Accessing the PPSR Business to Government (B2G) Channel
Introduction
This web page provides information for customers who are considering becoming a Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) Business to Government (B2G) Account Customer. The web page outlines the steps involved in establishing and maintaining a B2G Customer Account on the PPSR.
What is the B2G channel?
The B2G channel is a service of the PPSR that enables B2G authorised customers to transact with the PPSR from their own systems over the internet. Whilst most users will use the PPSR web interface to access PPSR, some organisations may benefit from a direct PPSR B2G connection from their internal systems.
A B2G interface allows a business to integrate their workflows and business systems with the transactional functionality of the PPSR. The B2G channel is provided via web services over an Internet Secure Socket Layer (SSL) session.
The B2G channel is provided on the basis that customers will develop their own Application Programming Interface (API) to the PPSR and have the resources to support their functionality into the future.
Fees and charges for use of PPSR services are available at the About Fees page. Fees and charges for PPSR services are the same for Web and B2G channel access.
Functions supported/not supported by B2G
The business transaction functionality available via the PPSR web interface is also available via the B2G channel including registration and search. However, administrative functions such as user and account management are not supported via the B2G channel. PPSR user accounts must be created and maintained via the PPSR web interface.
Customers can choose which functions to implement in a way that makes business sense for their organisation. The only mandatory functionality required are the register operations - ping and change password.
The functions available via the B2G channel are documented in the PPSR B2G Interface Specification.
Establishing a B2G connection
The following steps are necessary to become a PPSR B2G Account Customer:
- Build your B2G interface to PPSR
- Test your B2G interface to PPSR
- Apply for B2G access to the PPSR production environment
The steps are discussed in detail below.
Build your B2G interface to PPSR
To interact with PPSR via the B2G channel, you must develop client APIs to the technical specification, in particular they must support an HTTP connection via SSL.
The following documents outline the technical specifications required to develop a B2G interface with the PPS Register and other relevant information.
- B2G Interface Specification Document [DOC 5.5MB]
- B2G Mailbox Notifications [DOC 916KB]
- PPSR B2G.Wsdl [ZIP 36KB]
- Schemas.ppsr.gov.au. reports [XSD 1KB]
- Notification schemas [XSD 4KB]
Test your B2G interface to PPSR
To test your B2G interface with PPSR, you must apply for access to the Discovery environment. The PPSR Discovery Environment Access Request form is available under the “Other relevant documents” heading below.
Within Discovery, you must set up an account using the web interface. When you have set up your account, you must advise ITSA of your PPSR account number and confirm the IP addresses to be used by your B2G connection.
ITSA will then configure your B2G access to Discovery by assigning B2G roles to your account within Discovery and notifying you of user ID and password details.
Continue to develop your API and test it against the services provided in the B2G Discovery environment. You can use the Web interface in the Discovery environment to set up test data and to verify functionality.
The Discovery Environment contains test data. Users of Discovery need to be aware of the following differences from the production environment:
- Though Discovery will be available 24 hours per day, there are no high availability features, and the environment may be unavailable for maintenance without notice. Best endeavours will be undertaken to notify customers of any outages.
- All data will be test data only. Testers should not use real data. Any test data entered in the system will be available and visible to all users of the system (there is a single shared database between all customers, not a database for each customer).
- The Discovery environment database does not have production capacity. The Discovery environment cannot support high volume load testing by customers. Customers are requested to mock out the Register interfaces if load testing their own systems.
No test cases will be supplied by ITSA and there will be no requirement to provide any results of B2G customer testing to ITSA.
Once you have tested all your B2G operations successfully in Discovery, you can apply for access to the Production environment.
Apply for B2G access to the PPSR Production environment
First, set up your Production account using the Register. This includes Agreeing to the Account Customer Terms and Conditions.
If you wish to transact as a credit account, you must apply for credit (application form below). Otherwise, you must set your account up as prepay. Only prepay and credit accounts can transact over the B2G channel.
When you have set up your account, fill in the B2G Account application form (available below), with the details of your PPSR account and your IP addresses to be used by your B2G connection.
ITSA will configure your B2G access to production by configuring firewall rules to allow access from the nominated IP address range, assigning B2G roles to your account within production and notifying you of user ID and password details.
Ongoing Test Facility
The PPSR Discovery environment is available on an ongoing basis to allow testing of new and updated functionality within your systems.
Other Relevant Documents
Technical support
For further information on B2G access or for ongoing B2G interface support: