IMAPS: success story from Spain

Interview with Cristina Marco, Rafael Santisteban and Manuel Mata from Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (CACSA) - Generalitat Valenciana, Spain. 

Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias (CACSA) has used our IMAPS solution to evaluate existing digital public services and the design of the “Sede Electrónica de CACSA”, an authentication portal and a catalogue of digital public services of CACSA. 

CACSA is a public company of the Generalitat Valenciana, which manages a cultural facility, a set of iconic architecture buildings that combine scientific and cultural dissemination with entertainment in Valencia. The “Sede Electrónica” is designed in accordance with the principles of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and current national legislation, to offer services to citizens, companies and other public administrations.



How did you learn about the IMAPS solution? The first time we heard about IMAPS was through the ISA² Programme, which supports the development of solutions in the area of interoperability.

In which context have you used IMAPS/ for what purpose? We have used IMAPS for assessing the design of the future “Sede Electrónica”, an authentication portal and catalogue of digital public services provided by CACSA to citizens, companies and other public administrations. The objective of our assessment was to better understand how the future digital public service has to be designed to ensure it can operate seamlessly from an interoperability perspective.

What value did IMAPS bring to your organisation?  We used the IMAPS recommendations to review our design regarding interoperability aspects and to get specific guidance for aligning the design to existing European interoperability standards and good practices. We also got insight into the conformance of our digital public service with the European Interoperability Framework (EIF).

How has IMAPS helped you in improving the interoperability of your digital public service? We incorporated the recommendations, received via the IMAPS assessment, in the design of the future “Sede Electronica”, thereby ensuring that the digital public service will be developed according to interoperability requirements and, once in operation, effectively delivered to its end users (citizens, companies or other public administrations).

Have you encountered any challenges when using IMAPS? No, the method is very easy to use. The documentation is very complete.


What are key take-aways of your IMAPS assessment for your organisation and/ or other digital public services provide by your organisation?  IMAPS enabled us to get a global view of interoperability at our organisation, its environment (e.g. organisational and legal aspects) and the different stakeholders involved – in- and outside our organisation. Moreover, IMAPS allowed us to better understand the key requirements for interoperable digital public services and their practical implications for the design of our service. For example, the IMAPS assessment helped us to realise that the digital public service may require the consumption of services from other public administrations or companies.

Would you recommend IMAPS to other public administrations? If so, why?   Yes, we would recommend its use for the development of new digital public services since the recommendations provide valuable guidance for their design. For the case of existing digital public services, that do not conform to any reference model, we would recommend its use to evaluate the level of their interoperability maturity and make adaptations accordingly.

Is there anything else you would like to add that you think might be useful for our data collection? In the design of cross-border digital public services by a public administration, or in the evaluation of these, IMAPS is the first step. IMAPS complements other solutions provided by the ISA² programme, such as the European Interoperability Reference Architecture (EIRA) and Cartography tool which allows to detail requirements and to reuse developed interoperability solutions thereby reducing costs.