Reuse work that has been already done

Start planning the procurement by inventorying the data and information systems you already have in use. 

The procurement may concern something that: 

• is new 
• partially or wholly replaces something old 
• complements what is already there. 

Information systems and their components are procured to process data, which is why it is particularly important to understand which data the procurement will be used to process. On this page, we discuss different ways of understanding the data processed by an organisation. 

This will help you define and delimit the procurement and understand the configuration for which the procurement will be made. It will also help you find information and services outside your organisation that can help you make a more successful procurement.

Enterprise architecture and APIs are closely linked. Both are key elements in designing and managing the structure and operation of the organisation’s information systems. 

Work on the enterprise architecture can support API design, especially within the organisation. With APIs, several goals of enterprise architecture can be reached in practice, and components of the enterprise architecture can be documented. 

To support your organisation's enterprise architecture, use the guide Enterprise architecture in operational development. 

Enterprise architecture provides a strategic framework in which the different functions and information systems of the organisation can be designed to be interoperable. 

APIs are a technical method of enabling interoperability and data transfers between these information systems. 

Enterprise architecture and APIs are mutually complementary tools that enable the organisation’s information systems to work seamlessly and efficiently. 

Enterprise architecture work carried out from the organisation's internal viewpoint may focus on the organisation's internal activities and only partially address customer needs, partner networks and ecosystems. 

In the case of APIs published for external use outside the organisation, however, it is important to take a customer-oriented approach, in which the system as a whole is examined from the outside based on customer needs, for example life events or business transactions. There is a clear difference between these viewpoints. 

Digital services and software used between organisations always create dependencies between the organisations, and network management is essential for success. 

The Finnish public administration has hundreds of registers, around 4,000 information systems as well as operating environment structures and competence accumulated since the 1960s. It is advisable to try and reuse any work that has already been done. 

The activities of public administration and the data used in them are subject to legislation. This is why it is important to find out about the legislation applicable to a procurement before going ahead with it. 

Legislation consists of acts as well as decrees that supplement or add detail to them. It lays the foundation for data management. It is advisable to select regulatory interoperability as the starting point for planning the procurement. 

Any personal data collected in the public administration's registers are often subject to a special act. For example, provisions on personal data content in the Population Information System, the authorities’ right to access data and other rights of access are laid down in the  Act on the Population Information System and the certificate services of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Finlex)Opens in a new window.. 

Public administration activities are always based on legislation, which is why legislation also provides a good overview of information management. 

A significant volume of data is processed in public administration using forms. Data collected on forms usually meets the information needs of different processes. However, the organisation’s information needs should primarily be solved by using data already in public administration's possession. 

New data should only be collected from citizens and companies when the data in question do not yet exist in the administration's registers. 

Before making a procurement, it is advisable to consider the information needs and establish what data the administration has. For example, population data administered by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency should not be collected again by another agency, municipality or wellbeing services county if they meet the criteria for obtaining them from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Duplicate data collections can be reduced by: 

1. Taking a close look at data on paper and electronic forms. 
2. Finding out if the data requested on the form already exist in some administrative register. 

APIs facilitate the processing and reuse of data. Public administration produces a large volume of structured data that could be used for multiple purposes. 

However, data use is hampered by the fact that there is no overview of the data, and their use is often strictly controlled by legislation. This is why various tools need to be used to inventory and find public administration data. 

Use the following tools: 

• information management map 
• statutes 
• descriptions to implement document publicity 
• descriptions of files 
• data catalogues 
• information architecture descriptions 
• public data models. 

When data are transferred from one information system to another, the sender and recipient must understand the content and meaning of the data in the same way. 

Data transmitted through an API is always based on a data model. The data model describes the relationships between the data and itself, structuring the data content. The data model consists of terms and a code set, in which the code set is a list of codes used as metadata. 

When designing an API, you should check if the required code sets already exist partly or fully. Over the long term, using standard data models improves the semantic interoperability of information systems. 

Large-scale use of an API will be difficult if its data model or code set differ from commonly used standards. If intellectual property rights subject to a fee must be purchased in order to use the code set, this is an additional obstacle. 

The open source code Interoperability Platform provided by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency offers an opportunity to use such as Schema.org data models and supplement them with Finnish additions. 

Read more about the Interoperability Platform. 

It is advisable to develop interoperable data models in English, as data transfers in the EU internal market will increase in the future. 

Computer programs and applications often comprise the same functionalities. When procuring something new, it is advisable to make the most of what has been purchased previously and is already in place. 

For example, almost every program features 

• user management 
• identification. 

Electronic identification solutions are commonly used in Finland, for instance, and re-implementing them is not worth your while. 

Suomi.fi e-Identification is the recommended identification method if the user organisation has access to it. If an information system has already been procured, you should integrate it into Suomi.fi e-Identification with an API.