After a four-month pilot phase with the “Schaffhauser eID+” electronic identity solution, the project partners have drawn a positive assessment.

The system, which has been implemented jointly by Swiss e-government specialist Procivis and the IT services of the canton and town of Schaffhausen (KSD), has proven to deliver the expected added value and will now be formally launched.

With the official go-live of eID+, the Swiss Canton of Schaffhausen strengthens its pioneering role when it comes to e-government at the cantonal and municipal levels.

As part of a pilot project running since December of last year, the Schaffhauser eID+ has allowed citizens of the Swiss Canton of Schaffhausen to install an electronic identity on their mobile phones and have its data validated by the residents’ registration office. Once set up, the electronic identity provides safe and easy-to-use access to a range of electronic government services without the need for additional logins and passwords.

In addition, the eID+ app allows citizens to securely store digital documents on their mobile phones in order to have them available at any time.

As a result of the successful pilot phase, the canton’s e-government core team has decided to officially take the Schaffhauser eID+ live this June and make it available to all of the canton’s citizens. At the same time, the number of services accessible via the Schaffhauser eID+ is planned to be extended over the course of this year.

In addition to further government services, eID+ will also be available as a means of electronic identification to private businesses. Related requests have already been addressed to the KSD during the pilot phase. With regard to the draft for a national electronic ID legislation, which the Swiss Federal Council has recently presented, the official launch of the Schaffhauser eID+ will allow Procivis and the canton’s egovernment core team to gain further experience and build up expertise.

The Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW has accompanied the Schaffhausen eID+ pilot phase with a study to determine the types of services users are most interested in and to assess the user-friendliness of the system. Both the citizens surveyed in the study as well as the administrative staff tasked with the validation of identity data have provided positive feedback.

On average, the initial installation and validation of the electronic identity took less than ten minutes. Government service areas that were of particular relevance to the study participants were tax administration, the residents’ registration office, passport office and road traffic department. Services in the fields of tax administration, employment office, child protective services, planning office and residents’ registration office can already be accessed with eID+.

Over the coming weeks, the list of services will be continuously expanded. In addition, the validation of personal data will be extended from Schaffhausen’s residents’ registration office to other locations throughout the canton.

To Procivis, the official go-live of the Schaffhauser eID+ represents the first regular implementation of the company’s eID+ technology in Switzerland. Said Procivis founder and CEO Daniel Gasteiger:

Daniel Gasteiger

“We’re excited about the Canton of Schaffhausen’s decision to launch eID+ as an official solution. Even after a few short months, our platform’s open architecture has already proven to be an important advantage as it will allow the Canton of Schaffhausen to use future developments in the field of digital identities for the benefit of its citizens.”

Member of Schaffhausen’s governing council and chair of the e-government core team Walter Vogelsanger said:

“The successful pilot phase has shown that the Schaffhauser eID+ can help us further extend our location and competitive advantage. I’m very pleased that we can now offer an electronic identity, which creates immediate value by providing access to a growing number of services, to all our citizens.”

This article first appeared on procivis.ch