Development of Platform for Electronic Submission of Application Documents to Government Ministries and Agencies

Government action on electronic submission of application and report has progressed with introduction of concrete action indicators since announcement of the "Basic Plan for Promoting Administrative Informatization" (approved by the cabinet in December 1994). However, computerization of more than 7,000 procedures involved for application, report, etc., with national government ministries and agencies alone is expected to become a huge task both in terms of time and budget. Under such circumstances, development of a generic electronic submission system of applications and reports that delivers the common requirements in administrative processing for all national government organizations is believed to contribute to development and ground of the foundation for electronic administrative processing. The New Media Development Association has developed Japan's first "Internet-based electronic submission system for XML documents" under the 1996 supplementary budget program managed by the Information-technology Promotion Agency with financial support of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. In the project, the basic common necessities in Internet-based electronic submission have been identified. Testbed operation of the system for application procedures at MITI confirmed its viability. In the current project, the goals have been set on development of necessary components shared in common in electronic submission (corresponding to the various functions necessary in electronic submission) based on the Internet-based electronic application system for XML and development of a generic electronic submission system comprised of such components. In addition, a generic system with high level of user-friendliness adopting the existing methods of submission, including floppy-disk, fax, and dial-up network, will be developed. The efficacy, operability of the generic system will be examined in a testbed coordinated with actual inspection administration system, etc., at MITI, etc. The key to wider acceptance of electronic submission to government offices is assurance of interoperability with electronic submission system adopted in various administrative services in national government organizations. Assurance of interoperability is expected to bring dramatic reduction of economic and manpower resources consumed in system setup, management, and use. Summary of system Documents used in electronic submission are electronic documents consisting of various