Any community of users or organizations (hereafter called the ‘submitting organization’ or simply the ‘submitter’) that want to develop and use ISO 20022 compliant messages to support its financial transactions can submit ISO 20022 registration requests.
The purpose may be the creation of a new set of messages to support a specific transaction or the maintenance of an existing message or message set to accommodate the evolution of the business. The request is expected to reflect global need or usage or to enhance the global relevance of the standard, without excluding large communities of users at a regional or domestic level.
The registration process for the creation of a new set of messages is described below. The registration process for maintenance requests is slightly different and is described later on this section. Click here to download a copy of the current detailed ISO 20022 Registration Procedures.
Request to create new messages
The registration process includes the steps described below (see attached flow):
1. The submitting organization introduces a 'business justification'
The submitting organization creates a business justification to give an overview of the scope, reason and estimated users / volumes / savings, etc. of the intended message set. The business justification also describes the commitment of the submitting organization to dedicate required resources to the development and support of the new messages. A business justification template is available from the ISO 20022 website.
The submitting organization sends the business justification to the Registration Authority (RA) at iso20022ra@iso20022.org where it is logged, checked for completeness and confirmed to the submitting organization. From this point on, the latest status of the submission is tracked on the ISO 20022 website with a copy of the latest version of the business justification.
The RA forwards the business justification to the secretariat of the Registration Management Group (RMG) which distributes it to the RMG members and the conveners, vice conveners and secretaries of the Standards Evaluation Groups (SEG).
2. The RMG evaluates the ‘business justification’
The RMG evaluates the business justification and analyzes how the proposed development will improve communications and bring advantages to the industry. One major consideration of the RMG is to avoid utilizing resources of the ISO 20022 registration bodies in the analysis, registration, documentation, evaluation and publication of messages which may not be attractive enough to the targeted community. The RMG also wants to protect the industry against the proliferation of overlapping messages.
RMG members have four weeks (actually to the middle or end of the month following the four weeks) to forward any comments or requests for clarification to be addressed by the submitting organization. During this period, the relevant SEG - at least the SEG(s) suggested by the submitting organization in the business justification - will confirm that the proposed development falls into its scope and formulate its opinion on the business justification from a ‘future users' perspective. The SEG also verifies that the submitting organization proposes to include the relevant industry bodies in the development. The SEG may challenge the information provided by the submitting organization and forward requests for clarification. When the scope of the business justification crosses the scope of several SEGs, all relevant SEGs will formulate their opinion.
- If comments have been received from the RMG or the SEG during the commenting period, the RMG secretariat sends them via e-mail to the submitting organization. The submitting organization is then given up to three weeks to update the business justification document and submit it to the RA. The updated business justification shall include:
- updates to the text of the original business justification that the submitting organization may want to make based on the comments received. Such updates will be clearly highlighted using 'track change' or similar mode
- a copy of and a response to each of the received comments.
As soon as the updated business justification is received, the RA checks it for completeness, saves a copy on the ISO 20022 website and emails it to the RMG secretariat for immediate re-submission to the RMG members for vote. RMG voting members then have four weeks to vote on the business justification (actually, to the middle or end of the month following the four weeks). During this period, the RA organizes a conference call with the submitting organization and the RMG members who are given the opportunity to discuss the response to the comments with the submitting organization before casting their vote.
- On the other hand, if there are no comments on the business justification within the four-week commenting period or if the only comment received is the positive opinion of the SEG, the RMG secretariat will append the opinion of the SEG to the business justification and give RMG voting members two weeks to vote on the original business justification (again, actually until mid or end of the month following the two-week period).
The RMG Secretariat informs the RA, the SEG(s) and the submitting organization of the approval/ rejection of the business justification. The approval of the business justification gives the green light to the submitting organization to start development. From this point on, the messages in development will be called 'candidate ISO 20022 messages'.
3. The SEG forms the Evaluation Team
Note: when the scope of the business justification crosses the business domain of several SEGs, the RMG will appoint a 'Lead SEG' to drive the future evaluation. If the business justification does not fall within the scope of any existing SEG, the RMG will either initiate the creation of a new SEG or widen the scope of an existing SEG.
The approval of the business justification triggers the initiation by the SEG of the creation of a specific 'Evaluation Team' of experts in the field, which will validate the new set of messages once they are developed. The Evaluation Team will include members from the parent SEG. If necessary, additional experts will be selected by the SEG members to ensure strong representation of the future users of the messages.
When several SEGs are assigned the evaluation, the Evaluation Team is created by the Lead SEG and includes experts nominated by the other SEGs.
4. The submitting organization develops the candidate ISO 20022 messages
The submitting organization is expected to develop ISO 20022 compliant models and messages within the timeframe indicated in the business justification. If, during the development, the submitting organization realises that the candidate ISO 20022 message models will not be ready for delivery to the RA at the date specified in the business justification, it will promptly inform the RA about the new submission date.
The RA is not resourced to undertake or participate in the development of the candidate ISO 20022 models, but will provide the submitting organization with the materials necessary to set up the required modelling environment (ISO 20022 UML Profile, ISO 20022 Modelling Template, electronic versions of the ISO 20022 Data Dictionary and copies of any related existing ISO 20022 models), a clear description of the required deliverables and a checklist of rules to observe to ensure ISO 20022 compliance of the candidate models (ISO 20022 Submission Guidelines and Master Rules). It is important that the submitting organization always re-uses the existing ISO 20022 Repository items and/or bases its requests for new items on previously existing ones.
In the case of several concurrent submissions, the RA treats the requests on a first-come first-served basis, unless a different priority is decided by the RMG.
Once the development is completed and the RA has checked the compliance of the models as well as the quality of the requested Repository updates, the RA may enter the components of the ‘candidate ISO 20022 messages’ in the Repository and mark them as ‘provisionally registered’.
5. The SEG evaluates the candidate ISO 20022 messages
The RA generates the documentation for the evaluation of the candidate ISO 20022 messages by the SEG's Evaluation Team. The SEG documentation includes a copy of the models, a description of the messages (Message Definition Report), additional contextual documentation prepared by the submitting organization to introduce the transaction flow and/or illustrate the message usage, a copy of the XML schemas generated by the RA from the models and examples of XML message instances if prepared by the submitting organization.
A representative of the submitting organization is always invited to participate in the Evaluation Team. She/he is expected to introduce the new message set to the Evaluation Team and allow the Evaluation Team members to gain additional clarification regarding the content, business context and intent of the submission during the evaluation process. When several organizations have made a joint submission, all of them are invited to participate in the Evaluation Team.
As a preliminary step, the Evaluation Team verifies that the candidate messages are within the scope expressed in the business justification that was approved by the RMG. If not, this is raised to the submitting organization and the RMG which may request the submitting organization to introduce further justification for the items not included in the original business justification.
The main task of the Evaluation Team is to evaluate the messages from a business perspective, i.e. that the developed messages actually address the users’ needs and can be used by the user community represented by each Evaluation Team member. This includes the validation of the transaction flow, the message scopes, the message descriptions, including all (new or re-used) components, definitions, etc., as included in the SEG documentation.
When the candidate ISO 20022 messages support a specific part of a whole transaction life cycle, the Evaluation Team also takes into account the information requirements of actors that come into play earlier or later in the end-to-end transaction lifecycle.
The Evaluation Team strives to reach a 'consensus recommendation' regarding either the approval or rejection of the candidate messages. This is done as quickly as possible and within a maximum of three calendar months, unless otherwise agreed with the RMG.
The Evaluation Team submits the Team’s consensus recommendation to its parent SEG for endorsement. The SEG is expected to endorse the recommendation of its Evaluation Team within two weeks and communicate its decision to the RA. The RA then officially notifies the submitting organization and the RMG of the newly approved ‘ISO 20022 messages’.
6. The RA publishes the ISO 20022 messages
It is only after the approval by the SEG that the candidate ISO 20022 messages can be called ISO 20022 messages (or ISO 20022 compliant messages).
The RA publishes the ISO 20022 messages on the ISO 20022 website. This includes:
- Publishing the approved models, Message Definition Report, XML schemas and instances in the Catalogue of ISO 20022 messages.
- Registering the new messages and all related message items in the Business Process Catalogue.
- Updating the status of all related, new or updated Data Dictionary items from 'provisionally registered' to 'registered'.
- Making a new version of the ISO 20022 Repository (Business Process Catalogue and Data Dictionary) accessible through the Simple Repository Search, Advanced Dictionary Search and Advanced Catalogue Search functions.
During the entire registration process, the RA keeps the status of the submissions updated.
7. Testing and implementation
Until the newly published messages have been tested or implemented, one cannot fully guarantee that:
- the ISO 20022 messages are described accurately enough in the published documentation to allow users to implement them as intended and approved by the SEG;
- the approved messages can be implemented from a technical perspective with no or minimal adverse effects on communication infrastructures and/or applications (for example, excessive processing time).
As soon as the RA is informed that the messages have been implemented, it will indicate it in the Catalogue of ISO 20022 Messages. The submitting organization is also invited to review the published documentation and organize/encourage testing and implementation of the messages.
The submitting organization, testers or first implementers are invited to communicate to the RA any remarks they have on the published documentation. The remarks may include proposals for changes to clarify the documentation, align it with what was approved by the SEG, eliminate ambiguity or correct errors that prevent implementation of the messages. They may include proposals to make the messages easier to implement or process, but may normally not include new business requirements, unless (1) they are in the scope of the original business justification and (2) the SEG, the RA and submitting organization jointly agree that the proposed changes can and must be implemented as soon as possible to ensure adoption of the messages.
If a correction of the messages and/or documentation is approved, the new publication is clearly announced on the ISO 20022 website and an 'errata' with the list of the changes is published by the RA for the convenience of implementers who would have started using the initial version of the messages/documentation. If the XML message schemas have been 'patched' to correct a mistake (the schemas did not reflect what the SEG had approved) or an error (the schema was invalid), the corrected schemas bear a new generation timestamp but keep the same version number. If any other change is made to a schema (improvement, new requirement), the message version number is increased.
Request to update existing ISO 20022 messages
Existing ISO 20022 messages can be updated on a yearly basis provided changes are requested by the users and approved by the Standards Evaluation Groups (SEGs). New versions of messages, if any, are published in April/May of each year. Change requests for the following yearly cycle must be introduced prior to the 1st of June of the preceding year.
In certain circumstances such as urgency or where required by the relevant business community, it is possible to request the maintenance of ISO 20022 messages outside of the yearly cycle.
The maintenance process includes the following steps (see attached flow):
1. The RA collects change requests from users
Actual or potential users of ISO 20022 messages are welcome to forward their requests for changes to the Registration Authority (RA). Each change request must describe the scope of the change including the list of impacted ISO 20022 messages as identified by the requester, the purpose of the change, the community of users interested by the change and the urgency and expected benefit/impact of the proposed change on current or future users. If the change is proposed to be implemented outside the yearly schedule, the change request must include the justification thereof. A change request template is available from the ISO 20022 website.
Change requests must be sent to the Registration Authority at iso20022ra@iso20022.org. The RA checks each change request for completeness and conformance to the change request template.
When the change request is valid (that is, conforming to the change request template), the RA returns a positive acknowledgement to the submitter, publishes the change request in the Catalogue of Change Requests and forwards it to the Standards Evaluation Group (SEG) which had approved the current version of the identified ISO 20022 messages.
Valid change requests must be received by the RA prior to June 1 to be considered for implementation in the next yearly maintenance cycle.
Note: when the current version of the messages had been approved by several SEGs under the leadership of a Lead SEG, the RA forwards the request to the Lead SEG and copies the other SEGs.
2. The SEG performs the initial evaluation of the change requests
Change requests are evaluated by the SEG(s) which approved the current version of the impacted messages on behalf of the community of users. The purpose of the initial evaluation is to filter change requests and already reject those that are not justified.
The RA forwards change requests to the SEG(s) on an ongoing basis. All valid change requests received by the RA prior to June 1 are communicated to the SEG by June 7 at the latest. The SEGs are invited to evaluate change requests as soon as received and to contact the submitter at the earliest possible moment with any queries as to scope, purpose or other points of clarity. If an Evaluation Team was established by the SEG to evaluate the current version of the messages, the SEG may re-establish this Evaluation Team and ask for their expert opinion on the business justification of each requested change. The submitting organization that developed the current version of the messages is also invited to participate in the initial evaluation. When several organizations share the IPR of the current version of the messages, all of them are invited to participate in the initial evaluation.
The SEG updates the change request forms with its recommendation to consider or not the request. If the request is accepted for further consideration, the SEG indicates whether it believes the implementation timing proposed by the submitter (whether in or outside of the yearly cycle) is reasonable and, for changes to be implemented in the yearly cycle, the SEG gives its opinion on the priority of the change (high - medium - low). The SEG gives a reason for the changes it recommends rejecting. The SEG forwards all completed change request forms to the RA by July 7 for publication in the Catalogue of Change Requests.
3. The submitting organization prepares a 'Maintenance Change Request'
Although the submitting organization in charge of the maintenance of the impacted messages is involved in the initial evaluation, the RA officially communicates all change requests approved for further consideration by the SEG by July 7 to the submitting organization in charge.
Note: in general, new versions of messages will be developed by the original submitting organization, i.e., the organization that developed the original version of the messages. If, for any reason, the original submitting organization cannot perform all or part of the requested changes, the RA and the SEG will seek an alternative submitting organization ready to maintain the messages. The SEG may also agree to postpone all or part of the requested changes.
The RA assists the submitting organization in setting up the required development environment, provides necessary electronic versions of the ISO 20022 Data Dictionary and copies of the current version of the ISO 20022 models.
The submitting organization prepares a Maintenance Change Request which includes all the change requests approved for further consideration by the SEG and indicates, for each of them, how the submitting organization proposes to implement the change and the resulting impact on the targeted messages. The Maintenance Change Request also confirms whether or not the submitting organization can dedicate required resources to the development of the changes in the requested timeframe. If, for any reason, the submitting organization cannot perform all or part of the requested changes, the RA and the SEG will seek an alternative submitting organization ready to maintain the messages. Alternatively, the SEG may agree to postpone all or part of the requested changes. A Maintenance Change Request template is available from the ISO 20022 website.
The submitting organization sends the Maintenance Change Request to the Registration Authority (RA) at iso20022ra@iso20022.org where it is logged, checked for completeness and confirmed to the submitting organization. From this point on, the status of the Maintenance Change Request is tracked in the Status of Submissions which includes a copy of the latest version of the Maintenance Change Request.
Valid Maintenance Change Requests for the following yearly maintenance cycle must be received by the RA by August 21 and are forwarded, by September 1, to the SEGs which had performed the initial evaluation of the change requests.
4. The SEG reviews the Maintenance Change Request
The SEG - or its Evaluation Team - reviews the Maintenance Change Request and approves the proposed implementation of each change request.
The submitting organization is invited to participate in the evaluation to give any further clarification regarding the proposed updates.
The result of the review is an agreement regarding which changes will be implemented, how and when. The SEG updates the Maintenance Change Request with its decision for each of the proposed changes and forwards the updated document to the RA. The SEG has until October1 to complete the review of the Maintenance Change Request and forward it to the RA.
Upon their receipt, the RA transmits the completed Maintenance Change Requests to the submitting organizations and posts them in the Status of Submissions.
5. The submitting organization develops the new candidate ISO 20022 messages
For the yearly maintenance cycle, the submitting organization has until December 1 to develop a new ISO 20022 compliant version of the message models, which includes the changes approved by the SEG, and get it checked for compliance by the RA. For exceptional unscheduled changes, the timeframe is indicated in the approved Maintenance Change Request.
The RA registers the candidate new version of ISO 20022 messages and all related new or updated items in the Repository and generates the evaluation documentation. The evaluation documentation includes a copy of the message models, the XML schemas and a preliminary Message Definition Report generated from the message models.
6. The SEG verifies the documentation of the new candidate ISO 20022 messages
The evaluation documentation is distributed to the SEG during December.
The SEG - or its Evaluation Team - has until February 1 to verify that the new version of the messages actually reflects the approved changes, as agreed. If it is not the case, the submitting organization has until March 1 to correct the models or documentation as appropriate.
Upon approval of the SEG, the RA officially notifies the submitting organization and the RMG of the newly approved version of ‘ISO 20022 messages'. It is only after the approval by the SEG that the new candidate ISO 20022 messages can be called ISO 20022 messages (or ISO 20022 compliant messages).
7. The RA publishes the new version of the ISO 20022 messages
Upon approval by the SEG, the submitting organization prepares additional information to allow the RA to publish the full documentation of the new version of the messages. This includes contextual documentation to introduce the new transaction flow and/or illustrate the message usage, and, possibly, examples of XML message instances. This additional information must be received by the RA no later than May 1.
In April/May, the RA publishes the new versions of the ISO 20022 messages on the ISO 20022 website. This includes:
During the entire registration process, the RA keeps the status of all Change Requests and Maintenance Change Requests updated in the Catalogue of Change Requests and Status of Submissions.
8. Testing and implementation
Until the newly published messages have been tested or implemented, one cannot fully guarantee that:
- The updates to the ISO 20022 messages are described accurately enough in the published documentation to allow users to implement the new version as intended and approved by the SEG;
- The approved new version can be implemented from a technical perspective with no or minimal adverse effects on communication infrastructures and/or applications (for example, excessive processing time).
If and when the RA is informed that the new messages have been implemented, it will indicate it in the Catalogue of ISO 20022 messages. The submitting organization is also invited to review the published documentation and organize/ encourage testing and implementation of the new version of the messages.
The submitting organization, testers or first implementers are invited to communicate to the RA any remarks they have on the published documentation. The remarks may include proposals for changes to clarify the documentation, align it with what was approved by the SEG, eliminate ambiguity or correct errors that prevent implementation of the messages. They may include proposals to make the new version easier to implement or process, but may normally not include new business requirements, unless (1) they are in the scope of the approved maintenance change request and (2) the SEG, the RA and the submitting organization jointly agree that the proposed changes can and must be implemented as soon as possible to ensure adoption of the new version.
If a correction of the messages and/or documentation is approved, the new publication is clearly announced on the ISO 20022 website and an 'errata' with the list of the changes is published by the RA for the convenience of implementers who would have started using the published version of the messages/documentation. If the messages have been 'patched' to correct a mistake (the messages did not reflect what the SEG had approved) or an error (the schema was invalid), the corrected schemas bear a new generation timestamp but keep the same message version number. If any other change is made to a message (improvement, new requirement), the message version number is increased.
* Withdrawal
At any time during the registration process and until the messages are approved by the SEG for publication, the submitting organization may decide to withdraw or suspend its submission, simply by informing the RA. The RA will change the status of the submission accordingly and inform the RMG and SEG
* IPR
According to the ISO 20022 Intellectual Property Rights policy, the submitting organization keeps the IPR on the messages although it grants third parties a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the published information. When there are several submitting organizations, for example when the submitting organization of a new version is not the same as the submitting organization(s) of the previous version(s) of the messages, all submitting organizations will share the IPR.
* Appeals and complaints
Submitters of change requests and submitting organizations may appeal to the RMG against a decision of the RA or SEG(s). The RMG shall give its decision about such an issue within 30 calendar days of receiving the appeal. A subsequent appeal may be made through the secretariat of ISO TC68, the ISO committee in charge of the ISO 20022 standard.
Complaints regarding the service provided by the RA, the SEGs or the submitting organizations may also be sent to the RMG. All such complaints must be in written form. Complaints must be service orientated and are not considered part of the appeal process. The RMG shall aim to respond to complaints within 60 days of receipt.
