Interoperability of Public Administration Systems – Government Service Bus (GSB)
Digital public administration is a strategic commitment of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. The digital transformation of public administration, the interconnection and inter-exchange of data in public registers kept in digital form will lead to significant time savings that will directly lead to cost reductions, greater transparency and improved data quality and public services provision.
Public administration bodies are obliged to comply with the legal obligation to obtain data from public registers ex officio (National Information Infrastructure Act, NN 92/2014). This means that the authority carrying out a specific business process in which certain data of a party to a procedure are necessary will not require the submission or delivery of the data from the party, but will obtain it by through the national information infrastructure using secure data exchange through the GSB (Government Service Bus).
Data exchange has been taking place for many years, with the difference that most of the current IT links have been established bilaterally, between the two authorities exchanging data. In this way, we have hundreds of individual connections that over the years the bodies have developed to exchange data with each other (Figure 1).
With the establishment of the GSB as a central place for secure data exchange, a single technical platform was set up through which authorities connect to the GSB and, using this single connection, retrieve data from different authentic sources (public registers), depending on the business process that the authority is obliged to carry out and the set of data needed to complete the process (Figure 2).
Interchange of data constitutes interoperability, which is a characteristic i.e. the ability of two or more systems to act as one. Interoperability is a key factor in achieving the digital transformation. The use of the GSB as a platform for data exchange also generates significant savings in the technical maintenance of connections and the creation of communication tools, and at the same time the body using the data does not have to know the authentic source of the data.
One of the purposes of the National Information Infrastructure is to ensure interoperability, and the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation is in charge of managing the NII. For the purpose of implementing and fulfilling legal obligations, the authorities are obliged to connect their information systems, i.e. the services of public registers to the Central Interoperability System (CIS) through the GSB. The method and steps of integration in the GSB are described in the Technical Specification (document GSB Standards - Technical Specification). All potential GSB users are given access to documentation via the Wiki Portal of the Shared Services Centre after user authentication.
The GSB integration process is carried out in two different processes:
- Publication/presentation of a public register on the GSB
- Access/exchange of data via the GSB
The process of publication/presentation of a public register on the GSB is operationally agreed between the Register Manager and the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation via the e-mail address below.
Applications for access to and secure exchange of data from public registers are to be submitted via the attached form to the following e-mail address:
ssi@cdu.gov.hr
Upon application, the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation verifies the proposed legal basis and the purpose of using the data with the Register Manager, and informs the Applicant thereof by letter. We draw attention to the need to pay attention to the correct and precise indication of the legal basis and the purpose of using the data (reference to the article of the law and the business process in which there is a need to retrieve the data through the GSB).
Interested parties are free to request additional information that is not available through the SSC Wiki Portal via the above e-mail address.