Important notice:

Negonation Blog English (the page you are looking at right now) is a timely translation of Negonation Blog Spanish. After the departure of our former translator, this blog is on-hold until we find a replacement. We are looking for a person who is:

• a native english speaker with a good knowledge of spanish.
• crazy enough to collaborate for free with a start-up whose mission is “to bring justice to the internet nation”.
• willing to translate posts from Spanish into English in 48 hours since their original publication (1-2 posts per week).

If you know somebody who meets this criteria and could be interested, let us know!.

In the meantime, please, bear with us. We are working to get Negonation Blog English back ASAP.

Suscipe is a forum for entrepreneurs coorganized by the student associations in Spain of the London Business School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Standford University, as well as by the Association of former interns of “la Caixa”, in collaboration with the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

The following is event’s program (pdf). The event is free of charge and you can attend only the parts you are interested in:

• 19:15: Innovative Project: Tractis
• 20:00: Special Guest: Angel Iglesias, founder of Ikusi, a Spanish company with over 700 employees present in more than 80 countries
• 21:15: Networking event

My presentation will be focused on the project itself, whereas Angel Iglesias will talk about his activity and entrepreneurial experience. The event will take place in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales de Madrid, Room 3 (c/ José Gutierrez Abascal 2. Zona Paseo Castellana – Nuevos Ministerios).

Francisco Hernández, one of Suscipe’s coordinators, told me that 113 people have already confirmed their assistance, but there is still room for more. Whether you use Tractis or not, if you are starting your own project, or are interested in spending some time with people that want to make a difference, I will be happy to meet you in person.

Update 2008.05.26: The organizers at Suscipe have just uploaded the video of the presentation of Tractis.

The Glider Awards are the awards Negonation gives its most valuable collaborators. What’s new to this edition is that all awards have been decided by the Negonation staff (vs. collaborators votes in past editions). This comes in response to a strategy that we have been following since mid last year in order to decrease the number of collaborators and increase the intensity of the collaboration with a few.

The first winner, with an award of 1000 €, is José Luis Gordo Romero. José Gordo is a regular winner of these awards: he already received recognition in past editions and, this time, he’s won first place again, being the first collaborator in Tractis history who has received the title of Glider Hacker twice (the first time being in the first edition of the Awards). Over the past few months –actually, since the beginning of the project–José has been helping us on a regular basis with system administration, server configuration, server certificates, DNS administration, back-ups, etc. Working with him is a real pleasure. He is professional, competent, and honors all of his commitments. Tractis wouldn’t be the same without you, José!

The second Glider Award, also worth 1000 €, goes to Choan Gálvez. We met Choan through Diego Lafuente, our Creative Director. Choan is a true magician of javascript and the creator of Protomean–the contract editor used in Tractis. In addition to handling himself really well in the, poorly documented, javascript world, Choan is an enthusiast of short stories and board games.

Despite not receiving a prize in cash, a special mention goes to Tatiana Nubiola, our linguistic guru, guardian of the style guide and enthusiast of the Academy of the Spanish Language and its dictionaries. She is responsible for most of the English translations and copy choices you see in Tractis. This makes Tatiana the first collaborator awarded with a Glider that (1) is a woman, (2) lives abroad (NY State, for those of you who were wondering), and (3) doesn’t program a single line of code. Tatiana is proof that you don’t need to know how to program to be a hacker.

Congratulations to the winners!

PS I apologize for the late post, I promise to post sooner next time.

How it all started

When we first started out with Tractis, we had a start page similar to the one we have now. When I say similar, I mean that it had the same organisation of data as it has now: start session, tour etc.

At that time, Tractis was a closed project, only open to a group of beta testers who could invite anyone to join them. It was a start page a bit like a trailer of what would come later in August 2007. Our application, which was growing, had a darker look and feel than the current one and was the best we could do to invite people to discover Tractis back then, given that the number of DNIe (Spanish electronic ID) cards was low in Spain.

But later came the launch of the site in version 1.0. Tractis stopped being a beta, closed to the public and we began to offer the possibility of registration. We totally refactored the application; new sections, new conventions, new graphical style etc. We opened the application to everyone so that they could discover Tractis. We made the most of our knowledge, out standard way of programming so that Google would bring us an immense quantity of visitors who who register and use our application, mostly to share templates.
While the number of visitors rose considerably, it produced collateral damage which we identified: people began to think that Tractis was a site just for sharing templates. This is really untrue: we specialise in digital signature and, in addition, integration of digital signature and identity verification (authentication) services for third parties and if people only realise this by surprise, it doesn’t help us much.
Now that the DNIe is thriving, we wanted to promote the business tools we have so that Tractis didn’t end up as just a template creation tool. We designed a page with content functions for two concrete cases. This way we could transmit more information about the main function of Tractis to our new users in addition to other marvellous things: free smart card reader, API, new editor, digital signatures etc.

Production

We created many sketches with paper and pen. Later, the entire sketch is transferred to PDF with elements of our GUI kit and fantasy copy from the application used to give us a clear panorama.

The code was the hard part, but it was entertaining creating a new page. We use a pretty popular slider called Coda Slider. It saved us quite a few hours of development but we, of course, had to get our hands dirty getting the slider working with the usage schema we have for Tractis: use cases, different quantities of tabs per use case, colours, contents etc. The coding and deployment work lasted about a week.

Another important aspect to consider when we talk about design and programming is the copy. Many people, myself included, forget to comment that this essential part of the development makes the project much more solid and gives it form. In addition it’s something so vital for us that in each new development we try to make the most of good copy with the design and programming so that no one feels lost in the application. The new start page, in addition, needs this: a clear explanation as to what Tractis is, what it is used for and the advantages of using it.

The result

What you can appreciate today when you go to our address is a start page that has information produced exclusively for two types of users: those that are new to Tractis and habitual users. Each case has a set of information and tools.

The non-registered users can discover more about our main speciality: a tool to make and sign contracts online which remain valid in the off-line world, in addition to our interesting smart card reader promotion, registering with a single click, learning more about the Tractis API and more. Our main objective here is that people understand what Tractis is and that they register.

The habitual users of Tractis don’t need to see all of this so we give them a box to start a session quickly and we describe on screen all the cool things that we are developing so that our users turn into power users. We want our users to make the most of the application. Knowing the details of the API, using the reader, understanding our tariffs, collaborating with Tractis and future functional innovations in the application. Our main objective in this case is that the user can quickly start a session and learns in a relaxed manner the new things that the platform offers.

Your opinion

We continue to be open to your suggestions, actually, we urge you to send us more because without doubt they are really useful. We know that we cannot make 100% of the people happy but we’ll never reject one of your suggestions. It is vital for a company that their users give them suggestions, even the crazy ones. For us, your suggestions, your comments – whether from the blog or using the “feedback” link in the application – give us a great feeling.

Until the next announcement!

The Belgian “eID”

Now you can use your Belgian eID to sign in Tractis. The “eID” is equivalent to the Spanish electronic ID card (DNIe) i.e. it is a government-issued card that incorporates a chip with a certificate that permits authentication (verifying your identity) and fully legally-binding digital signatures.

The Belgian government issues three types of eID:

1. eID for Belgian citizens (“eID“).
2. eID for Foreigners (“La carte pour étranger“).
3. eID for children (“Kids-ID“)

We will initially support the first two (citizens and foreigners). Given that children cannot sign contracts, we will incorporate “Kids-ID” in the future just for authentication (secure chats etc.). You can find up-to-date information on which certificates we support in our help section.

If you live in Belgium and still don’t have your eID, you can ask for one in the service area of your town or city or wait until they automatically issue you one sometime before the end of 2009. The price of your eID will depend on the area in which you live, generally between 10 or 15€. If you have an eID and want to use it with Tractis, you need a smart card reader (we will give you one for free) and to install the drivers for the Belgian eID on your computer.

Why Belgium?

As we have stated in previous posts, our objective for 2008 is international expansion in Europe. The reason why we have chosen to start in Belgium is that it is one of the countries that has pioneered e-IDs (electronic IDs). Belgium has 10.5m inhabitants and the majority now have e-IDs (more than 80% of the population in the three regions – Flandes, Valonia y Bruselas-Capital). In addition, there are a large number of applications and services that make use of digital signatures. They started the roll-out in September 2004 and now more than 7,000,000 people have an eID. The government plans to reach 8,000,000 in December 2009.

International Expansion: With your help

Belgium is the first country that we have launched in outside of Spain and marks the start of our international expansion. In the coming months, we willl start adding more than 30 countries. We are now working to incorporate certificates for Estonia, Portugal, Austria and others.

We would like to thank Rodolphe Cardon of Lichtbuer, Lieutenant d’aviation at Belgian Air Force and expert in digital signatures for his help in testing signatures with the Belgian eID.

Is Tractis not yet available in your country? Help us translate the interface to your language, investigate the legislation in your jurisdiction or perform tests with your preferred certificate. Your help in any of these areas would be very valuable for launching Tractis in your country. Contact us.

Caixa Galicia debuts digital signature of contracts with DNIe in the Spanish banking sector

The announcement is especially important because, although there are financial entities in Spain such as Bankinter, Kutxa, Caja Madrid or Banc Sabadell that have incorporated DNIe to authenticate (‘verify the identity of’) their users, Caixa Galicia is the first in Spain that allows the use of DNIe and other certificates for the digital signature of contracts with their customers. A big step that we’re proud to be a part of.
Caixa Galicia gave a press conference yesterday and also distributed a press release which various radio stations (SER), written press and online (Ya.com/Finanzas.com, Terra/Invertia, Yahoo Finanzas, Cinco Días, Abc.es, El Economista, Europa Press, El Correo Gallego, Todo es electrónico , Loogic, Enrique Dans and others) have picked up on and are broadcasting news of this event.

The first process: Opening accounts without bureaucracy

The first contractual process that has changed to use digital signatures with DNIe is the opening of accounts. From today, people who want to open an account with Caixa Galicia can do it 100% online, signing with their DNIe (or any other certificate accepted by Tractis), from the comfort of their home, without forms, without waiting and without visiting a branch.

The decision of Caixa Galicia to start with this process (vs. contracts with existing clients) shows their interest in the acquisition of new customers, making their life easier and at the same time complying with the new Spanish legislation on contracting services electronically.

This diagram shows the flow of the contracting process:

Easy, no? In reality it is a flow that is applicable to any contracting process where the company needs to compile information in advance about the client (phase 2: forms) in order to be able to later present them with a personalised contract containing the solicited information, ready for them to digitally sign (phase 5: signing).

This is what the client sees in Phase 2, a web page served by Caixa Galicia:

and this is what the client sees in Phase 5, a web page with the personalised contract ready to sign. All with the URL, logo and look & feel of Caixa Galicia but served from Tractis:

An unbeatable experience

The experience of working with Caixa Galicia has been unbeatable. We’ve been very lucky to work with a team that is so professional, but at the same time so easy to get on with for our first big client. We’re especially grateful to Antonio Vazquez de Parga and Iván Rodríguez González from the Caixa Galicia digital strategy team for their vision and valuable feedback. Since they’ve given the green light to the project in December 2007 everything has worked out perfectly. The integration of the technology took only 2 weeks and the rest of the time was taken up with testing, training the customer service department, preparing the marketing launch material, changing the web pages, press release etc. A record time given the size of the client and the process implications.

Our first (big) client

Today 12th March 2008 is a very special day for us. It’s our first production launch of a big client using the Tractis API and processes that affect individuals and SMEs, our real focus. Successes such as this mean that all those hours without sleeping, the personal and professional sacrifices and bets of the team have been worthwhile. We’re on the right road. We’re very happy . We hope that this is just the start of the good news during 2008.

Right now there are more than 3 million and in 2008 it will reach 9 million.

The Spanish police force has just made public the fact that there are now more than 3m electronic ID cards in the country. The Electronic National Identity Document (eDNI) is the new identification document in Spain.

Official estimates suggest that there will be more than 5m eDNI cards by the end of 2008. Given that at the end of 2007 there were 2m, this suggests that 4m will be issued in 2008. Paco Ros, Secretary of State for Communications, and Salvador Soriano, Deputy Director General of Information Society Services were kind enough to meet us in February and confirmed to us that these predictions were deliberately ‘conservative’.

This graph uses data published by the Spanish police force (real and projected) and shows the evolution of the distribution of the DNIe. Each block represents half a million eDNI cards. You can see that from summer 2007 an average of 400,000 cards were issued every 45 days, 500,000 in February 2008 and, we understand that some 20,000 are now issued every day i.e. 600,000 a month. At this rate, 9m cards will have been issued by the end of this year.

In March, all police stations will issue only DNIe

Another interesting piece of information is that right now, 90% of police stations issue only DNIe and during the month of March, they expect to reach 100%. If this aim is achieved, in April it won’t be possible to get an old DNI. Therefore, they’re studying initiatives to encourage people to renew their DNI before it expires, at no cost to the citizen. On this map, you can find the nearest police station which will issue you an eDNI.

The adoption of all police stations along with the appointment system recently put in place should stabilise the demand and eliminate the long queues that people have suffered to get an eDNI. The government is waiting to resolve this capacity problem before increasing the budget for distributing the eDNI. Very soon promotional campaigns, free card readers with newspapers etc. will become commonplace. It seems a good time to start to think about making the most of this new and powerful infrastructure.

Rails Hackfest is a worldwide competition and this recognition is a (further) demonstration that in Spain and Europe in general, we have talent of the highest order.

Our most sincere congratulations to Ernesto and Juanjo. It’s an honour working with you both.

The design

In design terms, creating a template HTML email is definitely not easy. If designing a web application is complex, due to the number of variants and versions, imagine doing the same for an e-mail program.

When designing the HTML emails I kept the following in mind:

1. Simplicity
2. Lowest number of images possible
3. Personalisation
4. Information

For sure, many of us have seen more than one HTML email. Personally I don’t like them. Primarily because 99% of HTML emails aren’t displayed quite right in the reader program and, in addition, because people read email from many different sources that don’t even respect proper HTML. So it is an arduous trial-and-error task (you can’t even imagine) to develop something universal. I tried to give the design the same characteristics as Tractis: Simplicity, bright colours, contrasts and good proportions.

• Simplicity: The idea is that the mails are simple, both in design and construction. This allows flexibility to extend them or perform other operations.
• Lowest number of images possible: Given that mail readers always block images, you have to be able to see the mail without images.
• Personalisation: In the future, thanks to the code, you can insert the logo of the client and the colours of your theme.
• Information: Structure especially made to transmit levels of information as desired. The first part allows you to see everything, the second is for those that require more information or want to read related information.

The structure

The mail has specific zones and this model can be extended as required. For example, when you want to insert bills, there are mini modules for lists etc. In the image below I’ve named the specific zones:
We have:

1. A Logo. A bit smaller in size that the original on the site. The Tractis logo is too big for a mail reader window.
2. Identy line. It’s a design detail so that the design doesn’t ‘float’ and gives more emphasis to the subject. Ours has the Tractis green.
3. Subject. A phrase that indicates the topic of the email.
4. Summary. Serves to communicate the main message of the email. It is free to extend but the best proofs were those with little text. Less than 4 lines can be done but between 6 and 10 is best.
5. Main action box. Accompanying the summary is the box with the main actions. This means the user does not need to search or read between the normal links that appear or also to show key information, for example (as in the image above) how much credit is available after ‘topping up’.
6. Secondary information box. These are paragraphs to remind the user of the other options that are available in relation to the main action.
7. Details module. A module that extends and has a large amount of information. In some situations, it will not be required. Allows the insertion of any content in the zone whether it is paragraphs or lists of items.
8. Personalised list. A table in which you can personalise the information in a tabular form. In most cases it is used for payments, prices or perhaps to list versions or lists of concrete items.
9. Additional information module. More information on the topic, such as penalties or actions related to the theme. Also includes contact information.
10. Mail footer. Footer with contact information.

With this structure, we practically cover all the current needs for Tractis. I say practically because we never know what will come up in the future. Equally, the flexibility that it has demonstrated has been better then expected and has given few headaches.

What we hate about this

We wish that the code could be cleaner, shorter and standardised like in our web application. The problem originates with what the mail readers do and don’t do, impeding that possibility of standard HTML emails using separate style sheets. So, the code has to be an ‘alphabet soup’: everything included in the body of the document. When I look at is, there is too much superfluous code and even I can’t believe I’ve written it myself! But we’ve kept the abuse to a minimum to try and reduce the damage to our eyes.

In the future, when the major manufacturers understand this problem, we’ll change the emails to use less archaic technical standards.

The Distance Selling of Financial Services to Consumers Law

The first change is law 22/2007, from 11th July, on distance selling of financial services to consumers, which came into effect from 12th October last year.

Who does it affect?

The law affects financial service contracts supplied at a distance by credit companies, investment companies, insurance companies, group investment management companies, pension fund management companies, insurance mediators, venture capital management companies and any other company that provides financial services, including foreign companies that have Spanish subsidiaries. It is anticipated that this law will be extended to cover providers of such services that have a permanent base in Spain.

What does it require?

The law adds certain additional requirements for banking, credit, payment, private insurance and pension plan services…which are on the edge of the Spanish general regulation contained in law 34/2002 for IT services to society and electronic commerce (LSSI).

Amongst other questions, it is established that that both the offering and execution of contracts are performed in the context of ‘lasting support’. ‘Lasting support’ means that “any instrument that permits the consumer to store the information about themselves” such that he/she can easily recover, during an adequate period of time, for whatever end the information is destined and permits the reproduction without change of the information stored. Taking into account that the burden of proof falls on the provider, it is necessary to implement a system that guarantees the content stated in the contract and it’s acceptance by all parties. This is translated to the requirements for document integrity, the authenticity of the parties and the non-repudiation of the voluntary declarations in which the system of electronic signature is based.

How does this help Tractis?

Tractis stores contracts with a digital signature, with the possibility to download them in XML format, obtaining the text of the conditions with the associated digital certificates. The employment of the XAdES extensions to said XML, recognised by the European Directive on Electronic Signatures, allows the detection of any modification to the contract, guaranteeing the attributes of authenticity, integrity and non-repudiation. Likewise, the time that the agreement was made is on the record which facilitates the computation of the time period for the expiration of the contract.

If the system for the depositing, acceptance and download of contracts is external, the guarantee will be bigger. In addition, it will comply with article 25 of the LSSI law which determines the intervention of trusted 3rd parties such as trustees of the trust declarations of the electronic contracts which will make evident the date and time of then and will archive them electronically.

Law of Measures Leading Towards an Information Society

The second change is the even more recent law 25/2007 from the 28th December for Measures Leading Towards an Information Society, that came into effect on the 30th December.

Who does it affect?

In general, those that offer services to the information society, with new obligations for companies in specific sectors or with certain volumes.

On the other hand, it fixes the basis for what they name “public contract offers between companies”, a type of B2B protocol to regulate totally electronic auction transactions. The principles of this type of contract are described in article 3.3 of said law, although it requires more development.

What does it require?

It requires, as a function of the volume of operations (more than 6m euros, following the VAT laws) or number of workers (more than 100) in companies in defined strategic sectors (public sector, electronic communications, financial services, electricity, gas and water utilities, travel agents, transport and retail commerce) to put in place mechanisms for the contracting of services, utilities or goods in an electronic fashion based in digital signature certificates. In reality the same obligation is placed on the modification, finalisation or retraction of said contracts, such as the querying of customer data, presentation of complaints, incidents, suggestions or claims and to exercise the rights established in the data protection laws.

How does this help Tractis?

Tractis incorporates mechanisms that put into place all of the above, complying with the established legal obligations without the need to develop a dedicated system.