NExt and/or ExtraNet?

NExt stands for “New conception ExtraNet”. It will gradually replace ExtraNet in its current form. All relevant functions that are currently available in ExtraNet will also be available in NExt. In addition, new features will be added to complement or generally extend the current scope of functionality. The individual services to be provided in NExt are being developed in small, iterative steps. NExt will therefore launch as a minimum viable product (MVP, basic release) and then be expanded over time.

The Bundesbank’s individual business units will gradually migrate from ExtraNet to NExt. Both systems will thus operate in parallel for a certain period of time.

Further information on the release schedule will be published as soon as it is available. Customers affected by the changeover will be informed separately in advance.

What is NExt?

NExt is designed to provide users with a modern and intuitive portal encompassing all services and features covered by the scope of functionality. This means that users will have to spend less time searching for the features they need and will be able to easily find all of their key functions in a user-friendly and customisable format. In addition, when using the portal, users will see only the information and functions that are appropriate to their user rights and permissions. Each user can then individually select the features most relevant to them and personalise their NExt portal.

NExt vs. ExtraNet?

NExt	ExtraNet
Self-services and user managers for user administration	Paper-based processes or involvement of Bundesbank required, unnecessary waiting times in some cases due to use of different formats
Central access point: users have all the information they need in a single portal	Individual components can only be accessed separately via dedicated URLs
Convenient, accessible user interfaces	Individual applications
Modern and secure authentication procedures	Login only possible with user name and password
Easy and secure communication via a dialog function directly in the portal	Communication often only possible via email
Modern and standardised interfaces (APIs) used for automated exchange – notes for a developer portal to be added later	Non-standardised interfaces

Scope of functionality

NExt offers a variety of basic services that are needed by a wide range of users, thus achieving the objectives of the NExt project. At the same time, these basic services are oriented towards standardisation. External customers benefit from this because it provides them with a single, uniform method of accessing comparable services in different areas of work that feature standardised content and functionalities. The Bundesbank follows the principle of “one face to the customer”, i.e. the design is consistent and standardised regardless of whether users connect via an API or make use of the GUI.

The following provides an overview of the basic services offered by NExt and whether these will be available immediately upon release of the MVP.

Registration process (including user managers)

Users can create their own user accounts. In addition, users are administered by user managers at their organisation.
MVP: Yes
Submission + status indicator

Submission + status indicator replaces the old ExtraNet file transfer function. Customers can use this function to transfer data to the Bundesbank. With the newly added status indicator, external customers can directly see the processing status of their submitted files.
MVP: Yes
Provision [Download area]

In this area, the Bundesbank makes files available to customers for download.

MVP: Yes
Dialog

The dialog function replaces the contact tool in ExtraNet and offers secure communication with external customers in NExt.
MVP: No
Email notifications

NExt offers external users a wide variety of options for receiving emails informing them about new processes in NExt. These email notifications can be activated or deactivated individually. In this way, users can ensure that they never miss important and, in some cases, time-sensitive information.

MVP: Yes
Reporting calendar

The newly developed (reporting) calendar provides external customers with an overview of all submission deadlines for their relevant specialist topics. For business topics that require reports and/or submissions, the calendar is linked to the submission and status indicator function. This means that the calendar displays whether reporting requirements still need to be fulfilled for specific topics on specific dates.
MVP: No
To-do list

The to-do list provides external customers with a clear overview of any tasks they need to complete that may be located in various other areas in NExt. These may include, for example, unanswered dialog messages, unread error messages for submitted reports, and required actions in external user management.
MVP: No
Information and regulations

Business units have the option of displaying all the current information and documents that external users require on a particular business topic in one place in NExt and, if necessary, providing links to the Bundesbank website. The option of sorting or restricting this information according to business topic is planned.
MVP: No
Support and help function

For external users, each page in NExt features its own context-sensitive help function. The help function offers instructions and information on various topics.
MVP: Yes
APIs/interfaces

External customers can use APIs to connect to the services in NExt.

MVP: Yes

Terminology

NExt makes use of new terminology. Definitions and explanations of these terms are provided below:

Business area
“Business area” (“Arbeitsgebiet”) is the new name for a “specialised procedure” (“Fachverfahren”) from ExtraNet due to the amended scope of functionality.
A business area comprises one or more thematically related business topics of a particular business unit.
Examples:
Prudential returns – BAM
CashEDI – CSH
Open Market Tender Operations System – OMTOS
Business topic

The term “business topic” (“Fachthema”) replaces “function of a specialised procedure” (“Fachverfahrensfunktion”) from ExtraNet.
It refers to the individual roles and permissions within a given business area. In this context, one role can grant access to multiple basic services in NExt (e.g. Submission and status indicator, Reporting calendar, Dialog). This enables individual or multiple options to be enabled or disabled for a given business topic, depending on the needs of the business unit.
Business identifier

A business identifier (“Fachidentifikator”) is a code for a specialised application, e.g. bank sort code, MFI code, or GLN.
Status indicator

The status indicator is a standardised form of feedback from the Bundesbank to users on the status of their submissions.
User manager
External organisations can designate their own employees as their user managers in NExt. User manager tasks include:
approval of employee applications for access to NExt;
approval of changes to employee profiles and permissions
creation and direct maintenance of employee user data (if required)
overview of existing users (user administration)
deletion of inactive users
support for blocked employee accounts.
User managers can be defined for one or more business areas. User managers can also act as normal users at the same time.

Frequently asked questions – FAQ

General questions

What exactly is the idea behind the NExt portal?
NExt provides all of its services and features in a modern and intuitive portal.
One important aspect is that similar functionalities are presented to users in a standardised way (NExt basic services). From the user’s perspective, the design will always be the same regardless of the business unit with which they are ultimately exchanging information or data.
What are “interactive services”?
In NExt, standalone business unit applications will be offered in the form of interactive services.
Examples of such services from ExtraNet are the reporting platforms for banking supervision and statistics, the EBS, BBS and OMTOS bidding systems, and WebEDI and WebCRCMV for cash management.
What help and support functions will NExt offer and what implications will these have?
NExt offers users a context-sensitive help function for each page. It is intended that explanations and information will be provided for each topic. For example, Submission and status indicator includes additional dedicated explanations for various business topics. Informative and appropriate explanations should reduce the number of errors and queries.
What benefits will NExt email notifications offer in the future?
NExt offers users a wide variety of options for receiving emails with information about new processes in the portal. These email notifications can be activated or deactivated individually. In this way, users can ensure that they never miss important and, in some cases, time-sensitive information.
Basic services that can be used with email notifications include, for example, the registration process (including user managers), Submission and status indicator, Provision [Download area], and Dialog.
Key changes
Which basic services are offered in NExt?
NExt offers a variety of basic services. These include functionalities that are required by a wide range of business units. At the same time, these basic services serve to standardise the Bundesbank’s external communication. The aim is that users will be able to use the same services with standardised functionalities for similar specialist use cases across the various business units of the Bundesbank. Business units that wish to use or offer functionalities included in NExt’s basic services should follow the principle of “one face to the customer” and should not provide their own comparable competing services alongside NExt. “One face to the customer” stands for consistent and standardised design via both the API and GUI.

Standardisation benefits users by providing them with a single, uniform method of accessing comparable services with consistent content and functionalities across different business areas.
Selected basic services:
Registration process (including user managers)
Submission and status indicator
Provision [Download area]
Dialog
Reporting calendar
To-do list
Email notifications
Information and regulations
Support and help function
APIs/interfaces
User registration
User registration – what’s going to change?
Generally, the registration and administration of the users is handled by the enterprises themselves.
The following procedure is used for registration:
User Manager
The user managers are created by the business units of the Deutsche Bundesbank.
There may be one or several user managers per organisation.
Task: Approval of registration or changes in user rights, creation or deletion of users, overview of existing users (= user administration).
User
Task: Organisation self-registration and use of the required business topics.
The role of the user manager and the user can be performed by one person (e.g. in the case of smaller enterprises). For example, a user with a user ID can be both a user of the business topics and a user manager.
One registration per user (in an organisation) is required. A previously registered user may be granted access to other business topics at a later date.
Bundesbank-internal specialist administrators have access to user management and can, where necessary, create, block, delete, etc. user managers and users.

Can a user manager also be a regular user?
Yes, this is possible.
Can multiple user managers be designated for a single business area?
At least one user manager must be designated for each business area. However, it is recommended that several user managers be designated to each business area in order to prevent any disruptions to service in cases of absence (e.g. holidays or illness). There is no maximum number of user managers per organisation.
Authorisation of external users via alternative procedures
For organisations that cannot be checked against the commercial register (e.g. in the cases of organisations domiciled abroad, registered associations, individuals) alternative authorisation procedures will be possible. An alternative procedure is the definition of user managers by BBk business unit administrators.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) – How will this be implemented and what second factors will be permitted?
In addition to using a password, it is planned that two-factor authentication will be mandatory for logging into NExt.
Several variants of the second factor are offered (authenticator app, SMS and e-mail). For security reasons, the Bundesbank recommends using the authenticator app.
How many steps does the registration process have?
With the introduction of NExt, registration will be a two-step process. In the first step, the user managers will be designated by the Bundesbank’s business units. The user manager can then create, invite and manage users.
The Bundesbank may expand the registration process in the future.
What email address should be used for registration?
A user account should be assigned to a person. For this reason, it is recommended that a personal email address be used for a user account, rather than a functional email address.
Can NExt operators and specialist administrators change user rights and delete users?
Although it is planned that the Bundesbank will no longer be involved in the registration process, it will still be possible for the Bundesbank to provide support in user administration.
What are the rules for passwords in NExt?
To protect the user account, a secure password must contain at least ten characters. It must contain a capital letter, a lower case letter, a number and a special character. The password rules are shown at registration and when changing the password.
Dialog

Dialog function in NExt – What is it? What can I use it for?
The Dialog function in NExt offers secure communication with external users. This comprises the secure exchange of information in the form of messages, including the associated file attachments.

Submission and status indicator

Submission and status indicator [formerly File transfer]

Unlike ExtraNet, NExt will no longer feature one mailbox per business topic. Instead, submissions will be made centrally in one location. A common file naming convention must be followed in order for submissions to be allocated to the relevant business topics (and thus the appropriate internal business areas). There will be an alternative procedure for business units in which file names are always subject to external requirements, for example.

Submissions will undergo extensive checks (file name, authorisations, etc.).

In future, users will be able to see an overview of the current processing status of their submitted files and any checks that have been completed. In NExt, the results of the checks will now be reported for all business units and shown in the Status indicator in a clear and standardised format. This includes checks that are carried out in NExt and also those performed in subsequent Bundesbank business areas. This information will be made available to external users via the API and GUI, so that each user can choose the most appropriate format for themselves.

Feedback files, which in ExtraNet are made available for download separately from the submitted files, will be able to be shown directly at the time of submission. In addition to being provided with status information and feedback files in NExt, it is planned that external users will have the option of receiving notification by email. Each user will be able to select the types of feedback and stages of the checking process for which they wish to receive email notification.

For submissions, service providers/computer centres/authorised third parties will still be able to submit data on behalf of (other) reporting entities/organisations. A new function in NExt will allow both the submitter and the actual reporting entity to view this feedback.

NExt filenaming convention

Specialisttopic.Prod/Test.Filetype.Identifier.Date. Servicefields.Fileextension

	Field/pointer	Mandatory?	Definition	Format
1	Business topic	Yes	Value from the list of available short names for business topics
2	Prod/Test	Yes	Production (live) or test	P = Production T = Test
3	File type	Yes	Different types of submissions within a business topic	Alphanumeric + “_” Max. length
4	Identifier	Yes	Identifier allocated by business topic	See allocation in business topic business area
5	Date	Yes	Reporting date, other reference date, submission date, etc.	YYYYMMDD
6	Service fields	No	For individual purposes of business topics	Alphanumeric + “_”
7	File extension	Yes

=> “.” is not permitted as a character within a pointer because it serves as a separator between pointers.

How long can the name of a submitted file be?

The name of a submitted file may be up to 100 characters long.

What happens if a file is submitted to a business topic using the NExt filenaming convention but an incorrect file name has been used? Can the user then manually assign it to the appropriate business topic?

It is not possible to manually assign the relevant business topic to such a file at a later date. Only business topics that do not use the NExt filenaming convention can be selected for “manual assignment”.

Reporting calender

What is the new reporting calendar in NExt?
The newly developed (reporting) calendar provides external users with an overview of all submission deadlines for their relevant business topics. For business topics that require reports and/or submissions, the calendar is linked to the Submission + status indicator function. This means that the calendar displays whether reporting requirements still have to be fulfilled for business topics on specific dates.
Information and regulations

What is shown under “Information and regulations”?
Business units have the option of displaying all the current information and documents that their users require on a particular business topic in one place in NExt and, if necessary, providing links to the Bundesbank’s website. There are plans to provide the option of sorting or restricting this information according to business topic. The widget is shown on the Next start page.
This can be used to provide users with specific news or new information.
Changeover to NExt

Migration – Will there be a migration from ExtraNet to NExt?
As the process of registering users will be completely overhauled, there will be no migration from ExtraNet to NExt. Users will need to re-register in NExt.
Is it necessary to completely re-register all of my existing users when changing my business area over to NExt?
As a general rule, all Extranet users must re-register in NExt. If these users are already authorised for other business topics in NExt when your business unit changes over to NExt, they will only need to update their authorisations.
When will users be informed of the changeover date?
You will be informed on time by your business unit and the NExt service team. Lead time will be factored in for preparation and technical changes prior to the changeover and there will be sufficient time for testing.
Contact

Whom can I contact if I have any further questions?
You can contact the NExt service team or the contact persons in your business area.
Technical questions

To what extent will APIs play a role in NExt?
The topic of APIs (application programming interfaces) is becoming increasingly important for users. In NExt, users can select the interface (API or GUI) that best suits their needs.
Where it makes technical sense, NExt basic services can also be used via modern REST APIs.
The necessary documents will be made available to the user on time.

Testing

Are you a current user of ExtraNet and want to see what NExt has to offer?

We regularly host testing sessions where we present and explain new features. Are you interested in taking part? If so, please contact us via the contact form (under Contact) and we will send you information about testing.

New conception ExtraNet – NExt

NExt and/or ExtraNet?

What is NExt?

NExt vs. ExtraNet?

Scope of functionality

Terminology

Frequently asked questions – FAQ

What exactly is the idea behind the NExt portal?

What are “interactive services”?

What help and support functions will NExt offer and what implications will these have?

What benefits will NExt email notifications offer in the future?

User registration – what’s going to change?

Can a user manager also be a regular user?

Can multiple user managers be designated for a single business area?

Authorisation of external users via alternative procedures

Two-factor authentication (2FA) – How will this be implemented and what second factors will be permitted?

How many steps does the registration process have?

What email address should be used for registration?

Can NExt operators and specialist administrators change user rights and delete users?

What are the rules for passwords in NExt?

Dialog function in NExt – What is it? What can I use it for?

Submission and status indicator [formerly File transfer]

NExt filenaming convention

How long can the name of a submitted file be?

What happens if a file is submitted to a business topic using the NExt filenaming convention but an incorrect file name has been used? Can the user then manually assign it to the appropriate business topic?

What is the new reporting calendar in NExt?

What is shown under “Information and regulations”?

Migration – Will there be a migration from ExtraNet to NExt?

Is it necessary to completely re-register all of my existing users when changing my business area over to NExt?

When will users be informed of the changeover date?

Whom can I contact if I have any further questions?

To what extent will APIs play a role in NExt?

Testing