Strategic Planning of Application Development in EIONET

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Strategic Planning of Application Development in
EIONET

• 2000-2003

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THE GOALS OF EIONET IT STRATEGY
1. Make EIONET useful to end users, saving their
time and effort, and opening new
opportunities 2. Develop stable and flexible
info system architecture and network
services to improve the data and
information flows in Europe 3. Achieve an
optimum link between organisation and
technology by means of common language, deep
dialogue and a shared strategy process 4.
Derive an implementation plan from the analysis
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IDA Interoperability Pyramid
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Does EIONET Generic Infrastructure Meet Business
Needs?
Business Needs
Public services for E2RC
Report Writing and Reviewing
National Deliveries to the Reporting System
Data Management Integration
Streamlining international reporting burden
Corporate Knowledge Management
Committee Workflow
?
Data Warehouse
CDS Meta
CIRCA
EIONET Technological Infrastructure
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Possible Generic Solutions Needed
Business Needs
Public services for E2RC
Report Writing and Reviewing
National Deliveries to the Reporting System
ETC Data Management Integration
Streamlining international reporting burden
Corporate Knowledge Management
Dynamic content on portals
XML EDI
Metadata registry Data harmonisation
Committee Workflow
Web Ques- tionnaires
?
Data Warehouse
Data Marts on MySQL
CIRCA
CDS LDAP
EIONET Technological Infrastructure
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THE PROCESS THROUGH THE DOCUMENTS PRODUCED
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Vision

• A fully automated indicator system available for
  Europe, and supported by decentralised data
  flows.
• All information production for reporting flows
  through an unbroken electronic value chain so
  that manual work can be minimised and
  incompatibilities avoided, duplicate work
  avoided, and data and information stored in
  proper places in usable form, also for public
  access.
• The electronic EIONET contains, in its directory
  services, sufficient knowledge of the
  organisational EIONET so that the collaboration
  services seamlessly support users in all their
  regular business.
• All the above is achieved in a sustainable
  information system so that users voluntarily work
  through EIONET and contribute to its shared
  knowledge base.

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Approach

• The main question is integration
• What to integrate? When? How fast?
• Learn by doing, evolutionary approach
• Immediate next steps, and follow-up steps after
  strategy checkpoint in two years
• No grand plan is devised, but the direction and
  important architectural questions must be decided
• Harmonise the stable core content
• Dont harmonise what is still evolving
• Understand what belongs to infrastructure and
  what goes to applications
• Sustainability of the services depends on it

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TheEIONET Reporting System
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The InformationValue Chain
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Scope of Development
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Telecommunication and Server Options Chosen

• Stick with current commercial Internet, but
  selectively add connectivity to research backbone
  TEN-155
• The emerging administration backbone TESTA II to
  be used interinstitutionally such as Agencies
  network only
• Keep the existing extremely distributed
  architecture of 34 servers for now, but ...
• In two years time allow natural centralisation as
  the lifetime of current servers comes to an end
  and Internet speed increases, and if no databases
  find their way to EIONET

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Software Platform and Desktop Options Chosen

• Build on open source components, modularising
  better, and separating CIRCLE collaboration
  services from the generic underlying services
• Work together with IDA, Eurostat
• Gradually build interoperability with Microsoft
  Office 2000

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CIRCLE Services
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Additional CIRCLE Collaboration Services Chosen

• Manage EIONET directory of people, organisations
  and roles on NFP CIRCLEs, expanding directory
  services
• Integrate mailing lists with IGs user access
  classes
• Automatic replication of individual documents and
  handling of email attachments
• Standardise on HTML and XML as file formats
• Introduce workflow for NFP consultation support
  and as part of ROD

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Options for Harmonisation of Data Content

• There is no option
• We must harmonise and better document stable and
  shared elements, especially...
• Indicators
• Classifications
• When not to harmonise
• Data is so unstable that harmonisation is not
  possible
• Integration of data (across topic areas) does not
  really happen

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Harmonisation of Data Management Tools

• Do not continue use of independent legacy tools
  at all ETCs, reinventing the wheel, but on new
  developments...
• Harmonise data definition tools (meta data
  registry) and provide related guidance (in
  TERESA)
• Strive for generic Data Exchange Modules via
  TERESA developments and Eurostat generic modules
  (new Statel)
• Start using data storage tools already installed
  at all sites (MySQL part of CIRCA)
• On top of the generic data storage tools deploy
  standard data visualisation tools

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HARMONISATION POSSIBILITIES AT EIONET'S
ORGANISATIONAL LEVELS

• Interface(s)
• Data models,definitions
• Visualisation
• Data collection,exchange
• DB dev. tools
• Storage

The Approach Harmonisation of tools and contenct
go hand by hand and where new developments are
needed
ETCs
No - Scale of the integration - Full
Tools

• Maps
• Interfaces
• DEMs
• Data structureincl.metadata

NFPs
NRCs

• DEMs

N.a.A - Degree of harmonisation
- Total
Content
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Data Flow Architecture
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Member Countries and Reporting Obligations

• Use CIRCLE for integrated place of national
  deliveries, but in a transparent way, supporting
  NFPs, and guided by national modules of ROD
• Develop workflow instruments

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Information Warehousing

• Assist ETCs to put their data on line by
  providing them with a generic infobase on EIONET
  servers MySQL to which their operational and ad
  hoc databases can copy information
• Re-engineer the data management aspects of EEA DW
  to be compatible with the above
• Provide XLM-based data exchange between the above

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Integrative Portal Services orSeparate
Developments?

• Separate contents
• One customer base

E2RC Internet content
Enviro- Windows content
EEA Intranet content
EIONET content (drafts)
E2RC Internet users
EEA users
Enviro- Windows users
EIONET users
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Integrate with Portals
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Organisation through Interest Groups
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Integrate and Personalise through MyEIONET
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The Outcome of EIONET Collaboration Services
Corporate Knowledge Management
Use Apply Modify
Use Apply Modify
Explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge
Applied (tacit) knowledge
Applied (tacit) knowledge
Analyse Organise Share
Analyse Organise Share
Create Identify
Create Identify
TOOLS i.e. CIRCLE
TOOLS i.e. CIRCLE
CONTENT
CONTENT
Collect Store
Collect Store
System and technology supportto manage knowledge
System and technology supportto manage knowledge
Internalising by doing
Internalising by doing