Customer (outbound) invoice processing

This section provides an overview of the entire e-invoicing outbound process. Remember that not all functionality is in place while development continues.

Process overview

Customer (outbound) e-invoicing process

1. Invoices to include are collected from the different modules, Sales (AR invoices), and saved in a temporary table.
2. XML generation is triggered from the temporary table. As a result, the e-invoice, such as the UBL 2.1 file and a PDF version are created.
3. The electronic document is sent to Sage Network.
4. The electronic document is received by Sage Network.
5. The electronic document moves through the appropriate platforms.
6. The electronic document is received by the customer.

Customer e-invoice preparation

Open: Declaration > e-invoicing > Sending > Customer e-invoice preparation (EINVPENGEN)

With this process, you build the list of the invoices to be processed.

You select the invoices using the following conditions:

• The invoices must be posted, regardless of origin, whether from the A/P-A/R accounting or Sales modules.

• The invoices were not collected in a previous selection.

• Settings and master data must be configured to support e-invoicing.

The process creates records, one for each eligible invoice in a specific table, EINVOUT - Customer electronic invoices, that is the starting point of the e-invoicing process.

See the Customer e-invoice preparation online help for more information.

Customer e-invoice generation

Open: Declaration > e-invoicing > Sending > Customer e-invoice generation (EINVOUTGEN)

With this process, you manage the generation of the outbound e-invoices.

• Get the list of e-invoices depending on criteria you set up. You can access pending transactions that require some action from you or review the history of e-invoices.

• Create a snapshot, which is a copy or transformation of the origin transaction into dedicated tables.

• Generate the XML from the snapshot.

You can restrict user access to sites and/or companies using the standard functional rights.  All the different steps in the process can be managed manually or automated using recurring batch tasks on a custom schedule.

See the Customer e-invoice generation online help for more information.

Additional information

Business process type management

This new information is required in the XML file to characterize the invoice in regard to the tax and was added to the sales invoice transactions.

It is required to define the invoice for VAT declarations: good, service, or hybrid. This was added to sales invoice transactions.

The default value is defined in the miscellaneous table and can be modified at transaction level.

Snapshot

The snapshot transforms and stores the data in tables beginning with ESINV rather than the origin tables. Dedicated tables can provide the following benefits:

• Transform and/or restructure the data to facilitate mapping.

• Manage a unique mapping with a unique set of tables.

• Improve the performance by transforming the data using scripts rather than complex formulas. Entry points will be added to manage specific needs.

• Render the data unchangeable.

XML file storage

The XML files are stored on the server, in the EINV > EINVOUT > [Company] > [Year] directory.

Sage Network synchronization

Synchronizing transactions with Sage Network is integrated into the invoice generation process. It takes place as follows:

1. A zipped directory file is created. It contains a hierarchy by type of flow and based on the type of data being synchronized: company, BP, transaction, and so on. For example, for invoices, the zipped file contains a CSV file that lists invoice identifiers and a CSV file listing the attachments; for each invoice, there is a directory containing several sub-directories, one storing the XML file and another storing the PDF. See Appendix 5 for details on the structure.
2. The zipped directory file is sent to Sage Network.

Traceability and exception management

Tools to track the result of synchronization are planned for a future release. Currently, you can check the result by logging on to Sage Connect.

Additional information

Invoice synchronization currently generates as many zipped files as invoices. This limit will be fixed in furure releases.

The size limit of the ZIP file is 1 GB. This limit will be managed when all the invoices can be synchronized in a single file.

For security reasons, ZIP files are intended to be deleted. This is planned for the next release.

Make sure the previous sync is completed before sending another one. It is recommended to generate one invoice at a time.