Interoperability is often divided into four areas: legal, organisational, semantic and technical (cf. the European Interoperability Framework EIF).

The focus in the interoperability platform is on semantic interoperability. Where one area starts and another ends is not always easy to say. For example, code sets and classifications frequently also implement technical interoperability.

Semantic interoperability is normally defined as interoperability that enables the transfer and processing of data in way that keeps the meaning unchanged and the content comprehensible to all parties. Information has a precise meaning that remains unchanged and understandable to everyone when data is exchanged.

In principle, all data content is in the public domain, but if content producers wish to restrict the way in which their material is viewed, they can choose the status ‘Under Construction’. Data content marked in this way (terminologies, concepts, reference data and data vocabularies) can only be viewed by those to whom the content producer has granted access rights.

There are five roles associated with the interoperability platform tools and rights management: administrator, glossary employee, code set employee, data modeller and member.

The administrator has access to all interoperability platform tools. The administrator also grants access rights to persons in their own organisation (approves requests for access rights from members of the organisation).

Glossary employees can create glossaries and edit the glossaries of their own organisations.

Reference Data employees can import new code sets into the Reference Data tool, edit them, and add descriptive information to the code sets of their own organisations.

Data modellers can create new application profiles and edit data models of their own organisations.

Members can view the organisation’s material marked with the status ‘Under Construction’. Members do not have edit rights.

The Terminologies tool is used for work connected with a terminology glossary. The tool enables you to maintain and publish terminological glossaries, and define concepts, terms and relationships between concepts. The Terminologies tool supports the Nordic vocabulary specification and public administration terminology development process (see JHS 175 Development process of the terminology in public administration).

The Terminologies tool enables you to maintain the glossaries used in public administration that contain concept definitions and other descriptive information.

The Data Models tool describes data content in a way that enables the meaning of information to be defined using the glossaries. The meanings of code sets (including codes) can also be defined with the concepts and terms of the Terminologies tool.

The Terminologies tool is intended for

• people involved with glossary development in an organisation
• data architects and data modellers
• IT experts
• communications experts and translators
• citizens using public administration services who want to find out what concepts used by administration mean.

The Reference Data tool can be used to publish and maintain code sets and their metadata.

The Reference Data tool enables you to produce hierarchical code sets, create code set extensions, mark code sets with variants and produce versions of code sets.

The Terminologies tool definitions can be used with the Reference Data tool.

The Reference Data tool is intended for all those who maintain shared code sets or use code sets. The Reference Data tool helps to ensure that the same up-to-date version of the code set is always available to everybody.

Reference Data administrators may publish and maintain their own code sets in the Reference Data tool.

Reference Data users can use code sets published on the platform either by downloading them manually or via interfaces.

The Data Vocabularies tool is intended for

• information officers in an organisation
• data architects and data modellers
• anyone searching for information in the data repositories of public administration
• system providers that need information from public administration data repositories or their data structures and content for the purpose of system development

As its name suggests, the Data Vocabularies tool enables the user to produce data models, i.e. descriptions of classes and their attributes and relationships between classifications (associations). The Data Vocabularies tool creates content that is open linked data. The data model on the interoperability platform is therefore not just an image, but a collection of shared data content as defined by different parties. The Data Vocabularies tool is mainly intended for creating logical data models.