Service Description

1   General performance characteristics

d.velop AG, Schildarpstraße 6-8, 48712 Gescher, Germany ("provider", "d.velop", "we", "us"), provides a web-based platform ("platform", "system", "foxdox" or further names could be the following: "d.velop postbox", "d.velop documents light", "d.velop dialogue", "foxdox"), which can be used by registered members ("users").

The platform is offered with two versions, which are oriented towards the type of use of the users.

The characteristic d.velop postbox is mainly used for the type of use "digital mail". The use of d.velop postbox is always free of charge for the user. With the platform, the user can digitally receive documents and send them to registered companies and organisations. The delivery of a document via the platform is legally binding. Accordingly, the documents become the property of the user and can be accessed, for example, via a web browser or via the smart phone apps provided in iOS and Android.

The characteristic d.velop documents light is primarily used for document management and audit-proof storage of documents. The functions in d.velop documents light are available in a fee-based tariff.

In both versions, the user can store his own documents, photos etc. on the platform. (hereinafter referred to as "documents"), manage, share, publish and research them. It is possible to share documents with other users or to publish them for third parties. "Share" enables other shared users to explicitly access documents. "Publish" enables a document to be made accessible via link to others who know the link (also outside the platform), who know the link. Work with the platform via a web browser, via the smartphone apps provided in iOS and Android or via the Windows Sync program.

Both variants are based on the same technical platform. For this reason, only the "platform" or the "system" is referred to in the following.

2   Definitions of terms

The following definitions serve to clarify the further explanations.

2.1   d.velop postbox

d.velop postbox is the term for the platform from the perspective of the recipient ("user") to whom the documents are sent by the subscription provider. Each user receives an account on the platform, among other things for receiving documents. With this account, it is also possible to use other services, such as filing documents, sharing information with third parties, etc.

Access to the platform and the receipt of documents is free of charge for the user.

2.2   d.velop documents light

d.velop documents light is the term for the platform from the point of view of users who use the platform for audit-proof storage of business documents and file sharing. Functions of this form of use are partly only available with a corresponding business tariff. Furthermore, the business user enters into an AVV contract with d.velop.

2.3   Users

A user ("recipient", "end user") is a private or business subscriber who uses the platform to receive and/or send documents from and/or to a subscription provider or to store documents. For this purpose, the user is given an account on the platform.

Access to the platform, as well as the receipt of documents, is free of charge for the User.

2.4   Account

An account provides access to the platform. The user receives a prepared account or creates his own account ("d.velop postbox" or "d.velop documents light"), for example to receive or save his documents.

2.5   Subscription provider

Subscription providers ("Provider", "Business Process Provider", "BPP") are companies, organizations, public institutions, etc. (e.g. employers, health insurance companies, local authorities, etc.) who enter into a business agreement with d.velop in order to send documents to users or to receive documents from users. Furthermore, for better comprehensibility from the user's point of view, the term "subscription provider" is always used.

2.6   Delivery

The delivery of a document via d.velop post from a subscription provider to a user can be compared to the postal delivery of letters. The document is legally delivered as soon as it leaves the jurisdiction of the subscription provider and thus becomes the property of the user.

2.7   Services and subscriptions

For the legally secure delivery of documents, one or more digital services ("service", "business process") are set up for the subscription provider, which the recipients ("users") can subscribe to. Services of subscription providers appear in the user's account as soon as the user has activated or subscribed to a service of a subscription provider; this takes place in the "Provider" section ("Subscription Provider") within the user account.

A subscription provider may provide several services to deliver different types of documents separately (for example, payroll and time statements). Users can subscribe and unsubscribe to services, and the folder and the documents it contains will remain in the user's account. A service can also be cancelled again by the subscription provider. Once the subscription has been cancelled by a party, it can only be reactivated by the party that cancelled it. Once a service has been cancelled, no more documents can be exchanged (sent or received) between the subscription provider and the user.

2.8   Subscriber

Once the user has subscribed to a service of a subscription provider, the user is considered a subscriber and can therefore receive documents from or send documents to the subscription provider (if the subscription provider has activated this).

2.9   Subscription code

In order for an existing user on the platform to receive documents from or send documents to a subscription provider, the user must become a subscriber to a service of the subscription provider. The user can do this by means of a subscription code ("service key" or "direct key").

The subscription code is always created by the subscription provider and delivered to the User in a secure way outside the platform (e.g. by mail). The subscription code is a multi-digit unique code, is valid for one or more services of a subscription provider and is linked to an assignment feature (see section 2.10).

As soon as the user redeems the subscription code in his account, the user becomes a subscriber to the associated services of the subscription provider. After redemption, the subscription code cannot be used again.

2.10   Assignment feature

To enable the subscription provider to uniquely identify its recipients, each recipient is assigned a unique assignment characteristic by the subscription provider for each service (e.g. a personnel number for employees, a customer number for customers, etc.). The assignment characteristic links the service on the subscription provider side with the user's account on the other side.

As soon as the user is a subscriber to a service of a subscription provider (e.g. after he/she has redeemed his/her subscription code), the subscription provider can uniquely identify the user and deliver documents using this assignment feature. When a user receives documents from a subscription provider, the assignment feature also informs the subscription provider which user the documents came from.

2.11   Inbox

After the activation of the first subscription, the user receives a predefined folder structure ("Inbox", "My providers") in his account, in which all documents from all subscription providers are stored in a structured way. Each subscription provider receives its own folder with its name (e.g. company name) in the inbox, so that the user can distinguish the documents of the individual subscription providers in the inbox.

2.12   Features

When delivering documents to the user, the subscription provider can send properties to the document in addition to the document itself. These properties (e.g. file name) are displayed on the user's page and also included in the search.

3   Included services

After registration and activation of the user, the user will automatically be assigned the free tariff of the platform, which provides the basic functionalities of the system. d.velop provides the services described below within the framework of the existing technical and operational possibilities. The availability of the respective scope of services and functionalities depends on the user's chosen tariff. This associated scope of services can be extended by the user by changing to another (chargeable) tariff.

3.1   Legally compliant receipt and dispatch of documents

Users have the possibility to receive documents from available subscription providers by subscription and to send them to these subscription providers. The activation of a subscription can be done either by redeeming a subscription code ("service key" or "direct key") in an existing account or by completing a prepared account, if no personal account exists on the platform. Both access data can be created individually for a user by the subscription provider.

3.1.1   Subscription in an existing account

To activate a subscription from a subscription provider in an existing account, the user needs a subscription code for the corresponding subscription. The user receives the subscription code directly from the subscription provider. As soon as the subscription code is redeemed, the subscription provider can clearly assign or identify the user. Some subscription providers that offer document delivery via this platform can be found in the account under Profile > Provider.

3.1.2   Subscription without existing account

If the user does not yet have an account, it is possible for the subscription provider to prepare an account including subscription and to make it available to the future user. When taking over the account, the user completes the account with his personal data. The account becomes the complete property of the user upon activation by the user.

3.2   Data storage and encryption

3.2.1   Encrypted data storage

All documents that are uploaded by the user or received by the user from a subscription provider are stored in encrypted form. Encryption/decryption of the documents is carried out automatically by the system when the documents are stored or called up by the user and, if necessary, by authorised and/or released users (cf. Section 3.3).

The documents are encrypted with a so-called symmetric key, so that the platform can further process the documents in terms of content. Further processing of the content includes, for example, the creation of previews and the transfer of the document content to the search index so that the user can find these documents on the basis of search queries.

3.2.2   Double encrypted delivery

The user has the possibility to double-encrypt his own documents (if necessary with costs). Further information on this can be found in section 5.4.

Furthermore, it is also possible for a subscription provider to send documents to a user in double encryption. For this function, the user does not need a chargeable tariff. The presentation and handling of these double-encrypted documents is as described in Section 5.4. The user has the option of decrypting and viewing these double-encrypted documents after receipt, as well as independently storing the documents in his account in single encryption. In addition, the User has the option to receive these documents only in single encrypted form by default and to store them in single encrypted form, so that a continuous decryption of the documents during download or viewing is not necessary (the documents are then single encrypted as described in Section 3.2.1).

3.3   Working together: Release of documents

In addition to the option of using the platform as a closed document management system without other users having access to the user's documents, there is also the option of releasing documents.

Documents uploaded by the user are by default only visible to the owner himself. If the documents are to be made available to other users with read access, the platform offers the possibility of releasing a document on a contact and group basis (possibly a chargeable tariff may be necessary).

The release of the documents is done exclusively by the owner of the document and allows "sharing" (with contacts within the platform) and "publishing" (accessible to everyone via link, even outside the platform).

This requires the following services, among others:

3.3.1   Contacts

The platform offers the user the possibility to search for further users and to add them as contacts to his own contact management in order to use further functionalities, such as the release of documents. For this purpose, the user is able to activate personal data (e.g. user name, first name, surname) or add them (e.g. street, city, etc.) in order to be found by other users. The contact search takes place exclusively via the fields explicitly released for search by the users. If a contact is found, a contact request with an individual text can be sent via a form. Only when this contact request has been confirmed by the user addressed, the secure connection is established and displayed accordingly for both users. Possible contacts who do not yet have an account on the platform can be contacted via the "Invite people" function using the e-mail address. If the User confirms the request and registers on the platform, both accounts are linked together as contacts.

3.3.2   Contact groups

For easy working with contacts, the user can create groups and add contacts from their own contact list. This makes it possible to manage shares for documents and folders on a group basis. (possibly chargeable tariff necessary)

3.3.3   Sharing

If the documents are to be made available to other users with read and/or write access, the platform offers the possibility to share a document on a contact and group basis.

The sharing of the documents is done exclusively by the owner of the document. The information that a document has been shared is directly visible in the document overview for the releasing user of a document. Users who have shared documents can view them in your document overview in the shared documents folder.

Document sharing can be reversed by the owner of the document for individual users/groups at any time. Access to the respective documents is denied with immediate effect.

Besides sharing documents, it is also possible to share folders.

Shared documents are displayed in the "Shared Documents" folder. In addition, each document is marked with a corresponding icon in the document overview.

3.3.4   Provision by other users

As far as the user has added contacts and/or groups, these contacts can also share documents with the user, which the user can access.

3.3.5   Publishing documents and folders

The platform offers the possibility to make documents available for public access. To do this, the user must explicitly publish or release his own document for this access. Such a released document can then be accessed directly via a link - a prior login with a valid account is not required.

When creating the link, the user also has the option of specifying both an expiry date, after which the link becomes invalid, and an additional password for accessing the document.

The fact that a document has been published by link is shown to the releasing user directly in his document overview. The publication of a document can be undone by the user at any time, thus no longer granting access to the respective documents in his account. This makes the public link unusable.

The user also gets the option to publish entire folders via a link. The behaviour is based on the publishing of documents as described above.

The link for published folders can also be protected with a password. The expiry date, on the other hand, can currently only be assigned at document level.

If the settings for the published folder and the separately published document contained therein are identical, then changing the setting of the folder will also overwrite that of the individual document.

If the settings for the published folder and the separately published document contained within it are different, the settings of the individual document are retained even if the settings of the folder are changed.

If a document is uploaded to a published folder, the document is also published with the folder's link.

Subfolders are currently excluded from publishing.

3.4   Document storage

3.4.1   Memory

The user is allocated a tariff-dependent storage volume for storing his documents on the platform. Before each new document is uploaded, the system checks whether the storage space limit has been exceeded. If this is the case, the upload of the new document will be rejected and the user will receive a corresponding message. To enable an upload of this document nevertheless, the user can book an increase of his storage volume with costs or release storage space by deleting his own documents. There is no automatic deletion of documents by the system. Documents are only deleted permanently when the system's trash is emptied.

The reception of documents by a subscription provider is possible at any time, even if the storage volume has already been used up.

3.4.2   Folder management

The platform offers a structured storage of documents within folders. Individual folder and subfolder structures are mapped within the account, in which the corresponding documents can be stored.

The folders serve the user as an aid for storing his documents. Changing the folder structures defined by the user and assigning documents to other folders is also supported.

3.4.3   File upload

Documents that are already available in digital form can be uploaded by the user into the corresponding folder structures. Both an upload of individual documents and the simultaneous upload of several documents are supported. The file size for an upload is limited to 250 MB.

3.4.4   Assignment of keywords

To find documents, it is possible to store keywords for each document, which are also taken into account in the document search. Keywords are assigned within the document properties.

3.4.5   Deleting documents

Stored documents can be deleted by the user, provided that the user is the owner of the document. This also includes the deletion of all related data (document properties, preview images, etc.). Any approvals granted for the document are also removed. Deleted documents are first moved to the recycle bin. Only when the recycle bin is emptied or the corresponding documents are deleted from the recycle bin are they finally deleted. Afterwards, the documents cannot be restored.

3.4.6   File formats

The platform is used to store documents. Ultimately, almost every common file format can be stored. For further processing (e.g. searchability) the following file formats are supported:

- Images (.bmp/ .gif/ .jpeg/ .jpg/ .png/.tif/ .tiff)

- Texts (.pdf/ .rtf/ .txt)

- E-mail (.eml/ .msg)

- Microsoft Office (.doc/ .docx/ .dot/ .dotx/ .pot/ .potx/.ppt/ .pptx/ .xls/ .xlsb/ .xlsx/ .xlt/ .xltx)

- Open Office (.odg/ .odp/ .ods/ .odt/ .otg/ .otp/ .ots/ .ott/ .stc/ .std/ .sti/ .stw/ .sxc/ .sxd/ .sxi/ .sxw)

- In addition, other formats can be saved but,not processed further (e.g. displayed as preview), e.g.: .mp3/ .mp4/ .mov/ .csv/ ...

- Not allowed file formats are .lnk and .exe

3.5   Finding documents

3.5.1   Search function

A search function is provided for quick and easy finding of documents. The user can enter one or more search terms. The platform then searches all available documents. This includes the user's own documents as well as documents released by other users.

All properties of the authorized documents are taken into account in the search (properties, text content/full text, etc.). Documents that are doubly encrypted by the platform (cf. Section 5.4) can only be found by means of the document name and the properties, as the platform has no access to the content at any time and therefore no access to the full text of these documents.

3.5.2   Result list

The documents found via the search are displayed to the user in a results list. The results list also shows whether the documents are own or released documents of contacts and whether own documents have been released / published.

3.5.3   Document view

A document can be displayed in the document view if it is a supported format (see section 3.4.6).

If the document is a format that cannot be displayed, a dialog for downloading the document appears.

3.6   Further functionalities

3.6.1   Document export

It is possible to export and save both individual documents and entire folders (e.g. via the web client or the Windows Sync program).

3.6.2   Deleting the account

The user has the option to delete his account. This also includes the deletion of all related documents and data. The data cannot be restored once the account has been deleted. The deletion of accounts can take up to 48 hours. During this time it is not possible to create an account again with the e-mail address used.

3.7   Access options

3.7.1   Access via the web portal

The web portal of the platform is available via common web browsers. Access to the platform is only possible after prior registration with user name / e-mail address and password. It is also possible to register by electronic identity card. The technical equipment required for this (card reader, etc.) is not part of d.velop's service.

3.7.2   Access via mobile devices

Apps for mobile devices are provided, which allow access to the system after a previous login. Authentication takes place in the same way as when you call it up in the Web browser.

Currently, d.velop provides apps for Android and iOS operating systems. These enable mobile working with the system. In addition, the apps offer the possibility to photograph and edit documents with the possibly integrated camera of the mobile device and to store them in the user's account.

3.7.3   Access via Microsoft Windows

For Windows operating systems a Windows-Sync program is offered. The software offers e.g. the possibility to download documents from the user account to the local hard disk, to synchronize, etc. and to use functions from the account directly via the Windows interface.

4   Technical requirements

The user's communication data and documents will be stored in the German computer center commissioned by d.velop.

The user's access to his user account is possible with a current web browser (in order to use all functionalities, JavaScript and cookies must be activated) or via the apps provided for mobile devices.

Prerequisite for each access to the platform is the authentication of the user by means of his access data, consisting of user name / e-mail and password. Access to the data and documentation is exclusively via encrypted connections (HTTPS). The provision and transfer of the necessary Internet access, the connections to the Internet and the necessary equipment (hardware and software) are not subject of this service description.

5   Additional services

Depending on the selected tariff, additional functions are available to the user. Information on the available tariffs and the functions they contain can be found on our website.

5.1   Tariffs & payment methods

The currently available tariffs can be viewed on the d.velop website and/or in the platform's account after prior registration. The user can upgrade to higher-value tariffs after logging on to the platform, within the platform and/or his account. If you have any questions regarding the scope of services, please contact us.

When upgrading to a higher-value tariff, the following payment methods are available to the user:

- credit card

- Bill with SEPA Direct Debit Scheme

5.2   Automatic invoice recognition

For all documents of the type "invoice", which are filed by the user, an automatic recognition of properties (e.g. invoice number, invoice amount, etc.) is carried out, if technically possible. This saves the user time, effort and manual errors are avoided when entering the properties manually (possibly chargeable tariff necessary).

5.3   Versioning

Versioning can be set for all documents that are stored by the user. The special upload dialog in the Web portal offers the possibility to upload a new version of an existing document and to add a comment. In this way, the different versions of the documents can be easily logged and stored in a traceable manner.

The function is not available in the free of charge tariff, but for example in d.velop documents light.

5.4   Revision security

All documents can be stored in an audit-proof manner if desired. The corresponding configuration, such as the key date for the unchangeability of the data, must be defined by the user.

The function is not available in the free of charge tariff, but for example in d.velop documents light.

5.5   Double encryption

In addition to the standard encryption of documents (see section 3.2.1), the user has the option of encrypting documents additionally ("twice") with a separate key. This key can be specified by the user when uploading a document and is used additionally for encryption.

The key consists of a name and a key password. With double encryption, documents can only be viewed or edited if the key password has been entered.

Documents from the subscription provider whose delivery is double-encrypted by default are also stored in the user's account in double-encrypted form. A decryption can only be done with a password that the user has assigned independently. The subscription provider and d.velop have no access or insight into the user's key password at any time. It is the sole responsibility of the user to remember this key password. A double encryption initiated by the subscription provider does not require a chargeable tariff on the user's side.

Due to this additional encryption, a process-related post-processing of these documents is not possible (e.g. creation of thumbnails, extraction of content for the search function, etc.)

As soon as the key has been generated (e.g. with activation of the account by the user), a key file is available for download. This file is used for reconstruction in case of a forgotten password and should be stored by the user on a private, secure storage medium (e.g. stationary computer or USB medium). d.velop has no access to the user's keys at any time. It is not possible for d.velop to reconstruct the key and/or the password for this key.

The function is not available in the free tariff, but for example in d.velop documents light.

6   Online-Support

d.velop provides the user with online support in the form of FAQ, detailed tips, instructions, etc. free of charge on the platform or on the website.

Should this platform not provide the required solution, the user can contact a provided e-mail address postbox@d-velop.de or documents-light@d-velop.de free of charge. The guaranteed SLA (Service Level Agreement) results from the booked tariffs. If you have any questions about Support and our SLAs, please contact us.

Service description for users

Version 1.2.0 from 17.06.2020

© d.velop AG