Interoperability Tiers
Tiers of Interoperability Definition
“This refers to the ability of a system or a product to work with other systems or products without special effort on the part of the customer.”
Public Sector Buyers deciding to interoperate with the Supply2.gov.uk Portal will:
- Comply with EU Legislation on lower value contract opportunities.
- Support the small business community.
- Have access to a diverse range of potential suppliers.
- Have the opportunity to save on advertising costs.
Tiers of Interoperability
Interoperability with the supply2.gov.uk Portal can occur at varying levels dependant on the requirements and wishes of the prospective interoperability partner and the providers of the Portal. An outline of the different levels of interoperability that are possible is given in the table below (Table 1: Tiers of Interoperability).
| Tier | |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 A simple hyper-link |
Provides the ability for any tier 1 interoperability partner to have a reciprocal hyper-link to the Supply2.gov.uk portal. There can be a paragraph of text about the site to accompany the hyperlink, should the interoperability partner wish. |
| Tier 2 Instructions for a Web Master to create a simple button onto their site |
Supply2.gov.uk shall provide the necessary code, information, standards and processes for any tier 2 interoperability partners wishing to adopt a Supply2.gov.uk button on their own website. |
| Tier 3 Creation of a ‘white site’ where up to five nominated pages of the service may be cached and represented upon that Buyer’s site |
Supply2.gov.uk shall provide the necessary code, information, standards and processes for any registered Buyer to themselves recreate, through caching within their own infrastructure, up to five pages nominated by the Authority, such that they can feature the Portal’s content within their own site, with the Portal’s content but with the option of representing that information in their own graphical style and format. |
| Tier 4 Point-to-Point Syndication |
Supply2.gov.uk shall provide the necessary information, standards and processes required by any registered Buyer such that they shall be capable of engaging in an Interoperability Arrangement via a data feed, subject to agreement with the Contractor, for either single or two way syndication of data. An example function shall be RSS (Really Simple Syndication). |
| Tier 5 Site to be hosted within a site |
Supply2.gov.uk shall provide the necessary information, standards and processes required by any registered Buyer such that they shall be capable of engaging in an Interoperability Arrangement, subject to agreement with the Contractor, for the provision of up to a maximum of 30 pages of static content with appropriate drop-down menus, which shall be branded with their own graphical style but the Portal content and hosted within the Portal's infrastructure. |
