Invoice Portal Service News (05/2023)

Extension of the XML interface to the customer’s ERP system

The XML transfer file from the app “Invoice Portal” to the customer’s ERP system has been extended. The following additional fields are transferred:

• Group “General”:
  • Incoming Channel
  • Importance and Comment
• Group “Supplier”:
  • Flag “CPD Supplier”
  • Global ID
  • Dunning Level
  • Hint for Bank and Payment Data
• Group “Invoice Recipient”:
  • VAT ID Customer
• Table “Accounting”:
  • Unit Price (Gross)
• Table “Items with Order Reference”:
  • Product quantity in ordered quantity unit code
  • Ordered Quantity Unit Code
  • Product quantity in billed quantity unit code
  • Billed Quantity Unit Code
  • Type (Order Item Type)
  • Basis Quantity
  • Flag “Deviation”
  • Comment

In addition, the bank details from the “BY” (Buyer) segment are removed without replacement.

Please contact us if you need technical documentation.

Incoming channel “ZUGFeRD“

In order to standardize the labels and improve readability, the incoming channel “ZUGFERD_MAIL” in the user interface of the app “Invoice Portal” will be renamed to “ZUGFeRD”. This change only affects the representation in the user interface, the incoming and outgoing communication of the app is not affected. No adjustments are required.

Master data for product unit codes

Since only fixed abbreviations for the product unit codes are allowed in a ZUGFeRD invoice, it can happen that different abbreviations are used in the order master data than in an incoming invoice. The new master data “Unit Code” simplifies the processing of such an invoice with order reference in the “Invoice Portal”. This is because the product unit codes from an incoming invoice can be “translated” into the product unit codes used within the “Invoice Portal”.

The new master data table consists of 3 columns:

• Unit Code
• Description
• Target Unit Code

A maximum of 5 characters is allowed for the values in the columns “Unit Code” and “Target Unit Code”. The column “Unit Code” should contain the possible values from the incoming invoices and the column “Target Unit Code” should contain the values from the purchase order master data. Each product unit code may be created only once.

The creation of the master data for product unit codes is possible via the user interface or via the manual CSV import. The detailed description of the fields and conditions for the CSV import can be found in the “CSV fields documentation” in the overview “Imported Files”. The automated CSV import is not provided.

The listing of all product unit codes that can be used in a ZUGFeRD invoice, valid at the time of implementation, is available in the provided sample file. This sample file is accessible via the button “Import CSV” and can be downloaded there.

Using master data for product unit codes

If an incoming invoice with order reference contains a product unit code that is managed as a “Unit Code” in the master data and for which a “Target Unit Code” is also provided, then the target unit code is allocated for invoice processing instead of the original unit code (column “Unit Code” in the table “Items with Order Reference”).

This is only done once when the invoice is transferred to the “Invoice Portal”. Replacing the values entered within the invoice processing with the master data for product unit codes at a later point in time does not take place.

If the product unit code from the incoming invoice is unknown or there is no value for the “Target Unit Code” in the master data, then the value received is transferred unchanged to invoice processing.

Import of invoice verifications and process settings

The previous software update “SP 136” made it possible to export organization’s invoice verifications and process settings in XML format. These exports completely document the configuration of the invoice verifications and the process settings.

With the current software update, the import of the exported files is now also possible. This function can be used both for transferring the settings between organizations and for backup of the settings made.

Important note: When importing, the inventory data is first completely deleted and then replaced with new data. It is not possible to update the inventory data via XML import or to add new data to the inventory data. The files to be imported must always be complete. When importing invoice verifications, the default values are applied instead of data that may be missing.

New menu item “Imported Files“

The overview of imported files can now be found in the menu “Settings“ > “Imported Files“. This overview contains the imports for the following import destinations:

• Posting Periods,
• Accounting Templates,
• Invoice Verifications,
• Process Settings.

The separate overviews of the imported files for booking periods and accounting templates are no longer required.

Reorganization of „Basic Settings“

The tab “Master Data and Transaction Data”, which used to be in the menu item “Basic Settings” in the app “Invoice Portal”, has been renamed to “Automated Import Types” and moved to the menu item “Settings” in the app “Invoice Portal Admin”.

In this menu item there is also another tab “Notification Management”, which contains the configuration of the notifications about incorrect entries in the automatically transferred CSV files. This configuration was previously located in the menu item “Imported Files” > “Settings” in the app “Invoice Portal Admin”.

Therefore, the settings that apply exclusively to the app “Invoice Portal Admin” will be found there. In addition, the structure of the settings in the two apps will be aligned. This increases recognition and simplifies operation.

Access to the new menu item “Settings” in the app “Invoice Portal Admin” is only available to users who have been assigned the access rights “Invoice Portal Service Master Data Admin” via the app “Administration”.

Invoice verification ”Corresponding Order Item exists“ removed

The verification “Corresponding Order Item exists“ for invoices with order reference, which was activated in the delivery state of the app and of the type “Warning”, has been removed.

The verification “The combination order no. and order item no. must be included in the order master data.” offers you a mostly identical functionality. This verification is activated in the delivery state of the app and is of the type “Error”.

The following verifications, which had the verification “Corresponding Order Item exists” as a precondition, now also depend on the verification “The combination order no. and order item no. must be included in the order master data”:

• The item amount (net) equals the remaining budget.
• Tax Code needs to match with Tax Code of the order item

Please check the configuration of the mentioned verifications in your organization and adjust them if necessary.

Igor Kuzmin (07252 / 96-2152, i.kuzmin@seeburger.de) and Rolf Wessel (07252 / 96-1257, r.wessel@seeburger.de) will be happy to answer any questions you may have.