GESTIS International Limit Values – new development

Status:

completed 02/2024

Aims:

The GESTIS International Limit Values for chemical agents (GESTIS-ILV) database exists as both a web application and a mobile application for Android and iOS. It is designed for international use and is available only in English. The application delivers a quick and clear comparison of international atmospheric limit values for occupational exposure. It lists over 2,300 hazardous substances, in 35 lists from 29 different countries. GESTIS-ILV is established in the German body of regulations and is cited as a reference source in international publications. The application is used by employees and employers in all areas involving work with hazardous substances. It provides support for workplace assessments, both in prevention activity and during investigations into cases of occupational disease.

The application in its current form is the result of many years’ extension and development work to meet the needs and requirements of users and domain specialists. The focus has been placed on adding functionality to the system, and not on technical maintenance. The purpose of this project was to bring the application into line with current standards: in order to enhance its maintainability and reduce maintenance overhead in the future, and to meet challenges currently facing the domain specialists (such as the input of new and amendment of existing limit values). A redesign of the existing web application was to be produced and implemented, taking account of the other GESTIS systems and their mutual compatibility. The functional scope of the legacy system was to be retained and supplemented by functional enhancements, including functions for updating of the content by the domain specialists.

Activities/Methods:

In the course of the project, a new web application was to be designed and implemented for input and display of hazardous substance limit values applicable in different countries. The software architecture is that of a modern web application: it consists of a front end based on Angular Framework, a back end based on Spring Framework, and an Oracle database.

A four-layer architecture is used. Each of these layers has specific tasks. In the interests of a clean structure, components of a higher layer may use only components of the same layer or of the layer directly beneath it. The following layers are defined:

1. Client: User interface of the system, i.e. front-end dialogs. This includes the periphery, where present (such as request assistants or other fat clients) or smartphone clients.
2. Service: Publishes the functionality of the system externally for clients, batches or neighbouring systems. Core transactions and errors are normally to be handled in this layer.
3. Business logic: Implements the use cases of the specification.
4. Data access: Read and write operations on the database data are encapsulated (persistence) on this layer. Technical cross-sectional server components cannot be assigned solely to any one of these layers, and are principally available in the three layers of service, logic and data access.
5. The software was to undergo several intensive tests in accordance with industry methods and standards. Testing during the respective development cycles was to be performed by skilled internal project personnel and by application domain experts.

Results:

To bring the GESTIS-ILV database into line with the state of the art, it was comprehensively reprogrammed as a responsive web application, suitable for access from any terminal device. Technical maintenance and updates can now also be assured in the future. The functional scope of the legacy system was retained, and parts of it were expanded (e.g. error correction in situ). Further expansion options, such as interfaces to other GESTIS products (e.g. GESTIS-AMCAW) are planned.

Last Update:

26 Jun 2024