Through its work, the Brønnøysund Registry simplifies daily operations for public agencies and Norwegian businesses. With the help of Computas, they are now taking their first step into the public cloud by migrating the Common Data Catalog to Google Cloud Platform. This significantly increases internal efficiency and saves BRREG approximately 1,350 hours per year. These hours can now be dedicated to value-creating development rather than infrastructure and operations.

The Brønnøysund Registry (BRREG) sought a more efficient administrative organization and greater experience with cloud technology within a defined area. In 2017, top management decided that the Common Data Catalog (FDC) was a good candidate as it does not contain sensitive data. The FDC is a registry that ensures that citizens, businesses, and the public sector only need to report information once – a simplification registry with open data to be shared.

At Nokios 2019, the Common Data Catalog was awarded the ”Fyrlyktprisen” innovation prize. This award aims to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge about ICT in public administration and to highlight and support innovative use of ICT in the public sector.

Lift and Improve

The process of migrating the FDC to the cloud consisted of two tasks: establishing the solution and then optimizing it. Trust, collaboration, and co-location were the key success factors for this project. When Computas and BRREG joined forces, the process of identifying and resolving challenges was very quick.

“In this case, a “lift and improve” approach was taken. We converted the solution and configuration from the previous platform to the Google Cloud Platform. Adjustments were made to adapt the FDC to the capabilities of the cloud platform” says Hans Karim Tellum-Djarraya, Account Manager at Computas.

In addition to the actual migration to Google’s cloud platform, Computas contributed to streamlining the development process and providing BRREG employees with the knowledge they needed for further operation and development. This was the most important factor in optimally utilizing the cloud platform. Computas’s expertise was essential to achieve this.

The solution is robust, scalable, modern and forward-looking, and it is supplied by a solid supplier

Stig B. Dørmænen, Senior Advisor at BRREG.

A Flexible Cloud Provider

BRREG has now established both the platform and the knowledge necessary to publish new data directly to the cloud and to operate and develop the solution themselves. Additionally, Computas has ensured that BRREG can be cloud-agnostic by basing the solution on the open-source technology Kubernetes, which is supported by all major public cloud platforms.

“It was important for us not to be locked into a single cloud solution. We are now confident that we can migrate to another platform without significant changes if the framework conditions should change significantly,’ continues Dørmænen.

The Way to Go

As an active player in solutions and services aimed at simplifying and modernizing the public sector, it was natural for BRREG to seek more experience with cloud-based solutions and decide to take the step into the public cloud.

“In the solutions we have been involved in developing, we have conducted thorough risk assessments. The solutions have yielded successful results and experience that we take with us in our ongoing work,’ says Lars Peder Brekk, Director of BRREG.

All Objectives Achieved

By migrating to a new development and operations platform, BRREG was able to make significant improvements in the ways they develop, test, and deploy solutions. The efficiency gains have saved employees approximately 1,350 hours per year. They now have better insight, control, and a significantly shorter path from development to production, enabling them to produce much faster than before. This has in turn led to increased job satisfaction among employees.

Computas’ broad expertise in cloud technology, and Google Cloud in particular, has allowed us to achieve all our goals. They have gotten to know us well, which is important for mutual trust in the process,’ concludes Dørmænen.