AbstractThe concept of generalized systems for survey processing has gained importance in recent years because of resource constraints. Statistics Canada has adopted a policy to develop generalized systems to the extent that is feasible and cost‐efficient. A generalized edit and imputation (E&I) system is of prime importance. An E&I system is proposed that describes the overall edit and imputation function as comprising five component functions: edit specification, edit analysis, edit application, error localization, and imputation. Implementation of the E&I model, especially for numerical data, is discussed. The focus is on methodology rather than system