Abstracts of Magazine FUJITSU 2007-11 (VOL.58, NO.6)

Special Issue : Fujitsu's Activities for Collaboration between Government and Local Communities

• Fujitsu Group Activities for Closer Collaboration between Government and Local Communities

Japan has entered a new era where IT is now being used for social restructuring, as opposed to the previous utilization of IT. In meeting this need, however, we realize that people are not yet fully aware of the benefits and advantages of IT. Various problems have been noted regarding Japan's New IT Reform Strategy, and therefore it has become very important to restructure local communities. Moreover, given Japan's dramatically changing social environment marked by declining population and the problems associated with an aging society, greater attention is being placed on the increasing trends toward better security, safety, and health consciousness, the transformation to a recycling-oriented society, and more comfortable resident-oriented communities. Supporting such trends entails creating a society where companies can fully employ corporate activities. This paper introduces Fujitsu Group activities geared to achieving efficient administrative services and resident-oriented services, and relevant cutting-edge technologies that support these activities from the standpoint of closer collaboration between government and the local community.

• Summary of e-Japan Strategy and Future IT Policy

The IT Strategic Headquarters devised "e-Japan Strategy" in 2001 as Japan's national IT policy, followed by "e-Japan Strategy II." Now as measures are being implemented in line with the "New IT Reform Strategy" formulated in 2006, Japan's IT policy is developing based on a national strategy or vision geared toward "innovation" and "productivity improvement" This paper surveys this series of strategic moves, describes the results and problems, and discusses future IT policy in Japan.

• Measures to Improve Administrative Services and Efficiency of Administrative Affairs through E-government

The government's "New IT Reform Strategy" (announced in January 2006 at IT Strategic Headquarters) plans to simplify administrative improvements for more public convenience, promote greater efficiency, advances, and improvements in transparency by promoting the online use of administrative procedures, and optimize administrative affairs and the system itself, in order to realize "the world's most convenient and effective form of electronic administration." In April 2007, the IT Strategy Headquarters also formulated the New IT Reform Strategy Policy Package that clarifies the basic directions of future IT policy, accelerates the New IT Reform Strategy, and drives an engine of creative reform that may afford new possibilities and policy choices. This paper describes the benefits of IT relative to "realizing comprehensive electronic administrative services nationwide and at the local level" as one specific action that the nation can undertake. It also describes Fujitsu's contributive efforts in helping to introduce and realize electronic government in support of the measures being taken to improve administrative services.

• Trends in Shared Services in the UK Public Sector and the Approach of Fujitsu Services

In response to the 2004 spending review by HM Treasury, the UK government outlined a strategy to introduce shared services in the arena of corporate services in order to increase efficiency. This initiative has now begun to gather some momentum. However, such projects often face challenges specific to the public sector as typified by "organisational silos," lack of experience in cross-organisational workings, and budgeting and procurement problems. Various attempts have been made to address and overcome those issues. Given its broad experience, Fujitsu Services believes that there are two key factors crucial to overcoming those issues. The first is establishing appropriate governance that covers all stakeholders concerned; the second is that projects must focus on actually realising the benefits being targeted to achieve. This paper describes these two points and uses concrete examples to illustrate both.

• Business System Optimization Plan

Municipalities in 2007 face such problems as ensuring public safety and the reliability of action taken to address problems relative to business systems in achieving simple, efficient administrative management. Consequently, an effective approach toward optimizing business systems to resolve these problems is urgently needed. At the same time, municipalities have to date rarely optimized business systems where reduced system expenditures and labor costs were assumed the main purposes, and in 2007 the approach toward helping to ensure public safety and the reliability of actions taken to address business system problems has done enough.
This paper first gives a general overview of the approach taken in municipalities to optimize business systems, and then confirms problems of the current approach. It then introduces consulting on such optimization with Fujitsu business systems that improve the effects of optimization.

• Approach to Improving Efficiency of Internal Clerical Work at Local Governments

The worsening condition of local finances and increasing local needs are forcing local governments to promote more efficient clerical work and upgrade administrative management. To help local governments address these issues, in 2000 we released the IPKNOWLEDGE application package (a support package for routine clerical work done by local governments) that integrates such tasks as document management, financial accounting, general affairs clerical work, electronic approval, and personnel salary as part of a unified system. Today, 230 local governments are using this package. This paper briefly describes the situation facing local governments, introduces functions to promote more efficient clerical work and provide greater convenience for office workers, and explains the structure employed to reduce system operation and other tasks as made possible by IPKNOWLEDGE.

• Measure to Improve Residents' Degree of Satisfaction

As local governments attempt to increase office efficiency amid an ongoing severe financial situation that has lasted many years, one measure in addressing an important problem is to improve the residents' degree of satisfaction. When we are entering an age where administrators require greater administrative skills regarding how to maintain and even increase the level of resident services under reduced budgets and with fewer personnel. In this paper, the trend of a country or a self-governing body is based on it and introduced based on such a background about the measure to "improvement in a resident degree of satisfaction" of Fujitsu. It also cites two examples of concrete Fujitsu solutions.

• Continuity of Government Operations and Cooperation with Various Organizations in Local Community

In the event of a major earthquake, extensive flooding, act of terrorism, or pandemic of infectious disease, government administrative agencies must continue working for rapid restoration and recovery in the stricken area. Japan's Central Disaster Prevention Council estimates that the damage caused by a powerful earthquake striking the Tokyo metropolitan area would total 112 trillion yen and threaten the nation's existence. It is therefore essential for administrative agencies to implement public measures against such large-scale disasters, and for private companies to continue business activities by themselves. This paper introduces how administrative agencies in the central and local governments should cope with disasters. It also proposes how administrative agencies should work in local communities through closer cooperation with various organizations including companies providing essential services, financial institutions, and major local companies. Finally, this paper discusses the points of devising a strategy and plan for dealing with disasters, and the management support necessary for implementation.

• Building Safe and Secure Local Communities

The impact of recent crimes and natural disasters has heightened the importance of security measures taken in local communities. Consequently, each local government throughout Japan has been establishing a platform to support the activities of residents and regulated "the Ordinance for Building Safe Towns" for a safe and secure community.
Fujitsu offers safe and secure solutions using ICT to address this issue. This paper introduces two cases illustrating ways to build safe and secure communities: 1) the field testing of using active RFID tags to share information on commuting to and from school and information on suspicious persons by e-mail and 2) the establishment of a safety confirmation system for residents.

• Toward Realizing Home Healthcare—the Establishment of Best Life Promotion Ltd.

Given Japan's declining birthrate and aging society, and in order to curtail healthcare costs, the Japanese government is now shifting emphasis from medical treatment to preventive medical care. In response to this changing situation, in February 2007, Fujitsu established a company called Best Life Promotion Ltd. (BLP) to expand business in this new field from the standpoints of preventive medical care and promoting health. Based on the concept that each person is responsible for maintaining personal health from the cradle to the grave, BLP will provide new services to citizens and their families in cooperation with the national and local governments, medical institutions, medical checkup organizations, and healthcare corporations. This paper introduces the support services offered by BLP that allow people to utilize personal health information for easily maintaining personal health.

• Action for Medical Examination and Sharing of Treatment Information at Local Core Hospitals and Medical Offices

In recent years, state measures have dictated the differentiation of medical institution functions; however, there is an urgent need for a mechanism of sharing medical examination and treatment information to support patients throughout a given area, including neighborhood medical offices near the local core hospital. In such a background, Fujitsu has developed an interregional association system in which information (EHR) can be shared with neighborhood medical offices, and medical staff can utilize the electronic health records system introduced at local core hospitals. This system incorporates Servlet/JSP (a Web system technology) that allows medical officers to read the information by simply using an Internet browser. Given the essential need to take strong security measures in the wake of growing public interest in the Personal Information Protection Law, we take measures from the both the network and application sides to realize a system where total security can be maintained. This paper introduces Fujitsu's interregional association system.

• General Basic Functions for Local Government Systems: "InterCommunity21 Framework"

In connection with mission-critical systems for local governments, an open-source system has been adopted from a mainframe system, along with accelerated system downsizing in recent years. However, there are new problems. One is the increased TCO regarding long-term use of application software prepared by independent software vendors (ISVs). Other problems include a delay in providing security measures to various customized systems, less convenience in using the systems, and a more complex linkage of systems prepared by different vendors. To address these problems, Fujitsu has developed an open-source framework called "InterCommunity21 Framework (IC21)—Common Control for Web Systems" as a solution for guaranteeing the long-term use of application software. Also, we provide products for the IC21 framework to optimize the total system in which other systems cooperate. This paper describes recent trends in mission-critical systems for local governments in Japan and introduces Fujitsu's related activities, focusing on the concept of an open-source framework and its InterCommunity21 Framework and related products.

• Approach to Optimizing Information Security

The infrastructural planning of electronic autonomy recognizes the importance of security. Policies, ordinances, and guidelines on maintenance are being implemented. Conversely, some consider information security to be ineffective, and such opinions may be attributed to two factors: ad hoc control and a limited budget. Therefore, it is important to dynamically optimize information security for addressing this problem. This is why Fujitsu established Enterprises Security Architecture (ESA), which shows what security should originally be like and prescribes guidelines. ESA consists of eight functions that include identity management and audit trail management. These functions shall set the standard for work to optimize security. When a system is constructed or equipment procured in an organization, its information security is checked based on ESA and secured for consistency. Therefore, the framework for securing effectiveness and the efficiency of investment performance are guaranteed. This paper introduces ESA and its application to local autonomy.

• Information Commons: Concept of Disclosing Public Information in an Era of Personal Privacy and Information Protection

The Internet has been eliminating the asymmetry of information between governments and citizens, while helping to foster greater public awareness in Japanese society. However, much information that should be made public is being concealed in the name of personal data protection. To promote the disclosure and sharing of such information, we should create a world in which public information can be shared among every citizen, while at the same time protecting personal data. In other words, we should embrace the concept of the "Information Commons." In discussing the issue of legal court documents, this paper introduces the concept of the Information Commons and describes the technologies necessary to realize it.

• Information Analysis for Administrations

The Internet allows us to publish and share information, and it seems to enable good communication between municipalities and their citizens. However, to extract the meaning of text, it needs to be read by humans, which makes meaning-extraction a labor-intensive task. To reduce the amount of required labor, we have developed a sentiment analysis technology that extracts sentiment pairs consisting of a sentiment expression and a target word such as the name of a product, brand, or company. In this paper, we discuss how this technology can be applied in marketing and public administration.

• "netCommunity" Innovation Showcase

Along with recent drastic changes in our society, such as the low birthrate and longevity, environmental issues and globalization, IT is not merely viewed as a tool for operational efficiency anymore, but a driving power for structural reorganization and an engine that accelerates our economic growth.
Fujitsu, taking a comprehensive and long-term view of these trends and also recognizing our national IT policy, renewed and relocated our showroom "netCommunity" this May, where over 20 000 customers have visited since its opening in December, 2000.
Many guests have already visited the renewed "netCommunity" (Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo). The "Innovation Showcase" is where Fujitsu presents a future image of our society that is vibrant and productive with new infrastructure that supports it, including our cutting-edge technologies.
This article will introduce the concept and the contents of the new "netCommunity".

• Color Electronic Paper & Personal Digital Assistant "FLEPia"

Given the high expectations for the potential of electronic paper in recent years and ongoing development efforts of companies in this area, a consumer market is quickly developing amid the release of a growing number of such monochrome-display devices as digital books, cell phones, and clocks. In anticipating the market needs for color-display devices, Fujitsu began early to research and develop new products using cholesteric liquid crystal material and, in 2005, attracted wide attention when it announced the world's first color electronic paper. Now that development efforts in practical areas concerning 8-inch and 12-inch models are completed, and with preparations in place for commencing mass production, Fujitsu has commenced sample sales of its new portable information terminal—the hand-held FLEPia e-reader (ubiquitous content browser). Fujitsu is hoping to solicit through its sample sales positive feedback from many companies that are considering to engage in businesses that employ color electronic paper. This paper describes the principles of operation for electronic paper and introduces the functions of FLEPia.