Participation and communication: Authorities in the public sector are facing many challenges as a result of digitalization.
Today, citizens not only expect transparent, comprehensible actions from institutions, but also significantly more service, including digital dialog. All of this requires new internal structures: How can data-sensitive documents be sent securely from authority to authority? What options are there to relieve the burden on civil servants and employees when archiving documents and data?
One answer is Next Generation Document Exchange, or NGDX for short, a procedure for legally compliant document exchange. NGDX transmits documents in the original and is recognized as legally compliant.

NGDX for public authorities
- Documents are transmitted in the original, with all colors, photos, etc.
- NGDX supports the sending and receiving of e-invoices in accordance with the ZUGFeRD 2.1 standard
- NGDX transmits PDF files that can be read and processed by humans and machines
- Documents are sent end-to-end
- Users receive a transmission confirmation including the date and time of transmission
More presence on the street
When turning onto the road, a car driver rammed into a parked motorcycle. Everyone involved waits almost 30 minutes for the police patrol. The police officer records the damage on paper. By the time he has typed up and processed the information on the computer at the station, it is evening.
The protocol process would be simpler, faster and more secure with NGDX. The ability to send documents in a legally secure and verifiable manner with NGDX would unleash immense savings potential: The police authority could digitize all of its correspondence. Instead of driving from accident scene to accident scene with pencil and paper, police officers would be equipped with smartphones and tablets. Photos of the accident scene could be taken with a smartphone and then sent.
This would save time: Even before the police officer is back at the station, he could send the report to everyone who needs to work with it - lawyers, courts, insurance companies and those affected. The report could be stored, read out and archived immediately using an automated process. The advantage lies in the reduction in workload: Police officers can concentrate on the important work at the scene of the accident again. And are more present in the city.
Optimized business process management with NGDX
Digital workflows facilitate and accelerate approval processes and processes for collaboration with other institutions. The basis for this is formed by standards that transmit documents in hybrid formats that can be read and processed by both humans and machines. NGDX is one of these standards. Documents are sent without loss. Color fonts, photos and letterheads reach the recipient unchanged.
NGDX does not transmit any potentially harmful, active content or applications. The PDF documents to be transmitted are checked for harmful content both before sending and before confirmation of receipt. If active content is contained, receipt or transmission is refused.
ZUGFeRD 2.1 has established itself as the standard for transmitting electronic invoices in German-speaking countries. ZUGFeRD is based on the PDF format. However, as the image representation of an electronic invoice is not sufficient to process the document automatically, ZUGFeRD also contains the invoice information in XML format.
By the way: NGDX is downwards compatible with the conventional fax server.