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Estonia sets an example in e-invoicing

A Nordic-Baltic cooperation uses CEF eInvoicing and eDelivery to achieve standards compliance, cost savings and efficiency in the public sector, as well as enhanced cross-border opportunities in the private sector.

Tallinn at night by Adobe Stock.

Agile and ambitious Estonia

When it comes to IT infrastructure, Estonia’s small size plays to an advantage. Project implementations are smaller, making it easier for the country to be agile and to achieve ambitious goals and visions. Estonia’s vision is to enable Real-Time Economy (RTE), a concept where all business transactions, such as orders and invoices, move between organisations automatically and in real-time.

While achieving RTE will take more than a decade and require significant investments and changes in people’s mindsets, the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunication (ITL) decided to start with e-invoicing. ITL looked for partners to share the workload and found them in Estonia and in neighbouring countries: Latvia and Finland.

Partner organisations formed a consortium under the project name ‘Internet of Business’. With the participation of some of the biggest e-invoicing operators from Estonia and Finland, the impact of the project was significant. Partners were mainly driven by achieving compliance with the European standard on electronic invoicing (EN 16931) - as well as the will to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Access to and from anywhere in Europe

The project started in 2016 and in 2017, they received funding from the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)programme. CEF funds IT infrastructure projects and provides readily available digital building blocks to help Europeans develop digital services faster and easier. The consortium decided to implement electronic invoicing with PEPPOL, an agreement framework that enables its participants to connect to a common network. PEPPOL, also partly funded by the EU, uses specifications and technologies from the CEF building blocks eDelivery and eInvoicing. eDelivery defines common specifications and sample software for exchanging documents, in this case e-invoices, securely and reliably. The eInvoicing building block provides services supporting the implementation of the European standard on e-invoicing. Hence it supports the implementation of standard-compliant solutions that enable the sending of e-invoices across borders.

How CEF building blocks are helping Estonia

The consortium chose PEPPOL and the underlying CEF building blocks as they are mature, thoroughly tested, well supported and widely adopted. PEPPOL already has an extensive existing network that connects its members to each other. This access to and from all participating members is of great value for Estonia. Considering Estonia’s vision of a Real-Time Economy, eDelivery will also help Estonia expand to other fields, such as exchanging e-orders and e-receipts in future. Furthermore, CEF eInvoicing is crucial for achieving compliance with the European standard.

Actual technical implementation started on 1 June 2017 and ran until 31 August 2018. The hardest part proved to be the document mapping between the European standard and national norm. The standard leaves room for interpretation and each project partner had a different understanding of what specifications meant. Differences were discussed and reconciled, and the resulting e-invoice format has now been approved by the Estonian Ministry of Finance as a best practice. For document exchanges, PEPPOL Access Points (APs) and Service Metadata Publishers (SMPs) were implemented and integrated based on eDelivery specifications.

Estonia sees itself as a small and agile demo country for bigger countries, with the luxury of making mistakes and correcting them quickly. To learn more about Estonia’s solution, visit the project website to read about its outcomes:

ITL: Internet of Business

Empowering the private sector

Even though Estonia now conforms to the European standard, one particularity remains – the Estonian public sector does not have invoice processing capabilities. Invoice processing is outsourced to private sector SMEs, acting as invoicing operators. The Estonian government did not want to disrupt the private sector by taking away from businesses that were making a profit. The end solution benefits both the Estonian public and private sectors by allowing each to focus on what they do best.

Among the main benefits are time savings, which allow economic operators to focus on more business critical and profitable activities. Furthermore, the standard supports cross-border commerce. This means that service providers in smaller countries, such as Estonia, Latvia and Finland, can now enjoy greater interoperability and find clients outside their country borders.

“Considering that in Estonia you can establish a company in less than 20 minutes, we believe that business management should be just as easy as business creation. This is what CEF is helping us to achieve. Thanks to eInvoicing and eDelivery, Estonia has taken the first step towards Real-Time Economy. We are now open and reachable from all across Europe.”

Sirli Heinsoo, project manager Internet of Business

Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunication (ITL)

Next steps

The next steps are to further integrate accounting software with electronic invoicing and to standardise all transactional data for automated business reporting. Once e-invoices can be exported from accounting software in the EU format, the need for conversion is eliminated and no information will get lost. It will become even easier for invoices to move freely from operator to operator.

For the time being, both the Estonian and EU standards will be supported by the government. However, the Estonian standard will no longer be updated. The EU norm is preferred by both e-invoicing operators and accounting service providers, who are leading the e-invoicing market. Hence, the national standard is expected to fade away in 10 years’ time.

Context Broker at the APIdays in Helsinki

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On 4 – 5 June 2019, the CEF Context Broker was discussed at a workshop on APIs in Helsinki, Finland.

The workshop follows the launch of of the APIs4Dgov study and brought together API experts from the public and private sector. The APIdays are a leading conference series on the benefits of using APIs. Participants exchanged experiences on the development of the latest API solutions.

European Commission's Directorate‑General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT), together with the Joint Research Centre (JRC), are undertaking this study to explore innovative ways to improve interconnectivity of public services and reusability of public sector data. This includes including dynamic data in real-time and safeguarding the data protection and privacy legislation in place. If you work for a public administration and your work is related to APIs, the authors invite you to contact them and hear your API case examples in any relevant policy domain (e.g. health, transport, cybersecurity, IOT, etc).

The European Union's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Context Broker is an API that can integrate data from multiple systems, creating a holistic view of information. By providing the layer that describes each type of data, the Context Broker makes it possible to create an interface that makes it easy for anyone to view and interpret big data. Using the Context Broker, organisations can monitor their metrics in real time through live updates. You can share the context information you choose with third parties, enabling process improvements and innovation across the whole data value chain. The CEF Context Broker provides the FIWARE NGSI API, which is a RESTful API, enabling applications to provide updates and get access to context information.

Stefano De Panfilis, from the FIWARE Foundation, discussed the Context Broker at the workshop. In 2018 the FIWARE-developed Context Broker became one of the CEF Building Blocks. Stefano observed the following key takeaways:

• APIs are key success factors for digitalisation in public administrations;
• Data modelling is a key element of ICT architecture;
• An ecosystem approach should be adopted as an overall framework both in terms of technology and the socio/economical element;
• Interoperability of systems the remains a key goal.

To build a Digital Single Market, the CEF  programme is funding a set of generic and reusable digital infrastructure, known as Building Blocks. The CEF Building Blocks offer basic capabilities that can be reused in any European project to facilitate the delivery of digital public services across borders and sectors. Currently, there are eight building blocks: Big Data Test Infrastructure, Context Broker, Archiving, eDelivery, eID, eInvoicing, eSignature and eTranslation.

Reuse context broker

2019-2 CEF Telecom call for proposals are open

The 2019-2 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom call for proposals has opened today. It offers co-funding to stimulate and support the deployment of European Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) in the areas of Public Open Data, Cybersecurity, eHealth, eProcurement, e-Justice and the European Platform for Digital Skills and Jobs. Up to €24 million is made available to meet the needs of public administrations, businesses and citizens in their cross-border activities.

CEF Telecom funding supports projects of common interest that improve the daily life of citizens, businesses and public administrations and contribute to the development of a Digital Single Market by deploying European digital infrastructures across the EU.

This call includes funding for the CEF Context Broker Building Block, within the Public Open Data call.

Interested applicants from all EU Member States, as well as Iceland and Norway, may submit their proposals until 14 November 2019 in the following areas:

• Public Open Data – to achieve better services for citizens and public administrations thanks to the re-use of public-sector information deploying innovative solutions - €5 million.
• Cybersecurity - providing funding to increase cross-border cooperation and increase the cybersecurity capabilities of actors that are fundamental for a State's cybersecurity, such as National Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), Operators of Essential Services (OES), National Competent Authorities (NCAs), Single Points of Contact (SPOCs), and entities responsible for Cybersecurity certification at the national level - €10 million

• eHealth - improving cross-border healthcare access and services using ICT tools, specifically to make ePrescriptions and Patient Summaries widely available in the EU - €5 million;

• eProcurement – aiming to simplify public procurement procedures and processes, as well as to facilitate the participation of both suppliers and buyers in them - €1 million

• European e-Justice – ensuring that citizens and businesses can rapidly reap the practical benefits of e-Justice tools - €3 million;
• European Platform for Digital Skills and Jobs - to ensure that individuals and the labour force in Europe are equipped with adequate digital skills - €1 million

To receive co-funding under the calls, actions must be ready for deployment, contribute to EU Digital Single Market policies and have a long-term sustainability strategy. The funding will be allocated to those eligible proposals that best meet the award criteria as specified in the 2019 CEF Telecom Work Programme and call texts in the areas relevant to this call.

A Virtual Info Day on the 2019-2 CEF Telecom call and application process will take place on 10 July 2019. Participants can register here

How to apply and next steps? Visit the Call Page on the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) site.

CEF eDelivery at International Data Spaces Association Summit 2019

The European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) promotes and maintains the CEF eDelivery Building Block, which enables organisations in the public and private sector to exchange data and documents securely and reliably. Increasingly, CEF eDelivery is expanding successfully into a large and growing number of sectors. As its use increases, the application areas for eDelivery are also diversifying. The CEF eDelivery team actively monitors usage trends in order to make sure that the CEF eDelivery specifications, software and services remain fit for purpose and address any new requirements that may emerge from them.

eDelivery is under increased consideration for secure data sharing. A key driver for secure and reliable data sharing is the Once-Only Principle. The Once Only Principle means that citizens and businesses provide diverse data only once in contact with public administrations, while public administration bodies take actions to internally share and reuse this data – even across borders – always in respect of data protection regulations and other constraints. In this context, eDelivery is looking to learn from related relevant initiatives for potential inspiration and synergies.

The International Data Spaces Association aims to bring together business and research organisations to take an active part in designing a trustworthy architecture for the data economy. The origins of the association differ from eDelivery, emerging from industrial data sharing initiatives like Industrie 4.0 in Germany, and in research projects funded under the Horizon 2020 programme. However, members of the association are now approaching data sharing in a broader range of use cases and are increasingly reaching out internationally.

The main deliverable of the Data Space Association is its Reference Architecture Model, which aims to enable data exchange in peer-to-peer networking in open, vendor-independent way. At a high level, this architecture has many similarities to the approach taken in CEF eDelivery. One of the key principles and innovations of the IDSA model is a concept of data sovereignty, which provides usage control of data from all domains.

IDSA Summit, June 2019

In June 2019, the IDSA held its second summit. Like other participants, CEF eDelivery participated to learn more about IDSA and to the use cases and pilots in which the architecture is being used. The Commission’s CEF team also made a pitch-presentation for eDelivery in which it expressed its intention to learn more about IDSA and to further explore synergies with IDSA. As a mature, proven and well-specified solution, supported by a wide range of conformant implements, components of eDelivery such as its AS4 profile could be of interest to IDSA. Conversely, concepts from IDSA, such as its approach to sovereignty, are likely to be of interest to future use of eDelivery for data sharing.

Use eDelivery

Improving the user experience of cross-border eID

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Today’s world is increasingly globalised and connected, as more people are living, working and travelling across borders. While Europe allows freedom of movement and the ability to conduct business seamlessly across borders, the administrative burden of conducting secure, online cross-border transactions with public and private sector entities is still high. A key enabler for these transactions is electronic identification (eID), the mechanism through which citizens and businesses are able to digitally prove who they are when interacting with governments and businesses. Nine European countries have already notified their eID scheme for mutual recognition across borders and six others will follow shortly. 

The European Union (EU) is a key promoter of initiatives for digitalising the identity verification process of individuals and companies in their relationships with public and private services. The eIDAS Regulation (EU) 910/2014, on electronic identification, authentication and trust services, aims at making national eID schemes interoperable across Europe in order to facilitate access to online services. eIDAS is primarily designed to tackle identification challenges experienced by digital public services. Member States are also encouraged to support the voluntary reuse of eIDAS-based eIDs by the private sector.

As the number of eID schemes available for cross-border use within the eIDAS network grow, so does the number of solutions for identification and authentication. The eIDAS regulation enables a legal, semantic and technical interoperability of the schemes. Yet, the diversity of approach and types of means used in each EU Member States for electronic identification leads to a potential fragmentation of the cross-border user journey.

Through the CEF Programme, the European Commission is supporting Member States in better coordinating their approaches to improve the overall cross-border authentication journey. This short paper explores potential pain points for users and provides recommendations to the EU Member States for designing their services taking into account users of other national eID schemes.

The following section summarises issues and recommendations related to the eIDAS eID cross-border authentication journey that have been found in collaboration with an informal working group of national experts.

Main UX findings and potential solutions

During each phase of the cross-border authentication journey citizens may encounter the following issues, affecting their experience:

• Phase 1 - Apply for an eID: The eID application process can be confusing and difficult for users, even for those who are citizens or residents, and the lack of remote onboarding services for obtaining an eID presents problems for global mobility.

Proposed solution: Removing or at least limiting the need for face-to-face touchpoints during the eID application process will not only remove barriers to eID uptake at the national level (by making the overall process more frictionless) but will also give citizens that are living overseas the ability to obtain an eID remotely. In addition, for countries that present the user with multiple eID options, providing a step-by-step online guide that tailors the onboarding experience to the user’s needs would be beneficial.

• Phase 2 - Understand and discover the possibilities offered by eIDAS (cross-border authentication): Citizens may already use their eID in their home country but are unaware that they can use it to access foreign public services. Current interface designs may mislead users into not choosing the cross-border authentication option (e.g. cross-border authentication options hidden behind a national branded log-in option).

Proposed solution: This situation can be improved by bearing in mind the need of foreign users when designing the “point of discovery” of eIDAS log-in on eGovernment websites and ensuring access to more information about eID and eIDAS. Attention should be given to the fact that a majority of users are not familiar with the concept of eIDAS or EU cross-border eID and should be guided with concepts that they recognise (e.g. their national branded solution).

• Phase 3 - Use your eID across-border: Users may not be able to authenticate when overseas in the same way they could at home (e.g. different paths, need for a national phone number to receive a multi-factor authentication code), and they may also face difficulties during cross-border identification due to a mismatch of citizen data between countries (e.g. difficulty to reconcile multiple identities).

Proposed solution: Ensuring all steps of the authentication journey are streamlined between Member States (e.g. request for consent) to the extent possible, providing users with a sense of "feels like home". Guaranteeing an optimisation of the authentication journey  for mobile, avoiding disruption and low completion rates.

• Phase 4 - Manage and renew your eID: Some eID renewal processes require physical presence in the country of issuance. It may also be particularly difficult to change attributes (e.g. change of name) and get in touch with support services from abroad .

Proposed solution: Considering the situation of citizens living overseas when designing renewal and modification procedures and ensuring there are always international options for technical support which provide users with rapid assistance.

Next steps

To facilitate the ability of a Government to deliver best practice user experience applied to eID, the report recommends as next steps that:

• Member States construct a common approach to user-centric design through coordinated oversight at the national level, encourage closer collaboration between central and local authorities by using the correct incentives and enablers and raise awareness on eIDAS across all government authorities using a combination of targeted and general communication.

• Public service providers build necessary UX skills gradually, transitioning from out-sourced help to in-house competencies, integrate UX practitioners with other teams using a Hub-and-Spoke approach, raise awareness and promote the value of UX within the administration, ensure user research and testing is embedded into delivery processes, explore Agile delivery methods and provide dedicated physical spaces for collaboration and experimentation.

In 2019, additional activities will be organised by the European Commission in collaboration with EU Member States. 

For a more detailed view of the findings and recommendations to improve the cross-border authentication user experience, please consult our UX community:

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