1. What is interoperability and how will it be

1.1. Introduction

Version 2 of the New Zealand e-government strategy, published December 2001 defines Interoperability as:

"The ability of government organisations to share information and integrate information and business processes by use of common standards."

This ability clearly shows that the e-GIF is a core and collective public sector asset, providing one of the common foundations of the e-government environment. It is critical to achievement of e-government goals, providing the capability for any agency to join with another electronically using known and agreed approaches to do so.

This underpins several e-government objectives. In particular, use of the e-GIF enhances the capability of agencies to:

• integrate information and services across agency boundaries; and

• provide easy electronic access to government information and services for individuals and businesses.

This means that the e-GIF supports improvement of the customer experience of government, and increases in the cost-effectiveness of government organisations. In effect, it performs the same function in e-government as the road code does on the highways.

1.2. How this document is structured

This section describes the way the e-GIF is organised and how to find the elements.

The material is arranged in five parts:

• Sections 1, 4 and Appendix C provide an overview of the framework, who was involved in its development, what interoperability means, the context for use of the e-GIF and an introduction to its key elements.

• Sections 2 and 3 provide the overarching principles and management policies for the management of inter-agency projects. Governance arrangements are summarised in section 2.

• Sections 5-8 contain the essence of the e-GIF - the policies, standards, and guidelines.

• Appendix A contains a summary table of all the technical standards within the e-GIF.

• Appendix D is a glossary of terms used within the e-GIF.

1.3. Why interoperate?

A primary purpose for an Interoperability Framework is to facilitate the delivery of integrated services by government agencies (refer section 2.1). It will also contribute to future efficiency gains.

The Interoperability Framework has two major components:

• a 'technical' framework of interoperability policies, standards and guidelines expected to be adopted by a range of government agencies; and

• governance arrangements for the management and maintenance of the technical framework.

Interoperability is NOT about a central agency simply dictating common systems and process for agencies to adhere to. The policies, standards, and guidelines provide a framework that removes the need to prescribe the use of the same hardware and software by disparate agencies.

1.4. Achieving interoperability

Interoperability and use of the e-GIF applies in the following cases:

Figure 1. Interoperability requirements: This table shows that interoperability will apply when the delivery of the service involves more than two agencies or a community of interest.

1.5. The physical environment

The primary assumption when using the e-GIF is that it is applied externally to agencies [ The adoption of the e-GIF must allow for a sensible transition. Recognising this, on 13 June 2002 Cabinet agreed that current information systems, software applications, or electronic data/information resources do not need to immediately comply with the NZ e-GIF.] , that is, it defines the firewall-to-firewall environment for inter-agency projects. To achieve this, use of the e-GIF is based on the concept of a "bolt on" interface that can be applied to any government agency (and/or its contracted third parties).

The bolt-on interface uses open standard protocols as a means of communication and access using Internet protocols. Data sent through the interface is converted to a common standard understood by all the other government interfaces. Data received through an interface is converted to a form that can be understood by the individual agency back office systems.

Any two or more departments that have such an interface can communicate directly with each other and exchange data in a way that is clearly understood by both regardless of the back office systems in place. The implementation of these interfaces facilitates government department and agency interoperability through, for example, providing a framework that supports agencies in:

• exchanging structured data;

• exchanging metadata;

• provision and collection of metadata;

• exchanging and/or integrating business processes;

• exchanging documents;

• exchanging images; and

• exchanging multimedia.