PDF Invoicing

How does PDF invoicing work?

The invoicing party creates an invoice via his IT system. Instead of printing out the invoice and sending this as a letter, the invoice is saved as a PDF file and subsequently sent to the electronic marketplace gate2b. This can take place via FTP, web service or via another network protocol.
The gate2b invoicing module recognizes both the invoicing party and the invoice recipient from the saved configuration. The PDF invoice is fed into the signing process of gate2b depending on the type of PDF (with or without meta-coding) and the workflow is correspondingly sent to the invoice recipient. Without meta-coding, the invoicing takes place as a PDF. With meta-coding, the issuing of an EDI format is also possible.
The sole prerequisite for using PDF invoicing is that the invoicing party must register with gate2b. After the registration has been completed, PDF invoices can already be correctly handled and signed.

PDF invoicing without meta-coding

The generating of PDF files usually takes place via a report generator stored in the ERP system which can already generate direct PDF documents by default. After a PDF document has been created, the specific information can be read without any further procedures being necessary. Without meta-coding, no meta data can be read which is necessary for the structured processing of information. To be able to read meta data systematically from a PDF document, a PDF document must be coded.

PDF invoicing with meta-coding

In order to endorse a PDF document with meta data, a prespecified coding from gate2b must be adhered to which must be configured in the report generator once requiring little effort. A PDF invoice with meta-coding has the advantage that on the basis of the meta data (e.g. invoice number, invoice date, positions, etc.) structured data are available for further processing. This is reprocessed by gate2b. The invoice sender could, for example, send on a meta coded PDF invoice to the invoice recipient via gate2b. In addition to the VAT compliant PDF invoice, an XML data record could also be delivered, with which the invoice recipient can create the invoice without any manual outlay in a system compatible way. Furthermore, the meta data is also available for the archive and the invoice search connected with this.