When a new identity federation applies to join eduGAIN, the eduGAIN Secretariat and business development team will work closely with them to help them prepare and meet all the membership requirements. The following steps will be taken and will be used as a template to manage Candidate applications. Each "step" may run concurrently, depending the on the readiness of the federation.
| Candidate Name | Federation X |
|---|---|
| OTRS Ticket Number | TT#2025021534000135 |
eduGAIN New Candidate Process
| Steps | Requirements | Actions | Owner | Timeframe | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1: Initial application meeting / readiness discussion | This initial meeting will talk the candidate through the joining process, get an understanding of the technical infrastructure of the federation and it's maturity and also share information about useful resources for the federation such as the eduGAIN website and wiki and the REFEDS resources. If not already familiar, federations will also be talked through the available document templates and the various eduGAIN tools that can be used for testing compliance and reviewing issues. |
| BD Sec | Set up meeting within 2 weeks of receiving request | Page created: 3/3/25 The FedOps team is folling a online training provided by the eG training team. This activity will run until mid-May |
| Step 2: Collect required information for membership application | There are a number of formalities that need to be addressed before a federation can become a membership candidate. These are known as the "joining checklist" and represent the core information that is held about each federation to enable metadata consumption and to start the trust building process. |
| Sec / OT | TBD - depending on maturity of federation | https://ngrenid.ngren.edu.ng/ Policy and MRPS received on 13-5-25 |
Step 3: eduGAIN Secretariat review of federation documentation | The eduGAIN Secretariat will undertake an initial review of the federation Policy and MRPS documents and may invite others to help support this process. The aim of this step is to help the federation identify any potential issues that might come up from the community review process and ensure step 5 goes as smoothly as possible. |
| Sec | 4 - 6 weeks | |
| Step 4: Technical review | The purpose of the technical review is to iron out any issues the federation may have with publishing and consuming eduGAIN metadata on a daily basis to ensure that the federation can run successfully with no / low error rate when membership is approved. |
| Sec / OT | Concurrent with Step 5 & 6 | |
| Step 5: membership review of federation documentation | As stated in the eduGAIN Constitution, the eduGAIN Steering Group (eSG) is responsible for: "Reviewing and approving the membership of new Federations". Step 5 and Step 6 support this requirement. |
| Sec | 4 weeks (or 2-3 weeks for assessment + 1-2 weeks for the applicant to process the feedback?) | Deadline Friday 28 November |
| Step 6: voting | Formalised vote for membership acceptance |
| Sec | 2 weeks | |
| Step 7: formal registration | This final step ensures that the candidate is able to fully utilise the eduGAIN service after the community vote is successful. |
| Sec |
MD: https://md.ngrenid.ngren.edu.ng/metadata/ngrenid-edugain-metadata.xml
Policy: https://ngrenid.ngren.edu.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/NgRENID.pdf
MRPS: https://ngrenid.ngren.edu.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/mrps.pdf
eduGAIN New Candidate Assessment Feedback
Assessment Period: DATES
| Comment # | Document (Policy / MRPS) | Document line / reference | Proposed Change or Query | Proposer / Affiliation | Candidate response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Policy | all pages | Please add page numbers to the document, if possible | Mario Reale/GÈANT | |
| 2 | Policy | page 19 | Between items 3.2 and 3.3 there is an "If" a the beginning of 3.3. that is shared/mixed up. Clearly a typo | Mario Reale/GÈANT | |
| 3 | Policy | page 13 | Section 4.2.4: please add a reference the ngREN webiste URL (hyperlink in the digital document) | Mario Reale/GÈANT | |
| 4 | Policy | page 8 | Section 4.3: please make it an hyperlink inside the digital document | Mario Reale/GÈANT | |
| 5 | Policy | page 14 | Section 5.1.1: "he governing body" should be "The governing body" | Mario Reale/GÈANT | |
| 6 | Policy | In section 5, there should be on the website, correctly - it's just that the how to join as a SP is not in the policy document). | I think there is no section on how to join the federation as a Service Provider | Mario Reale/GÈANT | |
| 7 | Policy | Definition & Terminology - NgRENID | Probably a typo, but the description doesn't match the terminology. Shouldn't it be NgRENIF? | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 8 | Policy | all pages | Font and layout consistency. | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 9 | Policy | All pages | Using bullets instead of subparagraphs (e.g 3.1.1) improves readability. | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 10 | Policy | Introduction | Unnecessary use of numbered paragraphs | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 11 | Policy | 3.1.12; 3.2.7; 3.4.6 | How would this process works? Also wrt 3.2.7 and 3.4.6? | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 12 | Policy | 3.2.4 | Typo NGREN → NgREN | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 13 | Policy | 3.5.2 | Is this optional (should) or obligatory (must)? | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 14 | Policy | 5.2 | Will there be a standard termination period? | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 15 | Policy | 6.2.8 | Specify "neither party" | Casper Dreef/GÉANT | |
| 16 | Policy | 3.1 | "Develop a Standard Data Protection Policy Template to be adopted with/without modifications by the Federation Members." is a short-term action. By adding "Develop and maintain..." it becomes something that is not a one shot. | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 17 | Policy | 3.1 | Under section 3.2 there is in the fifth bullet a mention of maintain contact around inter-federation. But there is no mention on who has the responsibility around inter-federation membership. That should be with the governing body. | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 18 | Policy | 5.1 | Last bullet that starts with "However, " should be part of 4.3, or 4.4, were eligibility of membership is defined. | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 19 | Policy | Appendix 1 6.3 iii | In this bullet Co-Federation is used, is that something else than inter-federation? | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 20 | Policy | Appendix 1 7.3 Metadata Distribution | Add signed on the right place. For example "NgRENID publishes singed Metadata" and "NgRENID may also make a signed subset of the Metadata" | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 21 | Policy | Appendix 3 3.3 | The term Co-Federation is used here, see comment 19. | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 22 | Policy | Appendix 4 2.1 | It mentions three classes of members but I can only see two. Maybe it's based on the last bullet in the section is on the wrong level. | Pål Axelsson/Sunet | |
| 23 | MRPS | 5 | Defintion of registration of DNS based scope is missing. The scope registration for identity providers is mandatory and if it's missing attributs may be automatically filter by services. | Pål Axelsson/Sunet |