This guide is intended to introduce you to Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server by carrying out a simple and hopefully typical research task using the IMF's Government Finance Statistics (GFS).

Visualise and download the State Government cash revenue figures for Argentina from 1990 - 2004.

It is divided into three stages:

1. Finding and selecting the data
2. Visualising the data
3. Downloading the data

Approx. time to complete: 20 minutes.

A4 worksheet version of this task can be printed in or pdf format.

For help, please contact the ESDS International team.

Stage i) Finding and selecting the data

Choose IMF GFS data from the 'Direct Links to data' drop down list on the ESDS International website, or via the following url - http://esds.mcc.ac.uk/wds gfs/ to access the IMF GFS data.

Input UK HE/FE institutional username and password in the login window. If you do not have a UK HE/FE institutional id, please visit the login help pages within the Access and Preservation section of ESDS.

If you have not already registered with the ESDS you will then be automatically redirected to complete an online registration after which you will need to agree to the IMF special conditions prior to being able to access the data using only your UK HE/FE institutional username and password.

On entering the Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server site for the IMF GFS data you should see a folder labeled International Monetary Fund. Within this folder will be a folder labeled Government Finance Statistics.

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Expand the Government Finance Statistics Current > Argentina folder to display its contents.

Scroll down list of reports to find and select [GFS Nov 2004] [Argentina] [Summary Tables 1 or 2] [State Government] [National Currency]. The report will open in the tabular view.

On the left hand side of the screen you will see the available dimensions under Columns, Rows and Other headings. The current dimension is highlighted, for example in the screen shot below the Series dimension is highlighted and a list of the series items available for selection within that dimension are shown on the right hand side of the page.

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In the 'Series' dimension view select the series item - Revenue | Cash [GF_213_cA_SG_1] (Scale: Millions; 1 d.p.).

Each GFS series item title on the Beyond 20/20 WDS interface has a unique identifier known as a series code which is a character code in square brackets, e.g. [GF_213_cA_SG_1].

The unique identifier for each series is the code in square brackets [ ] explained as follows:

• Character 1-2: Domain identifier (always GF for GFS data)
• Character 4-6: Country code
• Character 8: Data Type (reporting basis, i.e. cash or accrual)
• Character 9: Level of Formula Indicator (ref. code) where A = Summary Tables 1 or 2, B = Detailed Tables 1 - 8, Z = Adjustment Lines.
• Character 11-12: Institutional Sector where BA = Budgetary, EA = Extra-Budgetary, SS = Social Security, CC = Central Gov. Consol., CG = Consol. Central Gov.SG = State Government, LG = Local Government, CT = General Gov. Consol., GG = Consol. Gen. Gov.
• Character 14-20: GFS Classification Code (Concept). See list of classification codes.

For example, the series name chosen for this example is broken down as follows:

GF = Government Finance Statistics
213 = Country code for Argentina
c = Cash reporting basis
A = Summary Tables
SG = State Government
1 = Revenue

Move onto next dimension 'Year' using the 'Select Items to View' icon from the toolbar. Click on 'Year'.

Note: You can also switch dimensions by clicking on the dimension name - both options are illustrated in the screen shot below.

Tick 'Select Range' and click on 1990 tick box followed by 2004 tick box. This will select all years within the range specified, i.e. the fourteen year period from 1990 to 2004.

Note: There is a new profile function in Beyond 20/20. Profiles enable you to save your selections from each dimension (for example, country or series) of the database. When you return to the database you can re-activate your previously saved profiles. Selections in each dimension are saved individually so you can save selections in as many or few dimensions are you want.

For example, say you wish to select data for a number of countries. Once you have selected your countries you can then save this selection as a named profile by clicking on the profile icon then choosing 'Save current selections as a profile' option: Beyond 20/20 will then remember the countries you have selected and store this selection as a named profile for you to use in future sessions. The procedure can be repeated for any other dimension of the database.

Each time you log on, Beyond 20/20 will recognize who you are and can retrieve your previously saved selections for that database. This means that the next time you wish to run the same query you can click on the profile icon then select 'Activate profile' to reopen your saved selections. The profiles will be saved until you choose to delete them.

You have now completed the Finding and Selecting data stage and can move on to visualising your data.

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Stage ii) Visualising the data

There are two ways of visualising data in Beyond 20/20 WDS - in chart or table format.

View the report in table format by using the 'Show Table' button at the top of the screen.

In the default view of the table which appears, the series are shown as rows and the years are shown as columns.

Note: the format of the table can be rearranged by dragging and dropping the dimension headings. You can also switch dimensions by selecting the 'Set Dimension Order' icon.

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View the report in chart format by using the 'View as Chart' tool at the top of the screen.

In the example screen shot below, the chart shows the rising State Government revenue figures for Argentina in the period 1990 -2004

Use the 'Chart Types' icon to change chart type and the 'View printable version' icon to print the chart.

To save the chart image, use Alt + Print Screen and paste into a paint program as right clicking to 'Save picture as' only saves the chart itself and not the chart key or heading.

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Stage iii) Downloading the data

Return to the Table tab to download the data to your pc. Manipulate the table into desired format using the dimension headers as the table layout and contents are downloaded exactly as they appear on screen.

Use the 'Download' icon and select your desired download format.

The rest of the process is the same as downloading any file from the web.

Congratulations you have successfully completed the IMF GFS tutorial - now you are ready to do some serious work with your downloaded data!

Please see the IMF GFS dataset user guide for further information on the contents of the database.

If you would like to move to another database you can select the 'Quick links to macro data' drop down box at the top of the page then select the database you require.

Tested on Netscape 7 and Internet Explorer 7

Note: All Beyond 20/20 images used on this page are Copyright © Beyond 20/20 Inc. All rights reserved.

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