New Online Tool for Seasonal Adjustment

Seasonal adjustment of time series can be a hassle. The softwares used by statistical agencies (X-13, X-12, TRAMO-SEATS) have tons of fantastic options, but the steep learning curve prevents users from taking advantage of the functionality of these packages,
or from using them at all.

The R package seasonal simplifies the task by providing an interface to X-13, the newest seasonal adjustment
software by the
US Census Bureau. It combines and extends the capabilities of the older X-12ARIMA and TRAMO-SEATS software packages. The most simple use of seasonal requires the application of the main function to a time series, which invokes automated procedures
that work well in many circumstances:

seas(AirPassengers)

A new shiny based website is showcasing the use of
seasonal and allows for online adjustment of time series, without the need to download and install
seasonal. The AirPassengers series is set as the default series, but can be replaced by any uploaded series. There are other demo series that show the use of the software to adjust Indian Diwali or Chinese
New Year effects.

The site allows to adjust most parameters of X-13, and to view and download a substantial part of its output. Frequently used options can be chosen from a drag and drop menu, while less often used options can be chosen by manipulating the R-Call itself.

Here are some of the most interesting features of the website:

Frequently Used Options

Frequently used options of X-13 can be modified using the drop down selectors. Each change will result in a re-estimation of the seasonal adjustment model. The R-call, the output and the summary are updated accordingly.

Choosing the Output

A substantial part of the output of X-13ARIMA-SEATS can be shown on the website. Click and drag to zoom into the graph. Double click to restore the original view.

Manipulating the R-Call

The R-Call to seasonal can be modified and run online. In the picture below, the ARIMA model has been adjusted to include an autoregressive parameter of order 2. Press the button to execute the modified call.

Upload and Download

User defined series can be uploaded, importing from Excel or CSV. Also, all viewable series can be downloaded as Excel or CSV.

Chinese New Year, Indian Diwali

Chinese New Year or Indian Diwali support is included out of the box and can be selected from the drop down menu. Adjustment for these holidays is as easy as adjusting Easter effects.

Running X-13 Examples Online

The examples from the official manual of X-13 can be run directly on the website. The collection of examples can found

here.





Try it out!