HOPES Corporation and WiseVine Inc. Launch Strategic Partnership for Local Government Budgeting and Management System 'Build & Scrap' Series

HOPES Corporation (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kentaro Uehara; hereinafter "HOPES") and WiseVine Inc. (Headquarters: Matsuyama, Ehime; President and CEO: Shoki Yoshimoto; hereinafter "WiseVine") are pleased to announce the start of a strategic partnership in the field of budgeting and business management for local governments.

HOPES has built a strong track record in implementing and operating its core business systems (Financial Accounting ERP) and budgeting/business management systems (EPM) across many private companies. By collaborating with WiseVine, which has strengths in local government budgeting, HOPES intends to provide the technical and project management expertise cultivated in the private sector to local governments. Furthermore, we are committed to proposing and improving operations to optimize and streamline various challenges within local governments, thereby reducing the burden on municipal staff. By creating an environment where staff can focus on the tasks they should originally concentrate on, we will contribute to society.

## Background of the Partnership
In recent years, as local governments have been making efforts toward paperless operations and DX promotion, there is a growing demand for advanced DX. This includes improving operational efficiency, reducing staff burdens, integrating and utilizing data, and accommodating EBPM across tasks ranging from policy making to budget formulation, execution management, settlement, and administrative evaluation.

HOPES aims to expand its local government business, where DX is progressing, by utilizing its track record and knowledge in budget management, execution, and business management cultivated in the private sector. In this context, HOPES reached a strategic partnership with WiseVine, which possesses pioneering local government solutions in the areas of budget formulation and business management within policy and financial departments.

## Details of the Strategic Partnership
The collaboration between the two companies has started with the following steps:

As a first step, leveraging our mutual expertise, we will promote the deployment of the SaaS-based "Build & Scrap" to local governments. In the implementation process, HOPES is actively engaged in PMO support, data integration/migration support, and testing/training support.

In the next step, HOPES will handle the implementation of "Build & Scrap". Consequently, by concentrating its resources, WiseVine will work on adding new features using the latest technologies such as AI and expanding the "Build & Scrap" series based on the needs of local governments.

Through the collaboration of both companies, we will promote the DX of a series of operations—policy planning, budget formulation, execution management/settlement, and administrative evaluation—thereby improving municipal operations and contributing to workstyle reforms for staff.

## About "Build & Scrap"
"Build & Scrap" is a SaaS (cloud) system provided by WiseVine Inc. that supports budgeting and business management in local governments. It centrally manages processes from policy making to budgeting, execution management/settlement, and administrative evaluation. By integrating project data scattered across paper and Excel, it achieves operational efficiency and improves the quality of policy planning.

It also features a comparison function to instantly grasp differences from the previous year's budget, a comment function, and analysis/aggregation functions, which reduce staff burdens such as transcription and confirmation tasks. It has been introduced in multiple municipalities, including Ehime Prefecture.

Furthermore, based on a deep understanding of municipal operations, the company is developing AI features to support policy making, budget formulation, and administrative evaluations.

## Endorsement Comment
### Shoki Yoshimoto, President and CEO, WiseVine Inc.
We are very pleased to announce this strategic partnership with HOPES.

Unlike the private sector, it takes time for the significance of business management in government administration to penetrate, and it is a situation where profit cannot always be pursued. We have found a partner who shares the high difficulty and, at the same time, the significance of contributing to the greater public interest, and who can collaborate on implementations from the same perspective.

By advancing local government implementation projects utilizing HOPES' knowledge of budgeting, business management, and financial systems cultivated in private demand, our company...