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Unifying and standardizing the core business platform of local governments

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Notice

Table of Contents

Outline

Background

To date, local governments have used their ingenuity to develop, procure, and manage various information systems in order to provide a variety of services to residents.
However, even in work that is common to local governments determined by laws and regulations, etc., information systems for each local governments have been customized, and the following issues have been pointed out.

  • Personnel and financial burdens are heavy because individual measures must be taken for maintenance, management, renovation at the time of system revision, etc.
  • The use of the cloud does not proceed smoothly due to the burden of adjusting differences in information systems.
  • As a result, it is difficult to quickly spread throughout the country optimal measures to improve public services.

As the birthrate declines and the population ages, Japan's working-age population (aged 15 to 64) is expected to decline to 52.75 million by 2050. In order to maintain and enhance 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 for the central and local governments to work together to make the most efficient and effective use of digital technology, rather than having approximately 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, 's "Act on Standardization of local government information system" (Standardization Act) (e-Gov laws and regulations Retrieval) (hereinafter referred to as the "Standardization Act") was established and enforced in 2021 (2021).

Under this law, from the perspective of ensuring commonality in the content of administrative processing, improving the convenience of residents, and improving the efficiency of local administrative management, local governments will identify administrative work (administrative work subject to standardization, currently 20 administrative work) that is subject to standardization. The information systems used by local governments for the processing of these administrative works must conform to the standards for standardisation (hereinafter referred to as "standardisation standards") specified by ministerial ordinances by the relevant ministries (hereinafter referred to as "standard compliance system").
Through this, we aim to reduce the human and financial burden on local governments in the future, and to enable the staff of local governments to focus on providing direct services to residents and planning work based on the actual situation of the digitalization. We also aim to build a regional foundation for promoting online applications and other services nationwide.
In addition, based on the fact that the promotion of digitalization in the entire society was regarded as an urgent task based on the experience of responding to COVID-19, local governments are to aim for a smooth and safe transition to standard compliance system by FY 2025 (FY 2025).

Promotion Framework and Digital Agency's Roles

Based on the Act, the national government determined 20 office works to be standardized and adopted the "Basic policies for standardizing local government information system" (hereinafter referred to as the "Basic Policies") by Cabinet Decision.

Digital Agency takes the lead in formulating the basic policies, and as the control tower for the ministries and agencies in charge of each scheme, works to promote measures efficiently and effectively. In addition, presents the ministries and agencies in charge of the scheme with work policies, etc. (points to be considered, work flow, how to establish standards, and policies for horizontal coordination), and supports further improvements to the standard specifications.

The ministries and agencies responsible for the systems that govern standardized administrative processes shall establish standard specifications that include the contents specified by the standardized criteria for the administrative processes under their jurisdiction, based on the work policies, etc., indicated by Digital Agency. In addition, Digital Agency and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications shall establish standards for common items such as data linkage and cybersecurity. (The efforts of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications can be checked from the Main Efforts of to Standardize and Share Information Systems for Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Local Governments (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) (PDF format) .)
Particularly in Digital Agency, the following common items have been developed.

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

The Act stipulates that local governments shall endeavor to use nationwide cloud environments developed by the national government ( Government Cloud ). The Government Cloud is procured by Digital Agency and its services are provided to local governments. By using the Government Cloud, local governments can easily enjoy benefits such as cost reduction through shared use, rapid construction and flexible expansion of information systems, and security measures and operation monitoring.

As support for the shift to standard compliance system, Digital Agency has established a "Standards Liaison" and a "Business Council for the Promotion of Standardization and Unification in core business platform." In addition, in cooperation with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and prefectural governments, we are providing support for the transition of local governments to standardization. For details, please check with the Transition Support .
The TMG also works with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications prefectural government under its jurisdiction to keep track of how local governments are progressing with their plans and to provide financial support * for the costs involved in the move to standard compliance system.

Reference

Basic policies for standardizing local government information system
Support of Ministries and Agencies Responsible for the

Vision through Local Government System Standardization

The efforts of local governments to unify and standardize their regions aim to reduce the human and financial burden on local governments so that they can focus on improved services for residents suited to the actual conditions of the core business platform, and to enable the rapid deployment of new services.

The goals of the basic policy are as follows.

  1. The ministries and agencies in charge of the system will develop the digitalization infrastructure of local governments by establishing or changing standardized criteria based on business process reengineering (BPR) based on the three digital principles and business flow based on digital processing.
    • Three Digital Principles
      • Digital First (completion of individual procedures and services consistently in digital form)
      • Once Only (Information submitted once need not be submitted twice.)
      • Connected one-stop (to realize multiple procedures and services in one-stop, including private services)
  2. Avoid vendor lock-in and ensure a competitive environment at the application level among multiple carriers by standardizing specifications such as function requirements and complying with standardized standards for data requirements and linkage requirements.
  3. In cases where it is necessary to modify a standard compliance system due to institutional revisions or emergency responses to unexpected administrative demands, etc., the State may establish or change standardized criteria, thereby reducing the burden on local governments to deal with each case individually. At the same time, the scope of the modification concerned shall be minimized, and modification shall be carried out promptly.
  4. By utilizing the Government Cloud, local governments shall be able to reduce the burden of conventional maintenance and management of hardware such as servers and software such as operating systems, middleware and applications.
  5. To provide government cloud services with high economic efficiency while ensuring a high level of security.
  6. Each business operator, including startups and local business operators, should be given the opportunity to deploy its developed system nationwide without developing its own cloud infrastructure.
  7. The national government shall aim to reduce at least 30% of the FY 2018 level of operating expenses, etc. for information systems related to office work subject to standardization after the completion of the shift to standard compliance system. The national government shall develop an environment for the realization of this goal by taking measures to optimize the operating expenses for the entire business, including BPR based on the three digital principles.
  8. When the Government or a local public entity takes a new measure that utilizes the core business platform of the local public entity, the Government or the local public entity shall build an application in the Government Cloud in advance. This will make it possible to smoothly take in data from the core business platform, which used to incur a large cost in terms of both time and money. This will contribute to the prompt start of services for the public.

In order to realize these ideals, Digital Agency will continue to improve the infrastructure so that all local governments using core business platform can smoothly and safely migrate to standard compliance system built on the Government Cloud by 2025 (2025).
At that time, we will carefully understand the impact of institutional amendments and other factors on the transition work through local governments and business operators toward fiscal year 2025 (fiscal year 2025). We will actively support the smooth and safe transition to standard compliance system in core business platform.

Current Status of standard compliance system

Clerical work subject to standardization and formulation of standard specifications

At present, the following 20 clerical works are specified by government ordinances as clerical works subject to standardization.

  • Child Allowance
  • Child child-rearing support
  • Basic Resident Register
  • Supplementary Family Register
  • Seal Registration
  • Management of electoral register
  • Property tax
  • Individual inhabitant tax
  • Corporation inhabitants tax
  • Light motor vehicle tax
  • Family register
  • Attendance at school
  • Health care
  • Child Rearing Allowance
  • Public assistance
  • Welfare for the disabled
  • Nursing care insurance
  • National Health Insurance
  • Medical Care for the Elderly
  • National pension

The ministries and agencies in charge of each system formulated standard specifications by the end of FY 2022 (FY 2022) for the office work mentioned above.

Standard compliance system standard specifications

Partial function Interim Measures for Standards-Based Systems

In order to promote a smooth and safe transition, on the assumption that the transition from the current system to a system that supports the standard specifications is completed, there is a transitional measure in which it is possible to implement the system after the transition in some function.

Progress Status

The state of progress for each local public entity is reported by each local public entity using the standardized PMO tools constructed by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and can be found in the Local Public Entity Information Systems Standardization and Standardization (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) .

Measures to be taken if it becomes concrete that the shift to standard compliance system must be made in or after fiscal 2026

A "Specific Transition Support System *" refers to a specific system that must be shifted in or after fiscal 2026 for the following reasons.

  • Existing systems run on mainframes
  • The current system is not a package system but an individually developed system.
  • A system for which the current operator does not intend to develop a 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 due to resource constraints of business operators, etc.

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

  • *In the Basic Policies for Standardizing local government information system (decided by the Cabinet on December 24, 2024), the previous difficult-to-migrate system was changed to a specified migration support system.

Status of Specific Transition Support Systems and Responses

In October 2023, we launched a survey of all local governments to identify systems that are difficult to migrate. We conducted interviews with local governments that reported systems in which it became clear that the migration to standard compliance system in Digital Agency and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications would have to be after fiscal 2026. The main reason why the system became a specified migration support system was that the operators significantly revised the migration schedule because it was found that more SE resources than expected were required for the migration work and the immediate operation. In addition, the current system is operated as a mainframe or individually developed system, and the current operators have withdrawn and there is no prospect of procuring an alternative system.
The number of Specific Migration Support Systems and the number of organizations and systems subject to migration to standard compliance system were carefully examined in Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and Digital Agency. As of the end of March 2026, out of a total of 34,366 systems subject to migration to standard compliance system, 10,013 systems (29.1%) were Specific Migration Support Systems.

For local governments that have specific migration support systems, we will continue to check on the progress of the migration plan and provide appropriate advice, and work to ensure that all target systems can be migrated to standard compliance system as soon as possible.

Efforts to develop common items

Moving to the Government Cloud

As the birthrate declines and the population ages, Japan is entering a period of rapid population decline. In order to maintain high-quality public services and respond flexibly to the diversifying needs of the people, it is important to promote the sharing of digital infrastructure between the central and local governments. In addition to standardizing the core business of local governments, we are working to migrate local government information systems to the government cloud.

By migrating to the Government Cloud, you will be able to enjoy the following benefits:

  • Raising the level of security throughout the local government information system
  • Enable large-scale disaster response (disaster recovery)
  • To improve the efficiency of office work that used to occur with conventional systems
  • Prompt provision of administrative services during emergencies
  • Flexible Response to System Development

Some local governments have already optimized their services by sharing systems, etc., and even if they take measures to reduce running costs, it is expected that the transition to the government cloud will increase costs for some local governments. For these local governments, even if they do not immediately migrate to the government cloud, we plan to support them in considering the transition to the government cloud when expanding the equipment of the current infrastructure in the future or when updating the system, so that they can enjoy the benefits of using the government cloud.

Validation Towards Migration to Government Cloud

Government Cloud Early Adopter Review Initiatives (for Local Governments)

Since fiscal 2021, we have been verifying issues related to the transition to the Government Cloud, which is being developed by Digital Agency, so that everyone in the municipalities of standard compliance system can use it with peace of mind.
For the efforts, please see Efforts Government Cloud Early Adopter Review Initiatives (for Local Governments) .

in Government Cloud Review Project for Vendors,

In order to further promote the use of the Government Cloud by local governments, public call was made to vendors actively participating in efforts to accumulate know-how about the efficient operation of shared use methods in the Government Cloud and inter-system linkage, and to verify inter-system linkage in multi-vendor environments.
For the efforts, please see Efforts in Government Cloud Review Project for Vendors, .

Materials for utilizing the government cloud

Development of Shared function and Responses to Individual Issues

Standards for data requirements and linkage requirements

To unify and standardize local government information system, the ministries and agencies in charge of the system have formulated standard specifications that specify function requirements, etc., for each of the 20 services to be standardized. Digital Agency has formulated the " Common function Standard Specifications " and the " Data Requirements and Linkage Requirements Standard Specifications " for these common matters. These reflect the results of the Common function and Other Technical Requirements Review Meeting held in Digital Agency in the second half of fiscal 2022.
has also summarized its approach to data requirements and linkage requirements for standards in (PDF / 880 kb).

Based on these standard specifications, etc., since fiscal 2023, specific work has been carried out for the development of standard compliance system by business operators and its introduction to local governments. While proceeding with the work, while there are opinions calling for further elaboration of the standard specifications, etc., for data requirements and linkage requirements, there is also an opinion that at the current stage of development, careful consideration should be given to the possibility of rework.

In light of these opinions, Digital Agency newly established the of the Common function and Other Issues Study Group in order to gain an understanding of the development status of the common function and other issues as well as the 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 stages, this study group decided to create a reference (recommended guidelines), provide a list of main check items, and share precedent cases so that the coordination between local governments and business operators in terms of operation will proceed smoothly.
In the future, through the Common function Issues Study Group, we will promptly release the information we have organized so that smooth coordination can be achieved among the relevant parties.

The specifications, which have been established as standard specifications for data requirements and linkage requirements, are shown on the following pages.

,

We are in the process of standardizing characters. We aim to improve the efficiency and improved services for residents of administrative work by standardizing external characters and making it easier to manage data and link information between systems. For more information, please visit Standardizing characters in local government information system, , .

Standards for non - standard compliance system requirements that are common to each function

Regarding the "local government information system Standards for Non-Metropolitan Area Requirements," in 's "Non-Metropolitan function Required Grade (Municipal Government Version) Usage Guide (PDF Format)" , based on the "selection level" of items that are considered necessary centered on the following items, revisions and additions are made in light of the latest situation, etc. function

  • Of the requirement grades shown in "Group ②" for the classification of operations and systems, items that are handled in cloud procurement as "○: Items that can be subject to clouds"
  • Concretely, the following requirements other than the function requirements are stipulated in core business platform.
    • Availability
    • Performance and expandability
    • Operability and maintainability
    • Transferability
    • Security
    • System Environment and Ecology

Based on the opinions that the requirements may be excessive in light of the mode of individual services and the scale of local governments, etc., which were obtained while the Government Cloud Early Adopter Review (for Local Governments) Project and the transition to standard compliance system, etc., discussions were held at the "Review Meeting on Common Standards for local government information system." As for items that may be given a range according to the size of local governments, the nature of services, and risk acceptance policies, etc., a review was made so that local governments may select the level at their own discretion. Then, the "Standards for local government information system Non-Metropolitan function Requirements [Version 1.2]" was formulated.

  • Local government information system Standards for Non - function Requirements [Version 1.2] (September 2025): Text ( PDF (1,757 kb) , Excel (201 kb) ), Overview (PDF / 2,177 kb)
  • (Source before revision) local government information system: Standards for Non - function Requirements [Version 1.1] (August 2022): Text (PDF / 715 kb) Overview (PDF / 1,318 kb) Overview (PDF / 1,432 kb)
  • (Material before revision) local government information system Non-Asian Standard Requirements [Version 1.0] (September 2020): function Text (PDF / 496 kb) Overview (PDF / 1,318 kb)

Standards for common function (application management function, integrated address function within the organization, etc.)

The common function in standard compliance system can be roughly classified into the following three function groups.

  1. System-common function group: Of the function required for a standard compliance system, this refers to a standard compliance system group used to realize function requirements common to multiple function.
  2. Integrated operation management function group: Of the function required for standard compliance system, this refers to a group of function to realize non-data function requirements such as operation monitoring, job management, backup and recovery, encryption of, anti-virus, automatic deployment, support for cost optimisation, etc.
  3. Infrastructure function group: Of the function required by a standard compliance system, a group of function to realize infrastructure requirements such as compute, storage, database, etc.

"Among the" "1. System Common function Group," "the core business platform that can be provided in a loosely coupled manner with the function is subject to the standard specifications of the common core business platform, because the function may be provided by a different company from the company that provides the function. For other core business platform, it is considered more efficient to provide the airport by the same company as the company that provides the airport, when considering the connection with business and the feasibility of standardization. Therefore, the airport is excluded from the standard specifications."
"In addition," "2. Integrated Operation and Management function Group" "and" "3. Infrastructure function Group" "are outside the scope of these Standards because utilization of government clouds, etc. can be expected."

The specifications that have been developed as standard specifications for the common function are shown on the following page.

Transition Support

Digital Agency has established a Standards Liaison * 1 and a Business Council for the Promotion of Standardization in core business platform * 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.

* 1 Standardization liaison
A support system established by officials dispatched from each prefecture to confirm the progress of each local government in integration and standardization, and to provide technical support through the identification of issues.
* 2 Business Council for Promoting core business platform Unification and Standardisation
A council established to ascertain 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

Meetings, etc.

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

An investigative commission has been set up to prepare standard specifications for the 20 major operations of local public entities, such as resident records, local taxes, and nursing care and welfare, based on discussions with local public entities, related organizations, and businesses in the ministries and agencies in charge of the systems.

Management policy for standard specifications, etc.

Comprehensive measures concerning operational expenses after the standardization of local government information systems and migration to the Government Cloud

In Digital Agency, the working team of the Liaison Council to Promote National and Local Common Digital Infrastructure conducted a study while listening to the opinions of local governments, and on June 13, 2025, they compiled comprehensive measures related to operational costs after standardizing local government information systems and migrating to the Government Cloud.

Reference