When information is defined in a systematic and harmonised way, a better visibility and understanding of information in different information systems is achieved. The problem is that reaching this common understanding is not self-evident but requires work and tools – intellectual as well as technical. 

To support data exchanges between organisations and to maintain semantics, Finland launched the Joint Metadata and Information Management Key Project in the years 2016 – 2018. The idea was to create a national application and implementation of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF). 

The project had two focus areas:  

• Develop the national metadata service, called the Interoperability Platform (FI-Platform), based on the principles of semantic, linked data. 
• Describe and apply the Interoperability Method, which provides guidelines to public administrations on how to publish their core and metadata descriptions as well as application profiles on the Interoperability Platform. 

The FI-Platform and the Interoperability Method are now maintained by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The Act on Information Management in Public Administration, which came into force in 2020, laid the legislative foundation for interoperability and the development of the once-only principle.   

The interoperability tools

The three major tools provided by the Interoperability Platform are the following: 

• The Terminologies Tool, a browser-based application for creating and managing information domain-specific terminologies and concepts. 
• The Data Vocabularies Tool, a browser-based application for managing and publishing data vocabularies and application profiles (data models). 
• The Reference Data Tool, a technical platform for managing, publishing and sharing common public sector code lists and reference data. 

Only authorised users from registered organisations can create and edit information in the tools.  However, all tools operate as a public website where anyone, even those without registration, can explore the different resources. In addition to browsing and searching via the web user interface, the data can also be accessed via an application programming interface (API).  

The Interoperability Platform supports multilingual publishing. The user can choose between a Finnish, Swedish or English interface. The actual data can be presented in various languages. The editor gets a template for every language they have defined and can provide the data for each language separately.  

All Interoperability Platform tools provide a unique and machine-readable identification (URI or IRI address) for each resource.  With that identification, the resources can be referenced universally, regardless of language.   

In the Data Vocabularies Tool, data models are created with the help of a visual view of the data model. In addition, the data model can be exported in serialised formats such as RDF, Turtle or JSON-LD. 

If you want to read more about Finland's tooling landscape and their approach to maintaining and developing Semantic Specifications, you can read this other article from SEMIC. The Article touches on the tooling landscape and modelling approach in various Member States, including Finland. 

The method: “Reuse when possible, mint when necessary”

The Interoperability Method presents the principles according to which the information and metadata are described in a consistent and harmonised way on the Interoperability Platform. Reuse is at the core of the method. There are reusable data models, also known as core vocabularies, that can be used as the basis for context-specific data models, also known as application profiles. An application profile addresses the interoperability requirements between information systems by retaining conformance with the base model.  

For example, the concepts of the SEMIC Core Vocabularies were translated into Finnish and a bilingual implementation of them was created on our platform. This “ISA2core - EU Core Vocabularies implementation” is used as a corner stone and basis to create other data models. This is at the heart of our method: achieving interoperability by default by reusing as much as possible, a principle in the spirit of the EIF and shared with more and more administrations in Europe. 

In 2023, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency got funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers’ CBDS programme to write guidelines and create data models based on best practices. The Single Digital Gateway Once-Only Technical System (SDG OOTS) evidence data were used as a test bed. The objectives of the project were to model proposals for evidence that could be exchanged in the Once Only Technical System (OOTS). In spring 2024, the project's evidence proposals were modelled with the support of the Digital Single Market team at the KEHA Centre. Four evidence data models were produced as outputs of the project: two from population domain and two from education domain. 

In autumn 2024, the KEHA Centre’s Digital Single Market Team continued modelling the evidence from the Population Information System and the Finnish Trade Register for the integration of the OOTS registers. In this work, about ten OOTS evidence types for population data and two OOTS evidence types for business data were modelled. In addition, guidelines for modelling OOTS evidence were created (some illustrations can be accessed here and here).

Once the core vocabularies were available, it was quite straightforward to derive the application profiles from them. In fact, when the definitions are of good quality, others can more easily rely on such descriptions instead of creating them from scratch.

Importance of cooperation

When information is systematically and harmoniously defined, it enhances your ability to see and understand information across various systems. In addition to the tools, you need a common governance model that sets out the principles for the co-creation of metadata definitions. Then, the communities can align and agree on common definitions and specifications and share their results on a common platform.  

Finland's successful implementation of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) principles has greatly enhanced data interoperability, enabling better information visibility and understanding across systems. By developing tools like the Interoperability Platform and promoting collaboration through a common governance model, Finland has emphasised the importance of reusing and harmonising metadata standards. With the successful adoption by the Nordic Council of Ministers, this approach has expanded across borders, demonstrating a strong commitment to achieving interoperability through reuse and cooperative efforts.

Written by a representative of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Finnish Digital Agency) and edited by the SEMIC team.