Vision on Common Ground
The Common Ground initiatives for Dutch municipalities focus on modernizing and increasing the flexibility of municipal information provision. The core of this approach involves separating data from work processes and applications, whereby data is queried directly at the source instead of being copied and stored multiple times. The most important principles are:
- Data is made uniform.
- APIs are used for data exchange.
- A common integration layer is used.
- Data remains in the source.
At its core, Common Ground is about reforming municipal information provision by handling data differently. We separate data from work processes and applications. And we query data at the source, instead of copying and storing it repeatedly. By redesigning their information provision, municipalities can significantly improve their services and operations. This enables municipalities to respond to social challenges in a modern and flexible way.
"To enable further digitization of the government, we also need a more modern design for the government architecture.
Common Ground is not only essential for our digital future in a technical sense. Principles such as collaborative organization and open source will also facilitate innovation and better market functioning.
In other words: Common Ground is part of our strategy and further modernization of our portfolio and business model.
It is not without reason that we are the initiator of vrijBRP. The first software product for basic registrations that is available as open source for Dutch municipalities. And also the first system for a core process that has been released as open source by an existing supplier. There have been several moments in our history when we were the founder, and that is once again the case with vrijBRP.
We believe that the market and government need to learn to work together differently, which is why we believe in Common Ground.
Mike de Ruiter, Managing Director
s quickly gained widespread support and brand recognition among municipalities, other government organizations, and market parties. Several teams have now started developing applications based on the principles of Common Ground.
Did you know that vrijBRP, our initiative, has silver status on the Common Ground portfolio? View the entire portfolio.
What steps have we already taken?
Open Source
- The vrijBRP counter application and back-end have been made available as open source.
- Our website solutions are based on the open source platform Drupal.
Organizing together = Community
- We have a community platform for all our customers where knowledge and resources are shared.
- When we build add-ons for our software on request, we do not make them freely available to all our customers.
- For each product line, we have a community panel that actively helps determine the roadmap.
Open integrations
- All our product lines support standard integrations, such as StUF connections and APIs.
- We have an open product principle, which means that all products can be openly linked to third-party systems; the customer decides.
- At Shift2, we actively contribute to the development of new integrations and standards.
- We are co-developers of the Commonground Gateway, the open source portal for defining and routing integrations.
Our cloud setup is port-proof
Within the hosting of our solutions, we have implemented the Haven standard and reinforced it with elements from, among others, the CIS benchmark, Zero Trust, and the DigiD assessment. This setup forms the blueprint for new initiatives, and a number of our core products already use this setup in production.
Compliance, security, and privacy
Privacy and security are integral parts of the design and are guaranteed by working in accordance with ISO 27001 (Information Security) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) processes with an appropriate scope: "The development, sale, implementation, hosting, and management of web applications."
If you choose Shift2
When you choose Shift2, you are not only choosing a partner that strives every day to improve government digitization. You are also choosing a partner that understands the need for innovation and change. Embracing the Common Ground principles is not just marketing for us; it is clearly our strategy. Not only in technical development, but also in the further development of our models. We truly apply Common Ground and actively contribute because we understand that the market and government must collaborate in a new way. We are on the move, together with you! We are Shift2.
