Railway Infrastructure Corporation -Australia

Customer Profile :

Rail Infrastructure Corporation (RIC) is a business owned by the Government of New South Wales Australia. RIC maintains the rail network on behalf of the State Government and provides access to passenger and freight operators. The principal objective of RIC is, to deliver safe and reliable passenger and freight services in an efficient, effective and financially responsible manner.

Business Challenge :

One of the fundamental business processes of RIC is creation, approval and management of design documents for the railway infrastructure. These documents are either prepared in RIC by their own engineers or submitted to them by outsourced vendors.
RIC was looking at a Document Management System by which these design documents could flow within a web environment but at the same time provide authenticity of the documents.

Solution requirements :

1. A digital signing solution by which design documents could be digitally signed and uploaded on a server. The approvers could view these documents and provide approval by incorporating their digital signatures over signed documents.
2. A method by which digitally signed documents could be loaded onto the server outside the web application but still be available from within the web application for approval.
3. Ability to upload already signed documents to form part of the document management system.
4. Being a state owned organization, they were not permitted to use any proprietary solution and needed digital signatures to be PKCS#7 compliant in a manner that any third party software could verify these signatures.
5. Support for trusted third party time stamping for signatures
6. Encryption of confidential documents

E-Lock Solution :

Keeping in mind the requirements, and criticality of the issue, E-Lock provided RIC with SuperSigner SDK. E-Lock SuperSigner SDK enabled RIC to sign and upload files with PKCS#7 compliant digital signatures. The server verified the signed files before accepting them for storage. Auto-download of signing components was possible at the client, eliminating the requirement for separate client install.
The application also enabled them to view all the uploaded files with the signer information, and the signing time (time stamp) of the previous signatures. The application allowed the approver to view the signed files within the browser, and was able to re-sign these files and approve the design (multiple signature facility). This signature and information was then stored on the server.
This made possible for any user to download the signed files, and verify them externally with E-Lock’s free verification tool - DeskSeal Reader. The vendors, who were not allowed to connect directly with RIC’s Intranet-based document management system, were provided with DeskSeal Desktop, the desktop digital signing tool. This enabled these vendors to sign the documents and send them via email to RIC employees. In turn, RIC employees had the facility to upload signed documents on the server, which again verified the documents before storing.

Benefits :

1. Ability to secure, authenticate & approve the infrastructure design documents online
2. Reduced processing time for design approvals
3. Increased staff productivity
4. Reduced overheads by making the process paperless
5. PKCS#7 complaint & easy to use

About E-Lock :

E-Lock is a leading provider of digital signing solutions, which are compliant with worldwide e-Signature legislation. Founded in 1997 the company is headquarters in McLean, VA. It offers desktop and web based security solutions. E-Lock products are used across Government, Healthcare and Financial organizations around the globe.