Using Standardised Web Services for Integrating Processes of Autonomous Actors Communicating within a Public Information System - A Case Study from Greece

Abstract

This work presents the design and development of a prototype module for the National Statistical Service of Greece, which supports the daily data collection procedures within the Organisation, while also removing a severe burden on the responding enterprises. The basic idea behind this effort was to enable enterprises to use and integrate it with their commercial and accounting packages, in order to extract from the legacy systems all the data required for reporting, in an "invisible" and easy way. The major benefits arising from the use of the system include the overall improvement of the system and of the process, in addition to a reduction in the burden placed on the respondents, especially for providers with large amounts of declarations. As a result, an overall improvement of data quality is expected. We have implemented the prototype module as a Web Service API, since Web Services allow different applications from different sources to exchange data without the necessity of implementing custom codes and applications for this purpose. Due to the fact that all underlying communication uses XML, the Web Service is not tied to any operating system or programming language. Additionally, Web services are being adopted in the marketplace as a mechanism for efficient process integration in the organizations within and across organizational boundaries.