If you have any interest in the enterprise architecture and standards activities of governments outside the US, like Britain's GovTalk program that I featured yesterday, here's some links to a few more interoperability frameworks:
- Australia's National Office for the Information Economy
- France's Agency for ICT in Public Administration (ATICA)
- Germany's Standards and Architectures for e-Government-Applications
- New Zealand's e-Government Interoperability Framework (NZ e-GIF)
I've been giving thought to the contents of an interoperability frameworks. They are, of course, mostly about listing standards, but there are some other important parts that I put under the general category of "Guidelines:"
- Governance How is this document maintained and by who. What is the process for changing it?
- Application Where is this reference profile applicable and to who?
- Adoption When does it need to be adopted if it is applicable?
- Exemptions Are there any exemptions or provisions for requesting such?
- Alignment What are the policies on aligning this NIF with other NIF and EA efforts?
In addition, each standard needs a status. Here are the ones we came up with in Utah:
- Approved: An Approved standard is critical to the Enterprise and will be enforced.
- De Facto: A De Facto standard identifies choices that are widely accepted because of widespread use within the enterprise and industry.
- Emerging: Emerging standards may have future value within the enterprise but have proven no specific benefit at the time. The enterprise may be conducting a pilot project to establish the potential benefits and risks of selecting this standard.
- Sustained: A Sustained standard indicates a standard or practice that no longer shows promise but is still used or even expanded because of a prior standards solution.
- Migrate From: A Migrate From designation refers to a standard or practice that has been abandoned for a better solution. It is not a favored standard yet continues to be in use in the enterprise. Ministries should plan to migrate away from solutions assigned with this designation as soon as practical.
