At the strategy board partner meeting in May, the e-Framework partners listed eight priority activities to be delivered in 2008. These points of collaboration between the four international partners have formed the basis of an exciting and comprehensive joint e-Framework workplan. Key work packages described in the workplan include:

Enterprise Architectures and the e-Framework

This work package addresses the requirement to explore the relationships between Enterprise Architectures and the International e-Framework. The Ministry of Education New Zealand has commissioned a discussion paper which maps the e-Framework onto The Open Group Architecture Initiative (TOGAF) and the modelling language Archimate. SURF are investigating the possible application of TOGAF in the HE domain, and the JISC are commissioning a paper that attempts to define the relationships between the e-Framework and the wider discipline of Enterprise Architecture.

Vender products and SOA

The JISC and SURF are together compiling an ICT Vendor and Products Map, which should provide insight into the SOA enabling and integration issues between the main vendor products that are currently in use in HEIs, and the vendors future soa strategies. This type of knowledge is essential to successfully develop a SOA strategy and could be made available in the e-Framework Knowledge Base. IMS contacts and other existing analyses will be used where possible.

Validation check

It is paramount that the e-Framework team validates and demonstrates real-world usage of the e-Framework concepts and processes. All partners are exploring the best ways in which to do this. For example, SURF are reverse engineering LOREnet as a means of validating the e-Framework approach.