The documentary repository DESA'L from the AOC Consortium has exceeded 400 million electronic documents in custody. This figure reflects the trust of more than 2.250 Catalan public administrations that use the AOC's digital administration services and consolidates DESA'L as one of the most relevant shared digital infrastructures in the country.
Each document in custody is a guarantee that administrative activity is preserved in a safe, accessible way and with all legal guarantees. In addition, DESA'L has had high-category certification from the National Security Scheme (ENS) since 2024, a level of protection that helps guarantee the preservation of information even in the face of serious cybersecurity incidents.
All this with a sustainable economic model based on economies of scale: safeguarding 1.000 documents for a year has a direct maintenance cost of approximately one euro per year.
The shared documentary repository of the Catalan administrations
The digital transformation of administrations requires that electronic documents are not only preserved, but also organized, accessible and protected over time. For this reason, it is strategic to have a shared, structured and standard-based document repository that guarantees a homogeneous management of public information.
DESA'L has been conceived as a country's digital infrastructure, with an architecture prepared to efficiently manage increasingly high documentary volumes without increasing complexity for user entities. This architecture allows the incorporation of new organizations, new services and millions of additional documents while maintaining the same levels of performance, security and availability.
At the same time, the centralization of document custody allows for maximum use of the economies of scale of the public cloud and sharing the costs of infrastructure, operation, security and technological evolution among all user administrations. This translates into a sustainable and particularly efficient economic model, difficult to achieve through solutions deployed individually by each entity.
In addition, the information remains easily accessible both through web applications and through integration with the entities' corporate systems, guaranteeing interoperability, information reuse and continuity of digital services.
Beyond safeguarding documents, DESA'L provides a common, secure and scalable documentary base that allows the Catalan public sector to grow sustainably and confidently face the challenges of digitization in the coming years.
Additional protection against cyberattacks
Recent years have shown that cyberattacks, especially ransomware, are one of the main threats to public administrations. When an attack compromises internal systems, it can also affect backups located within the same infrastructure.
It is in this context that DESA'L provides a differential value. The documents in custody are maintained in an infrastructure independent of that of each entity, with security measures, authentication and operation systems of their own, and permanently monitored by the AOC's cybersecurity services.
This means that, if an administration suffers a serious incident in its systems, the documentation generated through the AOC services remains preserved and available for recovery.
DESA'L does not replace the security policies of each organization, but it offers an additional layer of protection in one of the most critical areas: ensuring that the documentation that accredits administrative actions and citizens' rights remains secure in the face of any contingency.
A solution certified with the ENS high category
DESA'L was one of the first three AOC services to obtain the ENS certification in the high category. This certification, granted by an accredited independent entity, accredits compliance with the most demanding measures in terms of confidentiality, integrity, availability, authenticity and traceability of information.
For user entities, this representa an additional benefit: by using DESA'L they not only have a shared technological service, but they also benefit from the security and quality guarantees that have been externally audited, facilitating their own processes of adaptation to the ENS.
The value of shared services
DESA'L is a good example of the AOC's shared services model. Instead of each administration having to implement, maintain and protect its own solution, the AOC develops a single platform that serves the entire Catalan public sector.
This model allows for advanced technologies, high security guarantees and specialized management at a very low cost. Custody of documentation at DESA'L has a direct cost of approximately one euro per thousand documents per year, that is, one tenth of a cent per document.
Thanks to this economy of scale, city councils and other administrations can access a robust and secure infrastructure without having to deal with complex projects, specific contracts or their own maintenance costs.
The milestone of 400 million documents also highlights the success of this country model: a single shared infrastructure that avoids duplication, reduces costs, reinforces security and allows all administrations, regardless of their size, to have the same levels of service and guarantees.
An infrastructure ready to continue growing
The figure of 400 million documents is not an arrival point, but an indicator of the acceleration of the digital transformation of the Catalan public sector. The generalization of electronic processing, the promotion of digital services and the continuous expansion of the AOC's catalogue of services will mean that the documentary volume will continue to grow in the coming years.
This is precisely why shared infrastructures are so important. They allow us to absorb this growth in an efficient, safe and sustainable way, without transferring complexity or additional costs to public entities.
This is the raison d'être of the AOC: build once, with the maximum guarantees, so that all Catalan administrations can benefit from it. DESA'L is a clear example of this: a common infrastructure that protects millions of documents, strengthens the resilience of the public sector and generates shared value for the entire country.
