1. Electronic Invoicing in Europe
Is the UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice
standard meeting user requirements?
David Dobbing
SWIFT

2. SWIFT and e-Invoicing
• Member EBA E-Invoicing Working Group
• Registration Authority for ISO 20022 (Financial Services)
David Dobbing
• Manager, Trade and Supply Chain Standards at SWIFT
– e-invoicing, traditional trade, and corporate-to-bank message standards
• Member ISO 20022 Trade Standards Evaluation Group (SEG)
• Member EC Informal Task Force on e-Invoicing
• Past Vice Chair UN/CEFACT Information Content Management Group
– technical audit of CII V2.0
• Active member UN/CEFACT TBG5 Finance Group
– ISO 20022 e-invoicing project team
Electronic Invoicing in Europe, 27 – 28 April 2010 2

3. EG Report Recommendations 4 & 5
The EG recommends that all actors within both the private and public
sector adopt a common invoice content standard and data model – the
UN/CEFACT Cross-Industry Invoice (CII) v.2
R4.1: The EG recommends that the UN/CEFACT Cross-Industry Invoice (CII) v.2 is adopted
by all actors within both the private and public sector, as the common reference semantic
data model upon which future e-invoice content standard solutions are based. CII v.2 is
currently the only international data model that covers the requirements of different
industries and sectors. It provides the required connection between the various supply chain
messages and is integrated with financial services requirements. UN/CEFACT products and
standards are recognised and accepted globally.
R4.2: The EG recommends that structured invoices comply with this data model provided
that the data elements required by the user are present in CII v.2.
R4.5: The EG recommends that UN/CEFACT and ISO, as global standards organisations,
should continue to collaborate on the development and maintenance of the CII and
implement the model in their own interoperable methodologies and data dictionaries to
enable maximum integration of the procurement, invoicing, payment and reconciliation
processes. This will continue to foster end-to-end STP and will support migration to SEPA. It
will simplify message conversion, integration and communication. It will also help to
minimise implementation costs for SMEs.
Electronic Invoicing in Europe, 27 – 28 April 2010 3

4. EG Report Recommendations 4 & 5 cont.
R4.6: The EG recommends inclusion of at least the proposed minimum core invoice dataset,
based on the CII and described in Annex 7, in any e-invoicing solution.
R4.9: The EG recommends that the European user community should develop clear profiles
and implementation guidelines based on common recommendations facilitated through CEN
to support the use of e-invoicing and facilitate interoperability. These implementation
guidelines should be made freely available and stored publicly. Until full standards
convergence based on these implementation guidelines occurs, the use of choreography
specifications and format conversion tools will continue to facilitate mapping between
standards.
R4.11: The EG recommends that UN/CEFACT completes the necessary components to
support implementation of the CII v.2 standard as soon as possible so that the whole
package can be launched by the end of 2010.
R5.3: The EG recommends to take forward the CII v.2 content standard: including the
preparation of a set of European implementation guidelines to be completed as soon as
possible and no later than September 2010.
Electronic Invoicing in Europe, 27 – 28 April 2010 4

5. Public Consultation Feedback
• Common e-invoice content standard & data model
– Degree to which content should be mandated / regulated
– Adequacy of coverage; utility services, public administrations, tax authorities,
– Provision for user defined extensions and common library
– Clarification of “support and validation of the core e-invoice data set”
– Coexistence and convergence with existing standards UN/EDIFACT / UBL
• Implementation considerations
– EC support for implementation project
– Availability of guidelines / templates
– Complexity for SMEs
• Interoperability
– Alignment between CII V.2 and ISO 20022
– Validation against CEN WS BII public procurement profiles
– Communications protocol reference model
• Standardisation
– EEIF extended to cover other upstream & ancillary messages
– EEIF extended to cover authenticity, integrity, archiving, business process and agreements
Electronic Invoicing in Europe, 27 – 28 April 2010 5

6. Linking Supply Chain and Payments
Buyer Seller
UN/CEFACT
Administration, Commerce & Transport
• e-Invoice
• Remittance Advice
• Request for Finance
• etc
Buyer’s Bank ISO 20022 Seller’s Bank
Financial Services
The EG recommends that UN/CEFACT and ISO, as global standards organisations,
should continue to collaborate on the development and maintenance of the CII.
Electronic Invoicing in Europe, 27 – 28 April 2010 6

7. Three Perspectives
Is the UN/CEFACT CII standard meeting user requirements?
• Standards landscape
– UN/CEFACT CII V2 in a nutshell
– Roles of ISO and UBL
• Stakeholder interests
– Public authorities
– Financial community
• Implementation challenges
– Leveraging CEN
– User involvement
Electronic Invoicing in Europe, 27 – 28 April 2010 7