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Unification and standardization of key operation systems of local governments

Announcements

Contents

Overview

Background

In order to provide various services to residents, local governments have developed, procured, and managed various information systems using their own ingenuity.
However, the following problems have been pointed out because the information systems of each local government have been customized even for the work common to each local government specified by laws and ordinances, etc.

  • There is a heavy human and financial burden due to the necessity of individual measures for maintenance, management, and renovation at the time of system revision.
  • Adjustment of differences in information systems becomes a burden, and cloud utilization does not proceed smoothly
  • As a result, it is difficult to quickly spread the best approaches to improve resident services throughout the country.

Due to the declining birthrate and aging population, Japan's working-age population (15 to 64 years old) is expected to decline to 52.75 million by 2050. In order to maintain and strengthen public services with digital power even in a society with a declining population, it is essential to solve the above issues. Therefore, it is important that the national and local governments cooperate to make the most efficient and effective use of digital technology, rather than having about 1,800 local governments individually develop and own systems.
Therefore, based on the report of the 32nd Local Government System Research Council, an advisory body to the Prime Minister, the "Act on Standardization of Local Government Information Systems" (Standardization Act) (searched by e-Gov laws and ordinances) (hereinafter referred to as the "Standardization Act") was established and enforced in 2021 (2021).

In this Law, from the viewpoint of commonality in the content of administrative processes, improvement of convenience for residents, and efficiency of local administration management in local public entities, administrative processes subject to standardization (20 administrative processes subject to standardization at present) are specified, and information systems used by local public entities for the processing of these administrative processes are required to conform to the standards for standardization (hereinafter referred to as "standardization standards") specified by Ordinances of the relevant ministries and agencies (hereinafter referred to as "standard compliance system").
By doing so, we aim to reduce the human and financial burden on local governments in the future and enable local government employees to focus on providing direct services to residents and planning based on the actual conditions of the area. We also aim to build a foundation for the digitalisation to spread online applications nationwide.
In addition, based on the experience of responding to COVID-19 and the urgent need to promote digitalisation for the entire society, local governments are to aim for a smooth and safe transition to standard compliance system by FY 2025 (FY 2025) in principle.

Promotion Framework and Roles of Digital Agency

Based on the Standardization Act, the national government has established 20 administrative works subject to standardization and the "Local Government Information System Standardization Basic Policy" (hereinafter referred to as the "Basic Policies") by Cabinet decision.

Digital Agency takes the lead in formulating the basic policies and works as the control tower of each ministry and agency in charge of the systems to promote the policies efficiently and effectively. At the same time, provides the ministries and agencies in charge of the systems with a on the standardization work policies (points to be examined, work flow, how to establish standards, and horizontal coordination policies) and supports the further improvement of the standard specifications.

Based on the work policies, etc. indicated by the Digital Agency, each ministry and agency with jurisdiction over affairs subject to standardization is required to establish standard specifications that include the contents specified in the standardization standards related to the affairs under their jurisdiction. In addition, the Digital Agency and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications are required to establish standards for common matters such as data linkage and cybersecurity. (Regarding the efforts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, please refer to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications's Main Efforts toward Standardization and Standardization of Local Government Information Systems (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) (PDF format) .)
In Digital Agency in particular, the following common items have been put in place.

  1. Standards for data and linkage requirements
  2. Standards for non-functional requirements common to each standard compliance system
  3. Standard of common functions (application management function, integrated address function within the organization, etc.)

Under the Standardization Act, local governments are required to make efforts to use a nationwide cloud environment developed by the national government ( Government Cloud ). Government Cloud is procured by Digital Agency and provides its services to local governments. By using Government Cloud, local governments can easily enjoy the benefits of cost reduction through shared use, rapid construction and flexible expansion of information systems, security measures, and operation monitoring.

As support for the transition to standard compliance system, Digital Agency has established a "Standardization Liaison" and a "Business Council for the Promotion of Unification and Standardization of Core Business Systems". In addition, we are working with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and prefectural governments to support the transition to standardization of local governments. For details, please check with the Transition Support .
In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism works in cooperation with the competent Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to monitor the progress of local governments and to provide financial support * for the expenses required for the transition to standard compliance system.

* Environmental Improvement for Standardization and Standardization of Municipal Information Systems (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) (PDF format)

Reference

Local Government Information System Standardization Basic Policy
Support of Ministries and Agencies

Aim by local government system standardization

Efforts to unify and standardize the core operational systems of local governments aim to reduce the human and financial burden on local governments, enable them to focus on improved services for residents that meets local conditions, and enable the rapid development of new services.

The objectives of the basic policy are as follows.

  1. To develop the infrastructure of digitalisation in local governments by formulating or revising standardization standards based on business process reform (BPR) based on the Three Digital Principles and business flow premised on digital processing.
    • Three Digital Principles
      • Digital-first (individual procedures and services are completed in digital form)
      • Once only (information submitted once does not need to be submitted twice)
      • Connected one stop (one stop implementation of multiple procedures and services, including private services)
  2. Vendor lock-in shall be avoided and a competitive environment shall be ensured at the application level by multiple business operators through standardization of specifications such as functional requirements and compliance with standardization standards for data requirements and linkage requirements.
  3. In the event that it is necessary to renovate a standard compliance system due to institutional revisions, emergency response to sudden administrative demands, etc., the State shall formulate or revise standardized standards in order to reduce the burden on local governments to individually respond to the situation, minimize the scope of the renovation, and ensure that the renovation can be carried out promptly.
  4. By utilizing the Government Cloud, local governments will be able to reduce the burden of maintaining and managing their own hardware, such as servers, and software, such as operating systems, middleware, and applications.
  5. To provide highly economical government cloud services while ensuring a high level of security.
  6. Enterprises, including start-ups and regional enterprises, should be given the opportunity to develop their own systems nationwide without having to develop their own cloud infrastructure.
  7. After the completion of the transition to standard compliance system, the Government will aim to reduce the operating costs of information systems related to work subject to standardization by at least 30% compared to FY2018. The Government will take measures to optimize the operating costs of all work, including BPR, based on the Three Digital Principles, and thereby create conditions for the realization of the target.
  8. When the national government or local public entities implement new measures utilizing data from the core business systems of local public entities, the national government or local public entities will be able to smoothly import data from the core business systems, which has been costly in terms of both time and cost, by constructing applications that support the import of standardized data on the Government Cloud in advance, thereby contributing to the prompt launch of services for the public.

In order to realize these goals, standard compliance system will develop conditions so that all local governments that use the ERP system can smoothly and safely migrate to Digital Agency built on the Government Cloud by fiscal 2025 (fiscal 2025).
In doing so, in preparation for fiscal 2025 (fiscal 2025), through local governments and business operators, we will carefully assess the impact of system revisions, etc. on the transfer work, and actively support the smooth and safe transfer of core business systems to standard compliance system.

Current status of standard compliance system

Work to be standardized and formulation of standard specifications

At present, the following 20 tasks are designated by Cabinet Order as tasks subject to standardization.

  • Child benefit
  • Support for children and child-rearing
  • Basic Resident Register
  • Supplementary Family Register
  • Seal impression registration
  • Electoral register management
  • Property tax
  • Individual inhabitant tax
  • Corporation inhabitants tax
  • Light motor vehicle tax
  • Family register
  • School attendance
  • Health care
  • Child support allowance
  • Public assistance
  • Welfare of the disabled
  • Nursing care insurance
  • National Health Insurance
  • Medical care for the elderly
  • National pension

By the end of fiscal 2022 (fiscal 2022), each ministry and agency in charge of the system had formulated standard specifications for the above-mentioned tasks subject to standardization.

Standard compliance system Standard Specifications

Progress

The progress of each local public body is reported by each local public body using the standardized PMO tool constructed by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and is published in the of Standardization and Standardization of Local Government Information Systems (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications).

Measures to be taken in the event that it becomes apparent that the transition to standard compliance system will have to take place after fiscal 2026 (fiscal 2026)

For the following reasons, systems that have no choice but to be transferred after fiscal 2026 (fiscal 2026) are called "Specific Transfer Support Systems *."

  • Current systems run on mainframes
  • The current system is an individually developed system that is not a package system.
  • A system for which the current operator does not intend to develop the standard compliance system and for which there is no prospect of procuring an alternative system
  • Those that are affected by delays in development or migration work, etc. due to resource shortages by business operators

Digital Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the ministries and agencies in charge of the specified transition support systems set a deadline for the completion of the transition in the ordinance of the competent ministries that establishes the standardization standards, based on the status of the systems and the transition schedule obtained from local governments, and actively support the transition to standard compliance system within approximately five years.

*In the Basic Policy for Standardization of Local Government Information Systems (approved by the Cabinet on December 24, 2024), the conventional difficult-to-migrate system was changed to a specified migration support system.

Status of Specified Transition Support Systems and Responses

In October 2023, we conducted a survey of all organizations to identify systems that were difficult to transfer. The results of the survey were published in March 2024, and the survey was continued. In Digital Agency and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, we interviewed organizations that had submitted specific systems that would inevitably be transferred to standard compliance system in fiscal 2026 (fiscal 2026) or later, and scrutinized the results.
As of the end of October 2024, 2,165 systems (6.3%) out of a total of 34,592 systems subject to standardization are expected to fall under the category of specified transition support systems. Of the 1,788 organizations, 402 (22.5%) have specified transition support systems. As for 52 systems (20 organizations), they do not fall under the category of specified transition support systems, and the judgment will be suspended, and the situation will continue to be investigated.
In the future, we will continue to conduct surveys, and when there is a change in the transition status schedule, we will promptly request each organization to submit a survey form and hold hearings in Digital Agency and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications as necessary.

As a follow-up measure for local governments that have not yet selected the next operator due to the withdrawal of the current system provider among the local governments that have the specified transition support system, information on the operator will be provided so that it can be used as a reference when the local government selects the next operator.

  • In Digital Agency, through the Business Operators' Council, confirm whether or not business operators can deal with local governments that have Specified Transition Support Systems, and if they can, collect the conditions for considering acceptance through a questionnaire survey.
  • Information collected as reference information when selecting the next operator is provided to local governments

Efforts to Develop Common Items

Move to Government Cloud

In order to maintain high-quality public services and respond flexibly to the diversifying needs of the people in an aging society with fewer children and a rapidly declining population, it is important to promote the common use of national and local information systems. In addition to the standardization of the core business of local governments, we are also working on the shift of digital infrastructure information systems to the Government Cloud.

By moving to a government cloud, you will be able to enjoy the following benefits:

  • Upgrading the security level of the entire local government information system
  • Enables large-scale disaster response (disaster recovery)
  • Streamlining of clerical work that occurred in conventional systems
  • Provision of prompt administrative services in case of emergency
  • Flexible response to system development

There are some local governments that have already been optimized through the use of shared systems, etc. and are expected to incur higher costs due to the transition to the Government Cloud even if measures are taken to reduce running costs. For such local governments, even if they do not immediately transition to the Government Cloud, we plan to support them in considering the transition to the Government Cloud when they add equipment to their current infrastructure or renew their systems in the future, and promote them so that they can enjoy the benefits of using the Government Cloud.

Validation for Migration to Government Cloud

Initiatives in Government Cloud Front-Loaded Projects

Using the Government Cloud developed by Digital Agency, we have been examining issues related to the transition to the Government Cloud since fiscal 2021 so that people in municipalities can use standard compliance system with peace of mind.
The verification that had been conducted as a preceding project is being continued as part of the Government Cloud Early Transition Group Verification Project in fiscal 2024.
Please refer to the section of the Interim Report on the for more information.

of the

In order to verify issues related to the transition to the Government Cloud developed by Digital Agency and the operation of systems on the Government Cloud, we invited applications for the Early Transition Organization Verification Project.
Please refer to the of the for more information.

Government Cloud Vendor Verification Project

In order to further promote the use of the Government Cloud by local governments, we solicited vendors to actively participate in initiatives such as the efficient operation of shared use schemes in the Government Cloud, the accumulation of know-how on inter-system collaboration, and the verification of multi-vendor inter-system collaboration.
Please refer to the Government Cloud Vendor Verification Project for more information.

Materials for utilizing Government Cloud

Development of common functions and response to individual issues

Standards for data and linkage requirements

In order to unify and standardize information systems for local governments, the ministries and agencies in charge of the systems have formulated standard specifications that specify functional requirements for each of the 20 standardized operations. Digital Agency has also formulated the " Common Functional Standard Specifications " and the " Data Requirements and Linkage Requirements Standard Specifications ," which reflect the results of the Technical Requirements Review Meeting for Common Functions held in Digital Agency in the second half of fiscal 2022.
In addition, the approach to data requirements and linkage requirements in standardization is summarized in "Measures for Data Requirements and Linkage Requirements in Standardization of Municipal Information Systems" (PDF / 880 kb) in .

Since FY 2023, based on these standard specifications, etc., specific work has been carried out for the development of standard compliance system by business operators and the introduction by local governments. As the work progresses, there are some opinions that the standard specifications, etc. for data requirements and linkage requirements should be further detailed. On the other hand, at the current stage where the development has progressed, there are opinions that careful consideration should be given due to the possibility of reworking.

Based on these opinions, Digital Agency newly established the Common Functions Issues Study Group to understand the development status of common functions and issues related to the transition, and to consider measures to realize a smooth and safe transition.
Based on the premise that standard compliance system is moving from the development stage to the introduction and operation stage, the Study Group decided to prepare a reference (recommended guidelines), provide a list of major items to be checked, and share prior cases, etc., in order to facilitate coordination between local governments and operators in the operation stage.
In the future, through the Common Function Issues Study Group, we will promptly disclose the information that has been organized so that smooth coordination among the parties concerned can be achieved.

The standard specifications for data requirements and linkage requirements are published on the following pages.
Standard specifications for data requirements and linkage requirements

Standardization of Characters in Local Government Information Systems

In the past, local government information systems used to create "gaiji" for each local government, but this created the following problems.

  • Expensive to create and manage
  • Garbled characters occur when data is linked between systems
  • It is difficult to transfer to another company's system when updating the system.

In order to solve these problems, Digital Agency has been promoting standardization through efforts to unify and standardize the core business systems of local governments, and as part of this effort, it has established the "Standard Characters for Administrative Work (MJ+)," which defines the characters commonly used in standard compliance system.
In addition, we have developed a tool that supports the identification of administrative standard characters (MJ +) from external characters created by local governments, and local governments have actually started using this tool since April 2024.

Furthermore, since the administrative standard characters are a character set of approximately 70000 characters, which exceeds the upper limit of font files that can be implemented in general systems (approximately 65000 characters), and it is difficult to implement them because it is necessary to combine multiple font files, in September 2024, JPX provided local governments nationwide with a font file, "Myeongcho Font for Administrative Standard" (approximately 40000 characters), which excludes characters that are not expected to be used in core business systems from the administrative standard characters.

Digital Agency will actively support local governments to promote the systematic standardization of characters through the active use of this tool and the provision of font files.

Establishment of Character Inclusion Guidelines

In preparation for the standardization of mission-critical operation systems, guidelines were formulated for local governments to use as a reference when specifying (identifying) administrative work standard characters and to determine whether or not they can be included in administrative work standard characters.
For details, please refer to the Character Inclusion Guidelines (PDF / 3,006 kb) (published on June 5, 2024).

Standards for non-functional requirements common to each standard compliance system

As for the standards for non-functional requirements, based on the "selection level" of the items considered necessary mainly in the following items in the "Non-Functional Requirement Grade (Local Public Entity Version) Usage Guide (PDF format)" , amendments and additions have been made in light of the latest situation, etc.

  • "Among the requirement grades shown in the business / system classification" "Group ②" ", items that are treated as" "○: Items that can be cloud-sourced" "at the time of cloud procurement."
  • Specifically, requirements other than the following functional requirements are stipulated in the ERP system.
    • Availability
    • Performance and expandability
    • Operation and maintainability
    • Transferability
    • Security
    • System environment and ecology

In addition, in the Government Cloud Precedent Project, we are verifying whether the current non-functional requirements standard can be satisfied by the core business system built on the Government Cloud. In the verification process so far, we have reviewed the requirements based on the following opinions from organizations and business operators participating in the Government Cloud Precedent Project.

  • Points that raised doubts about the interpretation of requirements when establishing a verification plan for each requirement
  • Points where selection levels and conditions should be changed based on the characteristics of the government cloud

At the same time, we have reviewed the selection level, etc., taking into account the status of consideration of the revision of guidelines on information security policies by local governments, and we have also taken into account the questions and opinions received from local governments in the opinion inquiries.

Standard of common functions (application management function, integrated address function within the organization, etc.)

Common functions in standard compliance system can be broadly classified into the following three functional groups.

  1. System common functional group: A functional group for realizing the functional requirements common to more than one standard compliance system among the functions required for the standard compliance system.
  2. Integrated operation and administration function group: Among the functions required for standard compliance system, a function group for realizing non-functional requirements such as operation monitoring, job management, backup and recovery, data encryption, anti-virus, automatic deployment, and support for cost optimization.
  3. Infrastructure functional group: Among the functions required for a standard compliance system, a functional group for realizing infrastructure requirements such as compute, storage, and database.

"Among" "1. Common System Functions," "functions that are considered to be able to be loosely coupled with core business systems are subject to the standard specifications for common functions because they may be provided by a business operator other than the business operator that provides the core business systems. Other functions are not subject to the standard specifications because they are considered to be more efficient to be provided by the same business operator as the business operator that provides the core business systems in consideration of their linkage with business operations and the feasibility of standardization, etc."
In addition, "2. Integrated Operation Management Function Group" and "3. Infrastructure Function Group" are not covered by this standard because they may be used in government clouds.

The standard specifications for common functions are described in the following pages.

Transition Support

In Digital Agency, we have established a "Standardization Liaison" * 1 and a "Business Council for the Promotion of Standardization and Unification of Core Business Systems" * 2. In addition, we are working with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and prefectural governments to support local governments in their transition to standardization.

  • Target business operators: Business operators that develop, sell, or introduce current systems related to standard compliance system or the 20 services subject to standardization
  • Business operators who wish to participate in this council should contact the Business Operator Council for the Promotion of Unification and Standardization of Core Business Systems Participation Application Form .
* 1 Standardized Liaison
A support system established by officials dispatched from each prefecture to provide technical support by checking the progress of each local government and identifying issues in the process of unification and standardization
* 2 Business Council for the Promotion of Unification and Standardization of Core Business Systems
Council established to understand the development status of the standard compliance system and issues related to the transition, and to discuss measures to realize a smooth and safe transition to the standard compliance system

Reference

Update history of expected applicability of specified transition support systems (as of the end of October 2024 (2024))
  • Updated December 26, 2024
    • A part of the applicable forecast (outline) of the Specified Transition Support System (as of the end of October 2024 (2024)) was revised.
      • There was an error in the number of systems in classification reason 4, so it was corrected (correct: 1,755 systems, increase / decrease (+ 1,431))
      • The total number of systems has been revised in line with the above revision (correct: 2,165 systems, change (+ 1,463))
    • A partial revision was made to the list of potential candidates for specified transition support systems (as of the end of October 2024 (2024))
      • There was an error in "21. Common Functions" of Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, so it was corrected. (Correct: Blank (not applicable))
      • There was an error in "12. National Health Insurance" of Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, so it has been corrected. (Correct: Blank (not applicable))

Meetings, etc.

Study Group on the Formulation of Standard Specifications for Work Subject to Standardization

The ministries and agencies responsible for the system, together with local governments, related organizations, and business operators, examine 20 major operations of local governments, such as resident records, local taxes, and nursing care and welfare, and hold study meetings to create standard specifications.

Management policy for standard specifications