The objective of the IQAT© is to allow Solution Owners to assess the Potential Interoperability of their software solutions supporting Public Services.
The toolkit is based on a specific conceptual model for the Interoperability assessment of software solutions, which relies on four interoperability areas: Interoperability (IOP) Governance, Software Architecture,
Human-to-Machine Interfaces and Machine-to-Machine Interfaces.
The toolkit is fully compliant with all European Interoperability Framework (EIF) recommendations for the development and improvement of public services.
The IQAT© comprises the following three components:
- Interoperability Quick Assessment Excel Tool – Excel tool used to calculate the solution’s interoperability maturity;
- Guidelines for Solution Owners – Short document that includes the methodology that describes the high-level steps to be followed by Solution Owners for assessing the potential interoperability of a solution and the related expected benefits. Furthermore, the document provides high-level guidelines to be followed by Solution Owners on how to use the Interoperability Quick Assessment Excel Tool and how to interpret the resulting interoperability score;
- Methodology followed for the development of the Excel Tool– Detailed document that contains a description of the methodology followed for the development of the Tool in terms of main requirements followed, conceptual model for the interoperability assessment and interoperability scoring model.
The expected benefits of the IQAT© are listed as follows:
- It spots areas for improving the interoperability in a given solution;
- It supports portfolio management decisions:
- by suggesting solutions that could be published in the European Interoperability Cartography (EIC);
- by clustering solutions with regard to interoperability Maturity;
- by identifying solutions that should be improved in term of interoperability.
- It is applicable to any software solution supporting public services (not only for TES);
- It saves time and resources in interoperability peer-to-peer tests by acting as a gateway to it. If the result of the Interoperability quick assessment is below the suggested threshold then it is recommended not to invest further efforts in a full interoperability peer-to-peer test;
- It supports end users of the EIC in verifying the overall interoperability score of any published solution.
Based on the automatically computed Interoperability Assessment Score, the toolkit does not only provide a graphical radar chart but also a four stage interoperability maturity level model for each of the aforementioned four interoperability areas. It indicates the potential interoperability maturity of a specific solution by providing a reference rate (from 0% to 100%).
Building on this maturity level of the specific solution, the Solution Owner can activate technical improvements aimed at increasing the potential interoperability of the solution.
Nature of documentation: Guide