An e-GIF, or

eGovernment E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of technological communications devices, such as computers and the Internet, to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offers new ...

Interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

Framework, is a scheme for ensuring the inter-operation of computer-based systems. It is intended to resolve and prevent (or at least minimise) problems arising from incompatible content of different computer systems. An e-GIF may aim to facilitate government processes at local, national or international levels.

International implementations

About 30 countries and international bodies are known to have implemented some form of e-GIF, most, but not all, using the "e-GIF" acronym. Within the EU many of these were supported by the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) of the

IDABC All European countries show eGovernment initiatives, mainly related to the improvement of governance at the national level. Significant eGovernment activities also take place at the European Commission level as well. There is an extensive list ...

. These included

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the ''Reach'' "Public Services Broker" in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In Africa

COMESA The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whic ...

and

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

provide examples of similar initiatives, whilst

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

are examples from Asia.

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, similarly, implemented their own frameworks. In the United States the

National Information Exchange Model NIEM ( ) originated as an XML-based information exchange framework from the United States. NIEM also supports NIEM JSON exchanges. NIEM is currently developinthe NIEM Metamodel and Common Model Formatwhich can be expressed in any data serializatio ...

(NIEM) shared similar aims.

Aims of e-GIF

* to enable the seamless flow of information across government / Public Service Organisations * to set practical standards using stable well supported products * to provide support, guidance and toolkits to enable the standards to be met * to provide a long-term strategy, able to accommodate and adapt.

Key e-GIF policies

* alignment with the Internet: the universal adoption of common specifications used on the Internet and World Wide Web for public sector information systems * adoption of

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

as the primary standard for

data integration Data integration involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of them. This process becomes significant in a variety of situations, which include both commercial (such as when two similar companies ...

and presentation tools for government systems * adoption of the browser as the key interface; all public sector information systems are to be accessible through browser based technology; other interfaces are permitted but only in addition to browser based ones * the addition of metadata to government information resources * the development and adoption of

Metadata standard A metadata standard is a requirement which is intended to establish a common understanding of the meaning or semantics of the data, to ensure correct and proper use and interpretation of the data by its owners and users. To achieve this common unde ...

s such as the UK e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) based on the international

Dublin Core 220px, Logo image of DCMI, which formulates Dublin Core The Dublin Core, also known as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES), is a set of fifteen "core" elements (properties) for describing resources. This fifteen-element Dublin Core has ...

model * the development and maintenance of standard category lists such as the UK

Government Category List The United Kingdom Government Category List (GCL) was a type of controlled vocabulary called a taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of class ...

(GCL) and IPSV. * adherence to a catalogue of Technical Standards such as the UK Technical Standards Catalogue. * adherence to the e-GIF was mandated throughout the public sector.

Drivers for selection of e-GIF specifications

* interoperability - only specifications that are relevant to systems interconnectivity, data integration, e-services access and content management are specified * market support - the specifications selected are widely supported by the market, and likely to reduce the cost and risk of government information systems * scalability - specifications selected have 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 at large.

Establishing competence and capability in e-GIF

In the UK, the e-GIF Accreditation Authority accredited organisations for their capability and competence in delivering e-GIF compliant solutions. There was also a programme of individual certifications at Foundation and Expert levels aimed at developing and recognising e-GIF skills and experience, referenced against an e-GIF Competency Framework. The UK e-GIF Compliance Assessment Service, operated by the NCC, offered a self-assessment tool for e-GIF compliance in projects and programmes.

Fate

Within the UK, e-GIF was replaced by the "Open Source, Open Standards And Re-Use: Government Action Plan", published by the Cabinet Office in February 2009. This is now embodied in the Open Standards principles policy. The UK e-GIF documentation and UK Government Data Standards Catalogue have been archived and are available for reference only. Although now deprecated by the Cabinet Office, many systems have been built around the framework and continue to use e-GIF components, notably within the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:E-Gif Government of the United Kingdom Politics and technology