Majandus- Ja Kommunikatsiooniministeerium

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications

Interoperability of the State Information System

Endorsed by the Directive of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications 12-0106, 19.03.2012

Framework of Websites

Version 1.0
2012

Interoperability of the State Information System

Framework of Websites

Summary

The present document is one of the sub-documents of the framework of interoperability of the state information system. The document is open for suggestions from public, private and third sector institutions and all the interested parties. We ask you to send your suggestions to the e-mail address: .

The documents of the framework are constantly updated and the current state of a document is published in the wiki[1]. of the state information systems. After updating, the official version of the document is endorsed, which is coordinated with the institutions of the public sector and published on the website[2] of the framework of interoperability

The documents of the framework have been granted the licence of Creative Commons[3], to be more precise, on the basis of CC BY-SA licence. It means that by licensing his or her work the licensor is the author or holder of the corresponding copyright, the licensee is the public. You have the right to copy, distribute and submit the work, as well as to present it to the public and make adaptations of it, including derivative works, on the condition that you refer to the author and share the work on the same conditions.

The present document is not a web creation manual. Webmasters have the right to decide on the choice of the web engine, configuration design and content production, at the same time the regulations of the framework of websites should be taken into consideration to guarantee interoperability, availability and usability of the websites.

The present document is first of all meant for the institutions of the public sector, to offer them information and knowledge with regard to ordering websites and portals that comply with modern requirements. The document is also meant for developers who fulfil orders of public institutions concerning the development and administration of websites.

Contents

1.Introduction...... 4

2.The role of websites in the state information system...... 7

2.1.Website obligation...... 7

2.2.Website as a registry...... 7

2.3.Websites and service room...... 8

2.4.Service levels...... 8

2.5.Domains riik.ee and eesti.ee...... 8

3.Semantic interoperability...... 9

3.1.Agreed addresses (URL-s)...... 9

3.2.Clear uniform resource locators (URL)...... 10

3.3.Taxonomy...... 11

3.4.Language-technological support and search...... 11

3.5.Annotation...... 13

4.Web engines...... 15

5.Open standards...... 16

5.1.IPv6...... 16

5.2.Default ports...... 16

5.3.Reduction of the number of file formats...... 16

5.4.Office software formats...... 16

5.5.UTF-8...... 17

5.6.XML...... 17

5.7.RDF and RSS...... 17

5.8.HTML and XHTML...... 17

5.9.RDFa in XHTML...... 17

5.10.CSS...... 18

5.11.WAI WCAG...... 18

5.12.XForms...... 18

6.Requirements for website content...... 19

6.1.Usability...... 19

6.2.Availability...... 19

6.3.Security...... 19

6.4.Archiving of a website...... 20

7.Appendix. (Self)assessment of the interoperability of websites...... 22

1. Introduction

Websites and technology employed threin have become part and parcel of our daily lives. The web of the State Chancellery and the Government of the Republic, opened in 1993, was the first public sector web in Estonia and one of the first websites in Europe. By now all public sector institutions have at least one website. To give an institutional overview of the entire public sector of Estonia, the state portal was created in 1998. To assemble the information on citizens' rights, obligations and public services in a uniform environment, information gateway eesti.ee[4]. was created in 2002. Although the quality of the websites of the public sector can be considered good, it is the interoperability, availability and usability of the websites that still presents a challange.

The sites of the public sector have developed on the principle of subsidiarity, without powerful central guidance. Requirements for websites have rather been of advisory nature. The first set of regulations was formulated by the Department of the State Information Systems in 1998. At the same time the department also worked out recommendations for domains[5] and requirements for e-mail addresses[6]. The first versions of interoperability framework (2004, 2005) also contained provisions adaptable to websites. In 2007 these principles were concentrated into the first framework of interoperability of websites[7] . The present document is the successor of all the above-mentioned documents.

Websites are used for different purposes. Depending on the angle a site can be:

• collection of hyperlinked web pages
• media publication on the Internet (e.g. electronic newspaper)
• user interface of the information system
• front-end system
• registry[8]
• agent and provider of online services
• orchestrator (aggregator) of online services and provider of mashup services
• channel of social media (collective intelligence)
• communication channel
• business platform for selling products and services.

Interoperability of websites is an ability achieved with the assistance of technical, semantic and organisational measures to exchange web content via uniform file formats, agreed protocols and services in a form enabling automatic processing.

The objective of the framework is to raise the quality of public sector websites and their mutual linking, proceeding from the needs of user groups, using open standards. In detail, the objectives are:

• raising the quality and topicality of websites, as well as making them more up-to-date
• standardisation of the structure of public sector websites and creation of mechanisms for their reuse
• making automatic obtaining and processing of data (for and from portals) technologically as simple and effective as possible

The legal status and functioning of the framework of interoperability of websites is the same as that of other interoperability framework documents of the state information system. The interoperability framework is a strategic document which the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM – Majandus- ja Kommunikatsiooniministeerium), as an institution coordinating information systems of the state, follows when making informed political decisions, assessing the projects financed from structural funds, working out legal acts of the state information system, coordinating legal acts of ministries in the field of IT, as well as coordinating information systems in the Estonian Information System's Authority (RIA – Riigi Infosüsteemi Amet). The documents of interoperability framework are enforced with a regulation[9] of a minister coordinating the information system, and compliance with them when managing communication of information systems between the state and local governments is mandatory.

In addition, the framework is mandatory as an agreement between different parties. The framework and related documents go through a consultation period, during which state and local government institutions, private sector, institutions of the third sector and private citizens can submit amendments and improvements. Suggestions and comments are discussed by the leading group of the framework of interoperability and its final version is considered as an agreement between the parties.

Institutions are not able to meet many requirements of the interoperability framework immediately, it can take several years. Every institution should have an action plan to reach planned results.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM) is responsible for working out the interoperability framework. At the MKM, there is a permanent inter-agency working group that is responsible for advising the ministry on working out the framework of interoperability of websites and the related documents.

The key words in the document “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY” and “OPTIONAL” should be interpreted as specified in RFC 2119[10]. To highlight the relevance of the above words, they are capitalized throughout and their meaning is as follows:

Terminology with regard to websites, both in Estonia and abroad, is still being established. In the framework, the following terms have been used:

Open data – information that is integral, comes from initial source, is up to date, widely usable, machine-readable, accessible without restrictions, using open standards, and with a free licence.[11]

Format – data markup language. A collection of rules and mechanisms for markuping data content. Modern data submission languages are mostly based on SGML- or XML-language (metalanguages for creating data provision languages), for example, HTML, XHTML, SVG, PNG, ODF.

Homepage – the first page of a website. The address of a homepage (URL[12]) is also used as a website address. In Estonia the term often includes the whole website.

Tag – a tag in square brackets to denote the beginning and the end of a data element of Standard Generelized Markup Language (SGML-language[13])and its successors Hypertext Markup Language (HTML[14]) and Extensible Markup Language (XML[15]).

Content administration software/web engine – software used to create and administer a website.

Reuse – using documents in the possession of the public sector by physical or legal persons for business or non-business purposes, which do not coincide with the initial purposes for which the document was created as a public task. Exchange of documents between public institutions to fulfill public tasks does not constitute reuse.

Site – See Website

Web – an integral set of websites. In Estonia this term is often used to denote the universal web (World Wide Web, WWW).

Webpage – a document on a webpage. Its content (pictures, text, hypertext links, video and audio files), way of presentation and appearance are created with the help of HTML Markup Language.

Website – a set of related webpages

Online service – a method of communication of two programmes on the Internet.

WWW – World Wide Web

2. The role of websites in the state information system

2.1. Website obligation

§ 31 of the Public Information Act (PIA) requires all public sector institutions to keep a website. Local government institutions may organize a keeping of a joint website. The act does not specify what joint keeping means. In the light of other legal provisions, it can be assumed that it is a joint technical platform that is meant by it, not a logical integrity. One institution can have several sites. In addition to the mandatory institutional site, institutions can also keep thematic and complementary cross-institutional joint sites. Several public sector sites are of national importance, for example, the joint portal of public sector institutions meant for serving citizens eesti.ee. Cross-institutional sites reuse the information resources of the participating institutions and refer to them, but usually contain their own unique content.

PIA provisions and the principle of subsidiarity of the interoperability of the state information system mean that decisions concerning sites are made centrally only if they are more productive than the decisions made in public sector institutions. Application of the subsidiarity principle means that ministries do not impose central web solutions in their administrative area. The central government does not prescribe technical solutions to local governments. At the same time subsidiarity principle does not restrict cooperation between public sector institutions in working out model solutions.

Information systems must support the existing organisational structures and their objectives and that is why the mechanical merging of the information systems of different organisations should, if possible, be avoided.

Subsidiarity does not prohibit public sector institutions to create joint targeted portals (e.g. eesti.ee) use data or experience of other portals or joint infrastructure services.

2.2. Website as a registry

Pursuant to PIA, a site is a registry, hence all the provisions that apply to registries also apply to a website. Websites created to fulfill the tasks stipulated by a legal act have to be registered in RIHA (Riigi Infosüsteemim Haldussüsteem – Management System of State Information System). PIA and RIHA regulations do not require their coordination if they are not linked to the data exchange layer X-Road. Registration of websites should be simple so that it would not put an additional administrative burden upon people responsible for websites. Sites not designated as a public task do not have to be registered in RIHA.

On the basis of the websites registered in RIHA, users of the gateway eest.ee SHOULD be able to get an overview of the public sector websites.

The obligation of an institution to create an official website comes from the provisions of PIA. The obligations of creating a site to fulfill public tasks must be clearly stipulated in the legal act or the statutes of an institution or its subsidiary.

2.3. Websites and service room

From the point of view of interoperability, websites are information systems rendering and/or handling online services (first of all information services). Websites are a part of the service room of the state information system. Services are registered in the service catalogue (RIHA register). Front-end systems and back-end systems should be separated from each other in the state information system. Back-end systems are information systems of service providers. Front-end systems, which serve end-users, are portals of user organisations, information gateway eest.ee and other personalized portals of users. Gateway eesti.ee is a portal administered jointly by public sector institutions and meant for citizens.

A site can be simultaneously a front-end system serving citizens and a back-end system supporting other websites through services. The mutual exchange of content between websites is considered a service.

2.4. Service levels

The framework of interoperability distinguishes between five service levels: information service, blank service, web form, full electronic service and personalized full electronic service.

Information service. The user can read online information about the service and download it.

Form service. Forms can be downloaded and the service user can take the filled in forms personally to an institution or send them by ordinary mail, fax or e-mail.

Webservice. Webservice is similar to form service but a user can fill in a form online and send it straight from a web page. The user gets confirmation of the saving of the form in the information system of the institution. When creating web forms it is advisable to use standard Xforms.

Full electronic service. The service is applied for and conducted online. Full electronic service does not require any extra paperwork from the user.

Personalized full electronic service. Full electronic service, in the course of which the data on the user is checked in various registers and part of the data in forms is pre-filled.

Public sector has so far paid little attention to the reuse of information services. This level is not considered a service. The exception has been RSS-feed. Reuse of HTML-text usually presupposes its enrichment with the help of special tags (e.g. RDF tags).

2.5. Domains riik.ee and eesti.ee

Domains riik.ee ja eesti.ee are jointly used domains of the public sector. All public sector institutions have the right to use the third level domains of these domains free of charge. The subdomains of the domain riik.ee are advised to be used for websites combining institutions of the same type, national associations and projects and as web addresses of registers. The subdomains of the domain eesti.ee are fit to be used in projects aimed at a citizen.

3. Semantic interoperability

By semantic interoperability of websites we mean facilitation of automated retrieval of data (names, addresses, dates, texts, etc.) and texts. The objective of semantic interoperability is to make a creation of such applications as easy as possible both inside institutions and for the third parties.

Semantic interoperability should guarantee:

• automatic collection of relevant information from different websites
• automatic submission of relevant information in different portals
• quick and easy retrieval of relevant information.

3.1. Agreed addresses (URL-s)

Public sector institutions provide uniform data in websites, in addition to that, legal acts impose several uniform functions upon them. Public sector is often interested in reusing these data automatically. Hence, data of this type should be submitted in a reusable way (e.g. In XML format). A reusable file should be used to display data in one's own web. Standards should be created for such data, they should be submitted at addresses with agreed names and they should be easily accessible for web users and external applications. Below, you will find a list of agreed addresses and their short specification. Transition to agreed URL-s and reuse is smooth. Corresponding mechanisms must be added to all the new websites and the existing institutional webs in the course of their updating. The present division provides recommended URL-s only for sites in Estonian. A similar approach is recommended to be used when submitting web content in other languages too.