ECHOES Integration Roadmap (D3.2)

ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap European Cloud for Heritage Open Science Deliverable D3.2 Integration Roadmap HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01 Horizon Innovation action Responsible authors: Sally Chambers, Laure Barbot and Matej Ďurčo (DARIAH-EU) Gianni Dalla Torre (EGI Foundation) © 2025 by the authors, the ECHOES consortium. This work is licensed under a “CC BY 4.0” license. Project start 1 June 2024 Project duration 60 months Document Identifier 10.5281/zenodo.17751670 ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 2 Deliverable Information Project Number 101157364 Acronym ECHOES Full title European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science Project URL https://www.echoes-eccch.eu/ EU Project Officer Christian WILK Change log Date Version Author Change 12/08/2025 V0.1 Sally Chambers, Matej Ďurčo, Laure Barbot (DARIAH), Gianni Dalla Torre (EGI Foundation) Outlines 12/08/2025 V0.2 Gianni Dalla Torre (EGI Foundation) Initial Table of Content ; Purpose and scope & how to use the roadmap 7/11/2025 V0.3 Laure Barbot (DARIAH), Gianni Dalla Torre (EGI Foundation) Steps, timeline, annexes 8/11/2025 V0.3 Georgios Artopoulos (CYI) Collaborative Research Scenarios section 12/11/2015 V0.3 Matej Durco (DARIAH) VA integration section Deliverable D3.2 Title Integration Roadmap Work Package 3 Title Enhancing Collaboration and Integration Submission date 10/12/2025 Pages 35 Keywords Digital cultural heritage, Integration, Integration roadmap, Metadata, Applications, Workflows Lead Partner DARIAH Responsible Author Sally Chambers (DARIAH) Authors (Partner) Sally Chambers, Matej Ďurčo, Laure Barbot (DARIAH), Gianni Dalla Torre (EGI Foundation) Contributors Georgios Artopoulos (CYI), Carlos Andújar (UPC), Lydia Cadevall (UPC), Dimitris Kotzinos (CNRS-CYU), Joanna Kowalska (PCSS) ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 3 17/11/2025 V0.3 Carlos Andújar, Lydia Cadevall (UPC) KPIs section 19/11/2025 V0.3 Joanna Kowalska (PCSS) Cloud components section 27/11/2025 V0.3 Dimitris Kotzinos (CNRSCYU) Internal review 28/11/2025 V.1 Laure Barbot (DARIAH) Integration of feedback 30/11/2025 V1.1 Xavier Rodier (CNRS) Final review and proofreading ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 4 1. Abstract The ECHOES Integration Roadmap provides the operational framework to implement the Integration Strategy defined in deliverable 3.1, translating the high-level and conceptual rationale into practical processes. Whereas the strategy outlines why integration is needed, the present roadmap on how diverse digital resources - from datasets and software to services, workflows, and semantic artefacts - can be prepared, aligned, and incorporated into the emerging Cultural Heritage Cloud (ECCCH). Designed primarily for technical teams and resource providers, the Integration Roadmap also serves as a reference for any external contributors seeking to understand how their resources may participate in the future ECCCH ecosystem. To accommodate the diversity of integration targets, the roadmap defines a unified process that acts as a common foundation for all integration activities. This global workflow is developed to support sub-processes for resource-specific and level-specific integrations with the Cloud Components as they will be created throughout the ECHOES project by other Work Packages. The ECHOES Integration Roadmap presented here is inherently an iterative approach: integration activities unfold within structured 3 to 6 months “Integration Cycles” that support prioritisation, progress monitoring and continuous improvement. Through these cycles, the roadmap itself becomes a living process, enriched by feedback from the ECHOES integration adopters and ECHOES Work Package leaders developing the Cloud Components, all meeting in the ECHOES Integration Task Force (EITF). At the heart of the roadmap lies a six-steps integration workflow, beginning with the identification of candidate resources for integration resulting in the creation of units of integration. It then progresses through interoperability self-assessment, technical onboarding, integration validation, release and monitoring and finally user evaluation. This workflow is supported by a dedicated integration tracking tool that manages issues, milestones (i.e. cycles) and progress metrics across all active integration units. The timeline component of this roadmap situates all these processes within the ECHOES timeframe, from the initial roadmap release (in November 2025) through successive integration cycles (between December 2025 and June 2027) to major review of the roadmap planned for the second phase of the project (between July 2027 and November 2028). As the ECCCH matures, greater automation is expected for some of the integration steps initially described here. Finally, the roadmap embeds quantitative and qualitative evaluation via the Key Performance Indicators framework and the Collaborative Research Scenarios the results of which ensure that integration success is not only measured in technical compliance but also in meaningful improvements to collaboration, usability and community impact. Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 5 2. Table of Contents 1. Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... 5 3. List of figures and tables ................................................................................................................... 7 4. List of abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 8 5. Purpose & Scope ................................................................................................................................. 9 6. How to Use This Roadmap .............................................................................................................. 10 7. Preliminary Integration explorations ........................................................................................... 13 8. Integration Steps ............................................................................................................................. 14 Step 1 - Candidate resources identification for integration ..................................................................... 17 Step 2 - Interoperability Self-Assessment .................................................................................................. 17 Step 3 - Technical onboarding ..................................................................................................................... 18 Step 4 - Integration validation..................................................................................................................... 18 Step 5 - Release & monitoring ..................................................................................................................... 18 Step 6 - User Evaluation ............................................................................................................................... 19 9. Timeline of the Integration Roadmap ........................................................................................... 20 What is an Integration Cycle? ...................................................................................................................... 20 Planning and Prioritising an Integration Cycle ......................................................................................... 21 M18: Initial roadmap release ...................................................................................................................... 21 M19–M36: setting up 3-month integration cycles .................................................................................... 22 M38 & M54: major reviews and updates ................................................................................................... 23 10. Monitoring & Review of the integration roadmap................................................................... 24 Integration Tracking tool ............................................................................................................................. 24 Resource Evaluation and Indicators ........................................................................................................... 25 Collaborative Research Scenarios (CRS) ..................................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Annexes .................................................................................................................................................... 27 Annex A: ECHOES Integration Questionnaire v.1 ...................................................................................... 27 Annex B: ECHOES Cloud Component Integration Factsheet ................................................................... 29 Annex C: Example integration workflow .................................................................................................... 30 ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 6 Annex D: Integration Cycles Flash Report Template ................................................................................ 32 Annex E: Cross-reference tables ................................................................................................................. 33 References ............................................................................................................................................... 35 ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 7 3. List of figures and tables Figure 1: Role View of the ECHOES Integration Steps Table 1: From ECHOES functionalities to Cloud Components Table 2: Overview of the first six integration cycles ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 8 4. List of abbreviations AAI Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure API Application Programming Interface CH Cultural Heritage CRS Collaborative Research Scenarios D Deliverable DT Digital Twin ECCCH European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage EITF ECHOES Integration Task Force HDT Heritage Digital Twin HDTO Heritage Digital Twin Ontology KB Knowledge Base M Month SSO Single Sign-On UI User Interface VA(s) Vertical Application(s) ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 9 5. Purpose & Scope This document, the ECHOES Integration Roadmap, serves as the primary operational guide for implementing the integration strategy defined in Deliverable (D)3.1. Whereas D3.1 outlines the strategic rationale, the "why", this roadmap focuses exclusively on the practical implementation, the "how". It provides clear, actionable steps and repeatable processes for integrating diverse digital resources into the future ECCCH ecosystem, while also fulfilling the requirements of a formal European Commission deliverable. It is primarily addressed to technical teams and resource providers who are responsible for carrying out integration tasks. However, it is also intended as a key resource for any external project, institution, or data provider seeking to understand the process for contributing to the European Cloud for Heritage Open Science (ECHOES) and the ECCCH under development. The scope of this roadmap covers the integration of a wide range of digital resources with potential for reuse in ECHOES. This includes, but is not limited to, datasets, software, tools, services, semantic artefacts, and workflows. To accommodate this diversity, the roadmap establishes a single, high-level integration process that acts as a general skeleton for all integration activities. This unified framework is then designed to branch into specific sub-processes, checklists, and technical guidelines tailored to the unique requirements of each resource type. Candidate resources for integration are initially identified based on known outputs from the ECCCH-funded projects (such as AUTOMATA 1 , TEXTaiLES 2 , or HERITALISE 3 ), and from the ECHOES Inventory of existing datasets, tools, and workflows with potential for reuse (ECHOES Milestone 8), which consolidates resources mentioned in the initial answers to the ECHOES Consultation 4 . In addition to the processes included and described in this Integration Roadmap, it is also important to highlight the fact that the roadmap itself is also a process that will be improved thanks to a continuous feedback loop. A series of Integration Cycles are indeed set up to structure the overall planning and prioritisation, monitoring and reviewing of the various units of integration. Thanks to these cycles and to the collaborative integration governance model described in the Strategy, some of the processes initially described here are designed to evolve to better meet the needs of all the actors involved (esp. projects or initiatives who will carry out integration tasks). This roadmap is not a standalone document; its successful implementation is critically dependent on several other key ECHOES deliverables that provide its strategic and technical foundation. As mentioned above, it directly operationalises the high-level criteria, governance roles, and policies defined in the D3.1 Integration Strategy. In addition to that, the roadmap relies on the D6.1 Data 1 European Commission. (n.d.). AUTOmated enriched digitisation of Archaeological liThics and cerAmics (AUTOMATA, Project ID 101158046). CORDIS. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101158046 2 European Commission. (n.d.). TEXTaiLES – Textile digitisAtion tools and methods for cultural heritage (Project ID 101158328). CORDIS. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101158328 3 European Commission. (n.d.). HERITALISE – Heritage buildings and objects’ digitisation & visualisation within the cloud (Project ID 101158081). CORDIS. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101158081 4 https://www.echoes-eccch.eu/echoes-consultation/ ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 16 Figure 1: Role View of the ECHOES Integration Steps ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 17 Step 1 - Candidate resources identification for integration Actors involved: ECHOES adopter representative, EITF coordination team Expected output: list of integration units Step Description: The initial step in the integration process is to identify what kind of resource is available for integration with the ECCCH. As described in D3.1, several resource types – like datasets, applications, APIs - are already taken into consideration. And if new (innovative) types should emerge along the way, for which no integration paths have been foreseen, the EITF would assess the ECCCH interest and capacity to support them. The identification of candidate resources is supported by the Integration Questionnaire (annex A) that interested parties (i.e. ECHOES adopters) should fill out to: 1/provide a high-level description of their assets, 2/explain their current infrastructural set-up and 3/elaborate on the level of integration they would like to accomplish with the ECCCH. To keep track of the initiatives or actors requesting an integration into the ECCCH and of the resources involved, an overview spreadsheet is kept up-to-date by the EITF coordination team and is used as an intermediary between the narrative integration questionnaire and its implementation in the ECHOES Integration Tracking Tool (see 10.1 tracking tools section). The result of this initial step is the identification of integration pairs consisting of a resource from the ECHOES adopter and of an ECHOES Cloud Component. These pairs are also called “units of integration”, and one issue per unit is created in the Tracking Tool. One member of the EITF coordination team is assigned to a questionnaire (i.e. to a project or an initiative willing to integrate with ECHOES) and is in charge of creating the related issues in the Tracking Tool. Issues are created as they come in. Translation in the Integration tracking tool: creation of an issue per unit of integration identified. Step 2 - Interoperability Self-Assessment Actors involved: ECHOES adopter technical contacts Expected output: integration readiness Step Description: Considering the ECCCH Interoperability Guidelines and requirements (D6.2 expected early 2026), some Interoperability Checklists will be created to enable a self-assessment of the various resources to be integrated into ECHOES. This second step has a great potential for automation, and validation tools could come into play relatively easily. In the meantime, and complementing the checklists, appropriate documentation – Guidelines, Factsheets (see Annex B), FAQ – and information sessions - onboarding or mentoring sessions, cloud components workshop presentation – will be organised by the EITF to complement the individual technical support available via common ECHOES project channels. ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 18 This Interoperability self-assessment step should lead to a better understanding of an integration readiness and to the identification of the best integration level or option per unit of integration. Translation in the Integration tracking tool: agreement on the start and end date of the units of integration. Step 3 - Technical onboarding Actors involved: ECHOES adopter technical contacts, ECHOES cloud components providers Expected output: cloud components integration implemented Step Description: Multiple technical onboarding steps can run in parallel. Even though some cloud components are still under development at the time of writing this document, proper documentation is supposed to be available alongside the release of the testing instances of the components. Following the documentation, and exchange of information with the ECHOES Cloud Components provider where necessary should enable the ECHOES adopter technical contact to implement a given integration task. Translation in the Integration tracking tool: each issue is assigned to two technical individuals (one ECHOES adopter technical contact and one ECHOES cloud component provider). Communication between them happens in the dedicated issues. Step 4 - Integration validation Actors involved: ECHOES adopter technical contacts, ECHOES cloud components providers Expected output: cloud component integration validated Step Description: closely connected to step 3 technical onboarding, the validation of the units of integration relates to the approvement of the implementation from both side (ECHOES adopters and ECHOES component providers). Where needed, test instances) of the different cloud components can be used at this stage as they provide a sandbox like environment where the components can be properly tested before their adoption in full production environment. Translation in the Integration tracking tool: change of status of the unit of integration validated Step 5 - Release & monitoring Actors involved: ECHOES adopter technical contacts, ECHOES cloud components providers Expected output: Released and actively monitored integrated resources (applications, Heritage Digital Twins (HDTs)); performance metrics collected such uptime, errors, and data usage. Step Description: Once validation (Step 4) is complete, the services are released and enter a focused monitoring phase. Monitoring in ECHOES is intentionally lightweight, as many underlying components ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 19 rely on external tools and infrastructures. The primary emphasis is therefore on monitoring the integration layer, ensuring that services, data flows, and interactions with the Knowledge Base operate reliably and consistently. Operational checks address uptime, performance, and error detection, while recognising that certain low-level components may fall outside the scope of ECHOESnative monitoring capabilities. Data and HDT usage within the Knowledge Base is observed at a high level to verify integrity and overall usability. This includes collecting aggregated statistics on access patterns, HDT consultations, annotations, and user-generated metadata, supported by essential activity logging and auditing. Where beneficial, the infrastructure may employ tools such as ELK, Prometheus, Zipkin, or Nagios to improve visibility and support issue diagnosis. The core monitoring capability is expected to be fully in place by Month 48 (KPI 1.7), and the insights gathered during this phase directly support Step 6 – User Evaluation. Translation in the Integration tracking tool: related units of integration issues are closed and considered completed Step 6 - User Evaluation Actors involved: ECHOES adopter representative Expected output: User feedback on the integration cloud components; insights guiding further improvements; Collaborative Research Scenarios (CRS) implemented and evaluated Step Description: In this step, the integration adopters evaluate how the integrated components perform with their user communities. Feedback may come from different sources, including surveys or workshops carried out in other work packages, but is consolidated here together with the more structured input gathered through the integration cycle. The feedback generally concerns either technical implementation aspects, potentially requiring a return to Step 4, or observations on usability and functionality, which are forwarded to the component owners. Translation in the Integration tracking tool: NA Finally, a process to manage cases where integrated resources become obsolete or are not actively maintained anymore needs to be developed. This could include considering the possible transfer of responsibilities to other partners within the ECCCH federation. ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 20 9. Timeline of the Integration Roadmap The timeline presented below provides an overview of how the ECHOES Integration Roadmap will unfold over the course of the project. It describes the key notion of “Integration cycles”, highlights how the coordination of these cycles that structure the progressive implementation and refinement of integration activities is foreseen. Through the phases approach presented in the last three subsections, the roadmap ensures both agility and continuity, allowing integration processes to evolve alongside the maturity of the ECCCH ecosystem. What is an Integration Cycle? As stated in D3.1 Integration Strategy, Integration in ECHOES follows an agile and iterative process that combines open, rolling intake with ideally regular three-month coordination cycles that could be turned into six-month cycles upon decision of the EITF. This hybrid structure (iterative but with rolling intake) allows new integrations to start as soon as they are ready, while maintaining a clear rhythm to regularly “capture” the state of the integration activities. It enables a continuous improvement of the roadmap processes all along the project lifetime, as well as an easy way to regularly review the progresses of the units of integration, update priorities and provide a snapshot of the ECHOES integration status. As explained in the previous section, the process begins with the identification of candidate resources through the integration questionnaire and the creation of the related unit of integration issues in the Integration Tracking Tool. Integrations entering the process in the middle of an integration cycle will be tagged appropriately - for ex. ```mid-cycle start` - and added to the queue to avoid that they have to wait the next quarterly cycle. However, it is only as part of the next prioritisation session (at the beginning of the next cycle) that their alignment with the roadmap will be fully effective. In practice, every three (or six) months, the EITF coordination team prepares the following: 1. An assessment of the progress and outcomes of all active integrations within the ending integration cycle. 2. A prioritised planning of the cycle to begin. decide what you track/goal/what you have to achieve – make sure there is liaison between people realising the integrations and those in charge of planning the next cycle. Checkmark to ensure that what is planned can actually be realised. Plan resource allocation 3. A consolidation of the lessons learned is also kept up-to-date, in order to inform the roadmap itself and eventually change the processes supporting the management of the roadmap. A summary of these elements is shared with the EITF to collect potential feedback from this wider group acting as a liaison body between all ECHOES adopters and the WP leads of the ECHOES project. The Integration Cycles Flash Report Template included in Annex D suggests a presentation format to support this work. ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 21 Planning and Prioritising an Integration Cycle At the start of each cycle and to ensures that all incoming demands for integration are taken into account and scheduled as efficiently as possible, the EITF coordination team update the Integration Roadmap following a MoSCoW prioritisation methodology based on the following elements: − Must Have: include integrations units with a strategic imperative. These integrations are considered critical to deliver the core objectives of the ECCCH Cloud. Most of the integration units from the ECCCH sister projects would likely fall under this category. - Should Have: include integrations to schedule for a given integration cycle. These integrations would significantly enhance the usability of/collaboration within the ECCCH, but are not so timesensitive or strategically critical. - Could Have: these integrations would add value and present an innovative potential but are not essential for the ECCCH “Minimum Viable Product” 5 or short-term operations. Can be postponed to the next integration cycle. - Won’t Have (for now): these integrations are not justified for the current phase due to low impact or unresolved blockers. May be revisited later. Would fall under this category all the integrations relying on cloud components not yet available for example. M18: Initial roadmap release The release of the present document, in November 2025 (M18), realises the initial roadmap release. Alongside the publication of the Integration Strategy, the Roadmap defines integration actors and processes, even though not all the cloud components are ready for integration yet. In parallel and as already mentioned, D6.1 Data Strategy for the CH Knowledge Base is released as well, offering/ensuring an initial view on the data formats and corresponding data harvesting protocols so that data from the ECCCH “contributors” can be prepared to be processed by ECHOES. At the same time and as illustrated in section 7 Preliminary Integration Explorations, initial integrations (with the AAI and the Knowledge Base) are already happening, especially with the three Vertical Applications developed within the ECHOES project. On the ECCCH projects side of things, as of November 2025, the first three sister projects are running for one year. They have one representative within the EITF and a first draft of the integration questionnaire has been shared (see annex C and the example integration workflow). In addition to that, 6 out of 10 projects from the second ECCCH projects wave have started in October 2025, and the 12 first ECHOES cascading grants projects call 1 will be notified in December 2025 of their selection. 5 Although this terminology of an ECCCH Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is not used in the ECHOES context, it helps us to describe the state of the cloud infrastructure in the making that will be available to its first users and customers. See Minimum Viable Product definition on Wikipedia for more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 22 M19–M36: setting up 3-month integration cycles Between December 2025 and June 2027, 6 integration cycles will run offering a chance to test and improve the integration roadmap while starting to collaboratively build the ECCCH. Table 2 below shows what kind of elements are already known and should be taken into consideration to plan and prioritise integrations throughout these upcoming cycles. Table 2: Overview of the first six integration cycles (with initial set of tasks) January-March 2026 Context: - January 2026 – EITF meeting - February 2026: D6.2 Interoperability Guidelines will provide detailed documentation needed to comply to ECHOES requirements - Quarter 1, 2026: 12 Cascading Grants call 1 data are expected to start - March 16-20: first Stakeholders Council during the ECHOES Annual meeting together with 13 sister projects Expected goals: - Summary of the ECHOES VAs integration status - For the 1st ECCCH projects wave: integration step 2 completed - For the 2nd ECCCH projects wave: integration step 1 completed - For the Cascading Grants Call 1 – timeline alignment between projects and ECHOES Cloud Components planned releases April-June 2026 Context: - Final cloud architecture - Final version of the HDTO - VAs: first working (external) prototypes publicly available - Mid-May 2026: 3d ECCCH projects wave starting - end of May 2026: Cascading grants call 2 engagement and collaboration indicative project start Expected goals: - Integration questionnaire is made available for projects or initiatives proactively reaching out to the ECHOES coordinator July-Sept. 2026 Context: - Review meeting Expected goals: - To be defined Oct. Dec. 2026 Context: ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 23 Expected goals: - Focus on the 12 cascading grants call 1 data - Last cycle for them to integrate their data January-March 2027 Context: Expected goals: - To be defined April-June 2027 Context: - Cascading grants call 3 data and vertical applications projects start Expected goals: - Assessing the integration processes overall and prepare major changes for the second phase (M37-M54) - Exploring the need for SLAs M38 & M54: major reviews and updates Between July 2027 and November 2028, almost 6 new integration cycles will happen. While it is difficult to foresee what they will include or how the processes might have evolved in the meantime, one dimension that we can already highlight as one of the goals for this new phase, is that more automation – and less ad-hoc communication – should have entered the integration processes, thanks to the work delivered by other ECHOES Work Packages and to the feedback received from the ECHOES adopters. Even though continuous human interaction will remain needed in the integration process (and should remain needed as it is also one dimension contributing to the development of the (technical) ECHOES community), we can expect that more tools will come into play that will ease the assessment and validation steps. In parallel, some major milestone will also be achieved by the ECHOES project that should considerably ease and fasten the integration activities. For ex. the three Virtual Applications developed within ECHOES will be online by M48 (cf. KPI 1.5), and the monitoring tools will be operational also by M48 (May 2028) (cf. KPI 1.7). In addition to that, the EITF will also keep in mind that the target numbers for M60 (i.e. end of the ECHOES project, May 2029) include the following: more than 5000 of HDTs accessible; more than 2000 of HDTs processed by tools and more than 10 external VAs in development. ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 24 10. Monitoring & Review of the integration roadmap While the Integration Cycles are providing a framework and giving a pace to the tracking and assessment of the implementation of the integration strategy, as explained in the previous section, this chapter details how progresses are tracked and evaluated, including how the Integration Tracking Tool is set up, how the Key Performance Indicators of the project related to integration are taken on board in the roadmap, and how Collaborative Research Scenarios are offering a more qualitative approach and a user engagement dimension in the more technical dimensions discussed so far. Integration Tracking tool At the time of writing this deliverable, the choice of a software forge/code repository for the ECHOES project has not been made yet, even though some platforms - especially GitLab and GitHub - are used by various partners and tested out at the project scale. This influences the deployment of the integration tracking tool, as, ideally, the issues created to manage integration activities should be living in the code repository where cloud components to be integrated with are developed. However, whatever the final choice of the platform, the same rationale explained below will be valid and implemented. A dedicated “Integration” project is created in the repository. It allows the tracking and monitoring of all integration related activities and is used by the EITF coordination team as an integration dashboard. The following convention is used: - 3 levels of issues are created 6 : o A parent issue for the project/initiative willing to integrate with the ECCCH o A sub-issue per resource from this project/initiative o A third level of sub-issue per component integration, the so-called “unit of integrations” (in case several components should be integrated with a given resource (i.e. AAI and Monitoring)) - Milestones are set following the integration cycles defined in the timeline above - Due dates are added to all issues, recording projects end dates, or estimated integration deadlines depending on the issue type - Labels foreseen: one label per cloud component, one label to register the status of the issue (candidate, ready, active, done), one label to identify the `mid-cycle start`... The Integration Tracking Tool is managed by the EITF coordination team but is set to public to allow interested parties to get an idea of the concrete steps covered by the implementation of an integration task. 6 If GitLab is chosen, the use of Epics, issues and tasks are foreseen; while if GitHub is chosen, hierarchy in the issues will be introduced. ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 25 Resource Evaluation and Indicators Within ECHOES, WP9 is working on developing a set of Evaluation Criteria and Sustainability indicators for the ECCCH. Although this work is still under development, several elements can already be highlighted here as the dimensions and sub-dimensions considered by the nascent evaluation matrix are key to evaluate the relevance of the integration activities. Indeed, dimensions such as data quality, metadata and paradata quality, compliance with internal and external regulations, compatibility, usability, software quality (and the list is not exhaustive here) are defined and put into action by WP9. In parallel, investigations related to tools supporting validation, reasoning and quality assessment of semantic and linked data resources are also conducted. These tools include framework for checking data integrity and conformance to ontologies, for measuring dataset completeness, accuracy and FAIRness, and for reasoning over RDF graphs. Thanks to the alliance of both the evaluation criteria and the tools that will be chosen to support validation, we can expect some major review of the integration roadmap towards automation of especially steps 2 and 4 of the current workflow described in Section 8. Regarding the interoperability self-assessment, several tools will help automate this process, for example, static code analysis tools to assess software contributions, and quality evaluation tools for data and metadata contributions. Once a new resource is integrated, WP9 will also provide tools to support its validation and user evaluation. Collaborative Research Scenarios (CRS) To conclude this section about monitoring and reviewing the Integration Roadmap, it is important to present here a more qualitative and community approach to assess the success of the integrations: the Collaborative Research Scenarios. Indeed, ECHOES Task 3.3, Enhancing and evaluating the collaboration potential of ECHOES, acts as bridge between the planned infrastructure’s technical aspects and its community dimensions, as developed within WP4, ensuring that the Cloud evolves to a functional collaborative ecosystem. CRS are designed to iteratively map how ECHOES can increase collaboration across target user communities by using its resources, tools and workflows. CRS are co-developed with key communities’ representatives identified with WP4 and engaged through events, such as DARIAH Annual Event 2025, in Gottingen, Germany, the Contemporary Social History Archives (ASKI) in Athens, Greece, DARIAH General Assembly and National Coordinators Committee Annual Meeting 2025, in Nicosia, Cyprus. Through this co-design process, user communities participate in a reflexive dialogue that helps ECHOES better understand what is needed for them to benefit from the Digital Continuum and documents the impact of ECHOES services on enabling interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration. Each CRS operates as a narrative, storyboard-style model that illustrates how different actors might collaborate within ECHOES to achieve shared goals. By combining empathy mapping, persona development, and workflow design, these scenarios reveal the motivations, barriers, and needs, and data practices of cultural heritage professionals. Between M21-M36 (February 2026-May 2027) selected ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 32 Annex D: Integration Cycles Flash Report Template ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 33 Annex E: Cross-reference tables To clarify the relationship between this roadmap and its companion deliverables, the following table provides a quick reference guide. ECHOES Integration Roadmap Annex D Table 1 - Cross-Reference Table to other ECHOES delievrables If you need to know... Primary Document Relevant Section(s) The official definition of a term used in this roadmap ECHOES Glossary (T4.2.3) The complete document is the reference for all terminology. The overall integration strategy, goals, and governance roles D3.1 Integration Strategy Sections covering policy, criteria, and EITF roles. The step-by-step process for an integration cycle D3.2 Integration Roadmap (this document) Chapters 6 (Integration Cycle) and 7 (Steps). The principles of data governance and the CH Knowledge Base architecture D6.1 Data Strategy Sections on data architecture, governance, and FAIR principles. Specific technical standards for data, metadata, and APIs D6.2 Interoperability Guidelines Sections on data standards, protocols, and APIs. Guidelines for software development, deployment, and security D6.2 Interoperability Guidelines Section 6 (Software development guidelines). The architecture of the ECHOES platform you are integrating with (data, application, and infrastructure components) D6.3 Architecture for data and cloud components Chapter 4, which details the business, data, application, and infrastructure architecture of ECHOES. The vision for the ECHOES Digital Commons D7.1 The Digital Commons The complete document provides context for collaborative goals. The ECCCH governance framework, and the envisioned functioning of the technical governance D10.2 Governance Model of the legal entity Section on the technical governance ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 34 ECHOES Integration Roadmap Annex D Table 2 - Cross-Reference Table to D3.1 (strategy) and D6.2 (technical requirements). D3.2 Section D3.1 Strategic Reference D6.2 Technical Reference Purpose & Scope Sec. 1.2, H. 2 — How to Use This Roadmap Sec. 3, Sec. 4 — Integration Cycle Sec. 4.1, Sec. 5 Sec. 5, Sec. 6 Integration Levels Sec. 4.3 Sec. 4.1 Monitoring & Review Sec. 6, Sec. 8 Sec. 7 ECHOES Project 101157364 – D3.2 Integration Roadmap 35 References • Koumantaros, K., Themis Zamani, Kagkelidis Konstantinos, Thermolia, C., Emir Imamagic, Daniel Vrcic, Katarina Zailac, & Cyril L'Orphelin. (2023). EOSC Monitoring: Architecture and Interoperability Guidelines (1.0.1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8333934