Abstract: At least two communication systems are controlled or monitored by at least one application by transmitting data from an application to a communication system or conversely from a communication system to an application. An interposed shared service receives and processes the data in each case and subsequently forwards the data. The service sends the data to the communication systems in the same data format in each case and receives the data from the communication systems. When at least one of the communication systems uses a different data format, at least one conversion unit is connected between the communication system and the service for adapting the data formats. With this arrangement it is unnecessary to preset the application to the particular data format used by the communication system to transmit control and status information.