IPA Publishes Common Data-Sharing Requirements for Supply Chains

In recent years, the importance of sharing and visualizing data across supply chains has increased against the backdrop of efforts to address carbon neutrality, the circular economy, and economic security. However, organizing common challenges such as protecting trade secrets, ensuring traceability, and securing interoperability separately for each use case can lead to inconsistencies in guideline content and make preparation inefficient.

This guide presents common requirements for addressing these cross-sectoral challenges and is positioned as a foundation for stabilizing the quality of guidelines for individual use cases and shortening their development periods. It also aims to foster a shared understanding among relevant stakeholders and support the social implementation of data sharing.

The scope is data sharing between companies across supply chains, from raw material procurement through manufacturing and distribution, based on trust established by transaction contracts.

With common requirements available for reference, companies and guideline developers can more easily reduce the burden of repeatedly examining common matters for each individual business domain. This will help maintain consistency in requirements across different use cases and create an environment that advances data sharing between companies.

For companies, the guide will make it easier to establish a shared understanding of how to distribute supply chain information while maintaining its reliability, supporting efforts to ensure traceability and achieve carbon neutrality. For society as a whole, the commonization of data spaces is expected to contribute to sustainable development and stronger industrial competitiveness.

The guide presents respect for data sovereignty, along with the assurance of traceability, trust, interoperability, and service diversity, as common requirements. The introductory chapter clarifies the positioning of this document and its intended readers, while subsequent chapters organize the basic policies, common business requirements, business architecture, system architecture, and specifications.

The design policies refer to ODS-RAM, an architecture model provided by Open Data Spaces, and present implementation-oriented guidance, including the use of model conventions and the adoption of common identifiers and data models. This organizes data space initiatives in Japan’s supply chain sector under common technical concepts.

The final version reflects the results of the public consultation and is scheduled to be updated as appropriate in response to changing circumstances, including progress in the social implementation of related data spaces. A PowerPoint-format file for reference is also provided for developers of individual guidelines, and users are directed to contact IPA’s inquiry service when necessary.