Technical Update December 2021
BKR discontinues STUB environment for CKI
As part of the introduction of CKI3.0, a separate CKI test environment has been realised: the D environment. As a result, it was decided to discontinue maintenance and support of the STUB environment for CKI. Given that the STUB has rarely been used in recent months, this environment will be closed for CKI with effect from 1 February 2022. Note that STUB will continue to be available for other services.
Update regarding CKI3.0 functionalities
When CKI3.0 became operational, some of its functionalities were not yet ready for use. These will be available at a later point in time. For example, the ‘Clearing’ functionality was added recently. This functionality clears all agreements whose retention period has expired every night. The ‘Monitor reports’ have been made complete by adding the signal ‘Expiry of claim’. Clients now receive notifications for agreements that have not seen changes in irregularities over the past 5 years.
Rectification and starred items in CKI3.0
The construction of ‘Rectification’ is progressing well and this functionality will be operative by mid January. The process for determining whether an item is eligible for rectification has been improved. Adjustments made following the weighing of interests or a judicial decision are not affected by this. This is why it is important to select the correct reason for removal when making an adjustment. The completion of starred items (‘Sterposten’) is not progressing as smoothly and has been postponed until mid Q1 2022.
Better validation of follow-up reports
As part of the development of CKI3.0, stricter validation rules have been introduced for follow-up reports. This has led to a higher disapproval rate among some clients. BKR has therefore temporarily reversed the rules in the CKI3.0.2 hot fix release of 20-07-2021. However, the new rules are very relevant, because they can guarantee the accuracy of registrations. BKR will therefore reverse the temporary hot fix in mid March 2022. Read more here.
Request certificates via the portal for corporate clients
Our KYC and VIS products, as well as CKI in the near future, make use of authentication certificates via API Management (APIM). Clients request these certificates via the portal for corporate clients. Additions will be made to this functionality with effect from 15 December. It will then be possible to make certificates for sub-client numbers on behalf of a main client number. It will also be possible to list multiple email addresses for notification when a certificate nears expiry .
Request multiple certificates
Until now, it was only possible to request one certificate per client number. As a result, certificates were shared. As this is not a good situation, three certificates will be allowed per client number. This means an ‘Organization unit’ will need to be reported when creating a ‘Certificate signing request’ (CSR). Starting in February 2022, this will be supported via the portal for corporate clients. Existing certificates will remain valid and will not need to be modified.
Documentation regarding ‘Authentication & Authorisation’
The Authentication & Authorisation User Manual explains the generic method of authentication and authorisation for Stichting BKR’s web services. This document is needed when using one of BKR’s products. The User Manual can be found on the portal for corporate clients.
KYC webinars
In November, Stichting BKR organised several webinars about KYC for clients and client suppliers. These webinars explained the functional and technical modifications of the new interface for KYC. If you missed any of these webinars and would like to see them, you can find the recordings and slides on the portal for corporate clients, under menu item KYC.
Modified KYC documentation
The technical ‘BKR KYC (standard API)’ User Manual has been modified. The most recent version of this document can be found on the portal for corporate clients.
Users: Hide single signals (‘No action needed’)
Several users have reported that the list of ‘Single signals’ is too long and confusing. And that many of the signals do not require any action, for whatever reason. That's why it is now possible to hide signals that will not require any action. Given that only the status ‘Help accepted’ is allowed to be reported to lenders, the deactivation of signals (and the accompanying reason) will not be reported to the lender.
Users: Modification of MI reports
The MI reports for users have been modified. Until recently, the delivery date of data was shown for each lender. Now, the only indication is ‘Delivered’ or ‘Not delivered’. Not delivered: ‘The lender has not delivered any data in this period’. Delivered: ‘The lender has delivered data in this period’. In the latter case, the number of signals can be ‘0’ if the data delivered does not include signals for your municipality.
Users: Pilot regarding mortgages
A new pilot for processing mortgage signals in VPS will start in January 2022. As part of this pilot, several banks will deliver multiple mortgage signals to a small selection of municipalities. We have made some adjustments to the VPS in order to support this pilot. The participating municipalities have been informed of this and will receive further information in the near future.
Threshold amount for signals in VPS
Municipalities can have a threshold amount entered for signals, in order to block signals with very low amounts; these amounts should be processed via social debt collection procedures. Lenders receive a notification of this. If you are a municipality that wants to make use of this option, please contact us via kcczakelijk@bkr.nl or at 088-150 2600 (Monday - Friday from 8.30 am to 5.00 pm). Read more here.
Lenders: Signal reference in log files
When delivering a signal in VPS, a signal reference is created unless the lender delivers their own signal reference via the S2S interface. We send the reference in the log file with the accompanying text: “Signal has been saved under this signal reference: {signal reference}”. The signal reference ensures that the signal can be traced throughout the entire process.
Lenders: Modification of ‘Help accepted’ reports
Several lenders have indicated that the ‘Help accepted’ reports contain too little information. This is why the following details have been added to these reports: ‘Signal reference’, ‘Gender’, ‘Initials’, ‘Surname prefixes’, ‘Surname’, ‘Street’, ‘House number’, ‘House letter’, ‘House number addition’, ‘Postal code’ and ‘Town’. These details are the same as those delivered by the lenders for the signal at an earlier stage.
Implementation Calendar
To give you insight into our product development projects, we have set up an implementation calendar. The calendar gives you up-do-date information about our scheduled time lines, so you know when to expect releases of new functionalities. Given that we work according to the Agile method, we cannot specify exact release dates for our new functionalities, but this calendar does provide an overall indication of the projects we are working on. We will update the calendar on a monthly basis and will publish it on the portal for corporate clients. No rights can be derived form this calendar.
Holidays and opening hours
On Friday 31 December 2021 we will be closed and you will not be able to reach us. We will be back at work and happy to help you on Monday 3 January 2022.
