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Interoperability
Interoperability is the ability to communicate, share information and, ultimately, integrate business operations among different hardware, software, applications and entities. It involves adopting data format standards or other technology tools that enable different systems to share data with each other. In an e-government context, interoperability facilitates the use of data across horizontal organizational boundaries, such as sharing within a ministry or department or within the federal government as a whole, as well across vertical boundaries, such as between federal and provincial governments. Interoperability enables organizations to retain control over their data while allowing information and transactions to pass across their boundaries. Attention to interoperability can become a focal point for encouraging other kinds of cooperation across departments. It can yield substantial costs savings by pushing agencies to rely on off-the-shelf products and open or commonly accepted standards. Requiring managers to address interoperability forces them to talk to their counterparts at other agencies, with the expectation that they will re-use solutions and avoid repeatedly paying vendors to develop the same functionality.
Donors also have a responsibility to promote interoperability. Too often, developing countries face the situation where different donors are pushing applications that cannot be integrated because they use incompatible standards, formats or platforms.
The European Union has identified three elements of interoperability:
In an effort to promote collaboration and interoperability, the U.S. created a Component organization and Registration Environment (CORE) where component developers in government can search for and locate components that meet their needs, avoiding duplication of effort and supporting interoperability.
Interoperability is closely related to questions of planning, leadership and the organizational structure for e-Government. A central coordinating body for e-Government, with overall responsibility for the national e-Government strategy, would have interoperability high on its agenda.
Interoperability Resources
Donors also have a responsibility to promote interoperability. Too often, developing countries face the situation where different donors are pushing applications that cannot be integrated because they use incompatible standards, formats or platforms.
The European Union has identified three elements of interoperability:
- Organizational: focused on the workflows and other organizational processes involved in delivering e-government services. May involve creating agreements on how organizations will interact with each other.
- Semantic: using meta-data terms and taxonomies to identify information and make it easier to access.
- Technical: ensuring interoperability among different IT systems and applications through commonly accepted standards.
In an effort to promote collaboration and interoperability, the U.S. created a Component organization and Registration Environment (CORE) where component developers in government can search for and locate components that meet their needs, avoiding duplication of effort and supporting interoperability.
Interoperability is closely related to questions of planning, leadership and the organizational structure for e-Government. A central coordinating body for e-Government, with overall responsibility for the national e-Government strategy, would have interoperability high on its agenda.
Interoperability Resources
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