The municipal plan must be the general steering document for the municipality. It must provide a framework for businesses' plans and measures, and plans for use and conservation of spaces in the municipality.

All municipalities must have a municipal plan. A collective municipal plan is made up of both a community element with an action element and a spatial element. By adopting a municipal plan strategy, the municipality decides whether the municipality is to implement a full municipal plan revision of all elements, or whether just elements of the municipal plan are to be revised, and what this revision is to be based on.

The municipal plan must safeguard municipal, regional and national objectives, interests and tasks, and it should include all important objectives and tasks in the municipality. It must be based on the municipal plan strategy and be based on guidelines and orders from governmental and regional authorities. Municipal subplans can be prepared for specific areas, themes or business areas.

The municipal plan must have an action element which indicates how the plan is to be followed up over the next four years or more, and be revised annually (Regjeringen.no).

The dataset is generated from the nationwide copy of municipal plans. This is kept updated with data from the original plan data at the municipalities. Updating takes place by means of periodic copying from the municipalities' data or synchronisation.