Standards Technical App

8/6/2019 Standards Technical App

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G o v e r n m e n t o f I n d i a

M i n i s t r y o f C o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n d I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y

D e p a r t m e n t o f I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y

N a t i o n a l I n f o r m a t i c s C e n t r e

http://egovstandards.gov.in


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NIC-WG5-EGOVSTDS-TSAEGA - 2 - Version 1.0

Technical Standardsand

E-Governance Architecture

Prepared by: Suchitra Pyarelal ,Technical Director

Reviewed by: Deputy Director General NIC

Approved by: Director General

No part of this document shall be reproduced without prior permission of

Director General, National Informatics Centre


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Table of Contents

Amendment Log .........................................................................................................................41. Introduction ......................................................................................................................5

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION .............................................................................................. 51.2 PURPOSE AND SCOPE ........................................................................................................ 61.3 NEED FOR STANDARDS AND E-GOVERNANCE ARCHITECTURE............................................ 71.4 OBJECTIVES AND DELIVERABLES ........................................................................................ 71.5 WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIP ........................................................................................ 8

2 Technical Standards and E-Governance Architecture .................................................92.1 TECHNICAL STANDARDS .................................................................................................... 92.2 E-GOVERNANCE ARCHITECTURE ..................................................................................... 112.2.1 REUSABILITY...................................................................................................................... 112.2.2 MIDDLEWARE AND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS .................................................................. 122.2.3 SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE(SOA)...................................................................... 12

3. Management of the Standards Working Group ....................................................134. Road Map.........................................................................................................................14References.................................................................................................................................14

Glossary of Terms ...................................................................................................................14


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Amendmen t Log

VersionNo.

Date ChangeNumber

Brief Description SectionsChanged

1.0 22-12-05 NA First Version All


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1. In t roduc t ion

1.1 Back ground In format ion

The strategic importance of E-Governance Standards is now widely recognized

globally. Standards and specifications with well defined formats, help to achieve

interoperability of information and communication systems. To drive both the

integration between specific Government functions (vertical applications) and

shared Government functions (horizontal applications) and data sharing

between applications an overall E-Governance application architecture requires

to be defined .

Recognizing the critical role that well designed standards and architecture play in

the rapid growth of e-Governance, the Department of Information Technology

(DIT), has constituted an Apex Body on Standards in DIT in September 2005,

among other things, to design the broad policy framework for setting as well as

development of standards for the e-Governance initiatives in India.

Following have been identified as the key priority areas for standardization under

the National e-Governance Programme (NeGP):

i. Technical Standards and E-Governance Architecture

ii. Metadata and Data Standards for Application Domains

iii. Localisation and Language Technology Standards

iv. Network and Information Security Standards

v. Quality and Documentation Standards

National Informatics Centre (NIC) that had already taken major initiatives to

evolve an Interoperability Framework for all E-Governance applications

developed, has been entrusted with the responsibilities to:


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?? Originate white papers on all desired standards to serve as

discussion papers for Working Groups to develop standards.

?? Act as a focal point for development of methodologies for

formulation of Standards.

1.2 Purpose and sc ope

The Technical Standards and E-Governance Architecture Working Group, that

will operate under the Apex Body, will be responsible for the definition of the

overall E-Governance architecture that provides for both current and future E-

Governance application needs. It will aim to define the technical standards and

specifications governing electronic information flow across the government sector

that cover interconnectivity, data integration, government electronic services

access and delivery mechanisms and content creation and management.

The Specific Terms of Reference of the Working Group is as follows:

i. Advise on development of required White Papers for discussion in

the Working Group to evolve standards;

ii. Evolve Standards;

iii. Manage interaction with similar initiatives and standards bodies

elsewhere in the world;iv. Nominate members on various International standards committees

and continuously strive towards key roles for India in such

international forums;

v. Define the scope of any deliverables, expected milestones, and the

process for the group participants to approve the release of these

deliverables (including publishing intermediate results);


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vi. Determine any dependencies of other entities on the deliverables of

this group;

vii. Define the expected level of involvement by the members of the

Team (e.g., to track developments, write and edit technical reports,

etc);

viii. Must also include an estimate of the expected time commitment

from participants;

ix. Requirements that a quorum of group participants support any

formal decision of the group;

x. Change control of the Draft standard document and VersionManagement.

xi. Create a supporting framework for implementation and testing

xii. Setting timeline for the release of initial set of standards to the Apex

Body of Standards of DIT.

The Working Group will work in close cooperation with the other Standards

Working Groups.

1.3 Need for St andards and E-Governance Arch i t ec t ure

Present mode of systems development is largely based on proprietary standardsthat provide limited scope for information exchange and integration with othersystems.

Legacy systems need to be integrated with the present technologies withoutcompromising the information and data.

Technological advances makes it necessary to migrate to new systems andplatform, in which case locked in to a particular technology or platform happensmost often.

1.4 Objec t ives and de l iverab les

The main objectives within the scope of the Technical Standards and E-

Governance Architecture Working Group are:


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i. To establish an agreed set of technical policies and standards for

achieving interoperability and coherence of ICT systems across E-

Governance applications.

ii. To evolve Standards and E-Governance architectures in conjunction with

other Working Groups that will take into account legacy applications.

iii. To ensure re-use across applications and services enablers.

iv. A single point reference to locate the required architecture and

specifications that should be followed for a specific project designed &

developed .It shall adhere to the approved specifications laid down.

v. By adopting the standards system designers can ensure interoperability

between systems while at the same time have the flexibility to select

different hardware, and systems and application software to implement

solutions.

The charter of the TSAEGA Group will be reviewed and updated annually or as

required by the Apex body.

1.5 Working Group Mem bership

One of the major steps in the approach towards ensuring interoperability is to

have partnership with the ICT industry. This will help to quickly adopt standards,

take advantage of emerging technologies and continued support. The

Architecture Group will have members from the academia, industry, solution

providers and the Government.

1.6 Work ing Group Meet ings

In addition to the TSAEGA Working Group face-to-face (F2F) meetings , it is

proposed to have interactions through video conferencing and conference calls.

These will be arranged between the regular meetings when needed.


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A E-Governance Standards Portal will be developed for posting all the relevant

work of the Working Groups.

1.7 Standards Evo lu t ion

The Technical Standards and Architecture Group assures, through review, theadherence and consistency of standardization work. To achieve these goals, theTSAEGA Architecture Group may charter a number of sub-groups and organiseworkshops as required.

1.8 Requi rements

A E-Governance Standards Secretariat will be set up for arranging meetings,preparing meeting minutes and providing members.

The Group is a coordination and information-sharing group by nature.Participation is encouraged by all members and is required from the architecturesub-group chairperson(s) and the speakers of established task forces.

2 Techn ica l Standards and E-Governance

Arch i tec tu re

2.1 Tech nica l S tandards

While implementing the Interoperability Framework, the emphasis should

obviously be on interoperability. Standardization in technology and coordination

with Government decisions/legislations can achieve this. In general, adherence

to some prescribed guidelines and principles should result in a more efficient

Interoperability Framework.

The following guidelines and recommendations are considered appropriate to

use while selecting Standards:


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General Requirements:

?? The cost should be low for usage.

?? It should be adopted on the basis of open decision-making process

?? No obstacle to use any version of the standard

?? Use of extensions of any adopted standards should not be allowed

Industry Standards: The specifications adopted should be either globally

recognized standards or existing de- facto industry-standards.

Open Standards: To the extent possible, select widely adopted open standards

in place of their propriety alternatives. Adoption of open standards cannot only

significantly contribute in achieving interoperability but can allow flexibility in the

selection of technology and solutions. It does not bind the user to a particular

vendor or technology. Compatibility with open standards should be one of the

major criterions for selection of software.

Vendor Neutral Products: The specifications adopted should be vendor neutral

as far as possible.

Limited Number of Specifications: For any Interoperability Domain, the

number of allowable specifications should be limited, as far as practicable and

without compromising the overall objective of interoperability, in order to minimize

the cost and complexity to support these specifications.

Alignment with Internet: The specifications should be aligned with Internet

standards as the Internet is a primary channel for delivering E-Government

services.

Global Initiatives: The specifications adopted should take due notice of similar

global initiatives, demonstrating good practices.


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New versions: Versions of standards may need to be revised as new

functionality is introduced. Special attention should be paid to ensure backward

compatibility to minimize the impact of transition to a new version of a

specification, thereby facilitating continued interoperability.

Version Selection: The selected version by the user need not be the latest

available version; this is because the selected version may meet the functional

requirements.

2.2 e-Governance Arch i t ec t ure

2.2.1 Reusabi l i t y

A large number of E-Governance applications developed in isolation, resulted in

self-contained islands of information. Every application followed its own

standards with the main objective of delivering process-centric results

irrespective of other applications. Hence, at the outset there is a need for an

architecture that is aimed at reuse and customization.

Software reuse must become a key part in the software architecture. The

continuing need for speeding up the software development life cycle and

reducing the cost of development to manageable proportions exists in all large

software projects. Component ware Architecture enables efficient reuse of

existing application assets, faster deployment of new applications, and improved

responsiveness to changing business needs. Reusable software components are

the building blocks that make a system able to respond quickly to change.

Systematic techniques for reuse adoption must therefore be enabled. Planning

for reuse must begin at the architecture stage itself. In short it delivers the much


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needed openness and flexibility. A central repository of reusable components

provides foundation to this concept.

2.2 .2 Midd leware and tec hno logy s tandards

There is a need to introduce the concept of middleware and technology

standards as a tool to develop integrable, scalable and robust E-Governance

solutions, while employing multiple solution providers. The middleware should

support processes involving multi-department and multi-agency workflows. For

this purpose, it is necessary that the different department offices and also

external agencies are interconnected and share the same underlying back-end

databases and applications. The middleware also should be able to facilitate

integration with legacy systems.

Middleware needs to provide services such as identification, authentication,

authorization, directories, and security to all applications. By promoting

standardization and interoperability, middleware will make advanced network

applications much easier to use. The key middleware components are (a) Web

Application Server, (b) Inter-application communication and messaging and

collaboration software (c) Language and data interchange standards.

2.2.3 Serv ice-Or ient ed Arc hi t ec t ure(SOA)

Service-Oriented Solutions: Applications must be developed as independent sets

of interacting services offering well-defined interfaces to their potential users.

Similarly, supporting technology must be available to allow application

developers to browse collections of services, select those of interest, and

assemble them to create the desired functionality.


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A service is generally implemented as a coarse-grained, discoverable software

entity that exists as a single instance and interacts with applications and other

services through a loosely coupled (often asynchronous), message-based

communication model.

3. Management o f t he Standards Work ing Group

Management implies continuous monitoring of the development and

maintenance of Standards so that it responds to the change in technology or

other environment. The management process or mechanism involves:

?? Periodical review and update of the set of specifications that constitute the

Standards Tracking technology changes and makes appropriate changes in

the specifications.

?? Obtain feedback from the Government agencies and the end users in

respect of changing requirements and co-ordinate with the technology teams

working on the revision of specifications.

?? Advising on the development of policies, guidelines and procedures to

support the development and management of XML schemas for E-

Government.

Adherences to standards are central to the success of implementation and

adaptation of the framework and good E-Governance practices. Where

appropriate, adherence should be made mandatory for all Government

businesses and infrastructure development.


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4. Road Map

All E-Government applications developed will have to have conformity with the

TSAEGA.

Institutioal Mechanisms to be evolved to enforce adherence to TSAEGA.

References

Interoperability Framework for E-Governance Technical Standards Version 1.0

brought out by NIC in 2004

SAGA Version 2.0

Glossary o f Term s

ICT Information and Communication Technology

NeGP National E-Governance Programme

SOA Services Oriented Architecture

TSAEGA Technical Standards and E-Governance

Architecture

Standards Technical App

Documents

Transcript of Standards Technical App