The Brønnøysund Register and The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) have launched the National Data Directory that makes it easier to reuse information for both public and other businesses. The National Data Directory is an overview showing which data the various public agencies have registered, how they are connected and what they mean. The National Data Directory makes it possible for you to search in the information registered with the public agencies and use the information for analytic purposes.

In Digital Agenda, the government states that the users should only have to provide public administration with the same information once. The various agencies within the administration must then share the necessary information with each other. The National Data Directory is the first step in order to reach this goal.

The Brønnøysund Register Centre has developed the service, now available with a solution for registering the data. In parallel with this, Difi has been working to standardize how data sets are to be described. The DCAT-AP standard, developed by ISA², is the basis for describing the 800 data sets published on launch. Each business must take responsibility for its data and make it available for use through the data Directory.

The cooperative body SKATE (Managing and coordinating services in electronic administration) has described the ambition for information management as a process of three levels. The National Data Directory being the first level, providing a common overview of data and a shared understanding of information in the shape of terms. The next level focuses on the availability of information in a common API catalogue. In the third level, everything should be set for reuse of data being the main rule and for the use of the principle of reporting information only once.

The Government's circular on digitalisation (emphasizes that all public agencies must have an overview of which data they process, what the data mean, what they can be used for, which processes they are included in and who are allowed to use the data (information management). The Agency for Public Management and e-Government (Difi) works out a common framework with standardized methods and principles, which will make it easier for the agencies in the process of getting started with terminology work.