For the automatic exchange of authenticated records, public services in Belgium are being advised to prepare to switch to web services. The country’s Crossroads Bank for Social Security says it will phase out support for other (legacy) methods of exchanging data.
The agency is reducing the number of data exchange protocols it supports. As of 1 October, one outdated data exchange method (WS70) will no longer be supported. Even while it continues to support several other data exchange methods, the agency recommends switching to web services. Future updates to web services are easier to implement in existing IT systems, the agency explains.
The Crossroads Bank for Social Security manages data exchange between some 2000 social security institutions in Belgium.
The reasons for phasing out the WS70 protocol include its failing support for long family names. The protocol also does not allow many diacritical marks. Web services, on the other hand, allow surnames of any length, and support a large number of diacritical signs.
Public sector organisations in Flanders can use the Magda platform for the automatic exchange of social security records. In March this year, during the Sharing & Reuse Conference 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal, Magda was one of the winners of the Sharing and Reuse Award.
More information:
Announcement by the Flemish government (in Dutch)
Magda (in Dutch)