instructions, forms, and reports, all of which give

the different staffs at the centers and in National Office

increased visibility into the operations at the centers.

The SOI sampling program, sample selection

sheets, document chargeout forms, pulled returns,

shelved returns, and shipped workgroups of returns,

comprise part of a “signal” system for securing and

delivering the correct returns in an SOI sample to the

right service center for processing at the right time. The

other part is the database, developed for predictable

and manageable record keeping.

Database Management System

Borrowing from manufacturing operations, which

schedule and track the flow of materials through a process, STARTS (the database application) gives online

access to real-time data about one return, or a group of

returns (cycles, workgroups, scanned sets, photocopied

sets, etc.). Combining aspects of transaction processing, management information, decision support, and

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Monitoring Statistics of Income Samples

expert systems, the database is a collection of information about SOI samples, which users manage and

utilize when making decisions about planning, organizing, and controlling the processing of the samples

[25]. Top-level managers are concerned with planning:

Will the center meet the corporation program 75-percent cutoff on the scheduled date? Middle-level managers are concerned with organizing: Can the editors in

Unit 5 handle the consolidated 1120 returns? Front-line

managers are concerned with controlling: Are the editors; documents, scanned images, or electronic records;

and inventory and edit applications available to begin

editing the corporation returns?

Convergence of Aggregated Information

Because STARTS (the database application) stores

sample information and provides a traceable record of

user transactions or interchanges with that information, one example of its functioning is worth noting

here. A section of the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM)

notes the date the centers must supply transcribed and

edited 1040 return information to National Office for

“Advance Data” delivery to OTA and JCT. One year

earlier, mathematical statisticians produced the sampling specifications for the computer specialists who

wrote the programs that selected returns for the sample.

Among the possible inputs, the application reads and

stores return information that the sampling program at

the IRS computing center loaded into the SOI sample

control files, or the “One-Week Followup” date a clerk

entered in the STARTS cycle control screen. The application applies a set of logic statements (or SOI business

rules) to the loaded records, such as, if the Level Code

is equal to “1,” or the Continuous Work History Study

(CWHS) Code is equal to “1,” assign the return to the

“Cross-Sectional” category, or if the sample code of

that return is a specific value within a certain range, assign it, as well, to an additional category, called “Complex” edit. Possible outputs include the application

generating and displaying inventory totals, such as the

number of “Complex Cross-Sectional” returns, which

are available for the SOI edit unit manager to order, or

permitting the placement of a user-defined set of these

“Complex Cross-Sectional” returns into a STARTS

editor workgroup.

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 Application of Management and

Statistical Concepts

A “Golden Age of SOI Development” occurred at

the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s

in SOI National Office and the centers, which resulted in an infrastructure that is still in place today.

Inhouse “quality” teams of economists, management

and program analysts, statisticians, center managers,

editors, clerks, and information technology specialists

collaborated in the design, development, application,

and maintenance of this infrastructure. Based on the

research of American experts such as Frederick Winslow Taylor, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Walter Shewhart,

and of the War Department’s Training Within Industry,

SOI learned that continuous incremental improvements

benefit an organization [26].

Value

SOI increased the value of the tax returns in its

samples not only for its customers, but also for its suppliers at the service centers (see Table 1).

Table 1—Added Value At Each Phase of Workflow

Pull and control documents Document information

Location information

Cycle information

Pull information

Store documents

Warehouse information

Center information

Time information

Processing information

Order and ship documents

Return information

Project information

Edit priority information

Edit site information

Workgroup information

Center information

Complexity information

Deadline information

Process documents

Edit information

Scan information

Photocopy information

Critical case information

Split-screen information

Release documents

Quality review information

Refiling information

Koshansky

SOI assigned information, based on descriptive

statistics from different operational sources, to each

return record to expedite processing. Identifying and

storing information about a return, its edit status, and

its extra-processing requirements in a database made

the fulfillment of requests for any of this information

much easier. For example, the set of all possible outcomes of an operation at a particular phase of the process determined whether a return was released immediately after editing, instead of scanned. Consequently, a

supply chain concept replaced the original “shipping”

concept. The SOI infrastructure moved not only documents, electronic records, or digitized images, but also

information from unit to unit, center to center, headquarters to field office.

Complexity

The purpose of the process control system shifted

from one where the principal activity is moving documents from one center to another to one where the activity is helping the centers meet the program completion

deadlines, which National Office analysts set to provide timely tax return data to its customers. SOI managed complexity, sometimes even reducing it, when

it assigned returns in the various project samples to a

series of categories. Combinations of these categories

made it possible for the managers to break down the

amorphous cycles of returns into pieces that are easier

to control and work with. Since it is necessary to edit

some returns before others, the STARTS application

provided the capability to order specific sets of returns,

placing them in specific sets of editor workgroups.

These combinations supplemented the strata the math

statisticians created for sampling.

edit units and SOI control units know in advance from

the information in the database application what each

should provide as updates or requests and what each

should expect back as responses. When an edit unit orders 20 editor workgroups in which each workgroup

contains ten “Priority 1” corporation returns, it expects

the SOI control unit to assemble and send 200 such returns for distribution to five editors. Because the SOI

control unit marks a return as “missing” in STARTS if

it does not control that return, only what is in its control

is available for the SOI edit unit to order in STARTS.

Kaizen

The consolidation efforts changed SOI into an organization that continues to apply time-compressed,

action-oriented improvement methods to its various

projects. Many of the components and functions of the

STARTS application were the result of the energy generated through users’ participation, creativity, and the

pressure to produce rapidly tangible results.

 Conclusion

Standardization

The formation of cross-functional teams at the

centers, and between the centers and National Office,

and the development of a monitoring system and corresponding just-in-time electronic database application

(i.e., STARTS) brought a very strong focus on the entire SOI workflow process. No function could make a

change that affected another function unless they had

buy-in from that function. Managers, editors, clerks,

statisticians, economists, analysts, and computer specialists looked at samples from beginning to end, not

just a particular phase. The teams monitored the status of returns as they “flowed” through the workflow

process.

The STARTS application allows SOI to standardize certain processing tasks across the projects and the

service centers. It acts as a decoder that helps personnel

in National Office, the SOI edit units, and the SOI control units to understand each other’s variants of sample

processing. The corresponding system makes these different actors work together through the interchange of

information. They have to follow certain rules to avoid

miscommunication and guarantee that both the SOI

When the private company begins managing the

IRS files warehouses at the centers in late 2006 and

sends the first batch of pulled returns to the SOI edit

units, days before the arrival, SOI National Office and

its SOI edit units across the country will know what

returns the SOI sampling programs selected for the

various studies. Unfortunately, the company will not

exchange electronic records with STARTS per the contract. In addition, SOI will no longer have a presence

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Monitoring Statistics of Income Samples

in the files warehouses per the IRS performance work

statement. SOI personnel both in National Office and at

the edit units at the centers will not know the contents

of the shipments until the SOI edit units can open the

boxes or scan the carts. If the company transmitted an

electronic version of the shipment manifest for loading

into the STARTS database application, then the SOI

edit units might consider shelving the returns in workgroups for easy distribution to the editors, instead of

storing in a traditional files manner (e.g., cycle or type

of return).

In the future, if an SOI edit unit runs low on work,

the STARTS database application could recognize this

situation in the inventory and order more. Because this

application stores record information for each return in

the sample, whether processed as paper, an electronic

record, or a digitized image, SOI can easily repurpose

the record content, making it accessible from a variety

of devices.

the samples to the centers (suppliers) and National Office analysts (producers) and assured an acceleration of

the collection of data and the delivery of the final products to SOI customers. Monitoring daily the number of

missing and available returns can increase the likelihood the quality of the data is high [27].

 Acknowledgments

The views expressed in this paper represent the

opinions and conclusions of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Internal Revenue Service. The author thanks John Czajka for his comments

of an earlier draft of this paper. Any errors that remain

are the responsibility of the author.

 Endnotes

The database application increased the availability and use of data, consequently helping to improve

each center’s decisionmaking and visualize, synchronize, and automate phases of the workflow process.

The power in STARTS reports and screens is that they

display accurate, consistent, and timely data. SOI built

a reporting system so that managers know in real time

how they are meeting the needs of SOI customers. The

application replaced transactions done by phone, fax,

or mail. It replaced collecting and storing data manually in their own way.

In the late 1980s, SOI developed online data entry

and verification applications, which linked IRS processing sites across the country through a network of

computer terminals and databases. It applied this information network concept to the control and monitoring

of its samples. This connectivity and the value-added

information embedded in each sample record allowed

SOI personnel to monitor the status of each tax and information return as it moved through the different phases

of the SOI workflow process from the files warehouses

to its edit units and back. Incorporating a wide range of

information about the sampling criteria, the study objectives and requirements, and the logistical demands

associated with processing enhanced the meaning of

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[1] In addition to the Office of Tax Analysis and the

Joint Committee on Taxation, another important

customer is the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

[2] National Research Council (2005), Principles

and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency,

Third Edition, Committee on National Statistics,

Margaret E. Martin, Miron L. Straf, and

Constance F. Citro, editors, Division of

Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,

The National Academies Press, Washington, DC,

p. 25. In addition, see 26 USC Sec. 6108,

Statistical publications and studies, which

describes the SOI mandate.

[3] The SOI workflow process is the interchange

of documents, record information, and tasks

through the SOI sampling, controlling, and editing processes.

[4] As a stakeholder and customer, SOI hopes to

meet with company representatives and the IRS

Files Government Project Management Office

to discuss pertinent issues about its samples.

After announcing the awarding of the contract,

the IRS announced two positions, one a senior

manager position, the other a supervisory quality

assurance specialist. While a company assumed

responsibility for the work performed in files, it

Koshansky

is necessary to manage the relationship between

this company and other IRS offices and check

the quality of the company’s work, etc.

[5] The company will operate at the IRS facilities in

Methuen, MA, Fresno, CA, Norcross, GA, Austin, TX, Ogden, UT, Kansas City, MO, Florence,

KY, and Philadelphia, PA. The records centers

are part of the National Archives and Records

Administration. They store the records of a Federal agency.

[6] In addition, SOI is a major requester of electronic records, which include electronically-filed

records.

[7] Competitors for documents include four different business operating divisions: Large and

Mid-Size Business (LMSB), Small Business/

Self-Employed (SB/SE), Wage and Investment

(W&I), and Tax-Exempt and Government Entities (TEGE).

[8] The acronym “TQO” refers to Total Quality

Organization, a commitment on the part of an

organization to advocate quality and continuous

improvement in all its tasks.

[9] The general term, “regular pipeline processing,”

refers to the actions of IRS workers who handle

tax and information returns from the time the

documents first arrive at an IRS service center

through the posting of information at the IRS

Computing Center and finally the shelving of the

documents in the files area.

[10] SOI wove supplier and customer data into the

process improvements. It captured any available

information relevant to the SOI projects at the

centers.

[12] The 1990 plan for distributing work to the remaining six processing centers had Andover and

Brookhaven centers shipping their individual

and corporation returns to the center in Ogden.

Memphis shipped its individual returns to the

Austin center and corporation returns to the

center in Cincinnati. Philadelphia shipped both

individual and corporation returns to Cincinnati.

The Atlanta, Fresno, and Kansas City centers

continued to process their samples of individual

and corporation returns. Doug Shearer and Dan

Trevors coordinated the plans and issued regular

status reports to keep management informed of

the activities involved in this consolidation. For

the Individual program, the consolidation was

effective beginning with the Cycle 9053 End-ofYear Tickler (EOYTICK) processing for the Tax

Year (TY) l989 Study and continued with the

TY 1990 Study, which began with the selection

of returns in Martinsburg Computing Center

(MCC) Cycle 9104 (January 1991). Consolidation of the Corporation program began earlier

with the TY 1989 study commencing only in

Atlanta, Austin, Cincinnati, Fresno, Kansas City,

and Ogden in August 1990. The nonprocessing

centers began shipping their corporation returns

to the edit sites later in the year per SOI notification. Beginning in 1992, the edit processing

of the returns in the Individual and Corporation

programs resided in only five centers, when SOI

discontinued editing at the Fresno center.

[13] The centers were located in Andover, MA,

Brookhaven, NY, Memphis, TN, and Philadelphia, PA. A team of managers from National Office traveled to these centers to discuss issues and

concerns of the managers, editors, and clerks.

[14] SOI editors abstracted information from returns,

including moving some information to the correct fields on the returns. Tax examiners in nonSOI units at the centers checked and prepared

for data transcribing those fields on the returns

the IRS deemed important in determining tax

liability.

[11] Scheuren, F. (1991), Comment on “The Federal

Statistical System’s Response to Emerging Data

Needs” by Jack E. Triplett, Journal of Economic

and Social Measurement, IOS Press, Volume 17,

Numbers 3, 4, p. 190.

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Monitoring Statistics of Income Samples

[15] Clerks in the SOI control units did not edit

returns. Instead, they pulled returns, looked for

missing returns, photocopied returns, scanned

returns, packaged returns, and shipped returns to

list just some of their duties. One manager commented: “I am a Unit Supervisor in a large unit. I

have IMF SOI, AIMS, Cycle, Quality Review …

as well as pulling and refiling. SOI is just a part

of this unit. We have maintained a record of high

accuracy and very few missing documents for a

few years. This [is] … due to the integrity, dependability, and dedication of the staff assigned

to SOI. They have accomplished a lot with

very few people. So, what STARTS means to

me is reflected in what the staff commented on

… If they are happy and satisfied and feel that

STARTS helps them perform their duties more

efficiently and accurately due to the increased

speed and easier access, then I am happy. If they

feel that STARTS helps them maintain a low

missing record, and this record is reflected on

the SOI reports for Andover, then I am happy

with STARTS. I do not use STARTS myself,

but I do review the reports that these employees

generate.”

Team provided hardware support. The SOI

operating branches, as well as the service center

files and edit operations, defined, collected, and

presented the user requirements. A manager’s

comment: “The STARTS system is a valuable

tool used on a daily basis. It helps track the work

… as well as when it is edited within the edit

teams. When a return is marked missing and we

find it attached to another return, we are able to

go to the remarks [screen] at that time to document the condition. The STARTS system is also

used to look up prior-year information. If an EIN

is the only information you have to track component parts of a separated 1504C return, the

STARTS system can provide much information

on this. This helps us to locate additional return

parts in order to edit a more complete document.

STARTS provides many options in ordering the

work. It is broken down by return type, three

asset class categories, and the sample code only

selection of returns. This gives management

the necessary range to order specific types of

work at all times but is especially helpful when

nearing various project completion dates. As

transition continues here in Ogden, we are very

interested in the future STARTS process and the

new and evolving ways in which we will utilize

the system. We look forward to the changes and

future training that is available to all leads as

well as the clerks and managers.”

[16] Editors usually waited the next day to receive

feedback because centers scheduled SOI batch

programs around regular pipeline batch jobs.

[17] It is difficult for an editor to maintain his or her

skill level if he or she moves frequently from

one project to another, though the frequent

changes may guarantee work for that employee.

[19] National Office analysts held a planning session

with service center personnel the week of June

18, 1990, at the Austin Service Center to collect

ideas, customer needs, and specific requirements for the SOI Automated Control System

(SOIACS). Back in National Office, the team

reviewed the requirements, analyzed the consequences of implementing a control system, and

wrote descriptive and detailed requirements and

specifications, which bridged the requirements

and the design of the application. Cincinnati

Service Center assumed primary responsibility for the Oracle program development of this

new application, with Don Flynn as the lead

programmer. Tentative plans involved piloting

the application in one processing center and one

[18] The developers considered SOIACS the first

step in building a system to manage its samples

in an online environment. SOI planned to build

subsystems to manage quality, resources, and

sample selection as part of the modernization effort because the service center statisticians were

retiring or service center management considered them irrelevant. Dan Trevors of the Quality

Support Team and Doug Shearer of the Coordination Team shared responsibility for developing

the SOI controlling and shipping process. Linda

Taylor of the Distributed Processing System

- 47 -

Koshansky

nonprocessing center in the spring of 1991 for

the Individual returns project. The SOI programming staffs at the Cincinnati and Ogden Service

Centers developed the next generation of the

application, which National Office renamed the

Statistics of Income Automated Return Tracking

System (STARTS). The Cincinnati staff developed and maintained the Individual Master File

(IMF) version of STARTS, while the Ogden staff

programmed and supported the Business Master

File (BMF) version. In 2000, both programming

staffs converted the text-based applications to a

graphical user interface (GUI) application.

application still distinguishes these two sets of

returns. See Czajka, J. and Walker, B. (1990),

Combining Panel and Cross-Sectional Selection

in an Annual Sample of Tax Returns, 1989 Proceedings of the American Statistical Association,

Section on Survey Research Methods.

[23] The use of digital images, instead of paper, as

source documents for editing is a new phase in

the SOI workflow process. Other SOI processes

include data cleaning and completion, weighting

and estimation, and publishing tables and user

analyses.

[24] Systems acceptability testing (SAT) occurs

before the computing centers execute the SOI

sampling programs. Sample design and sample

selection are topics for further discussion in

other papers.

[20] Connections between the center terminals and

the host minicomputer in Cincinnati occurred

through PACNET.

[21] In the case of tax returns in SOI samples, this

is metainformation about relational database

properties; data warehousing; business intelligence; general IT; IT metadata management; file

systems; and image, program, project, and study

schedules.

[25] Stair, R.M. (1992), Principles of Information

Systems: A Managerial Approach, Boyd and

Fraser Publishing Company, Boston.

[22] SOI assigned information to each return: project,

sample, files location, edit site, editor, delivery

dates, level of edit complexity, document source

(paper, electronic, or image). One result was a

sample redesign, which embedded a panel within

the annual cross-sectional samples. The STARTS

- 48 -

[26] Maurer, R. (2004), One Small Step Can Change

Your Life: The Kaizen Way, Workman Publishing Company, New York.

[27] Improving data quality through editing, imputation, and record linkage is impossible if the

administrative records that contain the data are

unavailable or incomprehensible.