diff --git a/db/subplugins.json b/db/subplugins.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e21b91d61fbf9c48f2cd0f29a490f54d0cfdabc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/subplugins.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "plugintypes" : {
+    "lifecycletrigger" : "admin\/tool\/lifecycle\/trigger",
+    "lifecyclestep" : "admin\/tool\/lifecycle\/step"
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/subplugins.php b/db/subplugins.php
index 4b76bb11c2d0edf3c8576d082b6d2213309dc05c..6c3caf4e1c55d87d83a261c83a68d09b02639453 100644
--- a/db/subplugins.php
+++ b/db/subplugins.php
@@ -23,7 +23,4 @@
  */
 defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
 
-$subplugins = array(
-    'lifecycletrigger' => 'admin/tool/lifecycle/trigger',
-    'lifecyclestep' => 'admin/tool/lifecycle/step',
-);
+$subplugins = json_decode(file_get_contents(__DIR__ . '/subplugins.json'), true)["plugintypes"];