Presentation from Heli Salmi and Johanna Puro-Grönblom.

1. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Working Group 3
Service Provider Questionnaire
Results
Heli Salmi / Johanna Puro-Grönblom
e-invoicing Public Event - Brussels, 11 April 2006

2. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
About Service Provider
Questionnaire
About Service Provider
Questionnaire
Service provider contact information gathered
from CEN/ISSS e-Invoicing workshop members.
Questionnaire sent to 100 Service Providers, 41
answers received.
Questionnaire included questions regarding
company background, storage, digital signatures,
modelling and open questions on standards and
challenges
Answers came from the following countries
Finland, France, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Estonia,
Latvia, Norway and Switzerland

3. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Business areas of
respondents
Business areas of
respondents
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Eletronic Invoice
Service Provider
Softw are vendor ASP VAN EDI operator Other

4. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
What kind of invoicing do
you offer?
What kind of invoicing do
you offer?
0 %
10 %
20 %
30 %
40 %
50 %
60 %
70 %
80 %
90 %
100 %
Domestic B2B eInvoicing Domestic B2C eInvoicing

5. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
XML invoice transactions
volume / year
XML invoice transactions
volume / year
29 %
36 %
35 %
less than 50 000
50 000 – 1 000 000
invoices
over 1 000 000 invoices

6. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
EDI invoice transactions
volume / year
EDI invoice transactions
volume / year
29 %
36 %
35 %
less than 50 000
50 000 – 1 000 000
invoices
over 1 000 000 invoices

7. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Background information of
respondents
Background information of
respondents
Plans to expand operations
32 % don’t plan cross border e-invoicing
47 % planning to co-operate with other operators inside EU
XML eInvoice volumes per year
29 % less than 50 000
36 % 50 000 – 1 000 000 invoices
35 % over 1 000 000 invoices
EDI volumes per year
46 % less than 50 000
18% 50 000 – 1 000 000 invoices
36 % over 1 000 000 invoices

8. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Main topics raised by
respondents
Main topics raised by
respondents
Interoperability between different Service providers and
countries is challenging
Fear for different local legislative requirements
Too many country and company specific invoice formats -
lack of common invoice format(s) require format to format
conversions (93 % offer format conversions).
Roles and responsibilities in storage are not clear for all
actors in all countries (especially for service providers).
Clear need for common signature formats and procedures
(for exchanging and storing)
Part of the respondents require one EU level format
standard – part of the respondents don’t believe it is
needed or that it is impossible to reach one standard.

9. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Service Provider co-
operation
Service Provider co-
operation
Challenges:
Many formats require conversions (93 % of
respondents provide format conversions from one
technical format to another)
Fear for country specific legislative requirements
It is unclear what is meant by Re-signing /
countersigning
Invoice volumes low growth due to the complexity
of cross border customer implementations
Service providers have two sided role: they are
competitors but they should be also partners

10. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Suggestions to improve
Service Provider
co-operation
Suggestions to improve
Service Provider
co-operation
Establish EU level Service Provider consortium to overcome cross
border challenges and improve cross-border interoperability
Share information of formats and standards e.g. electronic
signatures
Process level standardization between operators (data flow
etc.)
Creating instructions for the customers how to start cross
border eInvoicing
Agreeing on contents of co-operation agreements
Database of Member States legislative requirements regarding e-
invoicing (invoice data fields, electronic signatures, storage)
Independent eInvoicing www site that gathers all related information
and links from service providers, administration, key-users, legal
authorities, finance authorities, etc...
Presenting best practices of Service Provider co-operation

11. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Conversions 1/2Conversions 1/2
42 % of respondents say that EU level format standard is
required – some say that no EU level standards are needed
at all
Challenges:
71,1% of respondents say that they have more than
one format standard in their country
Data conversions relation to the electronic
signatures: should converted messages be re-
signed or counter-signed.
Storing of original vs. converted invoice

12. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Conversions 2/2Conversions 2/2
Suggestions:
Presenting guidelines to the following issues related
to the conversions between service providers:
Invoice data elements in conversions
(mandatory vs. optional data elements)
Electronic signatures
Storage
Listing known formats based on questionnaire
results and eInvoicing workshop members feedback
Excel listing including EDI and XML formats
and their special requirements

13. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
StorageStorage
73% stores invoices behalf of the originator
58% stores invoices behalf of the receivers
Many service providers save the invoices behalf of
both originator and receiver
13,2% don’t store the invoices
Challenges
Storing official invoices – what is the official
invoice?
Paper vs. electronic format
Long term storage

14. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Electronic signaturesElectronic signatures
“Electronic signature and PKI type technologies seems to be an
obstacle for rapid widening of eInvoicing”
Challenges
Different legislative requirements per countries regarding
electronic signatures formats, verifications, storage
Interoperability between countries that does not require
electronic signatures and the ones that require.
Suggestions
Creating electronic signature implementation guidelines
including different legislative requirements by countries

15. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Open questions 1/2Open questions 1/2
What other issues you would like to present related to
the eInvoicing standards?
3 on miscellaneous
Legislation (1)
Standards (8)
No standards (4)
What kind of problems you have faced in eInvoicing ?
4 on miscellaneous
Co-operation problems (8)
Many standards (7)
Legislation/rules (10)

16. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Open questions 2/2Open questions 2/2
What kind of actions could increase eInvoicing in
Europe?
3 on miscellaneous
Legislation/rules (10)
Standards (9)

17. eInvoicing WS Public Event, Brussels 11 April 2006
Other notes and commentsOther notes and comments
Collecting best practices and examples how to
increase e-Invoicing in the local and European level
Nordic country e-Invoicing support and co-operation
is successful
If signature service is provided it is probably used
with all customers no matter which countries they are
from.
‘The EU should press the member states to
implement electronic invoicing. The model where the
government authorities accept only eInvoices seems
to be the best way