www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Interoperability at the Pan-European Level
John Borras
Assistant Director
Technology Policy
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Why Interoperability?• Modern joined-up and web-enabled government, at local,
national and European levels, demands joined-up, interoperable, information systems
– working in a seamless and coherent way across the public
sector
– aligned to the the global information revolution
– providing citizens and businesses with better access to
government services
– enable the exchange of information between Member States.
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
It’s role in the delivery of e-Government Services
• Delivering e-Government services requires agreed interoperability specifications
• Inter and Intra government communications require agreed interoperability specifications
• Means of harnessing data in legacy systems in short term whilst setting the standards for new systems in the longer term
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Local AuthoritiesDepartmental
SystemsOther Public
sector Systems
Access Channels
Infrastructure
Citizen & Businesses
Government Systems
GSI
Government Gateway
Private Sector Portals
Government portalwww.ukonline.gov.uk
Local Authority Portals
Multiple Access Channels
DTV Mobile Call Centre PC
Users
e-go
vern
men
t Ser
vice
s
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Overview of UK’s Experience
• UK Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) first published in September 2000, now on version 4
• Since then significant interest from other countries in EU and rest of world
• Many countries are working on Interoperability policies and specifications, focussing very much on the technical aspects of interoperability
• Suppliers are very supportive of e-GIF
• Our experience suggests there is a real demand for a European Interoperability Framework
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Scope of e-GIF
• Focuses on 4 aspects:
– Interconnectivity - specifications for systems
interconnection
– Data integration - specifications for data sharing
– Information access - specifications for accessing
information by a range of delivery channels
– Content management - specifications for the addition
of metadata to government resources
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
e- GIF – Headline Decisions• Adopts Internet and World Wide Web Standards for all
public sector systems
• Adopts XML as the key standard for data interchange
• Makes the Browser the key interface for access and manipulation of all information
• Assign Metadata to government information
• Adopts standards that are well supported by the market
• Internet based Implementation Strategy through UK GovTalk
• e-GIF is mandated on all UK Public Sector Systems
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Related Initiatives
• IDA’s European Interoperability Framework project
• IDA’s Architectural Guidelines
• IDA’s MiREG project
• OASIS e-Gov Technical Committee
• Members States’ interoperability projects
www.e-envoy.gov.uk
Scope of Pan-European Framework
• Interoperability policies, eg adoption of WWW standards, use of XML, information access via Browsers
• Agreed technical specifications, e.g. interconnectivity standards, XML schemas, data standards, metadata
• Management arrangements
• Change Control procedures
• Compliance processes