How the NREN portal works

1. Getting access

1. Go to Request access and fill in your name, work email, job role and your NREN. If your NREN is not listed, choose “My NREN is not listed” and type its name and country.
2. Choose Editor if you will fill in the assessment, or Approver if you are senior staff (CTO, director) who will submit on behalf of the NREN.
3. Wait for the approval email. The project team checks every request; until then you cannot sign in.
4. Sign in with your email and password. The first time, the portal shows a QR code: scan it with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy or 1Password) and enter the 6-digit code.
5. From then on, each sign-in asks for your password and the current code from the app.

2. Editors and approvers

Each NREN has at least one approver and any number of editors. A small NREN can have one person who is the approver.

1. Editors fill in and update the annual assessment, add evidence and save drafts. When finished they press “Save & send to approver”.
2. Approvers can do everything editors do, and they submit the assessment to the project team on behalf of the NREN.
3. Approvers also manage the team (invite or remove people) and choose how the NREN appears in published results.

3. Completing the annual assessment

The project team opens one round each year and emails every NREN user when it starts.

1. Open Annual assessment. Last year’s answers are already selected and shown under each question.
2. Go through the 7 domains. Change an answer only if your practice has improved or changed since last year.
3. For every improvement, open Evidence and add at least one of: a short note, a public link (for example a Trusted Introducer or FIRST listing) or a document (PDF, image, Word, Excel, CSV or text, up to 10 MB each). For very large reports, add a link instead.
4. Watch the Live preview on the right: it shows your estimated Readiness Index. It is an estimate until the project team reviews it.
5. Press Save draft at any time and come back later. Nothing is sent until you submit.
6. Editors: press “Save & send to approver” when finished; your approver gets an email.
7. Approvers: check the answers and press “Approve & submit to project team”. The assessment is then locked while it is reviewed.

4. After you submit

1. The project team compares your update with last year, looks at the evidence and may re-run public technical checks.
2. If something needs to change, the assessment comes back as “Returned with comments”. You get an email; read the comments at the top of the assessment, update and submit again.
3. When it is approved you get an email with your new Readiness Index, and your dashboard updates.
4. Your new score appears on the public website when the project team publishes that year’s results (you get an email then too).

5. Your results, history and recommendations

1. Dashboard: your current Readiness Index, the 7 domain levels, the change since last year, and the status of this year’s update.
2. Recommendations: the next maturity step for each question, grouped into quick wins (0–3 months), building up, strengthening and maturing, with links to the free tools.
3. History: all past years’ answers and scores. Download them as a spreadsheet (CSV) or save the page as PDF.
4. Benchmark badge: once your results are published, your public scorecard has HTML code to show your yearly Readiness Benchmark badge on your own website.

6. Managing your team (approvers)

1. Open Team and enter the person’s name and email, and choose Editor or Approver.
2. They receive an email with a link (valid 7 days) to set their password, then set up two-factor authentication.
3. To remove someone, press “Remove access” next to their name. They are signed out immediately.

7. How your results are published (approvers)

Only scores and summaries are ever public. Your answers and evidence are visible only to your NREN and the project team.

1. Named: your NREN’s name and country appear on the results pages and scorecard.
2. Anonymised (the default): your scores appear as “NREN A”, “NREN B”… with no name, country or technical-check details.
3. Not shown: your scores are left off the public site but still count in private project analysis.
4. Change the choice at any time under Publication consent; the public site uses it immediately.

8. Privacy and security