 Copyright 2005 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved. The SemanticGov Project An EU Perspective: Providing Integrated Public Services to Citizens at the National and Pan- European level with the use of Emerging Semantic Web Technologies Vassillios Peristeras Fifth Semantic Interoperability for E-Government Conference, October 10-11, 2006

2 Overview I.Introduction II.Modeling the government domain III.Implementations - Pilots

3 I. Introduction

4 Purpose of the SemanticGov project To combine PA domain modelling with Semantic Web Service technologies (namely WSMO-WSML-WSMX) in order to create a Semantic Web Service enabled Public Service execution environment (namely WSMO-PA) To check the applicability of this execution environment in National and Pan-European Public Services

5 SemanticGov: Providing Integrated Public Services to Citizens at the National and Pan-European level with the use of Emerging Semantic Web Technologies. SemanticGov aims at building the infrastructure (software, models, services, etc) necessary for enabling the offering of semantic web services by public administration (PA). Through this cutting edge infrastructure, SemanticGov will address longstanding challenges faced by public administrations such as achieving interoperability amongst PA agencies both within a country as well as amongst countries, easing the discovery of PA services by its customers, facilitating the execution of complex services often involving multiple PA agencies in interworkflows. More importantly, this infrastructure will exploit SemanticGov as an enabler for total reengineering of PA service provision and propose a paradigm shift of today’s modus operandi. SemanticGov Project FP IST is funded by the European Commission within the INFORMATION SOCIETY TECHNOLOGIES (IST) Programme. Participants List Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) CoordinatorGreece National University of Ireland – Digital Enterprise Research Institute (NUIG) PartnerIreland Leopold-Brazens University of Innsbruck (LFUI) PartnerAustria University of Rome “La Sapienza”/DIS (UOR)PartnerItaly CAPGEMINIPartnerThe Netherlands SOFTWARE AGPartnerGermany Ontotext (ONTO)PartnerBulgaria ALTEC (ALTEC)PartnerGreece Greek Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration, and Decentralization (MOI)PartnerGreece Region of Central Macedonia (RCM)PartnerGreece City of Torino (Citta Di Torino)PartnerItaly Starting date: January 1st, 2006 Duration: 36 months Total Budget: 4,375, € EU Funding: 2,720, €

6 Why Semantic Web Services in eGov? Semantic Web ServiceseGovernment Discovery Need2Service Converter Invocation PA specific distributed workflows: 1 st Workflow: Gathering the service evidences 2 nd Workflow: Service Execution - Collaboration with third parties 3 rd Workflow: Consequence propagation Composition Execution Monitoring Enhancing Administrative Transparency

7 II. Modeling the government domain

8 Why Domain Models? Domain Models SOAs Semantic Web Semantic Web Services MDD “…the third basic component of the Semantic Web, (is) collections of information called ontologies” (T. B. Lee, J. Hadler, O.Lassila, The Semantic Web, Scientific America) “SWSO is a core service ontology and is domain-independent. However, it is often necessary to represent domain- specific ontologies.” (SWSO specifications) Model-driven development … represents a business- driven approach to software systems development that starts with a computation independent model (CIM) describing the business context and business requirements.” (ATHENA NoE - Specification of a Basic Architecture Reference Model) The more behavior you find in the services, the more likely you are to be robbing yourself of the benefits of a domain model. If all your logic is in services, you've robbed yourself blind. (Martin Fowler)

9 Initiatives to model the PA domain InitiativePA Relevance DepthDomainPerspectiveView 1 The three spheres in eGovernance HighLowSupport Operation (O), Policy (P), Service Provision (S) ConceptualHolistic 2 Gartner Government Performance Framework HighMedium- Low O, P, SConceptualHolistic 3 Faceted Classification of PAHighMedium- Low O, SConceptualHolistic 4 SAP Public Sector Solution MapMediumMedium- Low OConceptualProcess 5 Government Process Classification Framework High O, PConceptualProcess 6 ONTOGOVMedium STechnicalHolistic 7 UK GCIMHighLowSConceptualObject 8 WebDG OntologiesLowMedium- High STechnicalHolistic 9 DIP eGovernment OntologyLowHighO, SConceptualObject 10 USA FEA Business Reference Model HighMedium- High O, SConceptualProcess 11 USA FEA other modelsLowMedium- High O, STechnicalHolistic

10 II. Modeling the government domain GEA = Governance Enterprise Architecture

11 Governance Enterprise Architecture (GEA) What is GEA GEA is a generic top-level Enterprise Architecture for the overall governance system From a MDD perspective, GEA is a Computation Independent Model (CIM) for the Public Administration domain GEA provides Domain Description Service Description GEA provides a reusable top-level domain description, focusing on the HOW and WHAT columns of the Zachman Framework GEA provides a reference PA service description

12 GEA – Zachman Framework GEA Core

13 GEA foundations Enterprise Architecture –Primarily Object (WHAT), Process (HOW) view Public Administration Theory –For defining domain concepts Speech Act Theory –Modeling the society-PA interaction as a discourse –Identifying the Informative-Performative parts of service provision –Types of Speech Acts - Types of PA services –Types of Speech Acts - Types of IS interoperability

14 An example of SAT concepts in GEA Determining classes of administrative acts Declarations attempt to change the world Assertives, statements that may be judged true or false because they aim to describe a state of affairs in the world. Directives, attempts by the speaker to get the addressee to do something. Commisives commit the speaker to some future course of action. Expressives express a psychological state Declarative Assertive Directive - Optative Grant for a third child - Imperative Smoking is prohibited PA informs and certifies the existence and the truth of certain world states I certify you are Greek PA changes the world I declare you married PA directs society to certain states Types of Speech Acts Core Functions of Public Administration

15 GEA Overview Governance System Political System Administrative System Society Dialogue Service Provision Public Policy Formulation

16 Formulate Public Policy AreaProvide Service Area OBJECTSAREAOBJECTSAREA PROCESSESAREAPROCESSESAREA Formulate Public Policy Objects area Formulate Public Policy Processes area Provide Service Objects area Provide Service Processes area The GEA Framework

17 PUBLIC SERVICE OUTCOME SERVICE PROVIDERSOCIETAL ENTITY produces receivesprovides LAW is governed by OUTPUT CONSEQUENCE EFFECT has type PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ENTITY ROLE has SERVICE COLLABORATOR EVIDENCE PROVIDER CONCEQUENCE RECEIVER participates in PIECE OF EVIDENCE PRECONDITION EVIDENCE PLACEHOLDER PURPOSE OF EVIDENCE contains validates has sets uses receives INPUT OTHER INPUT PA Service Model

18 WSMO-WSML-WSMX Web Service Modelling… … Ontology -> WSMO - Conceptual model for SWS: goal, ontologies, mediators, services … Language -> WSML Ontology Language for SWS WSML Variants: WSML Core, WSML DL, WSML Rule, WSML Full … Execution Environment and Architecture -> WSMX Middle-ware platform for SWS

19 WSMO Service Model PA Service Model WSMO-PA Mapping GEA to WSMO

20 Mapping GEA to WSMO WSMO-PA Model Direct Mapping –WSMO Goal to GEA Goal –WSMO Service to GEA Service WSMO Precondition to GEA Precondition/Evidence WSMO Postcondition to GEA Output/Consequence WSMO Effect to GEA Effect WSMO Assumption to GEA Evidence WSMO-PA Model Partial Mapping WSMO Model GEA-PA Model –Actors –Needs –Consequence –Law WSMO Model –Shared Variables –Mediator –Ontology

21 WSM L Shared Variables Mediator s WSMO-PA

22 Effect Service Provider Evidence GEA Interface WSMO-PA

23 II. Modeling the government domain Pan-European Public Services

24 Motivation The European Single Market The European Citizenship Pan-European Public Services (PEPS) are public services that may involve actors, and/or information and/or other services from at least two Member States irrespective of the technology used. IDABC Programme Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Business and Citizens

25 Pan-European Public Services a typology of Pan-European Public Services a typology of semantic conflicts in a cross-border environment SemanticGov proposes:

26 A typology of Pan-European Public Services A client from Member State 1 executes a Service provided by a PA agency of Member State 2 The Input/Output of a Service executed in Member State 1 comes from/will be sent to Member State 2 PA agencies from different Member States participate in a common workflow The Consequences of a PEPS executed in Member State 1 should be communicated to Member State 2

27 Types of Semantic Interoperability Conflicts in Pan-European Public Service provision Conflict Type Country ADescriptionCountry B Data level Data-value Evidence A Precondition A Effect A Consequence A Different meaning Is not applicable or valid Evidence A’ Precondition A’ Effect A’ Consequence A’ Data representation Evidence value ADifferent formatEvidence value A’ Data Units Evidence value AExpressed in different unitsEvidence value A’ Data precision Evidence value AExpressed in different values scale/gradeEvidence value A’ Granularit y Object Property Evidence AConflicts of any typeEvidence A’ Object Evidence Placeholder A Conflicts of any typeEvidence Placeholder A’ Schem a Level Naming Service Provider A Evidence Placeholder A Similar names/different services Or different names/similar services Similar names/different usage Or different names/similar evidence Service Provider A’ Evidence Placeholder A’ Entity Identifier Client AIdentified differentlyClient A’ Schema-isomorphism Evidence Placeholder A Contain different set of evidenceEvidence Placeholder A’ Generalization Evidence Placeholder A Client A Service Provider A EP1 in one country = EP1+EP2 in another Different categorizations/groups Different administrative and organizational structures Evidence Placeholder A1’+A2’ Client A’ Service Provider A’ Aggregation Evidence Placeholder A Evidences aggregated differentlyEvidence Placeholder A’ Schematic discrepancies Evidence Placeholder A Similar evidences different namesEvidence Placeholder A’

28 III. Implementations - Pilots

29 Cases Presentation Service Composition Need2Services Data Mediation SemanticGov - SWS Architecture

30 Service Composition The evidence gathering workflow in PA services

31 Service Composition Matching the Evidence Placeholder with the Service Output

32 Service Composition Workflow automatic composition Enhanced UDDI registry implemented with the t- models mechanism (e.g. Paolucci).

33 Discovering Services N2S Converter Needs Services PA Needs-aware Service unaware Service-aware Needs unaware

34 Discovering Services PREFIX gea: PREFIX rdf: SELECT ?Service WHERE { ?Service rdf:type gea:GEA_Public_Service. ?Service gea:hasPADomain gea:Transportation. ?Service gea:hasEffectType gea: PromoteSocialWelfare. ?Service gea:hasAdministrationLevel gea: Municipality_Level. ?Service gea:hasClientType gea: Citizen.} Services in the GEA ontology SPARQL query for matching public services to properties Matching Clients’ Profile-to-Services The GEA ontology

35 Semantics Based Data Mediation Identifying equivalence amongst evidences for cross-country service provision ID Card Number Identification of a person ID Card SSN Identification of a person SSN certification Country X Country Z

36 Semantics Based Data Mediation Identifying equivalence amongst evidences for cross-country service provision CitizenIdentificationID CitizenIdentificationID SWRL code for matching the Greek ID Card number to the Italian Passport Number

37 SemanticGov top-level Architecture From Vitvar T., Kerrigan M., Overeem v. A., Peristeras V. and Tarabanis K.: Infrastructure for the Semantic Pan-European E-government Services, Proceedings of the 2006 AAAI Spring Symposium on The Semantic Web meets eGovernment (SWEG), Mar , 2006, Stanford University, CA

38 Relevant Literature GEA related –Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., Reengineering the public administration modus operandi through the use of reference domain models and Semantic Web Service technologies, Proceedings of the 2006 AAAI Spring Symposium on The Semantic Web meets eGovernment (SWEG), Mar , 2006, Stanford University, California, USA –Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., Providing pan-European e-government services with the use of semantic web services technologies: a generic process model in R. Traunmüller (Ed.): Electronic Government, 4th EGOV International Conference, DEXA 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark, 22 – 25 Αug. 2005, Proceedings: Lecture Notes in Computer Science vol Springer 2005, pp –Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., Governance Enterprise Architecture (GEA): Domain Models for e-Governance, 6th ACM International Conference on Electronic Commerce (ICEC’04), Delft, The Netherlands, October 2004 PEGS related –Peristeras V., Loutas N,. Tarabanis K., Semantic Interoperability in Pan-European Public Services, 40th HICSS, 4-10 Jan. 2007, Hawaii –Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., Knowledge Management Requirements for Pan-European Public Administration Service Delivery, in Maria A. Wimmer (Ed.) Knowledge Management in Electronic Government, 4th IFIP International Working Conference, KMGov 2003, Rhodes, Greece, May 26-28, 2003, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2645, Springer 2003, pp WSMO related – WSMO-PA related –Xia Wang, Goudos S., Peristeras V., Vitvar T., Mocan A., Tarabanis K., WSMO-PA: Formal Specification of Public Administration Service Model on Semantic Web Service Ontology, 40th HICSS, 4-10 Jan. 2007, Hawaii –Peristeras V., Goudos S., Vitvar T., Mocan A., Tarabanis K., Towards Semantic Web Services for Public Administration based on the Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO) and the Governance Enterprise Architecture (GEA), 5th EGOV, DEXA 2006, Krakow, Poland. Implementations-Pilots –Goudos S., Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., Semantic Web Application for Public Administration using OWL for Public Domain Data Knowledge Representation, WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications Journal (accepted for publication) –Goudos S., Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., A Semantic Web Application for Matching a Citizen’s Profile to Entitled Public Services, ICEG 2006: The 2nd International Conference on e-Government, October 2006, University of Pittsburgh, USA –Goudos S., Peristeras V., Tarabanis K., Mapping Citizen Profiles to Public Administration Services Using Ontology Implementations of the Governance Enterprise Architecture (GEA) models, Semantic Web for eGovernment workshop, European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC) 2006, 11th-14th June, Budva, Montenegro General SemanticGov related –Vitvar T., Kerrigan M., Overeem v. A., Peristeras V. and Tarabanis K.: Infrastructure for the Semantic Pan-European E-government Services, poster, Proceedings of the 2006 AAAI Spring Symposium on The Semantic Web meets eGovernment (SWEG), Mar , 2006, Stanford University, CA, USA –Vitvar T., Mocan A., Peristeras V. and Tarabanis K. (2006), Semantic-enabled Integration of Cross-border E-Government Services, poster at the 15th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW ’06), Workshop on eGovernment, 23 May 2006, Edinburg, Scotland

39 Current Status of Work The project is just finishing its initial phase (Conceptual Analysis – Requirements). It will run until Dec We work on the top-level architecture to provide a full reference architecture for implementing SWS in PA environment We apply existing WSMO tools (e.g. WSMX, WSMO Studio, etc.). Our aim is to develop PA specific plug-ins (e.g. WSMO-PA Studio). We want to test the above, (a) in two real services as provided by a Greek and an Italian public agency, (b) in a set of laboratory cases

 Copyright 2005 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved. The SemanticGov Project An EU Perspective: Providing Integrated Public Services to Citizens at the National and Pan- European level with the use of Emerging Semantic Web Technologies Vassillios Peristeras Fifth Semantic Interoperability for E-Government Conference, October 10-11, 2006