By Global Water & Sanitation Center
On February 8, 2025, the Global Water & Sanitation Center (GWSC) at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Innovative Solution Private Limited (ISPL) co-hosted an online event to announce the launch of the Integrated Municipal Information System (IMIS) as an open-source digital platform.
The event brought together leaders and experts who have significantly contributed to the system’s development. Notable attendees included Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha, Deputy Director of the Gates Foundation; Prof. Sangam Shrestha, Dean of AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology and Co-Director of GWSC; Prof. Thammarat Koottatep, Co-Director of GWSC; Dr. Kavinda Gunasekara, Project Lead at GWSC; and Dr. Bhushan Raj Shrestha, Managing Director of ISPL.
A Decade in the Making
The Integrated Municipal Information System (IMIS) is now available as open source, offering software developers, private organizations, and government bodies the opportunity to customize and deploy it for local governments, municipalities, and cities.
What Is IMIS?
IMIS is an advanced technological platform that seamlessly integrates web, mobile, and GIS technologies into an open-source system (© 2022-2025 by ISPL & GWSC-AIT is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). It enhances urban management services through efficient planning, monitoring, and evaluation while improving municipal governance by integrating data, processes, and services. IMIS also facilitates interoperability, allowing data integration from various municipal departments and external sources. The Fecal Sludge Information Management Module is one of the key developed modules which helps in capturing data in every stage of the sanitation service chain, from emptying requests to disposing of sludge in the treatment plant.
IMIS Development & Implementation
IMIS was conceptualized as part of the FSM Information System initiative by SNV, with Innovative Solution Private Limited (ISPL) leading its conceptualization, system design, and technical development. The IMIS was first implemented in Khulna City Corporation (KCC), supported by SNV and the Gates Foundation (GF). Since then, IMIS has expanded across multiple cities in Bangladesh through SNV’s support.
In Bangladesh, Local Government Division (LGD) under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives has set off a flagship data unifying programme “Strengthening of Public Data Systems for Sanitation in Bangladesh (SPDSSB)”. The programme is being executed by Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) and managed by GWSC. Under SPDSSB program, IMIS is being implemented in Lakshmipur Municipality in Bangladesh and a new module for Scheduled Desludging is also being developed for Dhaka City Corporation. DPHE is creating an enabling environment for implementation and integration of sub-national and national sanitation public data systems for sanitation. The integration of the IMIS platform to National Sanitation Dashboard (NSD) enables city-level sanitation data to be visualized at the national level, creating a scalable model for city-to-national sanitation data convergence.
In Nepal, IMIS is currently implemented in Mahalaxmi Municipality and is going to be implemented in Birendranagar Municipality in May 2025. Nepal’s implementation is expanding beyond sanitation services with integration of IMIS to electronic Building Permit System (eBPS) and additional new modules for IMIS being developed in support of local government.
IMIS Center of Excellence (CoE)
This leads to a newly established IMIS Center of Excellence (CoE) at the GWSC an outreach center of the AIT— with ISPL and Gates Foundation. The CoE now provides specialized training, demonstrations, and technical support to help local governments and stakeholders adopt the Integrated Municipal Information System (IMIS). This collaboration aims to ensure that municipalities, government bodies, NGOs, and academic institutions can effectively implement/integrate IMIS into their service delivery, urban planning, and infrastructure management efforts.
Explore & Contribute
With this open-source launch, IMIS can be utilized by local governments to instill data-driven decision-making, supporting Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) and urban service management. This marks a significant milestone in creating efficient, inclusive, and sustainable cities. IMIS is aligned towards the core elements and components of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for sanitation service delivery, urban management and other digital-ID enabled use- cases at municipality level. It has immense potential to contribute to DPI, bringing public services to scale and making governance more efficient.
🔗 Explore IMIS: imis.gwsc.ait.ac.th
Access the Open-Source Code: github.com/base-imis
Request for a live demo here: https://imis.gwsc.ait.ac.th/imis-demo
This launch is just the beginning! –Moving forward, the CoE will continue collaborating with development banks and international partners to expand IMIS’s reach and secure financing mechanisms. By facilitating evidence-based decision-making and comprehensive data management, this initiative stands to transform how cities plan and deliver essential services—ultimately accelerating progress toward sustainable and inclusive urban development. We look forward to collaborating with municipalities, developers, and urban planners to further enhance and expand IMIS.
