Technical Update March 2022
General: When does BKR implement new software?
BKR has several different flows for scheduling the implementation of software. Only some of the software implementation processes lead to temporary interruption of our services. If an interruption is required, we schedule the implementation during our service windows, which are on Tuesday mornings from 5:00 am to 7:00 am (at the latest) in even weeks. Implementation processes that will not cause any interruption are scheduled to take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. We will announce interruptions on our website and will inform you in advance if the implementation is expected to have any impact.
General: New email address as of April 4th
Our customer service department can be reached via a new email address as of April 4th: customerservice@bkr.nl. Our current email address kcczakelijk@bkr.nl will remain in use until April 4.
CKI: Alerts with final date scheduled in the past will be available later
We have found that we will need some more time to post starred items. This means they will be available later than the previously announced date of 5 April. We will inform you as soon as the starred items are available again.
VPS: Designated officers for files
From now on, a designated officer can be appointed to each file. We have made several modifications to the VPS finding place for debts (vindplaats van schulden, or VPS) to enable this:
- On the page ‘List of files’ you will see a new column called ‘Designated officer’. This column also includes the option of adding a designated officer to one or more files. On the same page you will also see the name of the ‘designated officer in charge’ if you have entered one.
- When exporting the file details, you will see a new column called ‘Designated officer’ in the Excel sheet. It is found at the end of the sheet.
- When exporting the contact details, you will see a new column called ‘Designated officer’ in the Excel sheet. This column is also at the end of the sheet.
VPS: Lenders can use gender indication ‘X’ when reporting alerts
From now on, lenders can use gender indication ‘X’ when reporting alerts about payment arrears to the VPS. The ‘X’ stands for ‘Neutral identity’.
VPS: Users can use gender indication ‘X’
If the VPS receives an alert with gender indication ‘X’, it will be processed as ‘Neutral identity’ in the VPS environment. This means you now see the gender indication in the ‘List of files’ and on the page ‘File details’. In correspondence to individuals with a neutral identity, the salutation is neutral (gender independent).
VPS: first Management Information (MI) report available
From now on, VPS provides a single Management Information (MI) report, which shows all file results per period, per geographical area and per age category. In the near future, we will add more details to this report. You can find the report in the menu, below ‘Dashboard’. If you select this option, the report will be presented based on the standard selection values. You can adjust these values to your preferences.
VPS: Adding street and/or place of residence to an alert
If we receive an alert regarding payment arrears that does not include a street and/or place of residence, the VPS will determine which street, place of residence and municipality matches the combination of the postal code and house number. We will add these additional details to the alert.
VPS: different set of codes can be given in submitted file
When generating correspondence to residents, personal details containing symbols above, through or below letters (diacritics) in alerts were not always recorded correctly. This process has been improved. One way to helps record these personal details in the correct manner is to submit files with the specific UTF-8 (8-bit Unicode Transformation Format). The manual for the Portal for corporate clients gives a detailed explanation on how to configure the set of codes for the files you submit to us.
