Deploy the Platform

To ensure the success of the national project on the adoption of the LEILA Project framework for integration with the European Platform for Judicial Auctions, it is important to present it to all stakeholders involved. The project presentation should provide a comprehensive overview of the project goals, objectives, timeline, and scope. It should also highlight the benefits of the project and how it aligns with the stakeholders’ interests and priorities.

The project presentation should be tailored to the specific stakeholders and their roles in the project. For example, a Ministry of Justice (being the competent authority on policy making in the judicial auction domain on national level) may be more interested in the legal aspects of the project, while the technical experts working for the project implementing body may be more focused on the technical details.

In any case, the project presentation should be clear and concise, using language that is easily understandable by all stakeholders. Visual aids, such as diagrams or charts, can also be used to help convey complex information.

Overall, the project presentation is a key component in ensuring stakeholder buy-in and support for the integration project. To assist with this initial presentation, the LEILA Consortium has prepared the following tools:

A presentation template outlining the key components of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions and its benefits to different stakeholder groups

A factsheet summarizing information on the e-CODEX infrastructure and its role for the proper functioning of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions

A checklist of legal and organizational requirements to be considered during the implementation phase of a national project on the adoption of the LEILA Project framework for integration with the European Platform for Judicial Auctions

A sample communication plan to facilitate stakeholder engagement and information sharing.

These tools can be customized and tailored to the specific needs and context of the respective national project, providing a helpful starting point for the initial presentation to key stakeholders.

Available Documentation

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ Architecture (High Level Design): This document provides essential technical information for Member States to assist in installing the tools developed under the LEILA Project for integration with the European Platform for Judicial Auctions. Key aspects include:

• LEILA Data Model & integration requirements
• LEILA Central Portal Architecture
• Mini-LEILA Local Portal (architecture, REST APIs)
• Domibus Gateway (communication standards and protocols involved in sending auction data to the Platform).

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ Member State Integration User Guide: This document describes the installation and configuration instruction to integrate the Member State’s national platform with the LEILA Central Portal to send auction data using the Domibus Gateway.

Adapting the National Platform

The national platform is to be connected to the European Platform for Judicial Auctions via the Domibus Gateway (see below for further details). If the national platform uses other data structures or XML schemas than the ones developed under the LEILA Project, a mapping exercise must be performed.

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ procedures designed under the LEILA Project are supported by common electronic business documents in XML format (also called XSDs or XML schemas). The schemas represent the content as agreed upon in the LEILA Project. The deployment of these schemas into automated proceeding for purposes of domestic solutions requires mapping between schemas on the European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ layer and the schemas used in the domestic solutions.

Installing Domibus Gateway

The first step to become part of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ environment is to request access to it and start testing.

To be able to start testing, the Domibus Gateway must be installed as a minimum. For Domibus Gateway setup, the main steps include:

• Downloading the latest Domibus Gateway version (via https://ec.europa.eu/digital-building-blocks)
• Following Domibus Gateway quickstart guide (available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-building-blocks)
• Uploading Pmode Configuration prepared by the LEILA Consortium
• Adding Truststore and keystore
• Configuring web-service plugin
• Setting up SSL (Tomcat configuration)
• Implementing the LEILA Application
• Schedule a job to communicate with Domibus web-service plugin.

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ Member State Integration User Guide

The ‘Member State Integration User Guide’ document offers detailed instructions for integrating a Member State’s existing national platform on judicial auctions with the LEILA Central Portal using Domibus Gateway. Key steps in this process include:

• Installation and configuration: The guide outlines how to install and configure the necessary components for integration, specifically focusing on setting up the Domibus Gateway.
• System prerequisites:
  • Domibus 5.0.X Tomcat Version: The specific version of Domibus required.
  • MySQL 8.0: The database system to be used.
  • Linux Operating System: Recommended versions include RHEL 7.5+, Rocky Linux, or Ubuntu 20.X.X LTS+.
  • Java Development Kit: Version 8.0 is required.
  • Internet Access: Necessary for downloading software packages.
• Environment configuration: Configuring the environment for secure communication between the Member State’ national platform and the LEILA Central Portal.
• Domibus Gateway setup: This gateway is vital for managing secure data transfer between the LEILA Central Portal and the Member State’s national platform. Detailed steps for its installation and configuration are provided, ensuring secure and efficient communication.

This guide is essential for Member States with their existing national platforms on judicial auctions, providing a clear and comprehensive pathway to integrate with the European Platform for Judicial Auctions and enhance the visibility and accessibility of their auctions on a European scale.

Available Documentation

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ Architecture (High Level Design): This document outlines the standalone portal solution developed under the LEILA Project for Member States without a central platform on judicial auctions, detailing how it integrates with the LEILA Central Portal (being the core of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions) and manages auctions.

Mini-LEILA Installation Guide: This document is aimed to support the technical experts in a MS project team and constitutes the installation manual of the standalone portal solution developed under the LEILA Project, known as Mini-LEILA, for the purposes of its correct configuration. Mini-LEILA is the complementary tool developed under the LEILA Project to secure access to the European Platform on Judicial Auctions for Member States without a national platform for judicial auctions.

Description

To install the generic platform – Mini-LEILA, provided by the LEILA Consortium, the Member State competent body should follow a set of steps.

First, the Member State competent body should ensure that the resources allocated to the national project meet the necessary technical requirements of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions such as server space, adequate bandwidth, and system compatibility. Second, the Member State competent body should assign a project team responsible for, among other tasks, the installation process and provide them with the necessary information and documentation.

The ‘Mini-LEILA Installation Guide’ document serves as an essential manual for the installation and configuration of the Mini-LEILA standalone portal solution and is specifically designed for technical experts. This comprehensive guide details the process for adding, modifying, or removing auctions within various sections of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions. It ensures that each auction is displayed with all necessary configurations and information.

A crucial feature of the Mini-LEILA standalone portal solution is its ability to periodically send auction data to the LEILA Central Portal, facilitated by scheduled sending mechanisms. In this regard, the installation guide highlights the use of the Domibus Gateway, which provides a secure and asynchronous communication channel with the European Platform for Judicial Auctions.

The installation guide is an invaluable tool for Member States without a national platform for judicial auctions and offers a clear pathway towards integrating MS auction data into the broader LEILA Project framework (and by extension – the European Platform for Judicial Auctions), thereby enhancing their judicial auction processes and visibility within the EU context.

Available Documentation

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ Architecture (High Level Design): This document outlines the standalone portal solution developed under the LEILA Project for Member States without a central platform on judicial auctions, detailing how it integrates with the LEILA Central Portal (being the core of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions) and manages auctions.

European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ REST API Integration Guide: This document describes a REST Service that allows for the creation, modification, elimination, detailing and auction listing operations.

Mini-LEILA Installation Guide: This document is aimed to support the technical experts in a MS project team and constitutes the installation manual of the standalone portal solution developed under the LEILA Project, known as Mini-LEILA, for the purposes of its correct configuration. Mini-LEILA is the complementary tool developed under the LEILA Project to secure access to the European Platform on Judicial Auctions for Member States without a national platform for judicial auctions.

Description

In addition to the ‘Mini-LEILA Installation Guide’ document, the ‘REST API Integration Guide’ offers a detailed and user-friendly pathway for Member States with multiple auction platforms to connect each auction platform with Mini-LEILA standalone portal solution via a dedicated API. The guide elaborates on a REST Service that facilitates the creation, modification, elimination, detailing, and auction listing operations. This service is protected via OAuth 2 authentication, ensuring secure and controlled access.

Key functionalities include the ability to upload auctions through JSON files, meeting specific data criteria such as dates, sale currency, sale modality, asset types, and geographic coordinates.

The guide also provides clear instructions for using POSTMAN for API testing, along with detailed paths and methods for creating, updating, deleting, and retrieving auction details. It emphasizes on the conditions for successful auction creation, such as matching country codes and asset types, and provides comprehensive examples of JSON arrays for various operations.

This guide is an invaluable tool for Member States seeking to integrate their auction data with the Mini-LEILA standalone portal solution (and by extension – to the European Platform for Judicial Auctions). It ensures that even in the absence of a centralized national platform, Member States can effectively participate in the EU-wide judicial auction network, enhancing visibility and accessibility of their auctions through the European Platform for Judicial Auctions.

The European Platform for Judicial Auctions, developed by the LEILA Project, relies on the European Commission’s e-Delivery services (Domibus Gateway) for its message exchange functionality. The exchange of messages between various entities is dependent on the Domibus messaging platform instances, each hosted by the respective party. These instances have the capability for logging activities, which are by default stored locally. This local storage means that testing and troubleshooting are confined to local operations, limiting visibility into the broader European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ environment, especially in the context of cross-border exchanges.

The LEILA Testing System (LTS) is an independent platform developed to enable automated testing from a centralized perspective. Its primary objective is to allow competent bodies to send and monitor customizable e-Delivery messages autonomously, without needing an additional ‘testing partner’. This approach is similar to the e-CODEX Central Testing Platform (CTP). However, unlike other e-CODEX implementations that include additional components like the e-CODEX Connector, the LTS is designed as a standalone, lightweight solution without external dependencies.

Two scenarios have been developed to evaluate the connection state between Domibus Gateway and National Domibus Gateways. The first (Outgoing Connectivity Test) evaluates the ability of the Domibus Gateway to communicate with the national Local Domibus Gateways and troubleshoot any issues that may arise. The second (Incoming Connectivity Test) aims to identify and address any issues that may become apparent while trying to establish communication between the Local Domibus Gateways and the Domibus Gateway. Both scenarios are beneficial for Local Domibus Gateways’ administrators, as they provide them with the ability to effectively evaluate the communication state between their systems and the central Domibus Gateway through the LEILA Testing System (being developed for this purpose). The LEILA Testing System and test scenarios are described in more detail in LEILA Project Deliverable D3.3 ‘Report on Testing and Validation’.

LTS is built to support two principal functions. First, it processes all log activities from its installed Domibus Gateway, identifying every message exchange, regardless of whether they reach their intended destination. Second, it can function as a centralized sending hub, capable of creating and dispatching custom messages to any set up decentralized national system. It tracks the message’s journey and reports on its delivery success.

From a technical standpoint, the LTS comprises two main elements:

• a standalone, portable web application that is easily installable across various operating systems,
• a parser that processes, deciphers, and displays the messages exchanged within the LEILA environment. Through the LTS’s Web Graphical User Interface, users can view the status of message exchanges with the national system, checking for connectivity and interoperability issues.

To ensure compatibility with different systems and operating systems, LTS was developed using Python version 3, backed by a SQLite database engine in the backend. Additionally, a separate engine, operating at set intervals, persistently observes the LEILA’s environment, gathers the exchanged information, and updates the LTS accordingly.

LEILA Consortium is available to support competent authorities upon request.

The ‘Testing System Guide’ document details the specific steps and expected outcomes for each of these tests, guiding through the process of verifying the integrity and efficiency of the national system.

All tests can be considered successful when no problems are encountered in:

• exchanging between Domibus Gateways,
• exchanging entire message flows using all the forms between national system and European Platform for Judicial Auctions.

When a new Member State (or a national platform on judicial auctions) is willing to join the European Platform for Judicial Auctions, it is important to ensure that legal professionals within that state are adequately trained and supported to effectively utilize the Platform. This will not only ensure the success of the Platform on national level but will also promote efficient, transparent, and fair judicial auction system.

To ensure smooth communication and data exchange between the Member States and the European Platform for Judicial Auctions, legal professionals such as enforcement agents need to be trained to use the Platform effectively. There are two possible scenarios for training legal professionals depending on whether a Member State already has a national platform on judicial auctions in place or not.

In the first scenario, if a Member State has an existing national platform, the latter can be connected to the European Platform for Judicial Auctions, and the information listed therein will be automatically transmitted. Thus, the legal professionals in Member States with existing national platforms should be informed of the performance and functionalities of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions rather than training on specific usage and/or functionality. Such awareness activities may include details on the time it takes for a new auction to be added to the Platform, the timeframe for an auction to be removed from the Platform, and so on. Ensuring that the legal professionals are aware of the Platform’s capabilities can help to streamline the process of sharing auction information and ultimately benefit both the participating Member State and potential buyers interested in participating in the respective national auctions.

In the second scenario, if a Member State does not have a national platform on judicial auctions, the legal professionals will need to use the Mini-LEILA standalone portal solution provided by the LEILA Project. In this case, they need to be trained on how to use the Mini-LEILA Local Portal to ensure that they can effectively send information about auctions to the European Platform for Judicial Auctions.

To achieve this, the following steps could be taken:

Needs assessment: The Member State should conduct a needs assessment to identify the training needs of the legal professionals with regards to the use of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions in their respective scenario. This will help in customizing the training to suit the specific needs of the State.

Development of training materials: Based on the needs assessment, the national project team should develop training materials that cover the functionality of the Platform, its legal and procedural requirements tailored to the national context, and best practices for its use. These materials could include user manuals, video tutorials, and/or further awareness materials. To help with this task, the LEILA Consortium have delivered a European Platform for Judicial Auctions’ User Manual.

Training sessions: The Member State should organize training sessions for legal professionals, providing them with hands-on experience in using the Platform. These sessions could be conducted in-person or online, depending on the needs of the State.

Effective training and support for legal professionals are crucial for the successful adoption and utilization of the European Platform for Judicial Auctions. By conducting a needs assessment, developing appropriate training materials, and organizing training sessions, each Member State can ensure that its legal professionals are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to use the Platform as effectively as possible.

The LEILA Consortium could provide additional support by offering training templates and examples, user support, and other resources to aid the Member State in this effort.