Access-eGov
Encyclopedia
Access-eGov is a 36-month STReP
research and development project, co-funded by the European Commission
within the Sixth Framework Programme under the Information Society Technologies (IST) priority, contract No. FP6-2004-27020. This project addresses the strategic objective SO 2.4.13 Strengthening the Integration of the ICT research effort in an Enlarged Europe .
The Access-eGov project is aiming at the development and validation of the platform for composition of government services into process definitions, enabling Semantic interoperability
of particular e-Government services. The solution is based on the semantic technologies
as enhanced WSMO conceptual framework
, WSML
ontologies, semantic annotation
of services, their discovery
, composition, mediation, and executing in the SOA
environment. Adopting a citizen-centric approach , Access-eGov customises the workflow
of electronic and traditional (i.e. face-to-face) services according to the personal needs of each citizen.
of existing governmental services in existing or newly created e-Government solutions on local, national, and Pan-European levels. The interoperability was recognised as a precondition for the implementation of European eGovernment services in the eEurope Action Plan 2005 and is explicitly addressed as one of the four main challenges in the I2010 EU strategy. It is recommended to build the solutions supporting interoperability of governmental services on standards, open specifications and open interfaces .
From the three aspects of interoperability
(i.e. organisational, semantic, and technical ), the Access-eGov project is particularly focused on the semantic interoperability. The central idea is to ensure that the meaning of the shared and exchanged information is captured, formalised, and is understood in the same way by the people, applications, and institutions involved in the eGovernment solution. It can be achieved by enriching the provided governmental services and other information resources with a machine-readable semantic description
, applying the semantic technologies
as shared domain ontologies, formal ontology languages (e.g. RDF
, OWL
, WSML
), Semantic Web Services
and corresponding frameworks as e.g. RDF-S
, WSDL
, OWL-S
, and WSMO
(see also the list of Related projects). Within the Access-eGov, the WSMO framework
was selected as a basic implementation platform.
and connectivity of governmental services for citizens and businesses. Technical objectives are focused on the development of the software platform and tools for integration of various types of governmental services on a semantic basis, including a methodology
for maintenance of the solution by public administrations.
A resource WSML ontology
covering basic Domain knowledge
and processes for locating and contracting e-Government services was created for the three pilot applications of the project. The requirement-driven approach was used by public administrations to describe the services, goals, and scenarios. The core Access-eGov system was implemented as an extension of the WSMO
conceptual model . The solution includes two client side tools – Personal Assistant client, which provides browsing of the scenarios and services for citizens, and Annotation tool enabling semantic annotation of services for public administrations.
The Access-eGov solution was tested within the first trial in autumn 2007 . Results of the testing were evaluated and were taken as a background for further improvements. During the second half of 2008, the Access-eGov project approached its final phase, which included a second trial phase loop for all three pilot applications and a final evaluation of the achieved results.
. It was focused on the life event "marriage" and related procedures. The registry offices of eleven municipalities from Schleswig-Holstein have been involved in this field test. The main aim was to test the integration of different web resources containing the service information and making them accessible via a single platform but still leaving the data and its maintenance in the municipalities' legacy systems.
and the municipality of Michalovce
. It was focused on supporting citizens during the process of obtaining a Building permit, including complex services related to Land-use planning and approval proceedings. The objective was to make the whole process easier and transparent for citizens, to provide all relevant information about necessary services in a comprehensive and user-friendly way, and finally to improve the service from the citizen's point of view.
City Hall. The user scenario involved four main user goals: registration in local government, registration in statistical office, registration in tax
office and registration in Social insurance
agency. The objective of the pilot application was to provide a single entry point where users (citizens and entrepreneurs) can obtain relevant information and are properly navigated by the system within the whole complex process.
Project outcomes from the German Field Test were preliminarily presented in November 2008 at the annual Mediatage Nord event in Kiel/Germany with attendance by official representatives and test participants from Schleswig-Holstein
municipal and state administrations.
The Access-eGov project showcased its final results at the CeBIT
computer innovation fair in Hannover, Germany in March 2009.
The ePractice.eu community awarded Access-eGov with their Editor's Choice 2009 award.
Strep
Strep or STReP may refer to:*An abbreviation for Streptococcus, a bacterial genus*An abbreviation for Streptococcal pharyngitis, an infectious disease...
research and development project, co-funded by the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
within the Sixth Framework Programme under the Information Society Technologies (IST) priority, contract No. FP6-2004-27020. This project addresses the strategic objective SO 2.4.13 Strengthening the Integration of the ICT research effort in an Enlarged Europe .
The Access-eGov project is aiming at the development and validation of the platform for composition of government services into process definitions, enabling Semantic interoperability
Semantic interoperability
Semantic Interoperability is a term used in computer science as a synonym for "Computable Semantic Interoperability". In this sense, it is the ability of computer systems to communicate information and have that information properly interpreted by the receiving system in the same sense as intended...
of particular e-Government services. The solution is based on the semantic technologies
Semantic technology
In software, semantic technology encodes meanings separately from data and content files, and separately from application code.This enables machines as well as people to understand, share and reason with them at execution time...
as enhanced WSMO conceptual framework
WSMO
WSMO or Web Service Modeling Ontology is a conceptual model for relevant aspects related to Semantic Web Services.It provides an ontology based framework, which supports the deployment and interoperability of Semantic Web Services....
, WSML
Web Services Modeling Language
WSML or Web Service Modeling Language is a formal language that provides a syntax and semantics for the Web Service Modeling Ontology ....
ontologies, semantic annotation
Annotation
An annotation is a note that is made while reading any form of text. This may be as simple as underlining or highlighting passages.Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument...
of services, their discovery
Web Services Discovery
Web services provide access to software systems over the Internet using standard protocols. In a minimalistic scenario there exists at least a Web service provider that publishes some service such as a weather service and a Web service consumer that uses this service...
, composition, mediation, and executing in the SOA
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
environment. Adopting a citizen-centric approach , Access-eGov customises the workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
of electronic and traditional (i.e. face-to-face) services according to the personal needs of each citizen.
Background, motivation
The Access-eGov project is motivated by the needs to increase the interoperabilityInteroperability
Interoperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together . The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to...
of existing governmental services in existing or newly created e-Government solutions on local, national, and Pan-European levels. The interoperability was recognised as a precondition for the implementation of European eGovernment services in the eEurope Action Plan 2005 and is explicitly addressed as one of the four main challenges in the I2010 EU strategy. It is recommended to build the solutions supporting interoperability of governmental services on standards, open specifications and open interfaces .
From the three aspects of interoperability
Interoperability
Interoperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together . The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to...
(i.e. organisational, semantic, and technical ), the Access-eGov project is particularly focused on the semantic interoperability. The central idea is to ensure that the meaning of the shared and exchanged information is captured, formalised, and is understood in the same way by the people, applications, and institutions involved in the eGovernment solution. It can be achieved by enriching the provided governmental services and other information resources with a machine-readable semantic description
Annotation
An annotation is a note that is made while reading any form of text. This may be as simple as underlining or highlighting passages.Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument...
, applying the semantic technologies
Semantic technology
In software, semantic technology encodes meanings separately from data and content files, and separately from application code.This enables machines as well as people to understand, share and reason with them at execution time...
as shared domain ontologies, formal ontology languages (e.g. RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
, OWL
Web Ontology Language
The Web Ontology Language is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies.The languages are characterised by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web...
, WSML
Web Services Modeling Language
WSML or Web Service Modeling Language is a formal language that provides a syntax and semantics for the Web Service Modeling Ontology ....
), Semantic Web Services
Semantic Web Services
Semantic Web Services, like conventional web services, are the server end of a client–server system for machine-to-machine interaction via the World Wide Web...
and corresponding frameworks as e.g. RDF-S
RDF Schema
RDF Schema is a set of classes with certain properties using the RDF extensible knowledge representation language, providing basic elements for the description of ontologies, otherwise called RDF vocabularies, intended to structure RDF resources...
, WSDL
Web Services Description Language
The Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...
, OWL-S
OWL-S
OWL-S is an ontology built on top of Web Ontology Language by the DARPA DAML program. It replaces the former DAML-S ontology. "OWL-S is an ontology, within the OWL-based framework of the Semantic Web, for describing Semantic Web Services...
, and WSMO
WSMO
WSMO or Web Service Modeling Ontology is a conceptual model for relevant aspects related to Semantic Web Services.It provides an ontology based framework, which supports the deployment and interoperability of Semantic Web Services....
(see also the list of Related projects). Within the Access-eGov, the WSMO framework
WSMO
WSMO or Web Service Modeling Ontology is a conceptual model for relevant aspects related to Semantic Web Services.It provides an ontology based framework, which supports the deployment and interoperability of Semantic Web Services....
was selected as a basic implementation platform.
Access-eGov approach, objectives and solution
The project objectives were defined on organisational and technological levels. Main organisational objective is to improve accessibilityAccessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
and connectivity of governmental services for citizens and businesses. Technical objectives are focused on the development of the software platform and tools for integration of various types of governmental services on a semantic basis, including a methodology
Methodology
Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...
for maintenance of the solution by public administrations.
A resource WSML ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
covering basic Domain knowledge
Domain knowledge
Domain knowledge is that valid knowledge used to refer to an area of human endeavour, an autonomous computer activity, or other specialized discipline.Specialists and experts use and develop their own domain knowledge...
and processes for locating and contracting e-Government services was created for the three pilot applications of the project. The requirement-driven approach was used by public administrations to describe the services, goals, and scenarios. The core Access-eGov system was implemented as an extension of the WSMO
WSMO
WSMO or Web Service Modeling Ontology is a conceptual model for relevant aspects related to Semantic Web Services.It provides an ontology based framework, which supports the deployment and interoperability of Semantic Web Services....
conceptual model . The solution includes two client side tools – Personal Assistant client, which provides browsing of the scenarios and services for citizens, and Annotation tool enabling semantic annotation of services for public administrations.
The Access-eGov solution was tested within the first trial in autumn 2007 . Results of the testing were evaluated and were taken as a background for further improvements. During the second half of 2008, the Access-eGov project approached its final phase, which included a second trial phase loop for all three pilot applications and a final evaluation of the achieved results.
German field test – "Getting married" scenario
The field test was carried out by Ministry of Finance of Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
. It was focused on the life event "marriage" and related procedures. The registry offices of eleven municipalities from Schleswig-Holstein have been involved in this field test. The main aim was to test the integration of different web resources containing the service information and making them accessible via a single platform but still leaving the data and its maintenance in the municipalities' legacy systems.
Slovakian pilot – "Obtaining a building permission" scenario
The pilot application has been carried out by the Košice Self-Governing RegionKošice Self-governing Region
The Košice Self-governing Region or the Košice Higher Territorial Unit is one of Slovakia's eight "self-governing regions" whose territory is identical with that of the administrative Košice Region....
and the municipality of Michalovce
Michalovce
Michalovce is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia, with a population around 40,000. It is the biggest town of the Michalovce District in the Košice Region.-Geography:...
. It was focused on supporting citizens during the process of obtaining a Building permit, including complex services related to Land-use planning and approval proceedings. The objective was to make the whole process easier and transparent for citizens, to provide all relevant information about necessary services in a comprehensive and user-friendly way, and finally to improve the service from the citizen's point of view.
Polish pilot – "Establishing an enterprise" scenario
The Polish pilot application took place in the Silesian region and was performed by the GliwiceGliwice
Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
City Hall. The user scenario involved four main user goals: registration in local government, registration in statistical office, registration in tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
office and registration in Social insurance
Social insurance
Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:* the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;...
agency. The objective of the pilot application was to provide a single entry point where users (citizens and entrepreneurs) can obtain relevant information and are properly navigated by the system within the whole complex process.
Project outcomes
- The Access-eGov core system, including inner components for discovery, composition, mediation, and execution of the semantically annotated services.
- Extensions of the WSMOWSMOWSMO or Web Service Modeling Ontology is a conceptual model for relevant aspects related to Semantic Web Services.It provides an ontology based framework, which supports the deployment and interoperability of Semantic Web Services....
conceptual model. The WSMO conceptual model was adapted and modified by designing and implementing a workflow extension to the WSMO specification , based on the workflowWorkflowA workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
CASheW-S model . - MethodologyMethodologyMethodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...
: Requirement-driven approach. The method originally designed and developed within the Access-eGov project by one of the project partners (German University in CairoGerman University in CairoThe German University in Cairo , is a private, nonsectarian Egyptian university established in cooperation with some German state universities of as well as some of the German and Egyptian educational institutions....
), was used as the main resource for ontology creation. This approach provides a generic method how to collect, relate, and formally express the information needs of the public administrations, as service providers, to design the specific semantic structures and descriptions of provided governmental services. - Resource ontologiesOntologyOntology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
, proposed as the specification of system data for the services and workflow structures within the Access-eGov system. - Tools implemented as prototypes:
- Annotation tool, which provides for public administration officers a capability to semantically annotate the resources as services, contact data, working hours, fees, etc. A set of forms and templates was designed for specification of preconditions and non-functional properties as parameters of the annotated government services, which can then be grouped into complex workflow sequences. The tool is designed as a standard web application, using the extended WSMO object model and JSFJavaServer FacesJavaServer Faces is a Java-based Web application framework intended to simplify development integration of web-based user interfaces....
technology. - Personal Assistant client, a tool that provides browsing, discovery, and execution capabilities of the services for citizens and businesses according to a specified life event or goal. Users can browse sub-goals and provide their answers when customization input is requested. Then the system automatically resolves the sub-goals and navigates the user to a new set of sub-goals and services inferred from the conceptual model. The electronic services provided via standardized Web ServiceWeb serviceA Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
interface can be directly invoked. Finally, the citizen obtains all available information on the life event customized to his/her case, and has also the possibility to execute the actions required for particular services needed for the accomplishing of the life event. The Personal Assistant client was implemented as a web application using JSFJavaServer FacesJavaServer Faces is a Java-based Web application framework intended to simplify development integration of web-based user interfaces....
technology. Layout, structure, and ordering of tabs in the interface are dynamically created from the annotated services and are customized according to the conditions of the given user.
- Annotation tool, which provides for public administration officers a capability to semantically annotate the resources as services, contact data, working hours, fees, etc. A set of forms and templates was designed for specification of preconditions and non-functional properties as parameters of the annotated government services, which can then be grouped into complex workflow sequences. The tool is designed as a standard web application, using the extended WSMO object model and JSF
Project outcomes from the German Field Test were preliminarily presented in November 2008 at the annual Mediatage Nord event in Kiel/Germany with attendance by official representatives and test participants from Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
municipal and state administrations.
The Access-eGov project showcased its final results at the CeBIT
CeBIT
CeBIT is the world's largest and most international computer expo. CeBIT is held each year on the world's largest fairground in Hanover, Germany, and is a barometer of the state of the art in information technology...
computer innovation fair in Hannover, Germany in March 2009.
The ePractice.eu community awarded Access-eGov with their Editor's Choice 2009 award.
External links
- Access-eGov Project Home
- Mediatage Nord 2008 Kiel/Germany
- youtube-channel dedicated to Access-eGov project outcomes
- ePractice.eu community entry
- Sixth Framework Programme home page
- European Commission