Ministerial Meeting on Unification and Standardization of Mission-Critical Systems for Local Governments (2nd) (September 30, 2022)

Last Updated:: Oct 7, 2022

Overview

Date and time: Friday, September 30, 2022, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Location: Online Meeting
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Message from the Chairman
3. Agenda
  1. Basic Policy for Standardization of Local Government Information Systems (Draft)
  2. Points to be considered for the standardization of mission-critical operational systems of local governments
  3. Progress of standardization work, etc.
4. Interpellation
5. Adjournment

Material

Relevant policy

Unification and standardization of mission-critical systems for local governments

Summary of the Proceedings

Date and

September 30, 2022 (Friday) from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

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Online meetings

Attendees

Koichi Akaishi (Vice-Minister for Digital Policy)
DEGUCHI Kazuhiro (Deputy Director-General, Cabinet Secretariat Administration (Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Secretariat))
KUSUNOKI Masanori (Director-General, Digital Agency)
Tomoaki ABE (Deputy Director-General, Digital Agency)
Yasunori OGAWA (Deputy Director-General [in charge of Economic and Social System], Cabinet Office's Secretariat)
Keisaku Yoshizumi (Cabinet Office Child and Child Care Division, Director-General)
Hirotami YOSHIKAWA (Director-General of Local Administration Bureau of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
Nobukazu Matsui (Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Justice's Secretariat, in charge of Civil Affairs Bureau) * Attendance by proxy
Masanobu MORITA (cybersecurity of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Secretariat, Deputy Director-General in charge of Policy Planning)
Tomoaki ASAKAWA (Deputy Director-General (in charge of General Policy and Pension System), Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Secretariat) * Attendance by proxy
Takeshi Kishimoto (Director-General for Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Policy: in charge of Statistics and Information Policy, and Industrial Relations)
Hirofumi Kiyota (Manager of Administration Division, Elections Department, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Local Government Bureau)
Toshihiro Kawakubo (Director-General of Local Tax Bureau of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
Tomonori Izawa (Director of General Affairs Division, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Health Service Bureau)
Tomoji NOMURA (Deputy Director-General of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Secretariat in charge of Children and Families, Measures to Cope with Declining Birthrate and Prevention of Child Abuse)
Norie Honda (Deputy Director-General of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Secretariat in charge of Social Affairs, Disaster Relief, Community Life and Suicide Prevention, Humanitarian Survey, Social Welfare Cooperation and Job Support Cooperation)
HENMI Satoshi (Director, Department of Health and Welfare for the Disabled, Social Welfare and War Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
Tomoyuki Saisu (Deputy Director-General in charge of Health and Welfare for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Secretariat)
Kazuhito Ihara (Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Insurance Bureau
Naoki Miyamoto (Pension Administration Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Pension Bureau)

Message from the Chairman

With regard to the standardization of business processes and information systems of local governments, specifications for each standard were released at the end of August with the cooperation of the ministries and agencies in charge of the system, and the "Basic Policy for the Standardization of Local Government Information Systems" is expected to be approved by the Cabinet soon.
Regarding standardization, we have received many opinions from local governments, especially regarding the schedule. We would like to ask for the continued cooperation of the relevant ministries and agencies as we move into the implementation phase toward the transition by the end of fiscal 2025.
On the other hand, Minister Kono has also exchanged opinions with the heads of various local governments and mentioned the need to strengthen the systems of local governments, ministries and agencies, and Digital Agency. In addition, it is necessary to continue to consider the system on the vendor side to fully respond to standardization efforts.
Although this will be an even more important phase in the future, we would like to proceed with standardization efforts in close cooperation with other ministries and agencies without delay from the original schedule.

Agenda

Basic Policy for Standardization of Local Government Information Systems (Draft)
Points to be considered for the standardization of mission-critical operational systems of local governments
- In line with Materials 1 and 3, Digital Agency explained the overall outline of the draft Basic Guidelines for Standardization, the transition period to standardization, operating costs, and the Government Cloud. He also explained the points to be considered for standardization as follows.
  - Regarding revisions to standard specifications, if revisions are to be made in response to institutional revisions, as a rule, specifications reflecting the content of the revisions will be published at least one year in advance. If revisions are to be made in response to other opportunities (such as BPR), as a rule, revisions will be made once a year. However, during the transition support period (until fiscal 2025), the transition to standard compliance system will be given top priority, so revisions will not be made and current standard specifications will be used.
  - The ministry is considering setting a reference date several times a year to reflect revisions to the standard specifications.
  - If there are any interpretations or questions about the standard specifications from vendors, etc., they should be dealt with as needed so as not to become bottlenecks in development.
  - Regarding the standard specifications formulated at the end of August, we will show the content of the review by the end of the year so that there is no influence on the development of the system, etc., and show the standard specifications reflected by the end of the fiscal year.
  - As for the designated cities, we will listen to their opinions carefully and consult with them on specific improvements after intensive inspections by the end of the fiscal year.
  - Regarding the function requirements, we will focus on whether it is an excessive function and intensively inspect whether it can be reduced to a standard option function.
  - Issues related to data requirements, linkage requirements, and the Common function Standard Specifications formulated by Digital Agency will be reviewed and the results of the review will be published by the end of the fiscal year.
  - Among the eight organizations that have started using the Government Cloud, five expect to reduce their running costs. However, among the organizations that have already shared hardware, running costs are expected to decrease slightly or increase slightly. We will examine whether there is any way to further improve the efficiency of the network connection costs, system operation costs, and connection costs for the remaining existing data centers, which are all increasing costs in the future.
  - The project aims to achieve reductions in three stages from the current state. Costs were reduced by migrating to the Government Cloud, reductions were achieved through the efficient operation of the standard compliance system on the Government Cloud, and further reductions are expected through the more efficient use of the Government Cloud.
  - At present, we have verified the transition from the current environments to the Government Cloud. In the future, we would like to verify the reference Architecture and introduce it.
Progress of standardization work, etc.
- Each government office and ministry explained the review system, details of the review, and future plans.

Adjournment

Digital Agency explained that the next meeting of the ministries and agencies concerned was scheduled to be held around August next year, and that meetings would be held as necessary.

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