case study Europass XML June 2011 Increase the transparency of skills and qualifications in Europe through semantic interoperability
Europass XML Europass is an initiative of the European Union to increase the transparency of the skills and qualifications of European citizens by allowing them to create and manage a personal portfolio of their skills and qualifications online. This case study shows how the usage of the Europass 2.0 XML specification can contribute to the portability and reusability of an individual s personal data and highlights the short-term results and long-term interoperability benefits. The need for a common and clear understanding of skills and qualifications of citizens in Europe Europass has been established by the Decision No 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 December 2004 on a single transparency framework for qualifications and competences The Curriculum Vitae (CV) is undoubtedly the most used document to present the skills, qualifications, and experiences of a person. In order to make CV data clearly understood throughout Europe, the Europass initiative has established the Europass CV - a standard CV format people can use to detail their qualifications and skills in a straightforward and understandable manner. Similarly, the Europass Language Passport allows citizens to describe their language skills in a uniform manner. The need for a common and clear understanding of the information contained in a person s Europass CV and Language Passport also applies to applications and information systems. Applications and information systems should be able to exchange and process this data in a machine-understandable way; i.e. preserving its meaning, making applications and information systems that deal with such data semantically interoperable. Europass XML v2.0 A common vocabulary To accommodate the need for semantic interoperability, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) of the European Commission has developed the Europass XML 2.0 schema specification. Its purpose is to define what constitutes a valid XML document for describing a person's personal information, learning and training achievements, working experiences, competences and skills. The currently available version, which is also supported by the Europass CV and Language Passport online editors, is version 2.0. The Europass XML Schema has been designed to be as much as possible compatible with related vocabularies, such as those defined by HR-XML (Europass CEDEFOP Team, 2009). In addition to XML, the Europass specification also adheres to another commonly used representation format: the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). The Europass JSON schema specification defines the structure of a JSON object that describes a Europass CV or Language Passport must adhere to. The Europass JSON schema specification is in close correspondence to the Europass XML Schema and follows a similar versioning. Its current version is 2.0. The JSON is expected to be mainly used by Ajax-based Rich Internet Applications (RIA). The reading of a JSON object is largely supported by most programming languages, as well as modern browsers, which gradually extend their native JavaScript with support to parse JSON. Page 2 of 5
Europass XML and the benefits of semantic interoperability The usage of Europass XML (and Europass JSON) as a commonly agreed specification in information systems and applications gives users the benefit of reusing their Europass CV in multiple applications and information systems. Users save time and effort when interacting with various kinds of applications and information systems, such as job portals, employment services, admission services, etc.(europass CEDEFOP Team, 2009). Currently users can already experience the benefits of the semantic interoperability of electronic Europass CV services: 1. Europass online editor: Users can create their Europass XML CV using the Europass online editor. Europass receives everyday more than 35,000 visits and most visitors complete or update their Europass CV online. Over 15,000 documents are generated online every day. The online editor can also be integrated within an external website by using an (i)frame or a popup window, allowing a person to create and update his/her CV on the Europass online tool embedded in the external website. 2. Europass Web services: Europass offers web services to which one can post a Europass XML v2.0 (and in the near future Europass JSON v2.0, or HR-XML v2.5) CV document and receive as response a formatted CV in Europass PDF, HTML, Word, or ODT file format. The web services are SOAP based and can be re-used without any specific authentication of the caller. 3. Directly post a Europass CV on other portals: users can post their CV in Europass XML format on European job portals or employment services, which are able to interpret the Europass XML and successfully process the CV data. In particular, the Europass XML is supported by several European platforms such as: EURES - The European Employment Service EUROGUIDANCE - European portal to guidance ENIC-NARIC - Recognition of qualifications Council of Europe - European Language Portfolio PLOTEUS - European portal to learning EURAXESS - European portal to researcher s mobility Moreover, Europass is looking into establishing a cooperation and system interoperability with major job portals, such as Monster. 4. Europass CV plug-in for WordPress and DotClear: the Europass CV plug-in for WordPress and DotClear allows users of these open-source, web-suite building software packages to develop web pages that allow visitors to create, update, and store a Europass CV on-line in all European official languages and export it into the following several formats (PDF, ODT, HTML, XHTML, HR-XML). Page 3 of 5
Figures and achievements Europass CV was launched in 2005 and since then its popularity has been growing throughout Europe. The following figures illustrate the evolution of the Europass CV from February 2005 until April 2011: Table 1Total visits to Europass web platform since launch (by year)(europass, 2011) Year Total Visits 2005 1,210,586 2006 2,768,666 2007 4,158,137 2008 6,047,691 2009 7,487,763 2010 10,091,597 2011 (until April) 4,486,659 Total 36,251,099 Table 2 Europass CVs completed online since launch (by year)(europass, 2011) Year Total CV completed 2005 116,259 2006 717,733 2007 1,416,88 2008 2,026,194 2009 2,691,193 2010 3,794,429 2011 (until April) 1,849,971 Total 12,612,668 Future plans The draft version 2.1 of the Europass XML asset is included in the SEMIC.EU repository. SEMIC.EU makes these and other semantic interoperability assets available to its users and promotes their harmonisation and usage. The version 2.1 of the Europass XML has passed the SEMIC.EU maturity process. The Europass community would also like to establish a permanent, open and public procedure for developing Europass XML, by accepting contributions by any interested individual. As a result of this open and public development procedure, the CEDEFOP foresees to extend Europass XML and progress it into a third release version of the XML schema, which will be supported by the revamped Europass CV and Language Passport online editors. The long-term objective is to extend the Europass XML so that it includes the information of the rest of the Europass Documents the Mobility Document, the Certificate Supplement and the Diploma Supplement. In this way Europass XML could evolve into a kind of portfolio of skills and qualifications for its users. Page 4 of 5
Europass technical community A Europass technical community is hosted by OSOR.EU. The objectives of this community are mainly: To bring together all individuals, technical developers, semantic experts and organisations interested in Europass and working on related domains such as, personal information or resume management, competencies and skills representation, HR and CV-job matching services, etc. To act as a point of reference where individuals and organisations will contribute their projects and experiences around the Europass semantic assets, web services and tools. To host discussions, reviews and contributions related to Europass, which could potentially influence Europass further developments of semantic assets and services. To know more What is Europass CV Introduction http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/introduction.csp Europass XML on SEMIC.EU http://www.semic.eu/semic/view/asset/asset.singleview.xhtml?id=59766&navp age= Europass Technical Community on OSOR.EU http://www.osor.eu/communities/europass Europass support documentation Downloads http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/downloads.csp Europass News http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/news.csp Europass Statistics http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/statistics/1._activity_since_launch/europass _Statistic_Reports_SinceLaunch.PDF Illustration Europass CV plug-in for blogs http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenwarburton/3926376409/lightbox/ Europass and Semantic Interoperability http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/technicalresources/technical_documentatio n_support/interoperability/europass_note_europass_semantic_interoperability _v1.0.pdf Page 5 of 5