eDelivery continues supporting the OOTS implementation
eDelivery continues to be instrumental in the development, testing, and deployment of the Once-Only Technical System (OOTS).
With the go-live date of December 2023 fast approaching, the eDelivery team has been tirelessly supporting implementers in setting up eDelivery-conformant Access Points, which are key elements in the OOTS’ architecture.
From the second Implementers café in December 2022 to the dedicated hands-on webinars last January, the eDelivery team has provided implementers with technical knowledge on achieving a secure and reliable message exchange within the OOTS ahead of crucial events for the community.
One of these events was the first OOTS projectathon, which welcomed Member States’ teams in Brussels from the 19th to the 21st of April. Over 120 implementers – attending both in-person and remotely – participated in the projectathon, when different systems were connected to perform a marathon of peer-to-peer interoperability and compliance tests in a structured environment with the continuous support provided by the monitors.
Having completed the requirement of installing eDelivery-conformant Access Points ahead of the event, most Member States participated in the projectathon as active participants. Meanwhile, a smaller number of implementers participated with the status of observers, ready to take advantage of the technical guidance provided during the event, and half of them successfully managed to set up their access points and exchange messages with the participants.
The chances for knowledge exchange hit the peak on the second day of the projectathon when the eDelivery team engaged with implementers providing essential support. In a dedicated session on the 21st of April, Member States and National representatives met eDelivery experts in an ‘open door’ setting, raising key technical questions relating to eDelivery.
The exchange with the eDelivery team proved instrumental for several reasons. Firstly, during the session, Member States shared best practices on implementing Domibus-conformant Access Points, achieving a technical level playing field set to accelerate the Once-Only Technical System's implementation. The results speak for themselves: 92% percent of the test cases performed during the projectathon were "verified" (successful and verified by attending monitors from OOTS and eDelivery support teams). At the end of the projectathon, thanks to the technical support provided by the eDelivery team, over 16 Member States successfully adopted the technology for operating eDelivery AS4 message exchange. Similarly, the interaction with implementers helped the eDelivery team to become aware of existing European success stories implementing eDelivery-conformant technologies for a reliable and secure data exchange.
The cooperation with the Once-Only Technical System's implementers is proceeding full steam. In preparation for the second OOTS projectathon in June, the eDelivery team is working on several requests from the community for tailored support with setting up eDelivery-conformant Access Points. Stay tuned for more eDelivery events!
Do you have any questions or suggestions for upcoming dedicated webinars? You can contact us via our portal or by e-mail: EC-EDELIVERY-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu.
The eDelivery Building Block
eDelivery is a building block that provides technical specifications and standards, installable software, and ancillary services to allow projects to create a network of nodes for secure digital data exchange.
Domibus is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery AS4 Access Point for the interoperable, secure and reliable data exchange. It is based on the eDelivery AS4 profile, an open technical specification for the secure, web-based, payload-agnostic exchange of data or documents.
DomiSMP is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery Service Metadata Publisher for publishing and retrieving data necessary for an eDelivery party to dynamically configure its system for message exchange with counterparties using eDelivery. It is based on the eDelivery SMP profile, an open technical specification for publishing service metadata within a 4-corner network.
DomiSML is the sample software provided by the European Commission to implement an eDelivery Service Metadata Locator for an eDelivery party to discover the URLs of other counterparties using eDelivery Access Points and their corresponding metadata. It is based on the eDelivery BDXL profile, an open technical specification for locating Access Points within a network, and on the PEPPOL SML Specification, a technical specification defining a BDXL administration API.
Photo by eDelivery SMCO