EG on Standardisation 24 May 2016
Expert Group on Standardisation
VIRTUAL meeting
24 May 2016
Item 04 of the agenda
Progress on the identification of a software solution for hosting
the online catalogue of ESS standards
Eurostat 2 DIME/ITDG SG December 2014/3/EN
/ EUROPEAN COMMISSIONEUROSTAT
Directorate B: Methodology; Corporate statistical and IT services
Unit B-1: Methodology and corporate architecture
Ø Features and functionalities required for the Catalogue of ESS Standards
Based on an analysis of the results of the ESSnet on Standardisation the features below are proposed as the main ones to be supported by the catalogue. They are grouped in 3 categories for which a short interpretation is proposed.
· Group 1: Low-level features
o Wide technical compatibility (browsers, operating systems, …)
o Accessibility, availability, resiliency, …
à Summary interpretation: The catalogue is hosted on the web, accessible without credential and under a "decent" SLA.
· Group 2: Presentation of the Catalogue of ESS Standards
o User-friendly interface
o Introductory front page
o Menu system allowing to navigate per standard type, standard status, … (filter rows & columns)
o Content is downloadable
à Summary interpretation: A web page with an introductory text and a table listing ESS Standards with their attributes, ideally in which it is possible to sort and filter rows, to filter and reorder columns, and which allows to download/export the current view.
· Group 3: Maintenance of the Catalogue of ESS Standards
o Easy to maintain, user empowerment (manageable directly by EG members)
o Content validity enforcement (e.g. mandatory fields, data types)
à Summary interpretation: A form for managing the content of the table, accessible on the Web and providing basic validation for new entries.
Ø Attributes to be recorder in the Catalogue of ESS Standards
The following list of attributes is validated by the EG on Standardisation and should be implemented in the catalogue.
Ø Candidate software solutions identified for hosting the Catalogue of ESS Standards
The following potential solutions were identified for hosting the Catalogue of ESS Standards:
· CROS
· CSPA Service Catalogue / GAC
· FPFIS, which offers 2 solutions for wikis:
o Confluence
o Mediawiki
· Joinup
· RAMON
· CIRCABC
Ø High-level evaluation of potential hosting solutions w.r.t the 3 groups of features
Based on this analysis the solution that would be further studied is to host the Catalogue of ESS Standard on a Mediawiki from the Flexible Platform for Internet Services (FPFIS) of the European Commission.
For the longer term the 2 following options are also considered:
· Add sufficient functionalities to CROS so the Catalogue of ESS Standard could be integrated with the workspace of the EG on Standardisation.
· Integrate requirements Catalogue of ESS standards in upcoming re-engineering of the CSPA Catalogue or RAMON.
The proposal for immediate next steps is to do the following:
· Evaluate usability of the FPFIS/Mediawiki solution in the short-term and possibly implement a prototype of the catalogue to evaluate the solution
· Evaluate the possibility of upgrading CROS with features necessary to support main requirements of the catalogue of ESS Standards.
· Collect more information on upcoming re-reengineering of RAMON and CSPA Catalogue.
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