The cloud that 110 administrations share

110 administrations in Schleswig-Holstein use the same open foundation for digital applications. The interesting part isn’t the cloud itself-what matters is that small offices don’t waste their limited operational capacity 110 times over on the same platform.

Key Takeaways

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The bottleneck lies in small administrations

On paper, online applications seem like a frontend issue. In practice, the real work begins behind the scenes: data must feed into specialist procedures, queries require secure channels, and staff need to process cases without media disruptions. This is where small administrations quickly hit their limits. They need the same building blocks as large cities but lack dedicated platform teams.

The OZG Cloud steps in here. Its web-based specialist application, Alfa, processes applications and inquiries through digital workflows. It enables legally secure, bidirectional communication with applicants and can also be used for additional specialist applications or cross-cutting services.

A platform built through collaboration

The solution emerged from an initiative by the state of Schleswig-Holstein, ITV.SH, municipalities, and Dataport. Today, 110 administrations use the OZG Cloud, according to Dataport. This case embodies the *Reboot Germany* ethos: organizations don’t each build their own technical identity. Instead, they share a robust foundation and focus on areas where local differences truly matter.

Such collaboration doesn’t automatically make the platform cheap. But it prevents every municipality from reinventing the wheel on operational decisions, interfaces, and standard processes.

Adapters matter more than the next rebuild

Alfa accepts data from established form services and converts it into a unified format. The OZG Cloud also provides adapters for form solutions and mailboxes, as well as connections to document management systems and specialist procedures. For IT teams, this is the real architectural decision: a new system only wins when it works with existing infrastructure.

Open-source code helps here because customizations don’t hit dead ends with proprietary products. The solution is designed as *EfA* (a reusable model). Openness remains an operational principle-not a shortcut to plug-and-play implementation.

Reuse requires local decisions

Adopting a shared platform doesn’t eliminate organizational work. Forms, responsibilities, approvals, and citizen communication remain local concerns. Training and interface clarifications can’t be installed from a repository either.

This makes the case resilient. There’s no single metric proving a fixed efficiency gain across all 110 administrations. The lesson lies in operations: shared infrastructure reduces redundant groundwork, while processes adapt precisely where they differ.

What Other Teams Can Learn from This

The transferable approach isn’t limited to public administration. Teams should first clarify which layer they truly need to share: identity, workflows, data handoffs, or observability. Next comes the question of which local exceptions require an open interface.

The OZG-Cloud isn’t a one-size-fits-all blueprint. But it sets a practical benchmark: a sovereign platform doesn’t need to be built from scratch everywhere. It must be operated in a way that lets participants understand, expand, and connect it to their own processes. Dataport details the OZG-Cloud’s architecture and reuse here.

For a robust rollout, a small operational agreement between stakeholders is worth the effort: Who owns releases? Who prioritizes interfaces? And how are changes made visible to everyone? These questions may lack the glamour of a new portal, but they determine whether an open foundation evolves into a shared platform-or splinters into isolated solutions three years later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Image source: AI-generated (July 2026)