Application Interoperability for eGovernment

Application Interoperability for eGovernment* Version 2 (May 2006)

Efficient Integration of Legacy Applications based on Service-oriented Architectures (SOA)

This White Paper on application interoperability for eGovernment documents research results from the Fraunhofer FOKUS eGovernment Laboratory. The key focus is on the evaluation of concepts, technologies, platforms, solutions and products in terms of interoperability based on open standards and service-oriented architectures (SOA).

In terms of transferable application scenarios, particular attention is directed at products and solutions in the context of service-oriented architectures based on standards and concepts like XML, WSDL, Web services, and BPEL (Business Process Execution Language). Products for an eGovernment infrastructure like the Microsoft Solutions Platform E-Government Starter Kit (EGSK), Microsoft BizTalk Server, and Oracle Fusion Middleware with Oracle BPEL Process Manager or products for basic components like the Virtual Post Office (e.g. Governikus, bos KG), or Form Management Systems (e.g. FormsForWeb, Lucom GmbH) are at the forefront here.

For this study model infrastructures for a range of public agencies were built in the FOKUS eGovernment Lab to simulate the inter-working of heterogeneous eGovernment platforms, basic components and a range of administrative applications. Interoperability of the technologies and products under review are tested in a series of model scenarios requiring communication between a set of disparate applications and a number of different public administrations.

The series of Fraunhofer FOKUS eGovernment White Papers will present papers on aspects of such topics as interoperability, process integration, eGovernment architectures etc. which are also intended as open living documents to be continually revised and re-scripted in an effort to incorporate new discussion findings, current developments and the latest results from the eGovernment Laboratory, and to engage the actors involved in eGovernment in debate.

If you have any comments on the White Paper please send an email to the editor Uwe Holzmann-Kaiser.

*Remark

In the White Paper we could only consider products of those partners, who have been partner in the eGovernment Lab during the investigation period.

To order the White Paper