Business rules for the general description

This page is preliminary and will be supplemented during autumn 2026. The business rules apply to publishable content in the Finnish Service Catalogue (FSC).

Note: If a service described in the FSC uses a general description, the information of the general description must be retrieved and displayed as part of the service information. In other words, the information provided for the service supplements the information of the general description.

Information of the general description

Type of use

• Mandatory
• Select one or more of the following: Municipal services, Wellbeing services county services, Employment area services, services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Other services

Service type

• Mandatory
• Select one of the following: Service, Permits and obligations, Professional qualification.

Name (general description name)

• Mandatory
• The maximum length is 100 characters

Background description

• A background or main description is mandatory.
• The maximum length is 2500 characters
• It contains information on, for example, the legislative background of the service.
• See General business rules, Formatted text field

Main description

• A main description or background description is mandatory.
• The maximum length is 2500 characters
• The main description describes what the service is, what needs it meets, and what it is intended to do.
• See General business rules, Formatted text field

Terms and criteria

• Optional
• The maximum length is 2500 characters
• See General business rules, Formatted text field

Instructions

• Optional
• The maximum length is 2500 characters
• See General business rules, Formatted text field

Deadline description

• Optional
• The maximum length is 500 characters
• See General business rules, Formatted text field
• Can only be added if the service type is "Permits and obligations" or "Professional qualification".

Processing time/Description of processing time

• Optional
• The maximum length is 500 characters
• See General business rules, Formatted text field
• Can only be added if the service type is "Permits and obligations" or "Professional qualification".

Period of validity/Description of validity

• Optional
• The maximum length is 500 characters
• See General business rules, Formatted text field
• Can only be added if the service type is "Permits and obligations" or "Professional qualification".

Legislation links

• Optional
• You can add several links to legislation.
• If you add a legislation link, enter the name and webpage of the legislation link. The webpage must start with http:// or https://.
• The maximum length of the legislation link name is 500 characters
• The maximum length of the web address is 500 characters
• The same legislation link cannot occur more than once

Information on fees

• Optional
• Select one of the following: Payable, Free.

Additional information on fees

• Optional
• The maximum length is 500 characters
• See General business rules, Formatted text field

Classifying information for the service

The classifying information and keywords are not visible to the end users, but they affect how easily the services can be found, for example, in Suomi.fi web service.

Target group

• Mandatory
• Select one or more target groups (main target group or sub-groups).
• One of the target groups must be the main target group. The main target groups are: Citizens, Businesses and non-government organisations, Public authorities
• The same target group (main target group or sub-group) must not occur more than once.

Sub-group

• If Citizens is selected as the main target group, the following sub-groups can also be selected: Senior citizens, Children and families with children, Young people, Chronically ill patients, Expatriate Finns, and Disabled people. Note: only select a sub-group if the service is intended for a specific target group.
• If Businesses and non-government organisations is selected as the main target group, at least one sub-group must be selected: Companies seeking international growth, Inventors, Companies in the domestic market, Foreign business owners in Finland, Large enterprises, Employers, Organisations and communities.

Service class

• Mandatory
• Select a maximum of four service classes.
• Select at least one sub-class.
• The same service class or sub-class must not occur more than once.

Keyword

• Mandatory
• Select a maximum of 10 keywords.
• The keyword identifier (url) must come from one of the core ontologies in the Finto-service’s KOKO ontologyOpens in a new window.: Finnish Ontology for Public Administration JUHO, Finnish Ontology for Public Administration Services JUPO, Finnish Ontology of Health and Welfare TERO, TSR ontology, General Finnish Ontology YSO.
• The same keyword must not occur more than once.

Freely assigned keyword

• Optional
• The maximum length is 100 characters
• You can provide several freely chosen keywords.
• The freely assigned keyword may not come from the ontologies used by the FSC. See the Keyword section above.
• The same freely assigned keyword must not occur more than once.

Life event

• Optional
• You can select one or more life events if Citizens has been selected as the main target group for the general description.
• The same life event must not occur more than once.

Industry

• Optional
• You can select one or more industries if Businesses and non-government organisations has been selected as the main target group for the general description.
• The same industry must not occur more than once.

Information on organising the service

Owner organisation

• Mandatory information
• Note: when publishing the general description, the organisation must have the same language versions that it wants to publish for the service.