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PalGov © 2011
‫الفلسطٌنٌة‬ ‫اإللكترونٌة‬ ‫الحكومة‬ ‫أكادٌمٌة‬
The Palestinian eGovernment Academy
www.egovacademy.ps
Tutorial 4: Ontology Engineering & Lexical Semantics
Session 10
Zinnar
The Palestinian Interoperability Framework
Dr. Mustafa Jarrar
University of Birzeit
mjarrar@birzeit.edu
www.jarrar.info

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About
This tutorial is part of the PalGov project, funded by the TEMPUS IV program of the
Commission of the European Communities, grant agreement 511159-TEMPUS-1-
2010-1-PS-TEMPUS-JPHES. The project website: www.egovacademy.ps
University of Trento, Italy
University of Namur, Belgium
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
TrueTrust, UK
Birzeit University, Palestine
(Coordinator )
Palestine Polytechnic University, Palestine
Palestine Technical University, Palestine
Université de Savoie, France
Ministry of Local Government, Palestine
Ministry of Telecom and IT, Palestine
Ministry of Interior, Palestine
Project Consortium:
Coordinator:
Dr. Mustafa Jarrar
Birzeit University, P.O.Box 14- Birzeit, Palestine
Telfax:+972 2 2982935 mjarrar@birzeit.edu

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© Copyright Notes
Everyone is encouraged to use this material, or part of it, but should
properly cite the project (logo and website), and the author of that part.
No part of this tutorial may be reproduced or modified in any form or by
any means, without prior written permission from the project, who have
the full copyrights on the material.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC-BY-NC-SA
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-
commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations
under the identical terms.

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Tutorial Map
Topic Time
Session 1_1: The Need for Sharing Semantics 1.5
Session 1_2: What is an ontology 1.5
Session 2: Lab- Build a Population Ontology 3
Session 3: Lab- Build a BankCustomer Ontology 3
Session 4: Lab- Build a BankCustomer Ontology 3
Session 5: Lab- Ontology Tools 3
Session 6_1: Ontology Engineering Challenges 1.5
Session 6_2: Ontology Double Articulation 1.5
Session 7: Lab - Build a Legal-Person Ontology 3
Session 8_1: Ontology Modeling Challenges 1.5
Session 8_2: Stepwise Methodologies 1.5
Session 9: Lab - Build a Legal-Person Ontology 3
Session 10: Zinnar – The Palestinian eGovernment
Interoperability Framework
3
Session 11: Lab- Using Zinnar in web services 3
Session 12_1: Lexical Semantics and Multilingually 1.5
Session 12_2: WordNets 1.5
Session 13: ArabicOntology 3
Session 14: Lab-Using Linguistic Ontologies 3
Session 15: Lab-Using Linguistic Ontologies 3
Intended Learning Objectives
A: Knowledge and Understanding
4a1: Demonstrate knowledge of what is an ontology,
how it is built, and what it is used for.
4a2: Demonstrate knowledge of ontology engineering
and evaluation.
4a3: Describe the difference between an ontology and a
schema, and an ontology and a dictionary.
4a4: Explain the concept of language ontologies, lexical
semantics and multilingualism.
B: Intellectual Skills
4b1: Develop quality ontologies.
4b2: Tackle ontology engineering challenges.
4b3: Develop multilingual ontologies.
4b4: Formulate quality glosses.
C: Professional and Practical Skills
4c1: Use ontology tools.
4c2: (Re)use existing Language ontologies.
D: General and Transferable Skills
d1: Working with team.
d2: Presenting and defending ideas.
d3: Use of creativity and innovation in problem solving.
d4: Develop communication skills and logical reasoning
abilities.

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Outline and Session ILOs
This session will help student to:
4a1: Demonstrate knowledge of what is an ontology, how it is
built, and what it is used for.
4a2: Demonstrate knowledge of ontology engineering and
evaluation.
4b1: Develop quality ontologies.

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Zinnar Website
http://www.zinnar.pna.ps

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What is eGovernment?

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What is e-Government (Simplified Demo)
?
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Ministry D
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Name:
PIN:
###########
###########
 Authenticate Users

12345
e-Government is a (framework) to enable electronic
services: government-to-government (G2G), government-
to-business (G2B), and government-to-citizen (G2C).

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What is e-Government (Simplified Demo)
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Ministry D
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
<Query>
<Query>
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
List of allowed services
Choose Renew Driving License
Transport
Interior
Health

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What is e-Government (Simplified Demo)
Ministry A
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
<Query>
<Query>
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
List of allowed services
Choose Renew Driving License
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
<Query>
########
########
########
########
<Query>
= = = = =
= = = = =
<Query>
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Ministry D
Health
Health
Ministry C
Interior
Interior
Ministry B
Transport
Transport
 Servers interoperate among each other to exchange data messages (to
implement an e-service), similar to exchanging papers between
ministries in the real world.

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What is e-Government (Simplified Demo)
Ministry D Ministry C
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
List of allowed services
Choose Renew Driving License
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Interior
Health
Ministry B
Transport
 Servers interoperate among each other to exchange data messages (to
implement an e-service), similar to exchanging papers between
ministries in the real world.

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What is e-Government (Simplified Demo)
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
<Query>
<Query>
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
<Query>
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
 Servers interoperate among each other to exchange data messages (to
implement an e-service), similar to exchanging papers between
ministries in the real world.
 A framework is needed allow this Interoperability between servers,
taking into account the (Organizational, Technical, and Semantics)
issues. Transport
Interior
Health

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e-Government (Data Messages)
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
<Query>
<Query>
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born
Copy of Birth
Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv
bbbbb
<Query>
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
 Servers interoperate among each other to exchange data messages (to
implement an e-service), similar to exchanging papers between
ministries in the real world.
 A framework is needed allow this Interoperability between servers,
taking into account the (Organizational, Technical, and Semantics)
issues.
Data Message
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
. . .
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
. . .
<Person>
<PersonID>123456789</PersonID>
<FName>Rula</FName>
. . .
<Nationality>PAL33</Nationality>
. . .
</SOAP-ENV:Body>

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e-Government Interoperability
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
<Query>
<Query>
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born
Copy of Birth
Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv
bbbbb
<Query>
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
 Servers interoperate among each other to exchange data messages (to
implement an e-service), similar to exchanging papers between
ministries in the real world.
 A framework is needed allow this Interoperability between servers,
taking into account the (Organizational, Technical, and Semantics)
issues.
Data Message
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
. . .
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
. . .
<Person>
<PersonID>123456789</PersonID>
<FName>Rula</FName>
. . .
<Nationality>PAL33</Nationality>
. . .
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
We need to agree on and share:
• Vocabulary (naming & codes)
• Meaning of data
• Structure of data
=>We need an ontology,

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Why e-Goverment in Palestine?
Like other countries:
• To make the life of citizens easier
• For effectiveness and transparency in public services.
• Improve economy: more income, less spending
And More: (To Bridge Palestinians)
• To serve Palestinians who live inside but unable
to reach public offices because of the hundreds
of Israeli check-points between cities.
• To connect and serve Palestinians refugees and
foreigners (70% of Palestinians).
Egov in Palestine is not a luxury, but a must (political, economy, social)

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E-government Frameworks
The e-government project in Palestine is divided into five
main frameworks:
 Infrastructure
 Security
 Interoperability
 Legal
 Policy

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E-government Frameworks
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
1. Infrastructure
To connect ministries:
• through the internet, or own network?
• Who manages the network?
• …
Done! (See eGov Network)

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E-government Frameworks
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
1. Infrastructure
2. Security Framework
To assure:
• Ministry A is sure about the message
sources (Ministry B).
• Ministry B cannot deny sending the
message.
• The message cannot be changed in the
middle.
• ….
Little progress!

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E-government Frameworks
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
1. Infrastructure
2. Security Framework
3. Interoperability Framework
To assure
• The content of the exchanged
messages is understood meaningfully.
• Organizational procedures are
compatible.
• Technical issues and systems are
compatible.
• ….
Done! (See Zinnar)

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E-government Frameworks
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
1. Infrastructure
2. Security Framework
3. Interoperability Framework
4. Legal Framework
• All communications are legally
accepted.
• Can a ministry deny providing a
service?
• What information is private, cannot be
exchanged with other ministries
• ….
Some Progress(e-sig Law Drafted)

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E-government Frameworks
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
1. Infrastructure
2. Security Framework
3. Interoperability Framework
4. Legal Framework
5. Policy Framework
• Which services to provide now
and later.
• Who should benefit from services
(Green ID, Blue IDs, refugees and
foreigner)?
• ….
Not Done!

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The Interoperability Framework

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Palestinian Interoperability Framework (Zinnar)
Interoperability is divided into three types:
1- Semantic Interoperability
The ability of computer systems to exchange data and have that data
properly interpreted by the receiving system in the same sense as
intended by the transmitting system.
2- Organizational Interoperability
The ability of the government organisations to collaborate to achieve
their mutually agreed goals. In practice, organisational interoperability
is established through the integration of business processes and the
related exchange of information. (read more)
3- Technical Interoperability
The ability of organisation‟s systems to communicate and exchange
data messages
http//:zinnar.pna.ps

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Palestinian Interoperability Framework (Zinnar)
Semantic & Organizational Interoperability are (realized in five servers)
Entity
Server
Address
Server
Database of
Databases
Service
Repository
Government
Ontology
Classification codes
Entity mappings
GIS-enabled
Addresses
Metadata about
all state DBs
Business Processes,
AsIs-ToBe, WSDL, UDDI
CommitTo
http//:zinnar.pna.ps
Technical Interoperability
e-Government Service Bus
(Service-Oriented Architecture )
Tech Standards
SOAP, WSDL, UTF-8…

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How to use the Ontology?
Ministry D Ministry C
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Metadata Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Interior
Health
Ministry B
Transport
Message3
Message2
Message1 Message4
Ontology
The (naming, meaning, data structure)
in all exchanged messages commit to
the Ontology

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Government Ontology: Why do we need it?
E
D
C
B
A
• Why do we really need a “Framework” to agree on the naming, meaning,
structure of the data, …?
• Can‟t we simply agree on all of this “ad-hoc”, without a framework or ontology?
F
Suppose
• A governmental agency A provides
a certain service to agency B.
• The developers from agency B
must understand/(agree with the
developers from agency A) on the
naming, meaning, structure of the
data, business rules, …
This must be done for all other
agencies that want to consume
certain services from A.

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Government Ontology: Why do we need it?
A
B
C
D
E
F
Suppose
B is the provider of the services
…
• Why do we really need a “Framework” to agree on the naming, meaning,
structure of the data, …?
• Can‟t we simply agree on all of this “ad-hoc”, without a framework or ontology?

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Government Ontology: Why do we need it?
A
B
C
D
E
F
• Why do we really need a “Framework” to agree on the naming, meaning,
structure of the data, …?
• Can‟t we simply agree on all of this “ad-hoc”, without a framework or ontology?
Suppose
C is the provider of the services
…

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Government Ontology: Why do we need it?
A
B
C
D
E
F
 Building the Palestinian e-Government
“ad-hoc” is not scalable.
• Why do we really need a “Framework” to agree on the naming, meaning,
structure of the data, …?
• Can‟t we simply agree on all of this “ad-hoc”, without a framework or ontology?

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Government Ontology: Why do we need it?
 Building the Palestinian e-Government
“ad-hoc” is not scalable.
A
B
E
F
C
D
Ontology
 We need a framework (Ontology), such
that:
• The WSDL of a service “commits” to
the Ontology.
• The consumer of the service refers to
the ontology to understand the
meaning, structure and business
rules pertaining to the data.
• Why do we really need a “Framework” to agree on the naming, meaning,
structure of the data, …?
• Can‟t we simply agree on all of this “ad-hoc”, without a framework or ontology?

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The Entity Server

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e-Government (Data Messages)
########
########
########
########
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Ministry B
Ministry C
Metadata Authentication
Server
Payment
Server
<Query>
<Query>
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born
Copy of Birth
Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv
bbbbb
<Query>
= = = = =
= = = = =
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa

Ministry D
Transport
Interior
Health
 Servers interoperate among each other to exchange data messages (to
implement an e-service), similar to exchanging papers between
ministries in the real world.
 A framework is needed allow this Interoperability between servers,
taking into account the (Organizational, Technical, and Semantics)
issues.
Data Message
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
. . .
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
. . .
<Person>
<PersonID>123456789</PersonID>
<FName>Rula</FName>
. . .
<Nationality>PAL33</Nationality>
. . .
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
Such codes should be
standardized between the
service provider and the
consumer

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How to use the Entity Server?
Ministry D Ministry C
Transport
Interior
Health
Ministry A
Metadata Payment
Server
Portal
Renew License
Register Car
Renew Passport
Register New born Copy
of Birth Certificate
Name:
Name:
Name: ccc
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Vvvv bbbbb
Aaa aaa aaa a aaaaa
Bbbbb bbbb a bb aaa
Interior
Health
Ministry B
Transport
Message3
Message2
Message1 Message4
Entity Server
Using the same entity codes when
transferring data between governmental
agencies.
All entities (codes, names, and
mappings) appear in data messages
should defined in the Entity Server.

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How to use the Entity Server?
• Governmental agencies cannot communicate without the Entity Server.
• Service providers and consumers don‟t have to change their internal
databases, but when exchanging messages they have to use those
shared entities.
Entity Server
NationalityCode NationalityName
PSE ‫فلسطيني‬
. . .
Code Name
PAL ‫فلسطين‬
. . .
Nationality
‫فالسطيني‬
. . .
. . .
<NationalityCode>PSE<NationalityCode/>
. . .
Agency A
Agency B

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The Entity Server

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The Entity Server (example entity)

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The Entity Server (mapping tables)

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The Entity Server (Methodology)
• For each Entity, we:
– provide the classification in different formats: (Web service
(XML), xls, sql, html).
– provide Documentation that also serves as log/history document
of the Entity.
– make sure the developed standards cover tables used in
different governmental agencies.

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The Entity Server

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The Entity Server (entity-identity mappings)
In case same entities (e.g. people) are identified differently across
organizations, exchanging data about such entities requires that their
identities are mapped to each other
For example:
(Passportnumber1, Passportnumber2) of the same person,
(IDNumber, Name-Bdate-BirthPlace) of the same person,
(A.Platnumber, B.platenumber) of the same car; or
(A.landnumber, B.landcode) of the same land.
A mapping table should be built to link different identities of the same
entity.
Such entity-identity mappings are stored in the Entity server.

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Ontology-based Entity Server
• The entity server is governed by the ontology.
• A value constraint in the ontology module is linked with a table in the
entity server.
• That is, the allowed values for a concept in the ontology is limited by
a certain set of the entities in the Entity server.
• For example, the list of values for “BirthCountry” in the ontology must
be one of the “CountriesAndNationalities” in the entity server.

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The address server

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The address server: Why do we need it?
Addressing info is not consistent across all governmental agencies
• E.g., different agencies register different names/numbers for the same
building/street/area/region.
• In addition, how to know that „Beit Sahour Str‟ is part of „Beit Sahour ‟, and
that „Beit Sahour ‟ is part of „Bethlahem‟.
In order for different governmental agencies to interoperate, they must
use the same address system.
Street
Beit Sahour St
Street
Shepherds Field
Street
Karkafe Street
agency A agency B agency C
Currently: citizens have different address cross ministries; ministries
cannot register full address; different spellings of towns and streets;
ministries cannot send official letters to citizens, etc.

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The Address Server

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The Address Server

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The Address Server
One of the major problems that face Governmental agencies when building e-Government services
and exchanging data electronically is the inconsistency of addressing information across different
governmental agencies (e.g., different agencies register different names/ numbers for the same
building/ street/ area/ region). In order to interoperate, different governmental agencies must use
the same address for a certain person. As a solution to the problem, we propose the address
server. The address server is a repository of addresses that would contain all the addressing
Information including building numbers, street names, postcodes, and regions. Basically, an
address is an entity and thus it could have been included within the Entity Server. However, due to
the complexity of the addressing system in general and the requirements of the Palestinian
addressing system that is being developed, the address Entity is treated separately.
Currently, the address server contains the Palestinian postcodes that were recently developed by
the Ministry of Telecom & IT. The newly developed Palestinian Postcode system represented the
first step towards establishing a modern addressing system for Palestine. The postcode consists of
four digits (from W100 - W799) in Westbank and (G800 – G999) in Gaza Strip, such that the areas
of the Westbank and Gaza Strip were divided into 900 postcode zones. For instance, Jenin was
divided into 100 zones (from W200 - W299) while Bethlehem was divided into 50 zones (W150 -
W199).
The Palestinian postcodes data is presented currently on this page using a GIS web application on
an interactive map that allows the user to search and navigate addressing data easily, and it is also
presented using a tabular form. In addition, GIS street information for several cities in Palestine will
be added very soon.

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Ontology-based Address Server
That is, the value constraint on „Address‟ should be limited to the
address provided in the Address server.

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Database of State Databases

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Database of State Databases
A typical problems in governments (and large enterprises) is that same
data is collected and registered in many different databases.
For example: your profile might be registered differently in 15 ministries.
The more the data is repeatedly registered in many databases, the more
difficult the interoperability and integration will be.
In addition, If you change your address, mobile, or number of children,
you have to go and change it in every ministry.

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Database of State Databases
To develop and maintain e-Government services, metadata about state
databases should be collected and maintained in a registry of databases.
Such metadata includes at least the following information: Name of the
database, owner, type of the registered data, repository usage, the year
the database was built in, number of records, number of records added
per day, percentage of automated data, type of automated data, degree
of coverage, condition of the data.
When a ministry creates a database, it should register it in the database
of databases, and provides metadata about it.
In this way, it will be clear what data exists, and who holds/registers which
data.
In some courtiers, ministers are forced by law to license each database
they have, and they have to specify exactly the purposes/usage of this
database.

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Database of State Databases

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Database of State Databases

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Ontology-based Database of State
Databases
All (or the relevant) fields in all databases are linked with a concept in the
ontology.

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Service Repository

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Service Repository
• Metadata about e-governmental services will be collected and kept in
a repository of services.
• Such metadata includes specifications of:
• Formal description of governmental services (including the AS-
IS and TO-BE business processes models),
• Web services (WSDL) ,
• Web service repository (UDDI).

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Business Process modeling
• There is typically a set of services that a ministry provides to citizens,
to enterprises, and to other governmental institutions.
• Such services (called business processes) for all ministries should be
well defined (formal AS-IS and TO-BE models); or at least those
services that need to be provided.

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Service Repository: governmental Business
Processes
As-is process model Re-engineered process “To-be model”

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Ontology-based Service Governance
. . .
. . .
. . .
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions xmlns="http://xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
. . .
<element name=“Citizen“>
. . .
<service name=“CitizenProfileService">. . .</service>
</definitions>
Citizen
CitizenProfile
Service
Service
Specification
WSDL
Government
Ontology
Database
of
State
Databases
FirstName
Registry (1)
Registered Data FirstName, …
. . . . . .
Provided Services Citizen Profile
Service, …
Implements
Maps to
Commits to Commits to
Business
Process
Models

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Ontology-based Service Governance
. . .
. . .
. . .
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions xmlns="http://xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
. . .
<element name=“Citizen“>
. . .
<service name=“CitizenProfileService">. . .</service>
</definitions>
Citizen
CitizenProfile
Service
Service
Specification
WSDL
Government
Ontology
Database
of
State
Databases
FirstName
Registry (1)
Registered Data FirstName, …
. . . . . .
Provided Services Citizen Profile
Service, …
Implements
Maps to
Commits to Commits to
Business
Process
Models
Government ontology
describes not only the
data but also the services
(classification).
Thus, not only the data in
WSDL files are rooted and
linked with concepts in the
ontology but also the
services names (web
services) are also linked
and rooted in the ontology
In this way, as web services are sub
processes in the ASIS and TOBEs, it
implies a link between the business
process and ontology.

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The Government Ontology
in more details

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Ontology-based Service Governance
The Government Ontology can be viewed as a framework
(or a standard) that consists of the agreed-upon
vocabulary (naming), meaning, structure and business
rules pertaining to the data exchanged in e-Government
services.

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Government Ontology – What is it?
The Government Ontology is a formal description of the
terminology (concepts and their interrelationships) that are
communicated in the Government domain.
 so that all the terminology in the web services is mapped to
(commits to) this ontology.

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Government Ontology – How it was built?
• The Government Ontology in Palestine was built smoothly with low cost.
• Only two persons were involved, and it was delivered at a short time;
• Few meetings with some domain experts were conducted.
The way the ontology was engineered was effective, mainly, because:
 The ontology was modularized into several modules,
 The notion of gloss, to also informally describe concepts,
 The use of ORM, to model and graphically represent the ontology.

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Government Ontology – What is it?
The Government Ontology is modularized into separate (but connected)
modules. Such modules are: Legal Person, Address, Organization, Car,
Land.

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Government Ontology – How it was built?
The Government Ontology is modularized into separate (but connected)
modules. Such modules are: Legal Person, Address, Organization, Car,
Land.
Modularization is based on (Modularity criteria):
1. Subject-oriented
2. Purpose/Task-oriented
3. Stability
Modules are:
1. Easier to reuse
2. Easier to build, maintain, and replace
3. Enable distributed development of modules
4. Enable the effective management and browsing

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Zinnar – Palestinian Government Ontology
Still more topics
need to be covered

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Zinnar – Palestinian Government Ontology
Legal-Person Module

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Government Ontology (Example)
Each Module consists of three components: (1) ORM Diagram, (2)
Glossary, (3) Business Rules.
ORM Diagram
Glossary
Business Rules

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Government Ontology (Example)
Each Module consists of three components: (1) ORM Diagram, (2)
Glossary, (3) Business Rules.
ORM Diagram
Glossary
Business Rules
1- ORM Diagram

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Government Ontology (Example)
Each Module consists of three components: (1) ORM Diagram, (2)
Glossary, (3) Business Rules.
ORM Diagram
Glossary
Business Rules
2- Glossary

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Government Ontology (Example)
Each Module consists of three components: (1) ORM Diagram, (2)
Glossary, (3) Business Rules.
ORM Diagram
Glossary
Business Rules
3- Business Rules
‫كشركة‬ ‫سجلت‬ ‫إذا‬ ‫إال‬ ‫الربح‬ ‫بقصد‬ ‫عمل‬ ‫أي‬ ُ‫ا‬‫مع‬ ‫تتعاطى‬ ‫أن‬ ً‫ا‬‫شخص‬ ‫عشرٌن‬ ‫من‬ ‫أكثر‬ ‫تضم‬ ‫لمجموعة‬ ‫ٌجوز‬ ‫ال‬
‫القانون‬ ‫بمقتضى‬ ‫محدودة‬ ‫مساهمة‬
.
‫السهم‬ ‫قٌمة‬ ‫تقل‬ ‫وال‬ ‫القٌمة‬ ‫متساوٌة‬ ‫أسهم‬ ‫إلى‬ ‫وٌقسم‬ ،‫األردنٌة‬ ‫بالعملة‬ ‫ٌكون‬ ً‫األسهم‬ ‫المال‬ ‫رأس‬ ‫مقدار‬
‫دنانٌر‬ ‫عشرة‬ ‫على‬ ‫تزٌد‬ ‫وال‬ ‫واحد‬ ‫دٌنار‬ ‫عن‬ ‫االسمٌة‬
.

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References
Mustafa Jarrar, Anton Deik, Bilal Faraj: Ontology-based Data and Process
Governance Framework -The Case of e-Government Interoperability in Palestine.
In pre-proceedings of the IFIP International Symposium on Data-Driven Process
Discovery and Analysis (SIMPDA‟11). ISBN 978-88-903120-2-1. Campione, Italy.
June 30, 2011.
www.zinnar.pna.ps