4 Elements of Interoperability

4.1 Five Elements

The e-GIF policies and standards are usefully divided up into five element. Each element relies on previous categories being present and working, e.g. data for interoperability relies on interconnection for the delivery of the characters. Surrounding all of these categories is:

• the overarching e-GIF guiding principles and polices outlined in sections 3 and 4 of this document; and

• the governance framework for the e-GIF (once finalised).

Business Process Interface: covering matters needed to allow managers to map processes to support inter-agency business solutions. These processes will also define the services to be presented based on the business solution. This element of the e-GIF will be developed in future versions based on the work underway in the Government Services Online project

Service Delivery: covering matters needed to provide answers to queries from clients: what types of services will be provided, when services are to be expected, how directories that define available services will be maintained (relying on all other elements) -the NZGLS is a component (albeit with a specific focus).

Access: covering matters needed for obtaining access to information: security (authentication), expected features of defined access methods including presentation for disabled clients, range of expected transactions e.g. peer to peer (relying on data integration element) -the Web Standards are a component (albeit with a specific focus).

Information Sharing and Exchange (Data Integration) : covering matters needed to allow for the recognition of data: codes, recognition methods, interpretation, including formats used (relying on interconnection elements).

Interconnection: covering matters needed for the exchange of information between a user and an entity of e-government: transmission mechanisms, transfer mechanisms (interfaces) that link the transfer medium (the Internet in this case) and an end party, security and protocols for managing the connection.

4.2 Layer Model

The following diagram presents a model of how the various elements interact to provide an interoperability solution between agencies.

A business-oriented person would logically approach an inter-agency project with a business need that requires a solution. Managers in the agencies involved in the project would agree and sign-off on the need to produce an inter-agency solution. The provision of this solution would depend on the processes they require to solve their problem, the services or business functions they expect to use in solving their needs and which people they agree should get access to the solution and what data / information they may have access to and / or update. This may be called the outside-in approach.

Conversely, a technically oriented person, when presented with the business need and the functional requirements to 'build' a solution between agency firewalls would start with determining which applications are required to "hand-shake", and how. The data exchange would then be agreed between agencies, including formats (syntax and meanings) and translations as required to agreed schemas etc. Common access controls could then be applied using agreed directory schemas including the design of alternate presentation formats for various customer needs. The shared information / system could then be presented as a web service to be called from another location using agreed interfaces. This may be called the inside-out approach.

An assumption made in the presentation of the model is that agencies self-manage their internal environments, based on the application of the ISO 7 layer model.

Figure 3: The e-GIF Layer Model

The e-GIF Layer Model