Assessment Lifecycle

Can assessments be added, changed, or retired?

Yes. A series may be initiated, terminated, or changed at any time, driven by the availability and quality of raw data from the sources in each country. Because most data comes from public official sources, the continuity of an assessment ultimately depends on those sources continuing to publish data that meets the assessment's requirements — and the commitment is to quality over continuity: an assessment that can no longer be produced reliably is changed or retired rather than published at a lower standard.

Every addition, change, and retirement is documented in the monthly, publicly available Intratec Release Notes. Methodology changes are additionally announced in advance, with a defined transition period, before they take effect; how such changes reach subscribers is detailed on the Model Selection and Evaluation page and in the Validation & Accuracy section.

What happens when an assessment's data falls short?

When data for an assessment is insufficient, inadequate, or unavailable for a prolonged period, one of four approaches is adopted, in the service of keeping the published series representative:

• Use a model — estimate the assessment with a model built on good previous and/or related data.
• Change the data source — replace the failing source with another that meets the requirements.
• Alter the assessment — adjust the assessment's definition so it can be produced reliably from the data available.
• Discontinue the assessment — if the lack of suitable data persists, retire the series rather than publish unreliable figures.

Short-term gaps — a source that is merely lagging or temporarily unavailable — are handled earlier in the pipeline through model-generated Preliminary estimates and quick source replacement, as described on the Source Timing and Coverage page.

How are assessments kept relevant over time?

Relevance is maintained through the methodology review process itself: methodologies are reviewed continuously, with a formal review of all methodologies and methodology documents at least annually. Subscriber feedback is a standing criterion in those reviews — alongside alterations in the raw data and modeling enhancements — so the assessments evolve with what readers report needing clarified or improved. Any resulting change is announced in advance with a transition period and documented in the monthly Intratec Release Notes.