In the joint project INITIAL, the Landesinstitut für Gesundheit und Arbeit des Landes Nordrhein - Westfalen (LIGA NRW, formerly LÖGD) and the Oldenburg Institute for Information Technology (OFFIS e.V.) developed an Integrated Information and Data-Mining System.
When the project started,  LIGA NRW used  a variety of information systems with different objectives.  As part of the INITIAL project,  OFFIS is developing tools that allow integrating the data from a wide range of sources in a manner sensible for the desired final analysis target. Areas being researched include:
-    Analyzing  existing  Information Systems (data structures, data storage).
-    Concept for and development of an integrated data scheme for the INITIAL- system.
-    Concept and development of so-called ETL processes (extract, transform, load) in order to  transfer  data from the existing Information Systems to  the INITIAL- System.
-    Concept and development of integrated evaluation and report options under special consideration of defined legal and data protection concepts.
-    Evaluation of the INITIAL- System in daily practice/ use.
The INITIAL- System will not replace the existing systems. These will still be used in daily business while the INITIAL- System will only allow access to the integrated  database of the LIGA NRW.