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Why is onboarding important?

The identification and onboarding of data space participants is a mandatory step in all data space ecosystems. The onboarding process ensures that all actors in data space ecosystems are clearly identified and that the identities can be verified by everybody in the data space.

How does your organization benefit from onboarding?

The completion of the onboarding procedure will enable your organization to

  • participate in the Pontus-X data space ecosystem as consumer or service provider.
  • receive your first Gaia-X Digital Passport (Participant Credential) for identification of your organization.
  • be listed as organization participating in the largest publicly available Gaia-X data space.
  • understand how the Pontus-X identity ecosystem works.
  • understand how the Gaia-X identity ecosystem works.
  • bring your identity to other Gaia-X data space ecosystems for reuse.

For whom is this documentation?

  • Institutions and employees who want to get onboarded into Gaia-X and/or the Pontus-X data space ecosystem.
  • Developers who aim to integrate the onboarding flow into their solution and understand how an onboarded participant can be identified.

What can be learned from this documentation?

  1. The documentation will help you to understand the value of onboarding and why it is a mandatory step in all data space ecosystems.
  2. The documentation will inform you about all the prerequisites and information that is needed to complete the onboarding in Pontus-X and Gaia-X ecosystems.
  3. This onboarding documentation will take you through all steps that need to be completed to become part of the Pontus-X Data Space Ecosystem and the Gaia-X Ecosystem of Data Space Ecosystems.
  4. It will provide you with a walkthrough and guide that help you to successfully complete the onboarding procedure through an onboarding provider.
  5. It will famililiarize you with the concepts and terms of Self-Sovereign Identities (SSI), Verifiable Credentials (VC) and open identity ecosystems that form the basis for secure identification in most data spaces.

What is the general Onboarding Process for Data Space Ecosystems?

The general onboarding procedure in most data space ecosystems with an open identity ecosystem follows the same pattern.

  1. Authorized representatives of your organization will create an organizational account with the Fast Track Onboarding Application.
  2. Authorized representatives of your organization will provide the base data to identity your organization and request the onboarding procedure to participate in a data space.
  3. Your organization will be identified and the information will be validated against trusted national and international registers, i.e. business registers.
  4. Your verified identity will be linked to a public key or unique identifier which is used for all interactions in a data space ecosystem.
  5. If Self-Sovereign Identites (SSI) are applied, your organization will take custody of one or more private cryptographic keys that control your identity.
  6. Participants are re-identified on a regular basis to keep the information accurate and up to date.
  7. Once validation has been completed successfully, your organisation can utilise the data space ecosystem.

Structure of the Documentation and Orientation

This documentation is under development and will be continously improved. You are invited to contribute to the documentation. If you would like to contribute to this documentation please read our contribution guidelines.

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