Progress of the PEPPOL project

The second year of operations in the PEPPOL project has resulted in significant progress towards the goals derived from the broader vision of PEPPOL that any company (incl. SMEs) in the EU can communicate electronically with any EU governmental institution for all procurement processes.

The PEPPOL project is divided into five vertical work packages (WP):

·         WP1 eSignatures

·         WP2 Virtual Company Dossier (VCD)

·         WP3 eCatalogues

·         WP4 eOrdering

·         WP5 eInvoicing

 

In addition, three horizontal WP’s have been established in order to facilitate project management, awareness activities and the establishment of a common PEPPOL interoperability infrastructure:

·         WP6 Project Management

·         WP7 Awareness, Training and ConsensusBuilding

·         WP8 Solutions Architecture, Design and Validation

 

This work package structure has been the same since the project start up 1^st of May 2008. Half way into the second year of operations, four new consortium members joined PEPPOL, increasing the number of participants to 18, coming from 12 different countries, 9 being national authorised representatives. Following the enlargement, the original budget of €19.6 million was increased to €30.8 million. The funding principle with 50 % of the total budget funded by the European Commission, the other 50% funded by the consortium members remains unchanged. As part of the enlargement process the PEPPOL project duration was extended with six months, giving a 42 month project period. The enlargement process was initiated by the CIP ICTPSP third call for proposals, opening in January 2009. The aim of this call was to increase the overall impact of the PEPPOL project, by:

·         Strengthening of the topics addressed by PEPPOL.

·         Increasing the geographical coverage.

·         Develop a long-term sustainability plan.

 

Through the enlargement process a number of changes were made in the original description of work; some relating directly to the purpose of the call, others addressing the need to integrate work package activities. One of the most important changes introduced was a restructuring of the construction and pilot phases of the project, following up on deliverable D5.1 (prepared in the design phase/year one of the PEPPOL project) introducing three levels of pilot types:

·         Proof of Concepts (PoC) is used to create basic components using a SCRUM methodology. This means a fast, flexible and agile way of creating building blocks. The consequence is that Basic Components - and Basic Architecture (component) specifications deliverables are finalized at the same time.

·         When the Basic Components and the Basic Architecture is finalized, Test Pilots are initiated to test its quality, flexibility, robustness and scalability in a test environment.

·         The original pilot phase now renamed to Production Pilot is the test pilots moved into a real business setting. The Production pilot will be running for at least 12 months of the project period.

 

As a result of this approach the remaining part of the PEPPOL project following the enlargement (24 months) was divided into three main pilot waves:

 

Pilot wave 1 - DevelopingProof-of-Concept pilot containing the artificial setup but not production ready lasting from November 1^st 2009 until April 30^th 2010:

•          Technical specifications and development of Proof-of-Concept Pilot.

•          This period is mainly used for activation and deployment of newcomers’ resources into the different WPs and tasks

 

Pilot wave 2 - Test Pilot with “dummy data” containing the artificial setup, but in principle production ready – lasting from May 1^st 2010 until October 31^st 2010:

•          Test Pilot and adjustments of developed software, use of “dummy data”.

•          During this period, all newcomers shall connect their solutions to the PEPPOL infrastructure.

 

Pilot wave 3 - Production Pilot - containing real life set up, rolled out into a production environment, limited scale lasting from November 1^st 2010 until November 2011:

•          Production Pilot rolled out into a production environment.

•          During this period, countries not yet part of the PEPPOL consortium are invited to connect to the PEPPOL infrastructure.

•          Routines for connection of new participants will be based on the experiences gained in the second period.

 

A more detailed view on this three pilot wave approach can be given through the illustration below.

 

 

Both test pilot pilots and production pilots are evaluated, analyzed and acted on through the whole project. This can result in new and more advanced PoCs and Test Pilots being performed through the basic architecture Test Pilots and Production Pilots. Through the evaluation process and the execution of the Production Pilots, results for creating eProcurement Best Practices on rollout, governance, implementation and testing is extracted and disseminated through Best Practice deliverables. Last an evaluation of the PEPPOL project is made from an accumulation of WP specific evaluation deliverables.

 

This gives the following list of generic tasks that have been/will be detailed and performed in WP2, 3, 4 and 5:

Proof of concept phase	·       SCRUM based development of software components in cooperation with WP 8 ·       Test software components ·       Initiate setup of Contracting Authority – Economic Operator pairs ·       Develop and implement test pilot- and production pilot evaluation model and plan
Test Pilot phase	·       Implement architecture and software components ·       Test architecture and software components ·       Evaluate architecture and software components ·       Adjust architecture and software components, based on findings in testing and evaluation ·       Implement architecture and software components in production environment
Production Pilot phase	·       Test architecture and software components in relation to business processes ·       Evaluate architecture and software components in relation to business processes ·       Extract Best Practice ·       Accumulate evaluation results

 

WP 1 and WP 8 are developed and piloted (PoC, test pilot and production pilot) ahead of WP2, 3, 4 and 5, since they form the foundation for these WPs. But the real Test Piloting and Production Piloting only makes sense in connection with one or more of WP2, 3, 4 and 5, so the Best Practice and Evaluation is made in alignment with these WPs.

 

The structure of the building blocks and components to be delivered from the PEPPOL project can be illustrated as follows:

 

 

 

This structure is reflected (where relevant) in the deliverables that has been finalised in the second PEPPOL year of operations:

1.2          Trans-national verification solution(s) - Prototype Documentation

2.2          Specification of architecture and components enabling cross-border VCD

3.2          Specification of architecture and components enabling cross-border eCatalogue

4.2          Specification of architecture and components enabling cross-border eOrdering

5.3          Specification of architecture and components enabling cross-border eInvoicing

6.5          5^th quarterly report

6.6          6^th quarterly report

6.7          7^th quarterly report

6.8          Second annual report

7.3          Stakeholder analysis and involvement strategy and dissemination action plan and strategy II

7.4          a) Report and evaluation of campaigns I

7.4          b) Business case scenarios

8.2          Version 1.0 of the PEPPOL transport infrastructure

 

Throughout the piloting phases, a sustainability model is developed as part of WP7 activities, to secure continued operations and governance of the PEPPOL solutions after project end.

 

The main stakeholders of the PEPPOL project and the main messages used to explain expected benefits towards them are as follows:

Stakeholders/target groups	Main message on PEPPOL/e-Procurement benefits
Suppliers of governments across Europe (with a focus on SME´s)	“Maximise your profit with easy e-Procurement”
ICT Industry 1.       ERP software companies, system integrators and specialized SW companies in eProcurement 2.       Value Added Network Service Providers	PEPPOL provides 1.       “Increased profits through new e-Procurement projects” 2.       “The GSM of eProcurement - Increase your profit with it”
Governments in EU MS on the federal, regional and local level (buyer)	“ “Better, simpler, safer” - increased efficiency with e-Procurement”
International governmental organisations (policy makers)	“PEPPOL, Europe’s new procurement network – get in early!”
Standardisation bodies	“PEPPOL ensures traction of standards”

 

The PEPPOL consortium has the following members per 1^st of May 2010

Participant organisation name	Participant short name	Country	Certified representative of a national administration?
Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Coordinator)	Difi	Norway	Yes
Agência Nacional de Compras Públicas*	ANCP	Portugal	Yes
Assistance au developpement des echanges en techologies economiques et financieres	Adetef	France	Yes
Central Services Directorate General	KSZF	Hungary	No
Consip S.p.A.	Consip	Italy	No
CSI Piemonte	CSI Piemonte	Italy	No
InfoCamere	IC	Italy	No
Intercent-er	Intercent-er	Italy	No
Ministry of Economy and Finance	MEF	Italy	Yes
Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping*	SSDP	Greece	Yes
Ministry of Finance	VM	Finland	Yes
National Financial Management Authority*	ESV	Sweden	Yes
National IT- and Telecom Agency	NITA	Denmark	Yes
PEPPOL.AT: Consortium Ministry of Finance, Federal Computing Center and Federal Procurement Agency	PEPPOL.AT	Austria	Yes
Scottish Government*	ScotGov	UK	No
Senator of Finances – Free Hanseatic city of Bremen	Bremen	Germany	No
University of Koblenz-Landau	UKL	Germany	No
University of Piraeus*	UPRC	Greece	No

*New PEPPOL consortium member.

Consortium members DigitPA (former CNIPA) (Italy) and EKEVYL (Greece) left the consortium 30^th of April 2010.

For further information, visit www.peppol.eu or contact the project via info@peppol.eu.