The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute providing scientific and technical services. PTB measures with the highest accuracy and reliability, metrology as the core competence. One of the aims of PTB for 2005 is to gradually introduce the service "Metrological Services Online - application procedure for testing, approval, accreditation of equipment, laboratories and procedures". The purpose of this service, which will be offered on the Internet, is the online support of the following four fields of work of the PTB: Calibration, Testing, Approval, Advice. The documents received and prepared in this connection (e.g. certificates, test results, invoice-founding documents, official notifications and other sovereign documents) all have very different compulsory periods of record-keeping. For a continuous electronic, uninterrupted-media business process it is thus indispensable to create an archival solution for the electronic filing of legally binding and invoice-founding documents which, in addition to the safe-keeping of the documents, must also comply with the German regulation concerning digital signatures (SigG/SigV). The change to an electronic document infrastructure with electronically signed documents would, however, remain incomplete without an adequate electronic archive ensuring the long-term and legally secure archiving and availability of the electronic information. Within the framework of the ArchiSafe project (long-term archival storage), the basic principles of an economic and scaleable electronic archival solution were defined and implemented in the form of a pilot system. In November 2008 PTB and BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) published a Common Criteria Protection Profile for an ArchiSafe Compliant Middleware for Enabling the Long-Term Preservation of Electronic Documents.

Technology solution

Technology choice: Standards-based technology

Main results, benefits and impacts

By a suitable conception, and by opening interfaces to underlying functions in the Back-Office area, for example to budget systems (SAP, Mach, HASY/PARFIS, HIS) or electronic application and/or awarding procedures and to the cryptographic functions needed (signature, coding, time stamp with the aid of the basic component VPS and connected time stamp service), re-use of the project results within the Federal Administration at some later stage will be facilitated.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Lessons learnt

ArchiSafe is a realised concept and can be used as a basis for tender procedures of public authorities. Scope: National