Connecting data, integrating systems

Beyond digitizing records, Dong Nai City is focusing on connecting systems to share and effectively use shared data.

From processing administrative procedures to serving citizens and businesses, data is gradually becoming a vital information resource for management and operations.

Lower costs, less paperwork

According to a report by the City People's Committee, in the third quarter of 2026, Dong Nai continued to operate its data interoperability platform to connect and share common applications. The city's Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) integrated and synchronized 121 data groups from 16 departments and agencies and five vertical-sector units, while establishing nearly 90 automated connection channels, along with hundreds of forms and tools to support reporting and digital data updates. In addition, 100% of the Party and the State agencies from the city to the commune level were connected to a specialized data transmission network, ensuring that 100% of administrative records were processed entirely in the digital environment.

Staff at the city's Public Administration Service Center process administrative procedure records for citizens.

The exploitation and use of data have helped replace paper-based dossier components for 442 administrative procedures. Through the implementation of regulations on cutting and simplifying administrative procedures based on data, the city has recorded positive results in both the number of records processed and costs saved for society.

These results show that data is being incorporated into the administrative procedure settlement process rather than being stored in isolated systems. When information on residents, businesses, and specialized fields is interconnected, officials can reuse existing data to process records, reducing the need for citizens to resubmit documents. This also provides a foundation for agencies to continue standardizing settlement processes in the digital environment and improving the efficiency of using systems and data repositories that have already been developed.

Speaking at a thematic monitoring session held by the city's Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in early September 2026 on digital transformation and the application of science and technology in administrative procedure processing and public service delivery, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology Nguyen Minh Quang said that the city is accelerating the digitization, standardization, and connection of specialized databases. Databases are currently being cleaned, APIs (application programming interfaces) are being developed, and access rights have been granted to all 95 communes and wards. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in data analysis has initially supported forecasting, information synthesis, improvements in state management efficiency, and the gradual formation of digital services for citizens and businesses.

Ensuring seamless interoperability

In addition to internal connectivity, the city maintains an administrative procedure settlement information system synchronized with the National Public Service Portal. From August 11 to September 10, the system conducted nearly 140,000 lookups and extractions of citizen information from the National Population Database.

However, operational realities show that the effectiveness of data reuse depends heavily on the ability of systems to connect and synchronize with one another. When connection or synchronization errors occur, the lookup and tracking of record status, online payments, and statistical work can be affected. Therefore, alongside expanding databases, it is necessary to ensure that data exchange systems remain stable, unified, and secure.

In its administrative reform report for the third quarter of 2026, the City People's Committee noted that information systems for administrative procedure settlement operated by some ministries and sectors remained slow and experienced connection disruptions. In addition, errors occurred at times during the synchronization of record statuses, attachment of results, and online payment information to the National Public Service Portal, affecting data lookup and statistical work.

Nguyen Van Tuan, a specialist at the Trang Bom Ward Public Administration Service Center, said that although data connectivity helps reduce many manual steps, recurring synchronization errors continue to affect record processing. Therefore, technical difficulties need to be addressed promptly.

Following recent on-site monitoring in several localities, Ha Anh Dung, Member of the City Party Committee’s Standing Board and Standing Vice Chairman of the city's Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, said that the connection and synchronization of data between the city's system for settling administrative procedures and those of several ministries and sectors still show inconsistencies, particularly in the interconnection, exchange, and updating of data, forcing local officials to re-enter information multiple times. Therefore, continuing to improve the connection, synchronization, and sharing of data between systems is necessary to ensure that information is interconnected and unified throughout the administrative procedure settlement process.

Thanks to efforts to cut and simplify administrative procedures based on data, from July 15 to August 14, the entire city recorded nearly 17,000 new records processed using substitute data, bringing the total number of records from December 15, 2025, to August 14, 2026, to more than 368,000. This result helped save more than VND 1.3 billion in costs.

To promptly address technical difficulties and improve the efficiency of data interoperability, the City People's Committee recently issued a directive on implementing tasks related to data, infrastructure, and the National Public Service Portal. Accordingly, the City People's Committee requires departments, agencies, and the People's Committees of communes and wards to thoroughly grasp the directives of the National Data Center; proactively monitor progress in connecting national databases and specialized databases of ministries and central sectors; and promptly provide advice on handling issues that arise.

The focus is on deploying a coordination system for administrative procedure settlement in the process of receiving, handling, tracking, and monitoring records at agencies, units, and localities; continuing to implement the Law on Data and guiding documents; regularly reviewing and identifying difficulties and obstacles during implementation to promptly report them and propose handling plans; and strengthening discipline and order in receiving and handling feedback and recommendations through the national feedback and recommendation system and the 1022 Hotline, preventing any cases from becoming overdue.

By Ho Thao – Translated by Minh Hong, Thu Ha