Glossary Item Box

Government Gateway 2.2.0 (MR-01) ISV Developer Help (Doc Version 06/03/08) | Send comments on this topic.

# Activating an Enrolment

# How to Activate an Enrolment

Most services are not configured to directly auto-activate enrolments and require specific activation. In this case the user must obtain the Activation PIN created on the Gateway by Enrolling in a service. The user then uses this with the SOAP Portal Interface "activate" method to activate the enrolment. This is a one-off process and does not have to be repeated for that enrolment. There are two ways an activation token can be supplied to the user.

The first option is through the post after an enrolment. This is a secure method because the Activation PIN letter is delivered to the user’s address held by the service owner; however it does introduce a delay in using the service.

The second option, as illustrated, is for the service owner to pre-send an activation token (called a Departmental Activation Token or DAT) – this is affectively an Activation PIN generated by the service owner – to their users by post to expedite their enrolment on the Gateway. This letter would invite the user to enrol by entering their known facts and supplied DAT. This would then immediately activate the enrolment.

The DATs that the service owner sends out to users are also supplied to the Gateway as an additional service known fact for each user. This is so the Gateway can check that a DAT input by a user matches the DAT sent out.

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