Business-to-Business e-commerce standards based on XML technology - The RosettaNet consortium -

This case describes the evolution of e-GIF, the standardisation at the heart of the United Kingdom government’s strategic vision in 2000 of making all public services available through the internet by 2005. E-GIF may be viewed as partially combining metastandardisation, defining the pre-existing standards to be used in government interoperability, combined with the framework to develop schemas and meta-data for integration. The framework has evolved through six versions in five years and its use has grown from a narrow beginning in limited government departments into a process spanning beyond central government into regional and local administrations. The processes for developing and redefining standards have drawn upon the open paradigm seen in wider standardisation, with standards published for open comment and consultation. It is seen that a process which initially was an island of standardisation has increasingly become integrated into wider egovernment standardisation, drawing on standards developed elsewhere where available and playing an active part in European standardisation and global standardisation through participation in OASIS. Most significantly for standards dynamics, as the process has grown in scope it has provided a coordination mechanism and conduit for expertise transfer between departments that had traditionally developed their IT systems by developing fresh specifications rather than adapting existing standards. Introduction: laying out the background The UK e-government strategy was set in ‘e-Government: a strategic framework for public services in the Information Age’ published in April 2000. The objective is to apply ebusiness methods throughout the UK public sector. The framework also aims to support the target set by the Prime Minister that all public services should be available online by 2005. Four principles guide the overall e-government strategy: (1) building services around citizens’ choices; (2) making government and its services more accessible; (3) fostering social inclusion; and (4) using information better. This strategy was revised in April 2005 when the government published a new national Digital Strategy aimed at tackling the persistent digital divide and low uptake of e-government services by citizens. The new strategic framework is intended for publication in autumn 2005 and will be driven by three objectives: (1) making the UK a world leader in digital excellence; (2) constructing a robust strategy to achieve the digital vision; and (3) tackling social exclusion and bridging the digital divide. A number of initiatives underlie the UK e-government strategy. These include the UK online initiative launched in September 2000 and the UKonline.gov.uk citizen portal in December 2000 (http://www.number-10.gov.uk/su/delivery/indexFrame.htm), the eGovernment Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) first published in October 2000 (http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/egif.asp), the launch of the Government Gateway in February 2001 (http://www.gateway.gov.uk/), the launch of the National Strategy of Local e-Government in November 2002 (http://www.localegov.gov.uk/), the Universal Bank launched in April 2003 (http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content2?mediaId=load102008&catId=500110), the e-government portal for business BusinessLin,gov.uk in November 2003 (http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home?&ref=http%3A//europa.eu.int/idab c/servlets/Doc%3Fid%3D21032&domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk), the launch of the first phase of Directgov, the UK government online portal for citizens in March 2004 (http://www.direct.gov.uk/Homepage/fs/en), and the launch of Government Connect in March 2005 aiming to help local authorities to improve their efficiency and connect more effectively (http://www.govconnect.gov.uk/ccm/portal/). This paper discusses the development of e-GIF. First published in October 2000, eGIF sets out the UK government’s technical policies and standards for achieving interoperability and information systems integration across the public sector. e-GIF is an Internet based approach to enable information to flow seamlessly across public sector organizations and ultimately aimed to provide improved access to information for UK citizens and businesses. Defining the essential pre-requisite for joined-up and web enabled government, the e-GIF is a cornerstone in the overall e-government strategy: it adopts the Internet and World Wide Web standards for all government systems, the XML as the key standard for data interchange and the browser the key interface for access and manipulation of all information. The framework is based on standards that are well supported by the market in an effort to reduce the cost and risk for government systems. Finally, e-GIF provides an implementation strategy using the UK GovTalkTM website as the mechanism for consultation and communication. The e-GIF standards are mandated for all new systems and for all outward facing legacy systems, and apply to all interactions between UK government departments, between UK government and the wider public sector, between UK government and citizens/businesses, and between UK government and foreign governments. There are five rationales that currently drive the selection of e-GIF specifications: interoperability – e-GIF adopts only the specifications that are relevant to systems’ interconnectivity, data integration, e-services access and content management metadata are specified market support – the specifications selected are widely supported by the market, and are likely to reduce the cost and risk of government information systems scalability – the specifications selected have the capacity to be scaled to satisfy changed demands made on the system, such as changes in data volumes, number of transactions or number of users openness – the specifications are documented and available to the public international standards – preference is given to standards with the broadest remit, so appropriate international standards will take preference over EU standards, and EU standards will take preference over UK standards. There are currently 6 major versions of e-GIF, with annual reviews of the e-GID framework and bi-annual updates of the Technical policies and specifications part.