European Commission DIRECTORATE GENERAL. European Commission, B-1049 Brussels Belgium, Telephone: (32-2)

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1 European Commission DIRECTORATE GENERAL DIGIT E-TrustEx for e-cohesion - Vision European Commission, B-1049 Brussels Belgium, Telephone: (32-2) Original Template Author: DIGIT.01.MIA Version Document Control Information Update Document Properties Settings Directorate: Project Name: Document Author: System Owner: Project Manager: Revision Status: Sensitivity: Value DIGIT E-TrustEx for e-cohesion Assen Lozanov, Michael Cozma, Spiros Vazaloukas DIGIT Marta Silva-Mendes Draft Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 *Please use only the here above button to update Document Properties. Updating in the table directly will break the mechanism. If the settings in this table are not working anymore, then you can copy and paste the full table from the original template. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 1

2 Document Approver(s): (All Approvers are required. Records of each approver must be maintained.) Approver Name Marta Silva Mendes Christophe de Lassus Role Business Manager, Directorate-General for Informatics Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy Document Reviewers: (Records of each required reviewer must be maintained.) Reviewer Name Marta Silva Mendes Christophe de Lassus Role Business Manager, Directorate-General for Informatics Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy NOTE: All Reviewers in the list are considered required unless explicitly listed as Optional. Summary of Changes: The Document Author is authorized to make the following types of changes to the document without requiring that the document be re-approved: Editorial, formatting, and spelling Clarification To request a change to this document, contact the Document Author or Owner. Changes to this document are summarized in the following table in reverse chronological order (latest version first). Revision Date Created by Short Description of Changes Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 2

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Executive Summary Positioning Overview Business Opportunity Problem/Opportunity Statement Expected Benefits New or Updated Business Processes Proposed for Automation Project Scope Project Includes ("IN" Scope) Project Excludes ("OUT" of Scope) Project Governance and Stakeholders Stakeholders Project roles Project Governance User Needs Overview of the gathering campaign Type of participants Types of scenarios and needs Need for an online portal and data exchange platform (11 cases) Need for exchange platform only (3 cases) Need for an online portal and IT system (1 case) Classification of the needs of the relevant bodies Needs that contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements Additional needs that enhance and optimize the e-cohesion requirements Alternatives and Synergies Alternatives Alternative A: Implementation of a local solution without EC's involvement Alternative B: Partial fulfilment of the e-cohesion legal requirement Alternative C: Contribution to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements Synergies with other projects Project Approach Methodological Approach Change management Risks Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 3

4 8 Cost, Timing and Resources Cost Timing Resources Features Features that contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements Additional features supporting the electronic exchange of information (optional) Information System Description Information System Position Statement Information System Perspective E-TrustEx platform Online portal Assumptions and Dependencies Technical Assumptions and Dependencies Project-related Assumptions and Dependencies Constraints Security Constraints Quality Ranges and Information System Requirements Availability Maintainability Applicable Standards Performance Requirements Licensing and Installation Licencing Installation ANNEX 1: Document History ANNEX 2: Vision document glossary ANNEX 3: Governance model Open Source community of e-trustex users Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 4

5 1 Executive Summary The EU cohesion policy is an investment policy that tackles the significant economic, social and territorial disparities that still exist between Europe's regions, while supporting job creation, competitiveness, economic growth, improved quality of life and sustainable development. Simplification within this policy area is one of the key words used for the preparation of the legislative package for the new programming period In this context, one of the main practical improvements foreseen in that area is e-cohesion. E-Cohesion is included in Article 112(3) of the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR). It constitutes a new initiative that aims at reducing the administrative burden by providing the beneficiaries of the CSF 1 Funds with access to a secure online solution for data exchange with the relevant bodies involved in the implementation of the cohesion policy, as of 31 December Some Member States relevant bodies experience difficulties in fulfilling the set of goals expressed by the e-cohesion legal requirements within the foreseen timeframe. Therefore, it could be beneficial for them to be provided with a flexible IT solution to help them comply with the requirements, on time. Thus, the European Commission has investigated the possibility to launch the e-trustex for e- Cohesion project. This project should aim to offer support to the Member States relevant bodies by reusing the secure exchange platform of the European Commission (e-trustex), already deployed in different policy domains, in response to the e-cohesion requirements. E-TrustEx is a platform offered to Public Administrations at European, national and regional levels to set up a secure exchange of native digital documents or scanned documents, from system to system via standardised interfaces. It has been developed by and for the European Commission services and is being successfully used in various policy domains, such as: the procurement domain, where it enables the European Commission and Member States to exchange procurement documents in digital format with their suppliers. the competition domain, where it enables the organisations involved in competition cases to exchange documents with the European Commission. In the context of e-cohesion, a web-based multilingual portal for beneficiary access will also be offered as part of the solution. The objective of the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" project is to provide an open source version of the e- TrustEx software tailored to the needs of the e-cohesion project, which can be integrated into the existing IT systems of the relevant bodies in order to help them fulfilling the e-cohesion requirements. The main focus of the project is to adapt the current e-trustex system to a common set of requirements mutually agreed by the European Commission and interested Member States, regions and programmes. This common set of requirements includes the legal requirements of e-cohesion 1 CSF Funds The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural development (EAFRD), the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), ec.europa.eu/esf/blobservlet?docid=233&langid=en Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 5

6 plus additional requirements that have already been captured during the sessions organized throughout 2012 with participants that expressed an interest in collaborating in this project. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 6

7 2 Positioning Overview 2.1 Business Opportunity The e-cohesion initiative results from the need to reduce the administrative burden for beneficiaries within the cohesion policy domain. The reduction in administrative burden for businesses could be achieved by leveraging online portal functionalities for beneficiaries, thus allowing for a fully electronic secure data exchange between the local/national administration in charge of cohesion policy implementation and the beneficiaries, without the need for a parallel paper trail. The implementation of the e-cohesion initiative would only concern the Member States, regions and programmes and not the beneficiaries, since the use of the portal is not compulsory for beneficiaries. It is, however, compulsory for Member States to offer beneficiaries a solution to exchange information electronically. It is obvious that many Member States, regions and programmes already have a system in place that provides some elements of egovernment to the beneficiaries. Nevertheless, the levels of maturity of their systems vary greatly, and development needs have been identified for most of them. It appears that not all the local/national administration have the same potential to invest in IT solutions and align with the e-cohesion requirements. Some Member States bodies could experience difficulties in fulfilling the set of goals expressed by the e-cohesion legal requirements within the foreseen timeframe. In this context, it could be beneficial for them to receive an appropriate and affordable IT solution to help fulfil the requirements on time. 2.2 Problem/Opportunity Statement For the above-mentioned reasons, the European Commission decided to propose the participant Member States a technical solution to exchange data electronically. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 7

8 The opportunity Affects the impact of which is a successful solution would be The e-cohesion requirements urge Member States to provide online access to the beneficiaries of the ERDF- ESF and CF funds, so they can exchange project information electronically and securely by the deadline of 31/12/2014. Some Member States, regions and programmes which are not able to implement their own solution with their own technical, organisational and financial means. There is a risk that not all Member States will fulfil the e-cohesion legal requirements by the stated deadline and therefore the political goal of administrative burden reduction for beneficiaries will not be reached. The reuse of e-trustex, the secure data exchange platform of the European Commission already successfully deployed in other policy domains, for the e-cohesion requirements. E-TrustEx will be adapted to the specific requirements and context of the cohesion policy in general, and to the needs of the interested Member States, regions and programmes in particular. The objective is that the Member States, regions and programmes will implement e-trustex locally in their IT environment. This initiative is fully in line with the Digital Agenda 2 for Europe, in terms of generalisation of e- government, development of interoperable and open systems, compliance to standards, and deployment of online, cross-border public services. 2.3 Expected Benefits The reuse of e-trustex will bring numerous advantages to end users. From a policy point of view, the European Commission will help Member States, regions and programmes to meet the e-cohesion legal requirements by offering interoperable services as part of an advanced IT solution. Furthermore, a project involving several Member States, regions and programmes working together and sharing knowledge and experience is likely to streamline the e-cohesion processes. Support the fulfilment of the requirements in Article 112(3) of the draft CPR 2 The Digital Agenda for Europe aims to deliver sustainable economic and social benefits from a digital single market based on fast and ultra-fast internet and interoperable applications. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 8

9 The functionalities provided by e-trustex will contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion legal requirements by providing the solution necessary to exchange data, electronically and securely, among the involved parties. Reduction of costs at EU level Using e-trustex will result in significant savings in terms of time and resources at EU level: since local systems of each Member State, region or programme are financed by Technical Assistance of each programme, the fact that one common platform could be used by several programmes will rationalise EU budget use. Increased use of open source tools in the public sector If the subsequent phases of the project are approved, the relevant bodies in Member States would receive the e-trustex open source software, which has reached a sufficient maturity level as result of successful implementations in other policy areas. This would be an opportunity to leverage the experience of the public sector using open source tools and methodologies 2.4 New or Updated Business Processes Proposed for Automation "E-TrustEx for e-cohesion" covers the whole life cycle of a beneficiary project which the relevant bodies involved in cohesion policy implementation in Member States, regions and programmes have co-funded. The beneficiary project life cycle is divided into four main areas: The management of the project contract (including any related documents) that covers requests for modification of the documents, validations and actual updates of these documents, revisions and exchanges of new versions of the project terms. The submission of progress reports which contain information about the evolution of the activities and achievements of the project. The submission of payment claims together with supporting documents (e.g. proof of expenditures), as well as requests for refund if applicable in the context of project expenditures. In some instances, the beneficiaries can request for advance payment from the relevant bodies prior to submitting any progress report or incurred expenditures. Audit activities that could be initiated and conducted by the relevant authorities at any time during the project. Such activities could have an impact on the implementation of the project and lead to detailed reviews of the financial and other project-related information (e.g. financial corrections, frauds, revealing of irregularities, etc). Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 9

10 Business /System modules Use cases Description (EN) Project contract 3 changes management Major project changes Minor project changes Beneficiary requests MAJOR changes to the project terms. Relevant body 4 introduces changes to the project terms. Relevant body approves the changes and sends the new version of the contract relevant documents back to the beneficiary. Beneficiary signs and submits the project terms to the relevant body. Beneficiary makes MINOR changes to the project terms (i.e., to budget lines) and informs the relevant body. The project contract document management module covers any change or revision of the project contract relevant documents. During the duration of the project, the project contract relevant document could be reviewed and modified with the agreement of the two parties. Based on their importance and impact, there are: major changes which could lead to modification of the existing project contract relevant document or to a new version which has to be signed and validated by the two parties minor changes which don t require validation and can be done by either of the parties updating directly the project contract relevant documents 3 The project contract refers to the project contract signed by the two parties and any other additional document which defines the project terms and conditions 4 It could be the Managing Authority, the Intermediate Body, the Joint Technical Secretariat (see Glossary for more information of these entities) Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 10

11 Business /System modules Use cases Description (EN) Progress report Request for advance payment Relevant body initiates the progress report Beneficiary completes and submits the progress report Relevant body requests clarifications in relation to the progress report / asks beneficiary to improve and re-submit the report Relevant body approves the progress report Beneficiary submits a request for advance payment Beneficiary submits the payment claim including a list of invoices and other proof of expenditures First Level Controllers (FLC) verify the payment The progress report module consists of the exchange of the progress report between the beneficiaries and the relevant bodies; the beneficiaries complete and send the project information to the relevant bodies which validate it or could request additional information /documents / clarifications or could ask beneficiary to improve and re-submit the report; final version of the report is approved by the relevant body. In some instances, the beneficiaries could request an advance payment without any proof of expenditures. The payment claim module deals with the reimbursement request which the beneficiaries submit according to the project contract and the project expenditures. The beneficiaries submit the payment claim, together with the list of invoices and the Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 11

12 Business /System modules Payment claim Audit activities claim Use cases Managing Authority (MA) or Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) approves the payment claim and generates the payment order MA(JTS) transmits the payment order to the Certifying Authority (CA) CA validates the payment order and executes the payment Second level controllers (SLC) prepare the audit check SLC sends the audit notification SLC sends request for clarification to the beneficiary SLC sends audit/reports results MA/JTS integrates the audit results and informs the beneficiaries Description (EN) proof of expenditures. The relevant bodies (the first level controllers 5 ) check and confirm the eligible amount for reimbursement. They could require additional clarifications from the beneficiaries. After that, the Managing Authority validates and approves the payment claim and all the accompanying documents. The Managing Authority creates the payment order and communicates it to the Certifying Authority which performs its own checks and executes the payment to the beneficiaries. The Audit Authorities (second level controllers) could perform audits at any time during or after the project completion. In order to do that, they have to send an audit request to the beneficiaries. They could need to have access to the project information to prepare their audit. After the completion of the audit they will send an audit report which has to be communicated to the beneficiaries. 5 See Glossary for the definition of the different relevant bodies. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 12

13 3 Project Scope The project scope is defined by the European Commission and covers the common set of requirements of the participants to the project which are based on: the e-cohesion 6 legal requirements; additional requirements which have been identified during the bilateral meetings between the European Commission and the participants to the User Reference Group 7 ; 3.1 Project Includes ("IN" Scope) The project scope is built around the e-cohesion requirements as defined in Article 112(3) of the draft Regulation. The main e-cohesion requirement is the secure, electronic exchange of project information among the beneficiaries of the ERDF, ESF and CF Funds in the context of CSFF 8 Regulation and the relevant bodies in charge of the implementation of the operational programmes of these funds. Other Funds concerned by CSF Regulation (EAFRD, EMFF) may join the initiative at a later stage. In terms of business processes, the project scope covers the project life cycle after the signature of the subsidy contract by the involved parties. All the subsequent exchange of information between the beneficiaries and the e-cohesion relevant bodies are taken into consideration. The e-cohesion requirements aim to facilitate the beneficiaries by allowing them to exchange online the project information with the relevant bodies in a secure way. The project life cycle includes several main business processes: The project contract management The progress report The payment claim The audit activities The project addresses the interactions of the relevant bodies with the beneficiaries. Since the requirements between the different relevant parties are quite diversified the solution presented in the present document will provide a framework upon which Member States will be able 6 Please refer to point The User Reference Group (URG): The group of Member States participating in this initiative constitutes the User Reference Group created after a call for project sent by Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) responsible for driving this project. 8 CSF Funds The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural development (EAFRD), the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), ec.europa.eu/esf/blobservlet?docid=233&langid=en Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 13

14 to build a final solution instead of an off-the-shelf system. This is a framework for securely exchanging information and using a number of generic services to facilitate e-cohesion operations such as payment claims and reporting. Such services will have to be configured locally. More specifically the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" framework would contain: The open source version of the e-trustex platform, easily customisable for the secure exchange of structured and non-structured information. Online portal that supports the single sign-on (SSO) functionality, for user and user-role management, and that provides a graphical interface and functionalities, so that participants can integrate and further develop their specific requirements in order to be fully operational. Additional features such as storing and retrieving documents, a notification mechanism and audit trail for Admin users. 3.2 Project Excludes ("OUT" of Scope) This project doesn t cover the application phase; all the activities during the application assessment and the corresponding data exchange prior to the signature of the project contract and including the signature itself. This concerns the exchange of information with the applicants for the CSF Funds: the submission of the application form, the assessment process, the project s approval and the signature of the project contract. The back office IT systems and infrastructure of the relevant bodies are entirely their own responsibility and are not within the scope of this project. These systems include the Member States central electronic system dedicated to the storage, access and retrieval of the project information. The hosting and management of the provided solution will be again the responsibility of the relevant bodies. Another element which is out of scope is the detailed implementation and completion of the local specifications of e-cohesion processes such as payment claims, progress reporting, contract management, audit and any user interface that is required to cover these needs. For example, any online forms, such as payment claim, will be provided as an empty container which has to be developed and completed with all the missing elements (i.e. fields) by the relevant bodies. Detailed implementation can't be provided due to diversified requirements among the different programmes. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 14

15 4 Project Governance and Stakeholders The purpose of this section 9 is to define a governance model as well as the community of stakeholders involved in the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" project, if "green light" is given to the project following a successful inception phase. The major guidelines used for the governance of the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" project are as follows: 1. Governance defines the ownership of the solution to be developed: since the solution would be implemented on local level by the End Users (defined in the Stakeholders sub-section), the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) would share the system ownership with the Users Representatives for the duration of the elaboration, construction and transition phases. 2. Governance outlines the fact that the tool to be developed would be an open-source one, which would be distributed under the European Union Public Licence (EUPL). Member States, regions and programmes that will use e-trustex need to be fully aware of the EUPL Stakeholders This section complies with the Standard Roles and Responsibilities for IT Projects which are aligned with the methodologies in use at the European Commission. In general, a project stakeholder is any person or organisation that has an interest in the project and can be either positively or negatively affected by the project outcome. The Project stakeholder may also influence the project planning and its deliverables. Within the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" project the following stakeholders can be distinguished: Community of MS, regions and programmes including: - Member States (7 national entities) - regional operational programmes (5 regional entities) - European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes (7 ETC programmes), representing altogether approximately 30% of all programmes supported by ERDF, ESF and CF Funds INTERACT 11 9 For detailed information of the project governance model, please see Annex Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 15

16 Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT) Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO) These stakeholders will assume, during the project, the roles ensuring the realisation of the project objectives i.e. the system owner and the system supplier roles defined below. The End Users of the system will be Member States, regions, and programmes represented by the Users Representatives as defined in the table below. 4.2 Project roles The definition of a set of well-defined key roles and responsibilities is a cornerstone for successful projects it aims at assigning project participants their own responsibilities, and interactions stemmed from these activities. Name Responsibilities Success criteria System Owner The System Owner is responsible for setting the business objectives and priorities. The System Owner approves all project deliverables and milestones (vision, business case, acceptance criteria and testing, user manuals, etc.), and requests resources and organisational and procedural changes. The system is reliable and is built in accordance with the Commission's rules and regulations, and is developed within the allocated budget. System Supplier The System Supplier provides the Information System that will be put in place to solve the business problem. The System Supplier ensures that this system is in line with the requirements, time and budget constraints, as defined and agreed with the System Owner and/or the Steering Committee. High percentage of end users that are able to use (on a regular basis and with a high degree of proficiency) and are satisfied with the delivered application. Availability of a userfriendly and stable tool. End Users The End Users formulate the business requirements needed to build the IT solution. They get involved in Acceptance testing to validate the application. The system fulfils the business requirements signed off on. User The User Representatives ensure that the The system fulfils the 11 INTERACT is the European programme created especially for assisting European Territorial Cooperation programmes. For more information: Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 16

17 Name Responsibilities Success criteria Representatives project deliverables meet the needs of all users. They approve, on behalf of the users, the project specifications as well as the acceptance criteria. business requirements signed off on. 4.3 Project Governance During the inception phase, the system owner of the project is the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). During the elaboration, construction and transition phases: the System Owner's role will be shared between the Users' Representatives and the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) The System Supplier is Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT). The User Representatives are DATAR (Inter-ministerial Delegation for Regional Planning and the regional attractiveness) France and INTERACT. They are acting on behalf of the Member States, regions, and programmes participants of the User Reference Group. The Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), the User Representatives and Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT) will collaborate within the framework of the Project Steering Committee as depicted in the Figure below. Figure 1: Project governance model During the elaboration, construction and transition phases, the System Owner role will be shared and gradually transferred from the European Commission to the Member States as shown in Figure 2 Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 17

18 below. This transfer of ownership will be completed during the transition phase which is sub-divided in two: At the start of this phase, the System Supplier - The Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT) - will help 2 pilot Member States/programmes install e-trustex in their IT environment, and support them for a period of 2 months. Following the 2 pilots, each local implementation of the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" solution will be carried out by the relevant bodies in Member States. During the transition phase, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO) would get involved in identifying the "best practices" of implementation and in disseminating them to all users. The Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT) would ensure support and maintenance of the provided solution (first level support for the 2 pilots, 2d level support for the rest of the community). Figure 2: Project ownership approach At the end of the transition phase, the European Commission would transfer the full ownership of the provided solution to the Open Source Software (OSS) community of Member States. The Member States, regions and programmes participating in the User Reference Group would have then to set up the OSS community. The community would have a wide range of activities such as: updating software and writing documentation testing and bug fixing proposing new features and promoting the solution Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 18

19 Members of the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" open source community 12 should particularly know that: as far as the liability is concerned: As a user of software licensed under the EUPL, you receive no warranties regarding the quality of the software, and the distributor of the software disclaims all liability with regards to any damage caused by the software - to the extent permissible by applicable law. This means that, according to the terms of the licence, and outside exceptional cases (wilful misconduct or damages caused to natural persons) the licensor will in no event be liable for any direct or indirect, material or moral, damages of any kind. This excludes claims for loss of data, loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure, loss of business opportunities, etc. as far as the source code is concerned: As a licensee you have the ability to obtain the source code from a free access repository. as far as modifications of the software and its derivative works are concerned: "The licence must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the licence of the original software. If you make yourself some improvements, indicate clearly the beginning and the end of such improvements, insert the date where the modification has been done and your own copyright mark, identifying you clearly as the author and copyright owner of the modification even if you have no intention to redistribute the software. If you distribute copies of the program that was licensed to you under the EUPL, you must always provide these copies under the provision of the EUPL. In case of distribution of a derivative work, you have to communicate the modified source code from a free access repository. Additional information on governance is available in Annex III 12 The members of the open source community are the Member States, regions and programmes that have implemented and use the open source etrustex for e-cohesion solution provided by the European Commission Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 19

20 5 User Needs The user needs were expressed and gathered during 18 bilateral meetings carried out with the participation of representatives of the User Reference Group (URG). 5.1 Overview of the gathering campaign The participants of the User Reference Group represent a large variety of organisational structures, which differ by the number of beneficiaries, implemented programmes, Member States involved and which have different IT systems and solutions Type of participants The participating Member States can be grouped in three distinct categories according to the type of their organisational structure and geographical coverage: 5 national entities Among the national entities, there are Managing Authorities at national level which manage the IT system and delegate the interactions with the beneficiaries to the Intermediate Bodies. In one case, the Managing Authority deals directly with the beneficiaries. There is also a case where an entity at national level manages the implementation of the system on behalf of multiple relevant bodies at regional level. This entity is participating in this project on behalf of the regional relevant bodies, has no direct interactions with the beneficiaries and will manage the implementation together with regional relevant bodies. 6 regional entities At regional level, the participants are Managing Authorities that either rely to Intermediate Bodies to interact with the beneficiaries or deal with the beneficiaries directly. 7 European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes The ETC relevant bodies manage only one operational programme and have an organisational structure with Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) acting on behalf of the Managing Authority for the implementation of the programme Types of scenarios and needs In terms of current IT solution and expectations for the future solution, the situation in the participating Member States varies in each individual case. However, several groups can be identified according to the specificities of the current IT solution, the existence of some elements of e-cohesion, the type of the programme(s), the number of beneficiaries and potential users of the solution, the organisational structure (the different relevant bodies involved) and the IT experience and knowledge of the relevant bodies' teams. These groups fulfil the following possible scenarios; Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 20

21 Need for an online portal and data exchange platform (11 cases) The general trend is that the relevant bodies involved in this project need to implement an online portal to provide to the beneficiaries. However, there are several distinctions between the different bodies that can be identified: Relevant bodies that would replace an existing online portal (2 cases) In this case, either for technical (either obsolete or incompatible technology, either lacking resources to complete and manage the tool) or legal reasons (need for all the regional bodies to use a unique online portal at national level), the relevant bodies have to replace their existing solution and are interested by using the portal offered within this project. Relevant bodies that have an online portal that does not cover all the activities of the entire project life cycle, and need to complete the remaining project activities using the portal offered by this project (1 case) The expectation is that the e-trustex online portal co-exists with the existing portal while a single sign on is provided to the beneficiaries. Relevant bodies that have never used an online portal (9 cases) There are several bodies which have no experience providing an online portal to beneficiaries.- they would be satisfied as long as the e-cohesion functional requirements are fulfilled. Relevant bodies that intend to connect several IT systems to one another and to the portal (7 cases) Some of the relevant bodies interested in the portal solution have also expressed a need to connect several IT systems to one another and to the portal, while allowing these systems to securely exchange data using the e-trustex platform. Relevant bodies that need to connect only one IT system to the portal managed in the same data centre (6 cases) In this scenario, the e-trustex exchange platform would not bring any added value as the existing back office system and future portal will be directly connected, Need for exchange platform only (3 cases) There are relevant bodies that have already online portals in place that they plan to keep during the next programming period. However, they are interested in implementing the data exchange platform in order to connect several systems from different relevant bodies to their online portal, and to provide beneficiaries with a solution to connect their IT systems to it. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 21

22 Need for an online portal and IT system (1 case) There is one relevant body that has no relevant IT system in place and would like a comprehensive solution providing online access to beneficiaries and an IT system to the Managing Authority. 5.2 Classification of the needs of the relevant bodies Following the e-cohesion requirements gathering sessions, the user needs expressed by the representatives of the relevant bodies during the bilateral meetings are split in two categories: those contributing for the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements expressed in Article 112(3) of the draft Regulation those enhancing and optimizing the implementation of e-cohesion Needs that contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements The core requirement of e-cohesion is to provide the beneficiaries with a tool to exchange project information and documents electronically and securely. In order to fulfil this requirement, an online portal should be offered to the beneficiaries to allow them to connect to the IT systems of the relevant bodies (e.g. the Managing Authority (for the mainstream programmes) or the Joint Technical Secretariat (for ETC programmes)). The e-cohesion requirements expressed by Article 112(3) of the draft Regulation could be described in more details as: A system for electronic data exchange (see Needs 1,2,3,4,5,6,8) that guarantees: - data integrity & confidentiality (see Need 3 and 4) - authentication of the sender (Directive 1999/93/EC) (see Need 3) - storage in compliance with defined retention rules (Article 132 of the draft CPR) (see Need 8) The electronic audit trail is in compliance with relevant articles of the draft CPR (112 and 132) as well as with any national requirements on the availability of documents. (see Need 10) The concept of interoperability is guaranteed (those data encoded by beneficiaries need to be shared between different bodies within the same operational programme) (Article 112(3)) (see Need 11) The 'only once' encoding principle is applied, at a minimum, within the framework of the same operational programme (allowing beneficiaries to encode data only once) (Article 112(3)) (see Need 9) Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 22

23 The digitally exchanged documents are legally compliant by the use of the electronic signature, based on the authentication procedure (within the meaning of Directive 1999/93/EC) (see Need 7) Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 23

24 ID Need Need Priority Difficulties 13 Business description of the Current Solution before e- Cohesion requirements implementation Business description of the Proposed Solutions via e- TrustEx project 14 1 To exchange project information electronically and securely High Use of documents exchanged on paper / by (e.g. Excel, PDF formats etc) The system provides the features to transmit the project information electronically and securely 2 To provide a single point of electronic access for beneficiaries High Beneficiaries may not have Internet access and/or basic computer skills The beneficiaries don't have access to an electronic portal for document exchange Beneficiaries are provided with a user-friendly online portal where the project data could be exchanged with the relevant bodies 15 3 To authenticate the beneficiaries as users of the portal High Multiple roles and accesses could bring complexity The beneficiaries have no access to an electronic portal for document exchange Beneficiaries are provided with secure user access to the online portal 4 To exchange the project information in a secure way High Unsecure exchange of documents by (e.g. Excel, PDF etc) The system provides the features to transmit the project information in a secure way 5 To receive, complete and High Large variety of documents Managed locally offline by the The portal provides the tools to 13 This field describes the main concerns (worries) related to this need 14 e.g.: keep track of each version of the document 15 out of scope of etrustex system : other accompanying measures in member States like physical and/or online help-desks to facilitate change management. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 24

25 ID Need Need Priority Difficulties 13 Business description of the Current Solution before e- Cohesion requirements implementation submit the project documents online (the payment claim, the progress report, the audit requests and results, changes to the project contract related documents) structures, no common set of fields beneficiaries Business description of the Proposed Solutions via e- TrustEx project 14 input and submit online the project information 6 To be able to exchange messages between beneficiaries and relevant bodies and keep track of them High To be able to cover the large variety of types of messages that have to be exchanged Use of phone, , paper mail The portal provides a tool to the beneficiaries to exchange messages with the relevant bodies and to log them 7 To ensure non-repudiation of digitally exchanged documents using e-signature High Not being recognized by Audit Authorities Use of paper documents Use of a closed user group 16 based on user/password access to the portal 8 To store and access project information High Excessive volume of stored documents The stored documents are exchanged by or are kept only in paper format To provide beneficiaries with access to the project information stored in a central repository 9 Respect the only once encoding principle ask beneficiaries to provide/input information once. High To provide always the most recent information Partial solution, risk of requiring the same information twice; parallel paper flow (digital and on paper) The portal provide the tools to prefill the information in the online forms 16 Closed user group Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 25

26 ID Need Need Priority Difficulties 13 Business description of the Current Solution before e- Cohesion requirements implementation Business description of the Proposed Solutions via e- TrustEx project To perform electronic audit High Reluctance of Audit Authority to rely on electronic documents Electronic storage of all necessary documents could require extra storage capacity Audit performed based on paper documents Provide access to the electronic storage of project documents to all involved parties 11 To facilitate interoperability between relevant bodies High Semantic and technical obstacles to connect various systems The project information is exchanged between the relevant bodies by phone, , paper Set up an exchange of digital documents between relevant bodies IT systems Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 26

27 5.2.2 Additional needs that enhance and optimize the e-cohesion requirements The relevant bodies participating in the User Reference Group (URG) have formulated several additional requirements that could enhance and optimize the e-cohesion requirements and the interactions between the beneficiaries and the relevant bodies: When additional requirements in terms of legal compliance of digital documents apply on national level, the basic electronic signature could be insufficient. There is a need for the implementation of an advanced e-signature according to the national legal requirements (see Need 12) Provide the beneficiaries with tools to manage their projects online via the portal (e.g. monitor the approaching milestones, consult the exchanged documents, store and update the useful project information) (see Need 14) Optimize the exchange of information between parties by implementing; - tools to automatically perform checks and validate the information encoded online by the beneficiaries (part of Need 15) - a tool to access and display the changes made and versions exchanged of the project documents (see Need 13) - a business rules engine allowing a flawless execution of the business processes (see Need 15) Inform the beneficiaries of actions required, such as approaching project milestones, project news, etc., including forwarding of information to the of the beneficiaries (see Need 16) Provide a high level of flexibility to update the structure of the project documents (e.g. add/delete fields, add/delete forms, etc.) (see Need 17) Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 27

28 ID Need Need Priority Difficulties Business description of the Current Solution before e- Cohesion requirements implementation Business description of the Proposed Solutions via e- TrustEx project ("nice to have" in e-trustex project) 12 To ensure legal compliance of digitally exchanged documents based on advanced or qualified e-signature Medium Heterogeneous national requirements and reluctance of Audit Authorities to prepare audits using electronic versions of documents Exchange of paper documents by post mail Provide a framework to adapt national e-signature 13 To register changes and updates of project documents Medium Managed by phone, , paper Keep electronic track of each change in the document. Manage the versions of the documents 14 To provide beneficiaries with specific functionalities/utilities allowing them to manage their projects online Medium Beneficiaries could be reluctant to adopt the portal for their daily project management In the local system of each beneficiary (offline) Online tools such as dashboard, project information, schedules, planned activities, milestones, calendar, alerts, news, etc 15 To automatically trigger alerts, document status updates, subsequent document flow activities Medium Identification of all pertinent business rules Managed by phone, , paper documents exchange Rules that allow automatic trigger of alerts, status updates and subsequent actions - To set up a business rules engine 16 To inform the beneficiaries for any required action and Medium Overuse of notifications could lead Managed by phone, , paper Implementation of the notification Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 28

29 ID Need Need Priority Difficulties Business description of the Current Solution before e- Cohesion requirements implementation Business description of the Proposed Solutions via e- TrustEx project ("nice to have" in e-trustex project) relevant information to additional Administrative burden management 17 To easily configure and customize the structure of the online forms. Medium Managed offline in the beneficiaries IT system An online tool to easily configure and update the online form structure Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 29

30 6 Alternatives and Synergies 6.1 Alternatives This section describes the alternative solutions considered within the context of the "e-trustex for e- Cohesion project", and reflects the results of thorough analysis of the Member States' needs, captured during the requirements gathering sessions. Alternative A refers to Member States, regions and programmes entirely relying on local IT providers, or proceeding with their own in-house development, without the European Commission's involvement. Alternative B refers to a basic IT solution that will partially help Member States be compliant with the legal requirement. This alternative covers a specific set of business needs formulated by certain participants and consists only of the e-trustex platform. Alternative C refers to a comprehensive IT solution (framework) that will contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements. This alternative covers the mandatory requirements common to all participants in the project but requires further implementation / integration by the Member States. This solution consists of the e-trustex platform plus online portal Alternative A: Implementation of a local solution without EC's involvement The relevant bodies of the Member States will be able to opt for solutions from external providers or rely on their own resources to implement an IT solution to fulfil the e-cohesion legal requirement. Therefore, they would need to find the right IT technology and manage its implementation to add the missing elements to comply with the e-cohesion requirements on time. Strengths IT solution built entirely at national/programme level. Totally in line with the subsidiarity principle. Weaknesses Potentially high cost at EU level since there are no commonalities between national/regional IT developments Alternative with the highest cost for Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 30

31 Complete control of development by each MS individually Member States (to be financed by programmes TA). More effective planning and improved chances of achieving compliance before the deadline. Easier to customize to specific local needs. Ability to use preferred technologies. No direct financial impact on the EC's budget. Opportunities Each MS can more easily extend its e-cohesion implementation to encompass other national e- Government projects. Threats Potential compliance difficulties for certain Member States having nothing already in place (expertise problem and/or TA budget problems) This alternative may not be viable, as it translates into high costs for the Member States, while it doesn t guarantee that the legal requirements will be implemented in due time Alternative B: Partial fulfilment of the e-cohesion legal requirement This alternative provides the re-use of an existing solution (e-trustex platform), that facilitates secure information exchange among different systems. The European Commission provides only the customization of existing e-trustex platform, while the implementation of the online portal will be done individually by each participant to the project. e-trustex is a secure data exchange platform that also provides secure system to system integration. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 31

32 Strengths Solution specifically designed to fulfil the electronic data exchange requirement expressed by some users. Low overall development costs for the EC. Technical maturity of the solution. Weaknesses Solution not fulfilling most users' needs: No on-line access (i.e., portal) for beneficiaries No functionalities designed to support the elimination of parallel paper trails. No "visibility" for end users, as the platform is a "black box" from their perspective. Solution which does not guarantee compliance with regulatory requirements Complexity of the project even if its scope is rather limited: Still requires common agreement on project governance, as well as Member States' commitment and collaboration during the project Requires extensive development of the online portal AFTER the roll-out of the platform, therefore extending the total duration of the project Opportunities Reuse of an existing, technically mature solution Flexibility for Member States to integrate the platform into their specific IT environments. (no licensing problem, as an existing, open-source solution is used.) Threats Insufficient number of Member States committed to implement this IT solution Only a few users are interested in this limited solution For the others, this alternative increases the complexity of the project: Requires deep technical knowledge and understanding of e- TrustEx architecture Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 32

33 In certain cases the platform will add unnecessary overhead This alternative may not be viable as it only ensures the partial fulfilment of the e-cohesion legal requirement. This solution combines the support of the European Commission and the re-use of a proven IT solution, with the flexibility to implement it at the local level Alternative C: Contribution to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements The relevant bodies within the Member States, along with the European Commission define a set of mandatory requirements, common to all participants to the project. The solution provides the e-trustex platform plus the online portal which is essential in performing project tasks, such as filing in progress reports, submitting payment claims, performing audits, etc. along with other administrative activities (i.e., creating and maintaining role-access management) which will contribute to the fulfilment of the mandatory requirements. The solution could also provide additional features that cover also the optional non-mandatory requirements that were identified during the requirements gathering phase. Since a fully out-of-the-box operational solution is not doable due to the diversified local requirements, the solution will partially cover the participant's needs and completion of the solution is needed under their own responsibility. The integration of the solution will be done by each participant individually. Strengths Most complete EC proposal to help Member States being compliant with the e- Cohesion requirements. Added value, which is Weaknesses High complexity of the project: Technical and technological complexities. Requires common agreement on project governance, as well as Member States' commitment and collaboration during the project Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 33

34 also clearly perceived by end users. Reuse of an existing, technically mature solution for a part of a solution Less contingency possible due to tighter deadlines: long elaboration phase including Architecture and Quality Management, long construction and transition phases including Quality Control Imposes technology and architecture that participants may not have in place. Requires common agreement on project governance, as well as Member States' commitment and collaboration during the project and after the project ( clear procedure in place for software updates and functionality enhancements) Completion of the solution by the participants is still needed: Uncertainty at this stage regarding the effort needed by the participants to completely adapt the solution to their needs (costs and efforts not measurable today) Still no guarantee at the end that the MS will be compliant with e- Cohesion requirements on time Opportunities Ability to optimize/streamline processes Threats High overall development costs for the EC (development of a common portal not available today) which cannot be supported by the currently limited DG REGIO IT budget (priority given to SFC2014) Difficulty for such a big and complex project to receive political support. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 34

35 This alternative may effectively contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion legal requirement but will not guarantee it entirely. This solution combines the re-use of a proven IT solution (the e-trustex platform) with the addition of a portal. At this stage, it is difficult to reduce the portal development sub-project to the only features needed to comply with compulsory requirements and therefore expected costs and complexity of this alternative are high. Additionally, all other features enhancing the users' experience may be added on top of this solution, at a later time, if needed. 6.2 Synergies with other projects In order to provide the most effective solution for this project, potential synergies have been investigated. Thus, we have examined the existing open-source platform e-trustex and have determined that it can deliver most outputs related to the e-cohesion project and, as such, it should be leveraged to fulfil the documented requirements. Additional synergies have been identified, specifically with the ISA programme, as well as with the Open Source strategy promoted by the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 35

36 7 Project Approach The Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Informatics from the European Commission have joined forces to propose the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" initiative to Member States. The objective is to reuse the existing e-trustex framework and adapt it to the specific needs of the e-cohesion initiative. Various Member States, regions and programmes agreed to collaborate with the European Commission, on a voluntary basis, and design together a version of e-trustex meeting the common e-cohesion requirements. These volunteers are grouped within the User Reference Group that is responsible for driving the project. Once the common "e-trustex for e-cohesion" solution is available, Member States may decide to integrate it within their own organisation and business processes. This integration will cover the hosting, maintenance, support and overall ownership of the system. 7.1 Methodological Approach To guarantee a successful delivery of the project the following methodologies are proposed for dealing with project management and development issues: The following methodologies will be employed: PM² (combining several PM approaches, such as PMI 17 and Prince2 18 ) will be used for project management, RUP@EC (RUP 19 version, tailored to EC needs) will be used for software development. 7.2 Change management Once the project is approved, a Scope Change Management Plan would be put in place, detailing related activities and artefacts. The plan would clearly outline the process of managing a change request (requirement, change, problem, defect, or other change) that can be initiated by any Project Stakeholder. All relevant concepts as pertaining to Change Management (i.e., status, priority, approver, target delivery date, etc.) will be then documented, as well as the outputs, such as Scope Change Log, Change Request Form, or updates to the Project Work Plan Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 36

37 7.3 Risks The following table lists the major risks that have been identified in conjunction with this project: ID Magnitude Description Probability of occurrence Severity Impacts Action 1 High The project governance is not clearly defined and completely agreed upon during Inception. 2 High Lack of agreement and sufficient level of cooperation among Member States, regions and programmes during the Inception phase. 3 High Member States reluctance to share ownership during the subsequent phases of the project. 4 High EC's change of project priorities. 5 High EC's withdrawal from this project. 6 Medium Change in Member States political environment and policy. 7 Medium Lack of commitment from the user's community (internally). Medium High Project management impact High High Project termination High High Project termination High High Project termination High High Project termination Medium Medium Project scope impact Medium High Project management impact Obtain consensus on the governance model from the stakeholders at an early stage of Inception. Identify the common needs among participating MS, as well as their level of interest in the project. Obtain consensus on the ownership approach from the stakeholders at an early stage. Clearly define and communicate this project's priority. Communicate unequivocally. Ensure that the solution is flexible enough to reflect such changes. Champion the need for the users to meet at least the legal requirement. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 37

38 ID Magnitude Description Probability of occurrence Severity Impacts Action 8 Medium The current representatives will not be the ones involved with the next programming period. 9 Medium The needs for the next programming period are not completely captured. Medium Medium Project scope impact Medium Medium Project scope impact Build sufficient contingency into the project budget and plan. Build sufficient contingency into the project budget and plan. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 38

39 8 Cost, Timing and Resources 8.1 Cost Based on the preliminary analysis the cost for Alternative C (fulfilment of mandatory requirements) is estimated as following: Expenditure Amount Amount Amount Total cost Development 20 (k ) Maintenance 21 (k ) Support 22 (k ) Total per year (k ) Total FTE officials 23 per year (DIGIT) ,5 1,5 0 These are the only costs incurred by EC. Therefore additional costs incurred by MS should be added (for fine-tuning and integration, first level support, and hosting), depending on each MS particular context. The costs for implementing Alternative B are cheaper than for alternative C, but such costs have not been detailed, since this alternative would only meet few Member States needs. 20 Development: provide the total (anticipated) cost (human resources) for the development of the system 21 Maintenance: provide the total (anticipated) cost (human resources) in K per year to maintain the system 22 Support: provide the total (anticipated) cost (human resources) in K per year to support the system (e.g. helpdesk, operations, etc.) 23 Total FTE officials: provide the total (anticipated) effort that will be spent by Commission officials on the project (in man-weeks, man-months or man-years). Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 39

40 8.2 Timing A high-level schedule of the deliverables for the e-trustex platform and the online portal is broken down by phase in the following table: Phase 24 End-date Main subject 25 Inception February 2013 Provide the vision and scope of the future solution. Elaboration May 2013 Provide the detailed specifications of the solution. Construction December 2013 September 2014 Provide the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" open source solution. Transition December 2014 Implement / integrate the solution in Member States. In order to help Member States to further develop and complete the solution on their end, "e-trustex for e-cohesion" would be delivered in 2 major iterations as shown in the following figure. Figure 3: Project deliverables by phase 24 Phase: these phases refer to the RUP phases and milestones. Please refer to RUP@EC - Phases and Milestones for a description of these phases and milestones. 25 Indicate the main content and work that will be done in these phases Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 40

41 Member States will be able to get used with the software and the technology at an earlier stage and solve potential issues that may arise. Although the solution is slated for implementation in the 4 th quarter of 2013 (first iteration) and in the 2 nd quarter of 2014 (second iteration) there is a dependency. Specifically, the elaboration phase needs to start at the beginning of 2 nd quarter of Any delays to the starting date will result in shifting the deliverables accordingly. Prior to the start of the elaboration phase, a one-month period is needed for setting up the development team, the analysts team, the project structure and the project development infrastructure. It has to be emphasised that, since the portal development is a very complex task, the, compulsory requirements would be fulfilled (at a generic level) only after the second iteration. Nevertheless, the implementation of the first iteration deliverables is meant to give the users confidence in the steady progress of the project. 8.3 Resources The project resourcing will follow the standard EC approach, specifically a number of different profiles / resources will need to be secured: o o o o o o Business Analysts Software developers Tester Database developer Configuration / Release manager Project Manager / Coordinator It is worth noticing that some roles could be consolidated (i.e., Business Analyst/Tester). Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 41

42 9 Features The features described below are part of the e-trustex solution and encompass both: The e-trustex online portal The e-trustex exchange platform The features are mapped to the needs described in chapter 5, and are grouped in two categories, those that contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements and additional features which facilitate the data exchange, enhance its quality and improve the policy flows. 9.1 Features that contribute to the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements These features support the fulfilment of the e-cohesion requirements. They cover the following aspects: The secure digital exchange of project information between beneficiaries and relevant bodies by enabling: o the online access for beneficiaries (Features 1, 9, 10), o the reception and submission of project information (Features 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14,15), o the secure transmission of the information between beneficiaries and relevant bodies (Features 11,12,13), the compliance the 'only once' encoding principle (Feature 4), the electronic storage of the project information (Feature 16, 17), the facilitation of the interoperability for relevant bodies including online access to project information by Audit Authorities (Feature 18) Feature ID Features Need ID 26 1 E-TrustEx Online portal: 1, Online tool for beneficiaries for accessing and exchanging project related information, such as payment claim, progress report, etc. Document upload / download Submission of information via online forms, including temporal storage of data Pre-filled fields of the online forms with data that has been submitted previously, (including temporal storage of data). Export of information to PDF, Word, Excel formats The ID need referred to is taken from the ID listed in chapter 5 User needs. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 42

43 Feature ID Features Need ID Set-up of user permissions to access documents / information Linking of documents / information Unique identifier assigned to each individual project and each project-related item (i.e., document). 2, User management functionalities for portal users: 3 Creation/modification/deletion and user authentication. 10 Definition and assignment of User roles. 2,7 11 Secure transmission of structured and non-structured data between beneficiaries and relevant bodies' IT system via the e-trustex platform. 12 E-TrustEx platform's exposure of generic services allowing authorised users / systems to securely exchange information. 13 Transmission of structured and non-structured (documents) information. 14 Dedicated workspaces for performing tasks related to: 4,10 4,10 4,10 5 payment claims progress reports project contract (and related documents) other project-related documents 15 Messaging tool for exchanging information between Beneficiaries and relevant bodies. 16 Central Document Repository with predefined user access for storing all the documents either exchanged or generated by beneficiaries and relevant bodies (out of scope - managed by the IT system of the relevant body) Archiving of projects Provision of access to the generic services exposed by the e- TrustEx platform so that project information is exchanged among all the systems connected to the platform, including the online portal. 11 Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 43

44 9.2 Additional features supporting the electronic exchange of information (optional) Further to the features listed in the previous section, which contribute to the fulfilment of the legal e- Cohesion requirements, the participants of the User Reference Group have also requested additional functionalities. These would allow the parties involved to optimize the execution of the processes and enhance the benefits of e-cohesion in general, and further reduce the Administrative burden for beneficiaries in particular. The implementations of these features, though optional from EU legal perspective, bring significant benefits in terms of rapid execution of the processes, clarity and transparency for the users, as well as compliance with some specific national requirements (e.g. enhanced national requirements in terms of e-signature). These features provide the following additional functionalities: Support for local implementation of advanced/qualified e-signature (Feature 19) Transparency, automation and better traceability of the business processes (Feature 20, 25, 26, 27, 28) Optimization of the project management from the beneficiaries' perspective (Features 21, 22, 23, 24) Reduction of the project maintenance cost and higher flexibility for the relevant bodies to manage/modify/update the project document structures (Feature 29) Feature ID Features ID need 19 Plugin for future integration of specific e-signature solutions Version Control management of submitted on-line documents Dashboard for an overview of on-going activities, approaching milestones, required actions, pending notifications, project schedule, etc. 22 Selection and management of several projects on the portal each project has its own dedicated area and monitoring features are provided to the beneficiaries. 23 Project indicators that can be managed and updated by the beneficiaries. 24 Automatic calculations within the project budget sheet and amounts claimed for reimbursement. 25 Status and workflow management depending on different user actions. This is applied to the project documents (e.g. payment claims and progress reports). Status list can be defined (New, Draft, Submitted, Approved, Rejected, Closed, etc.) Notification mechanism to inform users of action items. 16 Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 44

45 Feature ID Features ID need 27 Notification types: 16 - Informative, triggered by events that have occurred (e.g. payment was executed) - Action Required, triggered by approaching deadlines for events that need to occur (e.g. 10 days left to submit the progress report) 28 Ability to switch off/on the notifications based on type (to avoid overuse of the notifications). 29 Framework that allows the relevant bodies to easily and rapidly create/ modify the online forms structures Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 45

46 10 Information System Description The "e-trustex for e-cohesion" solution includes the e-trustex exchange platform and the e-trustex online portal. The solution provides a secure and trusted way for exchanging messages and digital or scanned documents from system to system via standardised interfaces. In doing so it provides a means for exchanging structured data in a secure way between the sender and pre-defined recipients. The e-trustex solution is the catalyst that integrates existing systems with the new to be developed portal to which the beneficiaries will have access. As such, e-trustex is an open system that integrates different systems into a single solution in which beneficiaries and relevant bodies can interact as depicted in Figure 4. Figure 4 Common cohesion scenario and fulfilment of e-cohesion requirement The solution provides an infrastructure that facilitates secure data exchange, which enables the relevant bodies to set-up their online services faster, better, and at a lower cost. Although the high level business processes for all the relevant bodies are the same, the underlying detailed requirements are quite diversified. As a consequence the "e-trustex for e-cohesion" solution cannot cover all the requirements and provide a fully operational off-the-shelf solution. Instead, the relevant bodies will have to independently configure, customise and develop additional features resulting from local specific requirements based on the solution provided by the European Commission. The e-trustex solution is a framework that facilitates the exchange of information and provides the foundation for developing all the necessary functionalities related to the local business processes such as payment claims, reporting, etc. It will facilitate the development by allowing designers and developers to concentrate on meeting their business requirements rather than dealing with more standard low-level details of providing a working system, thereby reducing overall development time. By using the solution all the Member States will benefit from the common and mature e-trustex platform rather than having all of them develop their own. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 46

47 10.1 Information System Position Statement For who that unlike our Information System For Member States, relevant bodies and beneficiaries Need to exchange information between the relevant parties in a secure way Makes the exchange of information more efficient and eliminates the use of paper documents , fax, sending paper versions of documents Provides the basis for Member States to integrate their existing IT systems for exchanging information. It is the foundation upon which Member States will have to develop their requirements. The framework guarantees data integrity, confidentiality, authentication and storage in compliance with the relevant EU legislation. Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 47

48 10.2 Information System Perspective The e-trustex solution enables electronic exchange of information, reducing the need to exchange paper documents, increasing the trust, security and interoperability of the e-cohesion processes in a cross-border and/or cross-organization environment. A classic example would be a scenario whereby e-trustex is used in the context of a data exchange between beneficiaries and different relevant bodies such as the Managing Authority or Certifying Authority by connecting their IT systems. Different relevant bodies can exchange structured information such as payment claims, progress reports as well non-structured information via a set of predefined and configurable Services. The solution consists of several building blocks: e-trustex on-line portal e-trustex platform A number of business components that facilitate e-cohesion (payment claim, progress report, etc). The Figure 5 depicts a functional view of the global IT infrastructure. Figure 5: General system architecture Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 48

49 E-TrustEx platform The solution is carefully designed in such a way that it is independent of the existing system that it is connecting to. The integration architecture is based on a core messaging framework that supports lightweight, event-driven interactions within cross-organization/border applications. The content of the message can be structured, (i.e. information from an online form) or nonstructured, (i.e. a Word or a PDF document). Outbound messages can be delivered to different types of recipients such as database, file system, or message queue. The e-trustex exchange platform handles the integration of different systems by routing messages to either of them. To do so it defines a so-called message flow that links each message to a sender and receiver. For simple messages the flow typically validates the message content, its payload, after which it delivers it to the intended receiver. Rather than defining a flow for each message, the framework defines a generic message flow that can be configured to meet the specific needs of each message. It does this by allowing the user to implement a set of extension points that handle the message specifics. The user can provide a message specific validator that respects the guidelines set out by the framework, and register it with the generic message flow for the messages it is intended for. Likewise the framework allows the user to specify the details of the message receiver so that the generic message flow is capable of delivering each message to the correct system. In doing so users of the framework no longer have to define individual message flows. Instead, they make use of an existing message flow that via simple customizations extension points is tailored to their needs. The framework helps to speed-up developments and it also guarantees a high quality as many others already have implemented and tested it before. A concrete example will be the scenario of a payment claim, where the beneficiary fills in an on-line form with all the necessary information via the portal. As soon as the payment claim is submitted, the platform creates a message with the necessary routing information for delivering it to the recipient, in this case the IT system of the Managing Authority. At the same time any supporting documents attached to the payment claim will be stored in the Document Repository. The Managing Authority is notified and then it can access and retrieve documents stored in the repository. At a later stage, when the payment claim is approved by the Managing Authority a notification message is sent to the beneficiary via the platform. Based on routing information that is attached to the notification message it is finally delivered to the beneficiary (portal) as shown in figure 6. Figure 6: General architecture of the e-trustex platform The solution allows relevant bodies to focus more on the most important part of the system; the logical integration that describes how messages travel through the different systems, how they are routed Sensitivity: Limited DG Issue Date: 23/01/13 Status: Draft Page 49