A trust framework for information sharing

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is planning Vision 2030 to improve the outcomes of its education and training system and subsequently to develop a local and global labour market. The country needs to establish KSA’s current educational and employment status, as this will assist in finding areas that need development to support government planning and human resource capital, mainly since education is provided and funded by the government. Since the government funds education, most young people study whatever they like or what is readily available. That means it creates a dearth of a particular graduate’s specialisation and an overflow of another, which leads to training and educating more graduates majoring in subjects than the employment market needs or not training enough graduates in specific areas the employment market needs. Without information sharing between employment and education, it lowers having accurate information to make economic growth decisions. This novel framework assists in finding the numbers of skilled candidates, vacancy opportunities and learners in one place, thus ensuring sustainability, efficiency and effectiveness. In light of the above, there is a need for a research project to explore how best to allocate and share trusted and accurate information on educational certificates and employment achievements while preserving the privacy and security of stakeholders’ digital assets. This research examines current practices in information-sharing of educational certificates and employment history verification in the integrated environment intending to reduce wasted resources. Part of the e-government system, the scheme considers aspects relating to both KSA’s unique context and information-sharing technologies, making it highly relevant and context-specific. A prerequisite is a framework of factors to enable information-sharing among educational providers, employers and the government. This research introduces a novel framework comprising four principal dimensions: Facilitating Conditions, IT Services, Secure Access, and Trust and Accuracy (FIST). These four elements collectively form the basis of the innovative framework, named the 'FIST Framework,' an acronym derived from the initial letter of each dimension. The FIST Framework aims to help software engineers structure an integration system at an early stage of the software development life cycle. Four dimensions characterise the architecture: Facilitating Conditions; IT Services; Secure Access; and Trust and Accuracy. Each has six requirements (factors) defined in natural language for software engineers when implementing the FIST Framework. The purpose is to preserve the trust and accuracy of integrated data (Shared or Exchanged) that contain both organisations' and individuals' personal and private data. The primary objective of this research is to build a robust framework, known as the FIST framework, developed to improve the outcomes of education and training systems to strengthen economic growth in the labour sector through information sharing. This framework development happened through comprehensive expert reviews and analysis. The core purpose of the FIST framework is to tackle two hidden but critical problems in data integration: Trust and Accuracy. Experts often express concern regarding the trustworthiness of data integration, primarily due to the potential unavailability of data. Additionally, there needs to be more accuracy, particularly in identifying the data sources. This lack of trust and observed inaccuracy pose significant challenges for data integration. This research used the Delphi method to confirm and expose various factors and their associated requirements. It involved a systematic approach for gathering requirements, primarily focusing on human interactions, then a modelling approach for designing interaction models. Formal Modelling is essential in validating the critical tasks of systems based on the FIST framework. Utilising Rodin for rigorous analysis, this approach strengthens the system by ensuring robustness and detecting inconsistencies in data integration, sharing, and exchange. This process is necessary for the FIST framework's integrity, which involves simulating various scenarios to test the data integration system's effectiveness against theoretical and real-world requirements. The outcome is a reliable, trusted system for essential tasks in education and employment. Formal Modelling demonstrates the FIST framework's theoretical soundness and practical effectiveness, especially in maintaining trust and accuracy in data integration. Applying Formal Modelling rectifies potential weaknesses, enhancing the FIST framework's recognition and stakeholder confidence.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Rayan Mohamed S Ghamri: orcid.org/0000-0002-4215-779X

ORCID for Nawfal Al Hashimy: orcid.org/0000-0002-1129-5217

ORCID for Gary Wills: orcid.org/0000-0001-5771-4088

ORCID for Hikmat Farhat: orcid.org/0000-0002-5043-227X

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