As part of a long-term strategic co-operation, Fraunhofer FOKUS is advising the Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag (DIHK) (Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce) on the definition of its e-government and IT strategy. On the one hand, the CCIs are to be prepared for the fundamental requirements of e-government in Germany. On the other hand, the objective is to create an information technology basis to meet the expectations of IHK members for a future-oriented and efficient organisation with innovative and customer-oriented services.

FOKUS provides scientific support for the establishment of an organisation-wide IT management body, the “eIHK project office”. This involved developing an e-government reference architecture and, based on the latter, a model architecture for publicly operated registers. This is an element of the comprehensive architecture management concept of the “IHK Register Factory”. By defining a reference architecture for register applications and standardising development processes, the objective of the IHK Register Factory is to optimise the implementation of register projects in terms of cost-effectiveness and implementation speed and to harmonise development processes across the chamber. 

Several public registers have been developed on the basis of the IHK register factory, such as the register for financial investment brokers, the register for fee-based financial investment brokers and the register for organisations certified in accordance with EMAS (“Eco-Management and Audit Scheme”). FOKUS provided scientific support for these implementation projects. The focus was on the analysis of the CCIs' processes and technical requirements, the conformity with the e-government reference architecture, the ergonomic design of user interfaces and a consistent acceptance management, e.g. through the moderation of the exchange of experience and requirements discourse between the chambers, the DIHK and the IT service providers.