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Switch, shape and influence
The Centre for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration, ZenDiS, identifies three strategic objectives: the ability to switch, the ability to shape solutions and influence over providers. In practice, these translate into three questions:
- Can we switch solutions and service providers when requirements or circumstances change?
- Do we have the skills and structures to understand, develop and operate our IT?
- Can we effectively shape requirements for functionality, security, operations and contracts?
These capabilities depend on architecture, procurement, people and collaboration working together. A label indicating country of origin does not answer these questions.
Start with public service responsibilities
Start with an important public service and its dependencies. These include specialist applications, registers, document management, identities and connections to other bodies. Define which services must remain available during a disruption and which data need particular protection.
Involve service owners, IT, information security, data protection and procurement early. This helps identify conflicting requirements before a technical decision is made. Also document who may accept residual risk and when the decision will be reviewed.
Enable interoperability and reuse
A documented interface is only part of the solution. For public authorities to work together, data must have the same meaning, processes must align and responsibilities must be clear. Technical, organisational, legal and semantic issues therefore need to be considered together.
Open standards and suitable open-source solutions can support choice and reuse. They still require viable operating models, maintenance, security updates and available expertise. An open licence alone does not guarantee a working replacement for an existing solution.
Plan procurement and operations together
Define requirements so they can be verified later. Which data and configurations will be handed over? Who will support the transition? What costs, timelines and skills are involved? A realistic switching test is more informative than a general promise of portability.
For cloud services, evidence must match the specific service and protection requirements. The BSI minimum standard for external cloud services is intended for the German federal administration. Other public bodies must separately assess which requirements apply. Further legal requirements likewise cannot be applied indiscriminately to every authority.
Turn assessments into an actionable roadmap
Start with a manageable scope. Record evidenced strengths, critical dependencies and outstanding questions. Then prioritise according to importance for the public service, risk, effort and available resources.
An initial step may be to document interfaces, clarify responsibilities or test an export. For larger changes, plan milestones, procurement routes and training together. Autonomy Track helps maintain a clear link between assessments, evidence, decisions and actions.
Start with one service
The general checklist provides an initial overview of the organisation. For a specific procurement or provider decision, the guide adds 25 in-depth questions and fillable templates.