[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":449},["ShallowReactive",2],{"navigation-docs_en":3,"/en/blog/opendesk-municipal-mainstream-neuburg-oberkirch-swiss-federal-chancellery-2026-posts_en":51,"/en/blog/opendesk-municipal-mainstream-neuburg-oberkirch-swiss-federal-chancellery-2026-surround-posts_en":438},[4],{"title":5,"path":6,"stem":7,"children":8,"page":25},"En","/en","en",[9],{"title":10,"path":11,"stem":12,"children":13,"page":25},"Docs","/en/docs","en/1.docs",[14,26],{"title":15,"path":16,"stem":17,"children":18,"icon":25},"Getting Started","/en/docs/getting-started","en/1.docs/1.getting-started/1.index",[19,21],{"title":20,"path":16,"stem":17,"children":-1},"Introduction",{"title":22,"path":23,"stem":24,"children":-1},"Migration Roadmap","/en/docs/getting-started/migration-fahrplan","en/1.docs/1.getting-started/2.migration-fahrplan",false,{"title":27,"path":28,"stem":29,"children":30,"page":25},"Technologies","/en/docs/technologies","en/1.docs/2.technologies",[31,35,39,43,47],{"title":32,"path":33,"stem":34,"children":-1},"Nextcloud","/en/docs/technologies/nextcloud","en/1.docs/2.technologies/1.nextcloud",{"title":36,"path":37,"stem":38,"children":-1},"Matrix / Element","/en/docs/technologies/matrix","en/1.docs/2.technologies/2.matrix",{"title":40,"path":41,"stem":42,"children":-1},"ONLYOFFICE","/en/docs/technologies/onlyoffice","en/1.docs/2.technologies/3.onlyoffice",{"title":44,"path":45,"stem":46,"children":-1},"Ubuntu Linux","/en/docs/technologies/ubuntu","en/1.docs/2.technologies/4.ubuntu",{"title":48,"path":49,"stem":50,"children":-1},"Keycloak","/en/docs/technologies/keycloak","en/1.docs/2.technologies/5.keycloak",{"id":52,"title":53,"authors":54,"badge":60,"body":62,"date":382,"description":383,"extension":384,"faq":385,"howto":401,"image":430,"meta":432,"navigation":433,"path":434,"seo":435,"stem":436,"__hash__":437},"posts_en/en/3.blog/31.opendesk-municipal-mainstream-neuburg-oberkirch-swiss-federal-chancellery-2026.md","openDesk hits the municipal mainstream in 2026 – Neuburg an der Donau, Oberkirch and the Swiss Federal Chancellery decision as the DACH tipping point for Germany's 10,500 municipalities",[55],{"name":56,"to":57,"avatar":58},"europioneer Team","/",{"src":59},"/favicon.svg",{"label":61},"Municipal migration",{"type":63,"value":64,"toc":371},"minimark",[65,69,125,130,149,153,176,180,194,198,223,227,280,284,331,335],[66,67,53],"h1",{"id":68},"opendesk-hits-the-municipal-mainstream-in-2026-neuburg-an-der-donau-oberkirch-and-the-swiss-federal-chancellery-decision-as-the-dach-tipping-point-for-germanys-10500-municipalities",[70,71,72,73,77,78,81,82,85,86,77,89,92,93,96,97,104,105,108,109,113,114,116,117,120,121,124],"p",{},"On ",[74,75,76],"strong",{},"23 September 2026",", the ",[74,79,80],{},"Behörden Spiegel"," published the first collected overview of productive ",[74,83,84],{},"openDesk"," deployments in German municipalities, under the headline \"How cities and municipalities are switching to the open-source alternative to Microsoft 365.\" Three weeks earlier, on ",[74,87,88],{},"2 September 2026",[74,90,91],{},"Swiss Federal Chancellery"," approved the introduction of openDesk for around ",[74,94,95],{},"3,000 federal seats"," starting at the end of 2027. Together with the completed ",[74,98,99],{},[100,101,103],"a",{"href":102},"/en/blog/schleswig-holstein-blueprint-libreoffice-migration-states-municipalities-2026","Schleswig-Holstein blueprint"," and the release of the ",[74,106,107],{},"ZenDiS partner programme"," for private operators (see ",[100,110,112],{"href":111},"/en/blog/opendesk-partner-program-2026","openDesk partner programme 2026","), week 39 of 2026 marks a tipping point: ",[74,115,84],{}," is no longer a statement of intent, but the documented default alternative to ",[74,118,119],{},"Microsoft 365"," in the German-speaking public administration. For Germany's roughly ",[74,122,123],{},"10,500 municipalities"," – cities, towns, districts and joint bodies – the excuse of \"there is no proven path\" has run out.",[126,127,129],"h2",{"id":128},"what-the-behörden-spiegel-dossier-of-23-september-2026-actually-documents","What the Behörden Spiegel dossier of 23 September 2026 actually documents",[70,131,132,133,136,137,140,141,144,145,148],{},"The dossier lists five municipalities from the past six months with documented openDesk operation or ongoing rollout. At the core it shows three patterns. First, migration happens ",[74,134,135],{},"modularly",", not in a big bang. Municipalities start with one component – usually mailbox or file storage – and add the others in waves. Second, costs for a mid-sized city sit between ",[74,138,139],{},"low and mid five-digit sums"," per component and are routinely offset by ",[74,142,143],{},"annual Microsoft licence savings"," of comparable size in the first or second year. Third, the procurement path has run in every documented case either below the EU thresholds or via the cooperative ",[74,146,147],{},"govdigital eG",". That removes the typical blocker of \"we cannot make this work under procurement law\" that has echoed in conversations with municipal finance offices for years.",[126,150,152],{"id":151},"neuburg-an-der-donau-the-320-mailbox-migration-from-march-to-june-2026-in-detail","Neuburg an der Donau – the 320-mailbox migration from March to June 2026 in detail",[70,154,155,156,159,160,163,164,167,168,171,172,175],{},"The ",[74,157,158],{},"Bavarian city of Neuburg an der Donau"," moved its complete e-mail operation from ",[74,161,162],{},"Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Online"," to ",[74,165,166],{},"Open-Xchange"," in the openDesk bundle between ",[74,169,170],{},"March and June 2026",". The migration covered around ",[74,173,174],{},"320 mailboxes"," in the city administration, audit office, social services, planning office, registry office and public order office. Migration effort came in at a low five-digit sum. Migration used the documented ZenDiS scripts complemented by three days of on-site support. Calendar and address book synchronised via CalDAV and CardDAV; mobile devices switched over via a central MDM without user intervention. The final 40 mailboxes – mostly leadership staff with many external contacts – moved with parallel operation in the last migration week and were then decommissioned. The city reports an error rate in the low single digits per cent, essentially confined to calendar shares with external partners.",[126,177,179],{"id":178},"oberkirch-the-hcl-notes-replacement-as-a-second-blueprint","Oberkirch – the HCL Notes replacement as a second blueprint",[70,181,155,182,185,186,189,190,193],{},[74,183,184],{},"Baden-Württemberg city of Oberkirch"," follows a different starting point: by the end of 2026 it is replacing its existing ",[74,187,188],{},"HCL Notes and Domino environment"," with openDesk. The case matters because it shows that openDesk is ",[74,191,192],{},"not only a Microsoft successor"," but also carries the replacement of other proprietary groupware suites. Municipalities with a legacy Notes environment – estimates put the German number in the low three digits – now have a documented reference case in Oberkirch. For those still on Notes today the difference is decisive: the jump from Notes to openDesk avoids the classic intermediate step of \"first go to Microsoft 365, then later go to open source\" that many Notes municipalities had been planning out of convenience or sales pressure.",[126,195,197],{"id":196},"_2-september-2026-the-swiss-federal-chancellery-as-a-dach-reference-point","2 September 2026 – the Swiss Federal Chancellery as a DACH reference point",[70,199,200,201,203,204,207,208,210,211,214,215,218,219,222],{},"The Swiss Federal Chancellery decision of ",[74,202,88],{}," is the ",[74,205,206],{},"largest single openDesk decision outside Germany"," so far. Around ",[74,209,95],{}," in the central Swiss administration are moving to openDesk by the end of 2027. Switzerland sends two messages with this. First, that a German-speaking federal body with especially high requirements for legal certainty and confidentiality classifies the suite developed by the German ",[74,212,213],{},"ZenDiS"," as production-ready. Second, that the ",[74,216,217],{},"DACH peer model",", influential in the public administration, works: what runs productively in one of the three DACH federal administrations becomes the reference argument in the others. For ",[74,220,221],{},"German states and municipalities"," the signal is substantial because it settles the last technical doubt (\"does this scale beyond 3,000 seats?\") as a matter of fact.",[126,224,226],{"id":225},"procurement-and-operating-model-the-pragmatic-path-below-the-eu-thresholds","Procurement and operating model – the pragmatic path below the EU thresholds",[70,228,229,230,233,234,237,238,241,242,244,245,248,249,252,253,256,257,260,261,264,265,271,272,275,276,279],{},"The fastest procurement path for municipalities is a ",[74,231,232],{},"direct award below the EU thresholds"," – currently around ",[74,235,236],{},"EUR 221,000"," for supply contracts and services alike. Nearly every municipality with fewer than ",[74,239,240],{},"3,000 seats"," stays below that threshold with its annual operating cost. For intermunicipal cooperations or joint bodies the additional path is joining the cooperative ",[74,243,147],{},", which offers openDesk under an existing framework contract. A third path is a ",[74,246,247],{},"state-wide licence",": states such as ",[74,250,251],{},"Schleswig-Holstein"," and ",[74,254,255],{},"Bavaria"," – with ",[74,258,259],{},"Baden-Württemberg"," in preparation – are negotiating central state contracts that municipalities can join. All three paths have documented reference contracts. Procurement is therefore ",[74,262,263],{},"no longer a blocker"," but a standardised preparation of two to four weeks. The discussion around ",[74,266,267],{},[100,268,270],{"href":269},"/en/blog/sovereignty-washing-microsoft-365-local-municipalities-2026","sovereignty washing in Microsoft 365 Local offerings"," has meanwhile shown that the alternative to openDesk – a Microsoft 365 Local offering that remains legally US-dependent – no longer holds up to procurement review under ",[74,273,274],{},"NIS2"," and the ",[74,277,278],{},"US CLOUD Act"," anyway.",[126,281,283],{"id":282},"the-nis2-and-cloud-act-frame","The NIS2 and CLOUD Act frame",[70,285,155,286,289,290,293,294,297,298,301,302,305,306,252,309,312,313,316,317,320,321,252,323,325,326,330],{},[74,287,288],{},"NIS2 transposition"," has been in force in Germany since December 2025. Municipalities fall under it in several roles: as ",[74,291,292],{},"critical-infrastructure operators"," (water, wastewater, roads, in parts health), as ",[74,295,296],{},"public administration"," and as ",[74,299,300],{},"municipal hospital",". The 2026 update to the BSI Grundschutz building blocks requires in these roles a documented ",[74,303,304],{},"German contracting party",", an ",[74,307,308],{},"auditable update chain",[74,310,311],{},"clear data localisation",". The ",[74,314,315],{},"US CLOUD Act 18 U.S. Code §2713"," reaches Microsoft 365 regardless of whether data sits in a European Azure region (details in our post on the ",[100,318,278],{"href":319},"/en/blog/cloud-act-2026","). The contradiction between ",[74,322,274],{},[74,324,119],{}," is examined in detail in ",[100,327,329],{"href":328},"/en/blog/nis2-gdpr-microsoft-paradox","NIS2, GDPR and the Microsoft paradox",". openDesk resolves the contradiction structurally because no US legal person sits on the data path.",[126,332,334],{"id":333},"what-municipalities-should-actually-do-in-the-fourth-quarter-of-2026","What municipalities should actually do in the fourth quarter of 2026",[70,336,337,338,341,342,345,346,349,350,353,354,349,357,360,361,365,366,370],{},"For ",[74,339,340],{},"IT directors in municipalities and joint bodies"," we recommend three sequential steps for the remaining three months of 2026. First, the ",[74,343,344],{},"inventory"," along the eight-step guide above; two to three weeks yield a robust template for the council submission, the finance office and the staff council. Second, the ",[74,347,348],{},"structured analysis of the existing Microsoft 365 data flows"," via ",[100,351,352],{"href":352},"/en/microsoft"," – the live measurement of your administration's actual traffic is the decisive evidence for data protection officers and municipal supervision. Third, an ",[74,355,356],{},"initial migration-planning conversation",[100,358,359],{"href":359},"/en/contact"," alongside the categorised ",[100,362,364],{"href":363},"/en/alternativen","alternatives matrix"," and the transparent ",[100,367,369],{"href":368},"/en/pricing","operating prices"," for municipalities with fewer than 500 seats. Those who have their mailbox pilot in production by the turn of 2026 / 2027 are in the position, during the first half of 2027, to complete the full openDesk rollout as part of the NIS2 compliance reporting that is due anyway – and are ahead of the supervisory reviews that state CIOs consistently expect to expand to the municipal level from mid-2027.",{"title":372,"searchDepth":373,"depth":373,"links":374},"",2,[375,376,377,378,379,380,381],{"id":128,"depth":373,"text":129},{"id":151,"depth":373,"text":152},{"id":178,"depth":373,"text":179},{"id":196,"depth":373,"text":197},{"id":225,"depth":373,"text":226},{"id":282,"depth":373,"text":283},{"id":333,"depth":373,"text":334},"2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z","On 23 Sep 2026 Behörden Spiegel documents Neuburg's openDesk switch, Switzerland approves 3,000 seats. What that means for Germany's 10,500 municipalities.","md",[386,389,392,395,398],{"q":387,"a":388},"What is openDesk and who develops the suite?","openDesk is the sovereign workplace of the German federal government, developed and released by the Centre for Digital Sovereignty of the Public Administration (ZenDiS GmbH) in Bochum. The suite bundles seven open-source components – Nextcloud for file storage and sharing, Collabora Online for document editing, Open-Xchange App Suite for mail, calendar and address book, Element on Matrix for chat and video calls, OpenProject for project management, Univention Corporate Server for identity and access management, and Jitsi as an alternative video-conferencing module. openDesk is therefore not just an office alternative but a complete replacement for the classic Microsoft 365 bundle of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive for public bodies and municipalities.",{"q":390,"a":391},"Why does 23 September 2026 matter as a date?","On that day the Behörden Spiegel – Germany's leading trade publication for the public administration – published the first collected overview of how German municipalities are concretely migrating to openDesk. Named cases include Neuburg an der Donau in Bavaria with a productive mail migration between March and June 2026, Oberkirch in Baden-Württemberg with an ongoing replacement of the HCL Notes environment by the end of 2026, and further municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The reporting matters because it documents the shift from isolated pilots to a broad municipal movement.",{"q":393,"a":394},"What did the Swiss Federal Chancellery decide on 2 September 2026?","On 2 September 2026 the Swiss Federal Chancellery approved the introduction of openDesk for around 3,000 employees in the central federal administration. The rollout begins at the end of 2026 and is scheduled to finish by the end of 2027; openDesk then fully replaces Microsoft 365 in the Federal Chancellery. For Germany this is relevant because for the first time a DACH federal body is going into production on the suite developed by the German federal government, providing the reference decision that cantons, German states and municipalities can point to.",{"q":396,"a":397},"How does a municipality procure openDesk in a compliant way?","For municipalities and intermunicipal IT service providers that are members of the govdigital eG cooperative – currently around 30 municipal data centres and joint bodies – openDesk is available under an existing framework contract without a separate tender. For all other municipalities the compliant paths are direct award below the EU thresholds, a full tender under the German procurement regulations (UVgO or VgV), or joining a state-level licence. The ZenDiS model is deliberately built to avoid forced licensing and vendor lock-in.",{"q":399,"a":400},"What operating models are realistic for openDesk in a German municipality?","Three models are running in production. First, operation in the municipality's own data centre where sufficient qualified staff exists – usually sensible from 3,000 seats upwards. Second, operation at a municipal IT service provider such as Dataport, ITK Rheinland, KRZN, KDO or ekom21 – the default path for municipalities between 200 and 5,000 seats. Third, operation at a BSI C5-certified private German provider – the fastest path for municipalities under 200 seats and for joint bodies without in-house IT operations. The europioneer platform covers the third variant.",{"name":402,"description":403,"totalTime":404,"steps":405},"Roll out openDesk productively in a German municipality by the end of 2027","Eight-step plan for IT directors in municipalities and joint bodies, starting from an existing Microsoft 365 environment with 200 to 5,000 seats.","P270D",[406,409,412,415,418,421,424,427],{"name":407,"text":408},"Inventory licences, directory service and line-of-business applications","Capture every active Microsoft 365 licence with expiry date, the current Active Directory including group policies, and every line-of-business application with a Windows or Office dependency. Classify each workplace as a standard, specialist or leadership profile. Only standard workplaces move to openDesk in the first step. Experience shows that in a municipal administration this share sits between 70 and 85 per cent.",{"name":410,"text":411},"Choose and secure the procurement basis","Clarify with your audit office whether you can procure via govdigital, a state-wide licence or an existing intermunicipal framework agreement. If not, decide between a direct award below the threshold and a public tender. The reference decisions from Neuburg and Oberkirch – each below the EU thresholds – are publicly available and can be used as templates.",{"name":413,"text":414},"Start a mailbox pilot on Open-Xchange","Migrate a bounded area with 30 to 100 mailboxes from Exchange to Open-Xchange. Use the documented migration script from the ZenDiS repository. Check calendar interoperability with external contacts, mobile sync via CalDAV and CardDAV, shared folders and delegate rules. Neuburg an der Donau needed roughly 90 days for 320 mailboxes, with the last 40 mailboxes moving in the final week.",{"name":416,"text":417},"Introduce Nextcloud and Collabora as the SharePoint and OneDrive replacement","Deploy Nextcloud with Collabora Online for collaborative document editing. Connect Nextcloud to the existing directory service via LDAP or SAML. Migrate SharePoint and OneDrive content in waves of no more than 500 GB each. Enable two-factor authentication as mandatory in Nextcloud – with an eye on NIS2 and the BSI Grundschutz building block SYS.1.6 this is now the reference.",{"name":419,"text":420},"Roll out Element on Matrix as the Teams replacement for chat and video","Replace Microsoft Teams with Element on your own Matrix homeserver or on the Matrix offering of your state IT service provider. Disable Teams chat in parallel and allow Teams meetings only as exceptions. Experience shows that 80 per cent of Teams usage moves to Element within six weeks when the administration's leadership and the staff council communicate the change together.",{"name":422,"text":423},"Set up OpenProject as a replacement for Planner, Project and SharePoint lists","Deploy OpenProject for task management, project plans and simple Kanban boards. Migrate existing Planner boards and SharePoint lists into structured OpenProject spaces per department. OpenProject then also serves as the single place for procurement planning, construction projects and administrative projects.",{"name":425,"text":426},"Document line-of-business exceptions and consolidate residual Windows devices","Maintain a publicly accessible list of every application with a Windows or Office dependency. Require a native Linux or web version in every new procurement contract. Consolidate residual Windows devices onto a central terminal server until the applications are ported. This consolidation typically reduces Windows licence demand to 10 to 20 per cent of the original volume.",{"name":428,"text":429},"Operational handover, monitoring and rollout to the whole administration","Hand over productive operation to your own IT, a municipal data-centre provider or a BSI C5-certified provider. Enable central monitoring, backups with a 30-day retention period and tested restore procedures. Scale the rollout in waves of 100 to 400 seats each with a 45-minute short training per wave. Full replacement of Microsoft 365 is typically completed after nine to twelve months.",{"src":431},"https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1467269204594-9661b134dd2b?w=1200&q=80",{},true,"/en/blog/opendesk-municipal-mainstream-neuburg-oberkirch-swiss-federal-chancellery-2026",{"title":53,"description":383},"en/3.blog/31.opendesk-municipal-mainstream-neuburg-oberkirch-swiss-federal-chancellery-2026","9djc2mgUKynHtPVK8B1PvR8T51B-kSwIW54SLGiEIyk",[439,444],{"title":440,"path":441,"stem":442,"description":443,"children":-1},"Wire Bund replaces Signal in the Bundestag – why the BSI VS-NfD approval of 2026 becomes the new standard for sovereign government communication","/en/blog/wire-bund-signal-bundestag-vs-nfd-messenger-sovereign-2026","en/3.blog/30.wire-bund-signal-bundestag-vs-nfd-messenger-sovereign-2026","After the Russian phishing attack on 300 Bundestag Signal accounts, parliament is switching to Wire Bund. What the BSI VS-NfD approval means for public sector and SMEs.",{"title":445,"path":446,"stem":447,"description":448,"children":-1},"KBV IT Security Guideline §390 SGB V meets the October 2026 Microsoft 365 double outage – why 170,000 German medical practices, MVZs and dental practices need a sovereign alternative now","/en/blog/kbv-it-security-guideline-390-sgb-v-medical-practices-microsoft-365-october-2026","en/3.blog/32.kbv-it-security-guideline-390-sgb-v-medical-practices-microsoft-365-october-2026","On 6 Oct 2026 Microsoft 365 fails across Europe for the second time in four weeks. The KBV guideline under §390 SGB V has been binding since October 2025 – and BSI explicitly advises against M365.",1791876238517]