The Test Bed’s CSV validation capabilities have been used to realise a validator for the Kohesio pilot phase of 2014-2020.

The EU Cohesion Policy supports every year tens of thousands of projects across Europe, through funding programmes managed by national and regional authorities under the supervision of the European Commission. These programmes’ authorities are subject, amongst other requirements, to a series of financial reporting and transparency obligations to gather and publish lists of the supported operations (i.e. projects), together with a number of practical details.

The Kohesio pilot, driven by DG REGIO, aims to support this effort by providing a knowledge base to aggregate and standardise this information. To this effect a Wikibase instance was set up by DG CNECT to hold the relevant data, supported by DIGIT to realise a validator for the streamlining of the data import process. Data for this pilot phase are provided as CSV files, with rules defined as part of the Kohesio data specification.

The Test Bed was involved in the realisation of the Kohesio pilot validator, making use of its CSV validation capabilities. Requirements on syntax and field constraints were expressed using the Frictionless Table Schema specification with the resulting configuration being shared on GitHub. The validator is now online and available:

• Via web user interface, for validation driven by users.
• Via SOAP web service API, for machine-to-machine validations.
• Via Docker image, for on-premise or local usage.
• Via command-line tool, for local usage and scripting.

It is important to note that the Kohesio validator is currently offered as a beta version linked to the pilot phase for the 2014-2020 programming period. Its next version will be adapted to match the requirements of the 2021-2027 programming period, and will be complemented with a data template and relevant guidelines.

A beta version of the Kohesio knowledge base is available, however data collection and verification will be ongoing until the end of 2021. Information on the validator itself, including its user guide and underlying specifications, is available in the validator’s Joinup space.

If you are new to the Test Bed’s CSV validator, used to realise the Kohesio pilot’s validation needs, you can find out more in the Test Bed’s CSV validation guide, with similar guides for XML, JSON and RDF. Details on the Test Bed itself can be found in its Joinup space with its value proposition being a good starting point for newcomers. Finally, to remain updated of all the latest Test Bed news:

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