Task & Problem definition

As part of the implementation of the Online Access Act (OZG), the most important administrative services are to be provided digitally by the end of 2022. Software applications specially developed for the administration, the so-called IT specialist procedures, are intended to gradually replace the previously analogue administrative services. The digital applications should be designed to be as simple and accessible as possible for all users - administrative staff, citizens and businesses alike. In line with the motto “One for All” - OfA for short - each federal state is taking on the digitalisation of certain administrative services as part of the OZG implementation, and the solutions shall be implemented nationwide in the future.

During the analysis of existing administrative services and procedures in the state of Hamburg, the Office for IT and Digitisation of the Hamburg Senate Chancellery identified a large number of smaller administrative applications that, despite their differences, are similar: too small for the development of their own complex and cost-intensive IT specialist procedure, too important and frequent to be ignored in the digitisation process - e.g. permits for animal testing, the felling of a tree or the launch of a drone. A dedicated solution is needed to enable the digitalisation of such applications simply and cost-effectively.

Solution approach & Implementation

A modular approach is intended to simplify and accelerate the development and provision of software applications and specialised procedures for public administration: Through a digital platform based on low-code technology - titled MODUL-F - certain functions that are needed in every administration will be available as pre-programmed modules in the future. For example, software modules are planned for a register query, the creation of a notification, for a dual control check and for archiving processes. With this digital modular system, administrative staff can quickly and easily compile software solutions for individual internal processing procedures - (almost) without traditional requirements documentation and programming knowledge. In the future, Modul-F can be applied wherever there is not yet a digital representation of an internal process and significantly accelerate the transfer of analogue administrative services to the digital application. The project is planned in two stages: At the beginning of the first project year, the focus will lie on the analysis of requirements and the development of the low-code platform up to functional maturity. The platform itself will be developed on the basis of an existing low-code platform from software provider mgm. The Digital Public Services division of Fraunhofer FOKUS will support the Hamburg Senate Chancellery with the technical design, in particular the analysis/research and documentation of the necessary interfaces, taking IT security into account.

In a second project step by the end of 2022, MODUL-F will then be OfA-capable: The system and the modules shall be adoptable in the administration of the federal government, federal states and municipalities as well as by their digitalisation/IT departments. The interfaces required for this will be considered right from the start of the project. The objective is to finalise the low-code platform as the first executable version by the end of the project period.

The Modul-F project is jointly managed by the Hamburg Senate Chancellery and the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. Federal economic stimulus funds were used to finance the implementation of the OZG.