SAP Business Network Supplier User Guide
- June 1, 2024
- SAP
Table of Contents
- SAP Business Network Supplier
- Product Information
- Product Usage Instructions
- FAQs
- SAP Business Network Invoicing
- Types of Invoices
- SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing Invoice Creation
- Invoice History
- Related Invoice Rules
- Invoice Archival Options and Delivery
- Download Archived Invoices from the Pending Queue
- Long Term Archiving of Tax Invoices
- References
- Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
- Download This Manual (PDF format)
SAP Business Network Supplier
Product Information
SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing is a comprehensive tool for managing and creating invoices within the SAP Business Network ecosystem. It provides detailed guidance on invoice creation, compliance, standard fields, document statuses, invoice rules, and digital signature processes.
Specifications
- Product Name: SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing
- Supported Platforms: SAP Business Network, SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing, SAP Ariba Commerce Automation, SAP Ariba Contract Invoicing
Product Usage Instructions
Invoice Creation:
To create an invoice using SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing, follow these steps:
- Access the system and navigate to the invoice creation section.
- Select the type of invoice you want to create (e.g., standard invoice, draft invoice).
- Fill in the required invoice header and line item fields.
- Review the invoice for accuracy and compliance with contract-based rules.
- Submit the invoice for processing.
Digital Signature Process:
For invoices that require a digital signature, follow these steps:
- Ensure you meet the prerequisites for digital signing.
- Complete the digital signing agreement or mandate process as needed.
- Sign the invoice digitally using the provided tools.
FAQs
- Q: What types of invoices can be created using SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing?
- A: You can create standard invoices, draft invoices, and contract-based invoices using the tool.
- Q: How can I ensure my invoices comply with contract-based rules?
- A: The system provides guidelines and checks to help you ensure compliance with contract-based rules during invoice creation.
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© 2024 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
PUBLIC Document Version: 2402 2024-02
SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing
SAP Business Network SAP Business Network for Supply Chain SAP Ariba Buying
and Invoicing SAP Ariba Commerce Automation SAP Ariba Contract Invoicing
THE BEST RUN
SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing Content
SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing
This guide is for SAP Ariba users responsible for creating, editing,
monitoring, and approving invoices. This guide applies to:
· SAP Business Network · SAP Business Network for Supply Chain · SAP Ariba
Buying and Invoicing · SAP Ariba Invoice Management · SAP Ariba Contract
Invoicing
Related Guides
Creating and Managing Invoices, Credit Memos, and Debit Memos SAP Business
Network for Supply Chain Integration and Configuration Guide
SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing
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Introducing SAP Business Network Invoicing
SAP Business Network Invoicing [page 10] SAP Business Network
Invoicing–Buyer’s Perspective [page 14] SAP Business Network
Invoicing–Supplier’s Perspective [page 16] Invoice Creation Process [page 19]
Invoice Validation [page 21] Additional Resources About SAP Business Network
Invoicing [page 21]
SAP Business Network Invoicing
SAP Business Network is a hosted service that enables a company to form
relationships with their suppliers and conduct order and invoicing
transactions over the Internet. Buying organizations use SAP Business Network
to find suppliers from which they want to purchase products or services and
invite suppliers to form trading relationships. After a supplier has been
enabled on the SAP Business Network, the buying organization can view any
public catalogs the supplier has created or receive customer-specific catalogs
from their suppliers. Buyers can then place orders, and suppliers in turn can
create order-based invoices. If the buyer allows, suppliers can also create
invoices that are not based on a purchase order or enable a supplier to punch
into the buyer’s invoicing system to create contract-based invoices. Buyer
customers use one of the following invoicing solutions to connect to the SAP
Business Network:
· An SAP Ariba cloud solution: SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing or SAP Ariba
Invoice Management · An SAP Ariba on premise solution: Ariba Buyer with the
Ariba Invoice module · SAP Business Network Commerce Automation, which
connects an external ERP to the SAP Business Network
to exchange cXML documents via one of the supported SAP Business Network
adapters. Through SAP Business Network, buyers and suppliers can seamlessly
integrate their invoicing processes on a single network.
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Figure 1: E-Invoice: Architecture and Services
Suppliers can either create invoices online in their SAP Business Network
account or submit them electronically from their external system via cXML or
EDI. If suppliers create invoices online, then the account administrator can
assign specific roles to users that allow them to view purchase orders and
create invoices.
All invoices regardless how they are submitted to SAP Business Network are
validated against the specific buyer’s invoicing rules. Invoices that fail
that validation are rejected. Only after they are accepted by SAP Business
Network are they then digitally signed (if required based on the From and To
country on the invoice).
Once the invoices are validated and signed, they are downloaded to the buyer’s
invoicing system for review and approval. If the buyer finds a discrepancy
(e.g. between the expected and actual tax amount or a line item invoice to
purchase order mismatch) they can then dispute or reject the invoice and
require the supplier to resubmit a corrected invoice.
Related Information SAP Business Network User Permissions [page 17]
SAP Ariba Security Practices
The SAP Ariba solution components support general commercial good security practices that ensure confidentiality, security and integrity of the business system. SAP Ariba’s current audit report is the WebTrust (http://www.webtrust.org ) seal. SAP Ariba is audited against this standard every six months by an external independent auditor for its cloud solutions including the SAP Business Network.
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The certification provides reasonable assurance that, based on the AICPA/CA
Trust Services Criteria for Security Confidentiality, Availability and
Processing Integrity Criteria:
· the systems are protected against unauthorized access (both physical and
logical); · the systems are available for operation and use as committed or
agreed; · the system processing is complete, accurate, timely and authorized;
· information designated as confidential is protected as committed or agreed;
and · SAP Ariba has complied with its commitments regarding security,
availability, processing integrity, and
confidentiality.
SAP Ariba ensures the integrity of invoice data transmitted between SAP
Business Network and the SAP Ariba invoicing solutions through Transport Layer
Security (TLS).
Invoicing Prerequisites
The enablement for invoicing in SAP Business Network is a buyer-driven process
that follows these steps:
1. If the supplier does not have an account on the SAP Business Network, they
either create an account in SAP Business Network or take ownership of an
account that the buyer has pre-enabled for them. No matter how a supplier
starts using the SAP Business Network resources, they first must register and
accept the Terms of Use. Acceptance of the Terms of Use is required for all
users of a supplier account, regardless if they are the account administrator
or a user of the supplier company granted access to the account. The Terms of
Use for suppliers is available for review on http://supplier.ariba.com on the
bottom of the page.
2. The supplier and buyer establish the trading relationship.
Note
Steps 1 and 2 are recorded with a date (“Network TC Acceptance Date” and
“Relationship Status-Last Update”) and can be downloaded as part of the buyer
side “Supplier Account History” report.
3. The buyer configures their SAP Business Network account to accept invoices
from the supplier and specifies specific invoice rules that the supplier-
submitted invoices must adhere to. By default, these rules govern invoices
from all suppliers, however buyers can override these rules for specific
groups of suppliers or by country/region.
4. The supplier reviews the buyer-specific invoice rules under “Customer
Relationships” details in the supplier account.
Invoice Rules
Buyers must specifically allow authorized suppliers to create invoices using
the SAP Business Network user interface or to transmit them from their own
back end system through the SAP Business Network. If a buyer has disabled the
invoicing feature for some suppliers, then those suppliers will not have
access to the invoicing functionality when reviewing the buyer’s purchase
orders and they will not be able to enter non-PO invoices for those buyers. If
attempts are made by a supplier to send automated invoices using cXML or EDI,
those invoices will be automatically rejected.
After a supplier is authorized to send invoices electronically to a buyer,
those invoices will be validated against the buyer’s configured invoice rules.
The rules established on the SAP Business Network require that suppliers
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and buyers exchange invoices and invoice status updates that contain the
specific content for a wide range of requirements, including VAT compliance.
When a supplier user creates invoices in the SAP Business Network user
interface, the fields and validations available to them on the user interface
are controlled by the invoice rules that the buyer has configured. If they
send invoices through cXML or EDI, the same invoice rules apply and invoices
that don’t fulfill the specific criteria set forth by the invoice rules will
be rejected.
Testing the Invoice Process
Test accounts are free SAP Business Network accounts that allow buyers and
suppliers to test purchase order and invoice exchange (routing, creation, and
processing). These test accounts enable transaction partners to send and
receive test purchase orders and invoices without the risk of actually
shipping products or disrupting production transactions.
Test accounts provide a safe way for new and existing buyers and suppliers to
exercise SAP Business Network. New buyers typically spend several days testing
their procurement systems and SAP Business Network configurations. Similarly,
new suppliers spend several days testing their order receiving system and SAP
Business Network configurations. Buyers and suppliers also use test accounts
when testing their new trading relationships.
Both buyers and suppliers use test accounts, not production accounts, for this
testing. When they are confident that the purchase order and invoice processes
are working, they switch from their test accounts to their production
accounts.
Routing and Assigning an External Invoice for Test Accounts
SAP Business Network provides continuous test environment support to perform
your testing activities without interruptions. You as a buyer or supplier can
configure the Tax ID in your production account only once, and the test
account will be able to use the same tax ID to perform your testing
activities. Thus, you can use both the accounts concurrently.
SAP Business Network also routes and assigns external tax invoices to the
respective production and test accounts across all inbound channels.
Within the SAP Business Network system, the Tax IDs of both the supplier and
buyer test accounts are appended with -T. This enables the system to identify
the buyer and supplier account type as a test or production account. As a
result, the invoice coming from a supplier’s test account is routed to the
buyer’s test account. Similarly, an invoice coming from a supplier’s
production account are routed to the buyer’s production account.
Note
This solution is for internal purposes only. The invoices received or sent
from SAP Business Network system do not contain -T with the tax ID.
Based on this solution, the inbound channels of the system are handled in the
following ways:
· Email channel
Suppliers and buyers can use the following email IDs exclusively to send and
receive external tax invoices to and from the respective accounts.
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Email invoicereceiver-prod@ansmtp.ariba.com invoicereceiver- test@ansmtp.ariba.com
Account type Production Test
Note
Ensure that you use the relevant email ID to send an invoice to the required
account.
· Manual upload/CFDI upload
In this scenario, buyers establish a relationship with the supplier and
perform vendor upload activity as a prerequisite. Now, during this activity,
the buyer must:
· Append -T to the supplier Tax ID to indicate the supplier’s profile as a
test account. · Create and upload a separate file for every supplier with a
test account and a production account. · Suppliers using the SAP Business
Network, must have configured the Tax ID in your production account
through vendor upload functionality. When a supplier sends an invoice to the
SAP Business Network, the system considers the type of account into which the
supplier has logged in. Using the Vendor ID and Tax ID (with or without -T)
mentioned in the vendor details, the system determines whether to process the
invoice to the buyer’s test or production account.
Ensure that you as a buyer have a method to route the invoices received in
your SAP Business Network test or production account to your ERP system.
For example, if you upload the vendor details, you can use Tax ID and Vendor
ID as unique identifiers, and determine the account of the external invoice.
Prerequisites
· Buyer to have the Tax ID configured in your SAP Business Network buyer
account. Contact your admin to
configure the Tax ID.
· Buyer to have an SAP Business Network test account in your system.
Restrictions
A misconfigured SAP Business Network supplier or buyer account will not be
able to process the invoice because the system will not be able to find
appropriate buyer or supplier account to assign the invoice.
Related Information Using Test Accounts on SAP Business Network
SAP Business Network Invoicing–Buyer’s Perspective
After a trading relationship has been established with a supplier in SAP Business Network, buyers can download customer catalogs from their suppliers and then use their procurement application to generate purchase orders.
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Procurement applications send purchase orders to SAP Business Network, which
either stores them for suppliers to pick up or routes them to suppliers
through one of several protocols. Suppliers can respond with order
confirmations, ship notices, and invoices.
It is the buyer’s responsibility to allow invoicing by setting invoice rules.
By enabling the appropriate invoice rules, buyers can allow suppliers to:
· Create standard invoices against purchase orders. · Create non-PO invoices
and credit memos. · Create invoices against contracts by accessing the
customers’ contract collaboration sites.
SAP Business Network automatically routes purchase orders to suppliers through
cXML, email, fax, or EDI. Working with an SAP Ariba representative, buyers can
also customize the SAP Business Network supplier user interface to allow
suppliers to upload invoices in CSV (comma-separated value) format. Suppliers
specify their preferred order routing method, and SAP Business Network takes
care of the format, protocol, and delivery details.
Related Information Invoice Rules [page 112]
Viewing Invoices
While buyers can view their suppliers’ invoices on SAP Business Network, most
buyer users review and approve the invoices in their own invoicing solution.
Generally, an account administrator might need to review invoices that for
some reason cannot be downloaded to the buyer’s invoicing solution and then
resend stuck invoices after resolving the issue.
The Invoices page and invoice-based workbench tiles show details about each
invoice, including columns showing the invoice routing method, origin, and
source document (or order type). The transactions list can be configured to
show failed invoices, show or hide columns, group transactions by column,
export tables to spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel, and control
the number of transactions displayed (the default is 100).
Buyer users can also use the cXML Viewer at
https://service-2.ariba.com/Buyer.aw/ad/displayInvoice to upload a file
containing the cXML invoice to generate a human-readable representation of the
actual invoice data.
Editing Invoices Sent from an Invoice Conversion Service
SAP Ariba invoice conversion services (ICS) solutions facilitate conversion of
paper invoices to an electronic format using a process that includes
validation. An invoice conversion service provider receives paper invoices on
behalf of the buying organization and converts them to an electronic format
for posting to SAP Business Network. Invoices sent from such service providers
are labeled ICS Paper Invoices on SAP Business Network.
Buyers who subscribe to an ICS solution can edit and resubmit unassigned
invoices on SAP Business Network. An unassigned invoice is an ICS invoice with
an unknown supplier, which means SAP Business Network either did not find a
purchase order matching the invoice or cannot verify the supplier ID.
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Buyers can also edit and resubmit ICS invoices rejected by their SAP Business
Network invoice rules or by their invoicing application.
Related Information SAP Business Network Guide to Invoice Conversion
SAP Business Network Invoicing–Supplier’s Perspective
Suppliers in SAP Business Network have two options for generating electronic
invoices:
· manually, using the Generate Invoice feature provided in SAP Business
Network · programmatically, using cXML or EDI
To generate invoices manually, suppliers do not need to do any special setup
once buyers are prepared to receive invoices. Suppliers can generate invoices
and credit memos online in their SAP Business Network account, or use their
own systems to generate cXML or EDI invoices and route them through SAP
Business Network. To generate invoices programmatically, suppliers must work
with buyers to understand their special requirements for invoice
configuration. Also, suppliers must ensure that the date format conforms to
the ISO 8601 standard supported by SAP Business Network.
For more information about supplier account configuration for cXML or EDI, see
Configuring Document Routing.
Invoice Routing Methods
Suppliers must configure their SAP Business Network account to choose the
routing method for invoices. The account administrator or users with the cXML
Configuration permission (only for suppliers using cXML), or the Transaction
Configuration permission can set routing methods for invoices. EDI order
routing requires activation by SAP Ariba Support. Payment remittance options
include online, cXML, or email.
Invoice-Based Workbench Tiles
Create custom invoice-based workbench tiles to more easily find and take
action on your invoices.
Invoices is the most basic tile for users who manage invoices. Invoice-based
tiles contain invoices and the list view displays information such as
customer, invoice number, reference document, invoice amount, and status. On
the workbench, depending on your customer’s transaction rules, your user
permissions, and document status, you
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can view the invoices and any referenced documents, create line-item credit
and debit memos, and edit or copy invoices.
The workbench offers the following invoice tiles:
· Invoices · Rejected invoices · Invoices pending approval · Invoices pending
payment · Invoice Conversions · Invoice Conversions · Draft Invoice
Conversions for Review · Draft invoices · Paid invoices · Overdue invoices
(Approved) · Overdue invoices (Not approved)
You can filter invoice tiles on values such as Customers, Invoice number,
Order number, Creation date, Invoice status, Invoice type, Routing status, Min
amount and Max amount (with Currency), External invoice number, Payment net
due date, From country, To country, Status change date, Approved date,
Rejected date, and Paid date.
Related Information
The Workbench Workbench Tile Reference Customizing Tiles on Your Workbench
Filtering Workbench Tiles Customizing Workbench Columns
SAP Business Network User Permissions
Supplier organizations who are authorized to send invoices from their SAP Business Network account can enable their users with the following permissions for invoice transactions:
Permissions Inbox Access
Outbox Access
Allows Users To…
Work with incoming transaction documents. This includes reviewing purchase
orders, generating one-time purchase order reports, creating order
confirmations and ship notices, reviewing notifications, and downloading
transaction audit report.
Work with outgoing transaction documents. This includes reviewing invoices
including invoices eligible for auction, canceling invoices, generating one-
time invoice reports, and searching for specific invoices.
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Permissions Invoice Generation
Contract Access Transaction Configuration Routing Overrides
cXML Configuration Invoice Report Administration
Allows Users To…
Create invoices against purchase orders routed to SAP Business Network,
against purchase orders not routed to SAP Business Network, and/or against
contracts. Customers can enable any or all of these invoicing types. Grants
access to this area:
Invoices Invoices
A user assigned to this role must also have a relationship with a customer
that accepts invoices. To assign this permission, the user must also have
Inbox Access and Outbox Access permissions.
Access the SAP Ariba invoicing site for customers that support it, and review
contracts and create invoices against contracts. Grants access to this area:
Orders Contracts
To assign this permission, you must also assign the Inbox Access permission.
Configure the account for electronic transactions. This includes specifying
requirements and/or preferences for routing and responding to purchase orders,
order request messages, cancel orders, order response documents, and invoices.
Grants access to these areas:
Account Settings Settings Electronic Order Routing and Settings Electronic Invoice Routing
Account Settings
Override document routing method settings for incoming documents by the buying organization or customer group. This permission is available for Business, Integrated, and Enterprise Package Members only.
Grants access to this area:
Account Settings Customer Relationships (Override Routing link only)
To assign this permission, the user must also have the Customer Administration
permission.
Configure the SAP Ariba account for cXML transactions, including specifying
the cXML version supported, the authentication method, profile URL,
punchOutSetupRequest URL, and pricing updates.
Grants access to this area:
Account Settings Settings Electronic Order Routing cXML Setup Note: Users also need the Transaction Configuration permission to access this area. Create, delete, modify, run, and download invoice reports. Grants access to this area: Reports (invoice report type only)
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Invoice Creation Process
Use the following diagram to understand the workflow of how an invoice is
created and then managed by SAP Business Network, the supplier, and the buyer
throughout its lifecycle:
Figure 2: High-Level Invoice Creation Process
- Supplier Creates Invoice
A supplier creates an invoice in one of two ways:
· by posting a cXML (via HTTPS) or EDI message (via VAN or AS2), at which
point the invoice data is directly
transmitted to the SAP Business Network, or
· by logging in to their SAP Business Network account and then using the
Generate Invoice feature to create an
online invoice form (PO Invoice, Non-PO Invoice or Credit Memo). Alternately,
a supplier can upload a CSV file with invoice data.
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-
SAP Business Network Validates Invoice
SAP Business Network processes the invoice as follows:
· The invoice data is converted into cXML; SAP Business Network validates it using buyer-specified and standard
rules.
· If the invoice fails validation [page 21], it is rejected and SAP Business Network sends an email notification to
the supplier.
· Supplier reviews errors, corrects invoice data and then resubmits. · If required, SAP Business Network electronically signs the invoice and stores the signature along with a
verification protocol.
· The invoice is made available for download or is pushed to the buyer’s system. -
Buyer Receives Invoice
The buyer manages the invoice within their invoicing solution as follows:
· The buyer receives (or downloads) the invoice and begins the process of invoice reconciliation. · If errors occur, the Invoice History page displays the status and reason. · SAP Business Network tracks and logs status changes and sends notifications to the supplier. -
Supplier Reviews Invoice Status
Based on the result of the invoice reconciliation, the supplier manages the invoice in SAP Business Network as follows:
· The supplier reviews status updates. · In case of errors, the supplier corrects invoice data, which might result in credit notes and /or new invoices. -
Ariba Archives Invoice
After successful completion of the invoice reconciliation process, the invoice is scheduled for payment. Next, SAP Business Network manages the invoice as follows:
· If configured, the buyer and supplier can archive their invoices in ZIP format. · Buyer and supplier can downloaded the archives manually or configure their SAP Business Network account to
deliver them automatically using HTTPS post.
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Invoice Validation
SAP Business Network validates invoices according to the buyer-configured
rules and rejects invoices that do not pass validation. Invoice validation
depends on how a supplier generates invoices:
· Online–SAP Business Network validates online invoices during data entry and
displays onscreen messages
for any errors that must be corrected. SAP Business Network enforces
validation of customer invoice rules by customizing the online display of
editable and read-only content.
· cXML–SAP Business Network validates cXML invoices against the cXML DTD to
ensure proper format and
syntax. If the invoice passes syntax validation, the supplier receives a cXML
response with a 201 status. If the invoice fails validation, the supplier
receives a 500 status and details of the errors. Then, SAP Business Network
validates them against the buyer’s invoice rules.
· CSV–SAP Business Network converts CSV invoices to cXML. SAP Business Network
will provide suppliers with
the necessary templates for formatting CSV invoices. SAP Business Network
checks the CSV invoices against the buyer’s invoice format during the import
process. If the invoice does not have the proper format, SAP Business Network
issues a detailed error message. After successful import, SAP Business Network
converts the invoices to cXML and validates them against the buyer’s invoice
rules.
· EDI–SAP Business Network validates EDI invoices against the ANSI X12 or
EDIFACT standard. If the invoice
passes validation, SAP Business Network issues a positive Functional
Acknowledgement. If the invoice fails validation, SAP Business Network issues
a negative Functional Acknowledgment with details of the errors. It then
converts invoices to cXML and validates them against the buyer’s invoice
rules.
Buyers can use purchase order control keys to override invoice rules. For
instance, buyers can use control keys to allow their suppliers to create
invoices directly from service orders without a service sheet.
Suppliers can review the rules that have been specified by the buyer for
invoice transactions in the Customer Details page of their SAP Business
Network account (Customer Relationships > Customer Details).
Additional Resources About SAP Business Network Invoicing
For more information about SAP Business Network and the invoicing features
available to suppliers and buyers, refer to the following product
documentation:
Available for buyer users:
· SAP Business Network Buyer Administration Guide · SAP Business Network Guide
to Invoice Conversion · cXML Solutions Guide
Available for supplier users:
· Seller Account Settings and Profile Configuration · Configuring Document
Routing · cXML Solutions Guide · Creating and Managing Invoices, Credit Memos,
and Debit Memos
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Invoice Creation
SAP Business Network supports the creation, validation, and routing of
electronic invoices and credit memos.
These invoices are detailed statements of products delivered or services
rendered, and associated charges for one or more purchase orders or contracts.
SAP Business Network supports invoicing for material items (goods), general
service items such as labor service items, lean service items also known as
planned lean service items, limit service items also known as unplanned lean
service items, and other service items that require a service sheet.
See the following for more information:
· For information about invoicing rules, see Invoice Rules [page 112]. · For
more information on how invoicing rules affect the available fields in invoice
forms, see SAP Business
Network Invoice Rules and Fields [page 309].
· For suppliers: For information about how to create and manage invoices, see
the Creating and managing
invoices topics. Types of Invoices [page 22] Draft Invoices [page 24] Invoice
Compliance for Contract-Based Invoices [page 25] Self-Billing Invoices [page
27] Invoice Creation Process [page 30] PDF Copy of Invoices [page 37] Invoice
Archival Options and Delivery [page 42] Long Term Archiving of Tax Invoices
[page 45] Support for PDF and Scanned Paper Invoices [page 47] Support for
Ship Notice to Invoices [page 82] Support for Summary Invoices [page 85]
Types of Invoices
SAP Business Network supports the creation of the numerous types of invoices.
Invoice type
Description
Material
Also called purchase order-based, these are standard invoices routed through SAP Business Network that do not contain any service lines (lines that require a service sheet).
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Invoice type Service Lean Service Limit Service Limit Order Non-PO
Credit memo
Line-level debit memo
Description
Another type of standard invoice, these are based on service sheets that
suppliers create from service lines in service purchase orders routed through
SAP Business Network. Service sheets and service invoices can include both
services and material goods.
These are invoices routed through SAP Business Network. A single invoice can
be created for all the Lean Service line items in a purchase order.
These are invoices routed through SAP Business Network. A single invoice can
be created for all the Limit Service line items in a purchase order.
A Limit Order line item is defined as the fulfillment of a service or material
delivery at a price limited by a predetermined amount within a time period
specified by the buyer. These are invoices routed through SAP Business
Network. A single invoice can be created for all the Limit Order line items in
a purchase order.
These invoices reference purchase orders that were not routed through SAP
Business Network. Non-PO invoices also allow suppliers to invoice purchase
orders that have expired and been deleted, or to generate an invoice that does
not have a corresponding purchase order. Non-PO invoices can be issued to a
buying organization even if the supplier doesn’t already have an active
trading relationship with the buying organization. In that case, the buyer
provides the supplier with buyer customer code to allow sending a non-PO
invoice (quick enablement through invoice).
A credit memo represents an amount owed to a buyer by a supplier, typically
from an earlier transaction such as a purchase order or a contract invoice.
The amount due is a negative number.
There are four types of credit memos: PO-based header level credit memos, PO-
based line-level credit memos, non-PO credit memos, and dynamic discounting
credit memos.
Line-level credit memos can be based on a change in quantity or a price
adjustment (price decrease).
Line-level debit memos represent an amount owed to a supplier by a buyer from
an earlier transaction. Line-level debit memos are always due to a price
adjustment (price increase).
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Invoice type Blanket purchase order based
Description
A blanket purchase order (BPO) is a type of contract that buyers create that
forms an agreement to spend a specific amount with a supplier for critical
items or services. If the blanket purchase order is used to purchase specific
items (item level BPO), and the customer has not enabled their invoicing site
or the BPO for collaborative invoicing, then suppliers can create an invoice
directly from the BPO the same way as they can from a regular purchase order.
If the BPO is a customer catalog, supplier level or commodity contract, and
the buyers are either not using an SAP Ariba invoicing solution, or are using
an SAP Ariba invoicing solutions for which collaborative invoicing has been
disabled, then suppliers can view the BPO, but must create a non-PO invoice
with the contract ID as reference to invoice against the BPO.
Note
Service sheet is not supported for blanket purchase orders in SAP Business
Network.
Contract-based Self billing
A buying organization using an SAP Ariba invoicing solution can allow
collaborative invoicing for suppliers. In that case, suppliers punch in to the
buyer’s invoicing solution to either create the entire invoice in the buyer’s
invoicing site, or they punch in to retrieve the contract information and add
items from the contract to the invoice, but finalize the invoice in and submit
the invoice from the SAP Business Network – just as a standard invoice. If
suppliers create the entire invoice in the buyer’s invoicing site, SAP
Business Network compliance rules do not apply, since the supplier is subject
to the invoicing processes and rules configured for the buyer’s invoicing
solution.
SAP Business Network can automatically transmit self-billing invoices to
suppliers and buyers based on data in purchase orders, scheduling agreements,
and goods receipts using an automated process.
Related Information
Invoice Compliance for Contract-Based Invoices [page 25] Self-Billing Invoices
[page 27]
Draft Invoices
You can save invoices as draft versions to work on them at different times
before you submit them. By default, SAP Business Network stores draft invoices
for 50 days after the last time you edited them. Draft invoices can be edited,
deleted, or submitted. SAP Business Network automatically deletes draft
invoices 50 days after they were last edited. If the draft invoice is edited
and saved again during this time period, the time limit resets to 50 days from
the most recent edit date.
To open a saved draft invoice, go to Invoices Drafts
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Creating a Draft Invoice
Context
You can start creating an invoice, and then save it to complete it in the next
50 days.
Procedure
1. Do one of the following:
· For suppliers without SAP Business Network for Supply Chain: Choose Orders
Purchase Orders . · For suppliers with SAP Business Network for Supply Chain:
Choose Orders Orders and Releases .
2. Select a purchase order. 3. Click the Create Invoice button and select
Save in the top right corner. 4. The message “Invoice
You can submit the draft invoice or edit it again within the next 50 days. If
you edit it again, the draft is saved for 50 days from its latest edit date,
rather than from the original edit date. You can edit a draft invoice more
than once. If the invoice is not submitted or edited within 50 days from the
last edit date, the draft invoice is automatically deleted.
Invoice Compliance for Contract-Based Invoices
This feature is only available to buying organizations that use either SAP
Ariba Buying and Invoicing or SAP Ariba Invoice Management as their invoicing
solution. In addition, buyers must configure their invoicing solutions and
their SAP Business Network account to allow suppliers to create compliant
contract invoices.
This feature is also available as an optional add-on to buyers using SAP
Business Network Commerce Automation. In that case, contract agents use the
SAP Ariba site to define the contracts, and suppliers punch in to the contract
site to retrieve information about the contract and add items from the
customer catalog to the invoice, but the invoice is routed directly to the
buyer’s ERP system.
Invoice Compliance for Contract-based Invoices allows suppliers to create
contract-based invoices on the SAP Business Network:
· Suppliers initiate and finish a contract-based invoice on SAP Business
Network using an already familiar user
interface and process.
· Suppliers access the buyer’s invoicing site transparently to retrieve the
contract and add items from the
customer catalog.
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· The appropriate invoice rules are applied when the invoice is submitted to
ensure that the final invoice
complies with the buyer’s invoicing rules. This means errors on invoices are
detected before the buyer receives the invoice, which facilitates improved
electronic invoice and payment processing.
· For countries that require a digital signature, the invoice is digitally
signed if the buyer account has been
enabled for digital signing.
Workflow Overview for SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing and SAP Ariba Invoice
Management [page 26] Workflow Overview for SAP Business Network Commerce
Automation with SAP Ariba Contract Invoicing [page 27]
Workflow Overview for SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing and SAP Ariba Invoice Management
The following describes the workflow between suppliers on SAP Business Network
and the buyer’s SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing or SAP Ariba Invoice Management
site:
1. Suppliers initiate the contract-based invoice creation from SAP Business
Network by selecting the customer for which they are creating the contract-
based invoice. If the customer has multiple procurement applications, they
select the business unit address whose contracts they want to access by the
Bill To address ID and the contact person.
2. SAP Business Network automatically transfers the supplier user to the
buyer’s SAP Ariba invoicing site, where the supplier user selects the contract
and enters the invoice number, invoice date, and the Sold To Email (email of
person who requested the goods or services). Depending on the contract
specification, the Sold To Email address might be defaulted from the contact
person on the contract.
3. The supplier user is then returned to the familiar Create Invoice page to
enter additional invoice header information.
4. To add items to the invoice, the supplier user is again transferred to the
buyer’s SAP Ariba invoicing site to select the items from the customer
catalog. If allowed, they can also add non-catalog items.
5. Depending on the contract configuration, the supplier might enter
accounting information. 6. The line items are validated against the contract
line items, and the contract’s pricing terms are applied. If any
discrepancies are found, the supplier receives an error message to correct the
information. 7. The supplier user is returned to SAP Business Network. 8. To
make changes to the items on the invoice, the supplier user is transferred
back to the buyer’s SAP Ariba
invoicing site. If allowed, the supplier user can change the unit price on the
invoice. This effectively overrides the pricing terms defined in the contract
for the item. For example, if a customer catalog level contract is defined
with a 10% discount for all items, and the supplier changes the unit price of
an item on the invoice, that price will be the final price used on the
invoice. 9. On theSAP Business Network, the supplier user completes the
invoice by adding other header fields and adds any comments, attachments, tax,
shipping or special handling line items either at the invoice header or at the
line item level. 10. The supplier user can always return to the buyer’s site
to retrieve additional items, change a contract header field such as the Sold
To Email, or edit or delete existing line items on the invoice. They can also
change the contract, which effectively deletes the current invoice and starts
a new invoice. 11. When the supplier submits the invoice, SAP Business Network
does a final validation against the buyer’s invoicing rules and sends the
invoice to SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing or SAP Ariba Invoice Management. 12.
In SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing or SAP Ariba Invoice Management, the invoice
is reconciled and then approved for payment if no invoice exceptions are found
or all invoice exceptions are resolved.
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Workflow Overview for SAP Business Network Commerce Automation with SAP Ariba
Contract Invoicing
1. Suppliers initiate the contract-based invoice creation from SAP Business
Network by selecting the customer for which they are creating the contract-
based invoice.
2. SAP Business Network transfers the supplier user to the buyer’s SAP Ariba
Contract Invoicing site, where the supplier user selects the contract, enters
the invoice number and invoice date, and specifies the requester (person whom
the services or goods were sold to). Depending on the contract specification,
the requester might be defaulted from the contact person on the contract.
3. The supplier user is then returned to the familiar Create Invoice page to
enter additional invoice header information.
4. The supplier user selects the line items to be invoiced from the customer
catalog. If allowed, they can also add non-catalog items.
5. Depending on the contract configuration, the supplier might enter
accounting information. 6. The line items are validated against the contract
line items and the contract’s pricing terms are applied. If any
discrepancies are found, the supplier receives an error message to correct the
information. 7. The supplier user is returned to SAP Business Network. 8. If
allowed, the supplier user can change the unit price on the invoice. This
effectively overrides the pricing
terms defined on the contract for the item. For example, if a customer catalog
level contract is defined with a 10% discount for all items, and the supplier
changes the unit price of an item on the invoice, that price will be the final
price used on the invoice. 9. On SAP Business Network, the supplier user
completes the invoice by adding other header fields as well as any comments,
attachments, tax, shipping, or special handling line items either to the
invoice header or on line item level. 10. The supplier user can always return
to the buyer’s SAP Ariba contract invoicing site to retrieve additional items
or to edit or delete existing line items on the invoice. 11. When the supplier
submits the invoice, SAP Business Network does a final validation against the
buyer’s invoicing rules. If the invoice passes the validation rules, it is
digitally signed (if required) and sent as a cXML invoice to the buyer’s ERP
system.
Self-Billing Invoices
SAP Business Network can automatically transmit self-billing invoices to
suppliers and buyers based on data in purchase orders, scheduling agreements,
and goods receipts using an automated process called Evaluated Receipt
Settlement (ERS).
The buyer creates a self-billing invoice in an external business system and
sends it to the supplier over SAP Business Network.
The ERS/self-billing process supports the following features:
· An agreement is presumed to exist outside SAP Business Network between buyer
and supplier approving the
usage of ERS/self-billing.
· The buyer transfers ERS/self-billing data from the ERP system to SAP
Business Network and makes sure all
country/region-required mandatory content is included on self-billing
documents.
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· If applicable, SAP Business Network adds country/region-specific signatures
to the cXML self-billing document
based on the supplier’s location (country/region) and optionally creates a
human-readable PDF based on the cXML data.
· A self-billing invoice is labeled “Self-Billing” in the user interface and
in the human-readable PDF. · SAP Business Network sends signed self-billing
invoices to the buyer’s account. · SAP Business Network sends signed self-
billing invoices to the supplier’s account and notifies that supplier. ·
Suppliers can download self-billing invoices through their network accounts or
optionally configure their
accounts to receive them through email.
· ERS/self-billing is available for the following countries/regions:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and USA.
· Based on the buyer’s and supplier’s configuration, self-billing documents
optionally can be archived using the
SAP Business Network long-term document archiving feature.
Prerequisites
To use this feature, a buyer must have an ERS/self-billing agreement in place
with a supplier.
Workflow for Self Billing
SAP Business Network automatically transmits self-billing invoices to
suppliers and buyers based on data in purchase orders, scheduling agreements,
and goods receipts using an automated process called Evaluated Receipt
Settlement (ERS).
The following describes the workflow for a self-billing process: 1. The buyer
and supplier enter a written agreement on ERS/self-billing. 2. The buyer
creates an order with the ERS flag in the buyer’s ERP, which sends the order
to the supplier on SAP
Business Network. 3. Optionally, the supplier sends an order confirmation to
the buyer. 4. Optionally, the supplier sends a ship notice to the buyer. 5.
Outside SAP Business Network, the supplier ships material or provides services
to the buyer. 6. The buyer creates a goods receipt in the ERP. 7. The buyer
creates a self-billing invoice in the ERP, which sends it to SAP Business
Network.
SAP Business Network makes the self-billing invoice available to the supplier
through the user interface, cXML, and PDF. 8. Optionally, the buyer and
supplier can archive the self-billing invoice.
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Figure 3: Workflow Process for Self Billing
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Invoice Creation Process
The following diagram shows the invoice creation process and interaction
between the supplier, buyer, and SAP Business Network:
Process Point IP 01.1
IP 01.2
IP 02
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Figure 4: Invoice Creation Process
What Happens
Related Information
Supplier posts a cXML (via HTTPS) or EDI message (via VAN or AS2) – the invoice data is directly transmitted to the SAP Business Network without human intervention.
· Standard Invoice
Field Reference [page 91]
Supplier logs into their account and uses either the online invoice entry form to create a PO-based invoice, a service invoice, a non-PO invoice, or a credit memo; or uploads a CSV file with invoice data.
· Standard Invoice
Field Reference [page 91]
Invoice data is converted into a cXML invoice message and validated on the SAP Business Network against the invoice rules defined by the buyer for the supplier, supplier group, or invoice country/region of origin:
· Invoice Rules [page
112] for a list of available invoice
· If invalid data is received the invoice is rejected and an email is sent
rules and recom-
to the supplier.
mendations for their
·
If the data passes all validations, the invoice creation process continues with step IP 03.2.
·
configuration Foreign Currencies
[page 33]
· Invoice Addresses
and Validation [page
32]
· Value-Added Tax
(VAT) Compliance
Features [page 35]
SAP Business Network Guide to Invoicing Invoice Creation
Process Point IP 03.1
IP 03.2 IP 04
IP 05
IP 06 IP 07
IP 08.2
What Happens
Related Information
Supplier reviews the error message and corrects the invoice data, for example by resubmitting online created invoices. Suppliers can edit a failed or rejected invoice and resubmit it to the buyer for approval instead of going through the PO flip process and re-entering data.
· Supplier product
documentation (Creating and Managing Invoices, Credit Memos, and Debit Memos)
SAP Business Network electronically signs the invoice and stores the signature along with a verification protocol. At this point the invoice is considered issued as a formal legal document and neither suppliers nor buyers can modify the invoice.
· Invoice Dates and
Date of Issue [page 31] · Invoice Creation
[page 22]
The buyer ERP system receives or downloads the invoice and reconciliation occurs. If there are technical errors, the reason and status is available in the invoice history and notifications are sent to the supplier.
· Invoice History
[page 34] · Notification Frame-
work [page 33] · Overdue Documents
[page 32]
The buyer ERP system sends the result of the invoice reconciliation back to the SAP Business Network to update the invoice status, including comments from the invoice reviewer.
· Routing Statuses
[page 107] · Document Statuses
[page 108] · Invoice History
[page 34]
SAP Business Network tracks and logs the status change and may send email notification to the supplier.
· Notification Frame-
work [page 33]
Supplier reviews status updates. If there are discrepancies or errors detected as a result of the buyer’s invoice reconciliation process, the supplier might have to correct the invoice by either submitting a credit memo or creating a new invoice.
· Supplier product
documentation (Creating and Managing Invoices, Credit Memos, and Debit Memos)
Buyers and suppliers downloads the signed invoices and move them into their archives
· Invoice Archival Op-
tions and Delivery [page 42]
General Invoice Creation Compliance Features
Invoice Dates and Date of Issue
In some countries, the invoice is considered issued when explicit data-level methods have been applied for integrity and authenticity protection, for example, when the invoice is electronically signed. In such cases, receipt of the invoice by the buyer is not required to consider the invoice issued. In other countries, the invoice is considered issued only when it has become available to the buyer.
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In SAP Business Network, if digital signatures are applied to meet country
/region-specific requirement, the point of invoice issue is the date and time
of the invoice after the invoice has passed the business rules and after it
has been digitally signed. The issue date, which is a timestamp on the
document after it has been signed, is the date that matters in the parties’
relationship with tax authorities. Upon issue, the invoice may no longer be
disposed of or altered and both supplier and buyer are responsible for
guaranteeing its integrity and authenticity until the end of the storage
period.
The invoice date is the date that matters in the relationship between the
buyer and the supplier. For example, payment terms calculations are generally
based on the invoice date.
As a best practice, SAP Ariba recommends that suppliers set the current date
as the invoice date. Buyers can mitigate the risk of a different issue and
invoice date by setting the rule Allow invoices to be back-dated the specified
number of days to zero, which means that SAP Business Network will reject any
invoice with an invoice date earlier than the current date. However, this
might not be practical depending on the supplier’s backend system integration,
where any significant delay in transmitting invoices might then mean that
entire invoice batches are rejected by SAP Business Network.
Overdue Documents
For documents in the “Pending Queue” that SAP Business Network has not been
able to post or that were not downloaded to the buyer’s invoicing system for
more than three days, SAP Business Network sends an email notification that
lists the unacknowledged documents in an email attachment to the buyer. After
the buyer has removed those documents from the pending queue, they can resend
them either manually or automatically. Deleting a document from the pending
queue does not delete it from SAP Business Network.
Invoice Addresses and Validation
For invoice compliance, SAP Business Network allows buying organizations to
use invoicing rules to specify whether values must be provided for the
following addresses: Sold To, Bill To, From, Ship To, Ship From, and Remit To.
SAP Business Network invoices support up to six standard addresses:
· Issued By (the From address) · Customer (the Sold To address) · Bill To ·
Ship From · Ship To · Remit To
The Sold To and the Bill To addresses are usually the same, although Sold To
is more important for VAT purposes. Buyers can require that SAP Business
Network validate whether Sold To information on invoices matches Bill To
information on purchase orders (or Sold To information, if available). This
rule applies only to invoices against a single purchase order.
Buyers can also use invoicing rules to configure multiple Sold To addresses
with address details, optional associated VAT ID and/or Sold To Address ID.
Buyers can then establish business rules that validate the Sold
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To on a supplier’s invoice against the list of Sold To addresses & VAT IDs.
Buyers can specify that only Name, ISO Country, and VAT ID are used to
validate the Sold To address or that the complete address is used for
validation.
Foreign Currencies
SAP Business Network checks to see if invoice data uses a currency that
differs from the currency of the Ship To address. In that case, a second
currency for tax amounts and for the exchange rate can be stored in the cXML
invoice. Only one exchange rate is stored per invoice and therefore the same
Ship To country/region must be used on each single invoice. If Ship To details
are provided at line item level, then as a best practice buyers and suppliers
are advised to ensure that the country/region of the Ship To addresses and the
Sold To address match on the purchase order or invoice. The cXML invoice
supports a currency conversion rate field. For online invoice entry it
defaults to the exchange rate from a daily Bloomberg feed (the rates are
gathered by Bloomberg from multiple pricing sources). The exchange rate is
used to calculate the tax amounts in the local Ship To currency and is stored
as a second value in the cXML invoice. As some tax authorities require that
the exchange rate is to be retrieved from locally published rates, users can
update the defaulted exchange rate. Incoming invoice data (cXML, EDI or CSV)
is validated if the tax information is specified in the currency of the Ship
To information. If the tax information is specified at the invoice header
level, and there are multiple Ship To countries at line item level, SAP
Business Network does not validate local tax currencies.
Notification Framework
SAP Business Network can send automatic notifications by email when certain
events affect the supplier and buyer account. Users can use these
notifications to monitor activities and debug problems with their account and
transmitted messages.
Invoice Notifications for Suppliers (Email and Online)
· An invoice is undeliverable or its status has been changed.
Invoice Rejection Reason Banner for Suppliers
· In the table of invoices in the supplier’s account, the invoice status is
shown as Rejected for every rejected
invoice. When the supplier opens any rejected invoice, a notice appears at the
top of the Invoice Detail tab summarizing the reason for the rejection. If the
invoice was rejected by a buyer’s rule, the notice explains what the rule
requires. If the buyer rejected the invoice manually, and wrote or chose an
explanation for the rejection, the message shows the explanation. The supplier
might then edit the invoice to comply with the buyer’s rules or requests, and
might resubmit the invoice.
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· If the supplier tries to resubmit a credit memo, a message tells the
supplier this is not allowed, and no response
button appears in the banner.
Invoice Notifications for Buyers (Email and Online)
An invoice has arrived or been updated by a supplier.
· Duplicate Invoice: A supplier sent multiple invoices with the same amount
and date. · (Email only) Pending Queue: The buyer has documents onSAP Business
Network that have not been able to
download to their system for more than three days.
· (via scheduled report) Failed Invoices: the reports contain information
about failed or rejected invoices over a
maximum range of one week. The buyer can generate a report daily, weekly, or
for any week specified. The report includes the reasons why the invoices
failed or were rejected
Invoice History
The History page of an invoice reports the key moments and statuses in the
life cycle of the invoice, such as:
· Date the invoice data is received · Timestamp for when the e-Signature and
the From and To details are requested · Signature timestamp · Verification
timestamp · Buyer receipt timestamp.
· cXML Invoice is pushed to the buying organization · cXML Invoice is added to
the download queue (the buying organization uses a scheduled download) ·
Confirmation of successful (or failed) receipt by the buying organization. ·
Invoice status feedback (such as information, rejections, approval, payment
status).
Each entry in the invoice history contains a comment explaining the action
that was performed, an internal process and process ID that performed the
change, and a timestamp. Depending on the action performed on the invoice, the
comments field can contain additional status information, for example if the
buyer system detected a discrepancy between the purchase order and the invoice
that led to an invoice exception.
The following shows some examples of information tracked in the invoice
history comment field:
Sample Invoice Receiving and Signing Comments
The invoice was successfully received.
Digital signature is requested for this document with From country DE and To
country DE
This document has been digitally signed.
This document has been digitally verified.
Sample Invoice Status Update Comments
The invoice status has been successfully updated to Processing by
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The invoice status has been successfully updated to Processing by
Value-Added Tax (VAT) Compliance Features
Law Reference for Exempt Trade
In most countries, a law reference and explanation is required for tax exempt
trades. For example, in the EU invoices for all reverse charge trades need
additional statements indicating that the liability for the payment of VAT is
reversed to the recipients. In SAP Business Network, suppliers use the Tax
Detail, Description, and Law Reference fields in the invoice to capture the
explanation and law references.
Support for 0% VAT Tax Rate
Suppliers who submit invoices in SAP Business Network can indicate through the
tax invoice entry field Exempt Detail if a zero percent VAT rate is zero-rated
or exempt. Zero-rated goods or services are taxable, but the tax rate is zero.
Exempt goods and services are exempt from taxation.
Buyers can control if Exempt Detail is a required or optional invoice field
through an invoicing rule. To force suppliers to provide a reason for a zero
percent VAT tax rate, buyers must enable the rule Require explanation for
zero-rate VAT.
Fiscal (Tax) Representatives
When a supplier sells services or manufactured taxable goods in a
country/region where they are neither established nor resident, they must
appoint a fiscal representative who becomes jointly and severally liable for
the supplier. In this case, the fiscal representative’s name and address must
be included on the invoice. If the fiscal representative pays VAT in another
EU member state, then their VAT identification number must also be included on
the invoice. SAP Business Network provides standard invoice fields to capture
this information.
Non-Domestic Trade
For non-domestic trade scenarios, all fields required on invoices for trade between two EU countries/regions (intra-EU trade) or for trade where at least one non-EU country/region is involved (cross-border trade) are available and covered by standard invoice fields.
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In both intra-EU and cross-border trade, buyers may be required to comply with
a range of country/region-specific requirements. SAP Ariba recommends seeking
the advice of a local tax expert when engaging in either of these practices.
The requirements for each of these scenarios are generally as follows:
Intra-EU Trade: When products or services are sold from suppliers in one EU
country/region to a buyer in a different EU country/region, the supplier uses
a zero-rate VAT on the invoice if the buyer can provide a valid VAT ID. The
buyer, in turn, must then declare local VAT associated with their acquisition
of products or services to the appropriate tax authority (reverse charge) and
can then reclaim this amount, provided all tax requirements for tax reclaim
are met. If services are purchased, the supplier is also required to clearly
note, on the invoice, that the tax liability is with the buyer.
While digital signatures are required for domestic trade, for intra-EU trade
the requirements for digital signing are more ambiguous. Therefore, SAP Ariba
takes a conservative approach and signs based on both countries/regions the
From and To country.
Cross-Border Trade: Invoices can also be exchanged for cross border trade of
products or services that occur either from a supplier in an EU country/region
to a buyer in a non-EU country/region, or vice versa. From a VAT perspective
it is however more important to document the cross-border delivery and
receiving of goods or services –the invoice builds only one part of the
documentation. In cases of product trade a customs declaration is required and
appropriate taxes and customs fees for import/export must be paid.
VAT ID Related Rules
The table below displays the invoice fields that are impacted by VAT ID related SAP Business Network invoices rules. Yes indicates that the field must always be provided; No indicates that the field is optional, but can be made required via invoicing rules or other conditions.
Requirement For Supplier VAT ID
Trade Type Domestic Yes
Intra-EU Yes
Cross-Border No
Related Invoice Rules
· Require supplier’s VAT
ID.
· Default Supplier VAT
ID can be specified in Supplier Profile
· Display text boxes for
buyer and supplier VAT IDs in invoice headers.
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Requirement For Buyer VAT ID
Trade Type
Domestic
Intra-EU
Normally not, but Yes some countries do
Cross-Border No
VAT Details
Yes
Yes
No
VAT Amount in Local Currency Yes
Yes
No
Related Invoice Rules
· Require customer’s
VAT ID.
· Default Company VAT
ID can be specified
· Display text boxes for
buyer and supplier VAT IDs in invoice headers.
· Require your compa-
ny’s VAT ID only for intra-EU trade.
· Require suppliers to
provide tax information in invoice headers or line items.
· Require suppliers to
provide VAT information in invoice headers or line items.
· Require VAT details
only for domestic and intra-EU trade.
· Require explanation
for zero rate VAT.
· Require supply date
when VAT is chosen as tax category.
Require tax amounts in local currency
PDF Copy of Invoices
SAP Business Network provides buyers and suppliers with a PDF copy of
invoices, which is a fast and easy method to create human readable invoice
copies in bulk if requested by a tax authority.
All EU countries and certain other countries require that taxable entities
produce records in a human readable form for visual inspection to tax
authorities within a reasonable time frame. The PDF invoice copy includes all
invoice details as well as digital signature information. PDF invoice copy is
an optional feature that requires enablement through SAP Ariba Customer
Support.
The PDF rendering includes the text “Copy of Invoice – Not A Tax Invoice” to
clarify to tax authorities, buyers, and suppliers that the cXML invoice
remains the legal document.
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The SAP Business Network generates the PDF invoice copy in the language of the supplier’s locale (which is the preferred language configured for the account administrator). The following languages are supported:
· Brazilian Portuguese · Danish · Dutch · English · French · German · Greek · Hungarian · Italian · Japanese
· Korean · Norwegian · Polish · Romanian · Russian · Simplified Chinese · Spanish · Swedish · Traditional Chinese · Turkish
Note
If the supplier’s locale is not supported for PDF invoice creation, SAP
Business Network creates the PDF invoice copy in English.
To generate a PDF copy of invoice, the maximum size of the cXML invoice must
be less than 1MB.
Suppliers can also create a PDF version of a submitted invoice in the SAP
Business Network. For more information, see Invoice PDF Generation for
Suppliers [page 41].
PDF Invoice Copy Availability
PDF invoice copies are available to suppliers and buyers as follows:
For Suppliers
If enabled for PDF invoice copy, suppliers can access a PDF invoice copy
through the archival process as part of the archive invoice zip file.
Suppliers can also create a PDF [page 41] version of a submitted invoice in
the SAP Business Network.
For Buyers
Depending on the SAP Ariba invoicing solution, buyers have multiple options
for PDF invoice copy enablement:
· Buyers can generate and access PDF invoice copies through the archival
process as part of the archive invoice
zip file. This option is available to all buyers regardless of their installed
invoicing solution.
· PDF invoice copy attachment is supported using the following Ariba invoicing
solutions: · SAP Business Network Commerce Automation
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· SAP Ariba Invoice Management · SAP Ariba Contract Invoicing
Note
With SAP Ariba Invoice Management and SAP Ariba Contract Invoicing, an
attachment to the outbound invoice reconciliation document includes a copy of
the cXML tax invoice, PDF invoice copy of the cXML tax invoice, all supplier-
provided invoice attachments, and the country/region-specific XML invoice (for
invoices for Brazil and Mexico). By default, invoice reconciliation documents
don’t include attachments, but customers can enable this functionality through
SAP Ariba Customer Support.
· PDF invoice copy attachment is supported using the Ariba Network adapter for
SAP NetWeaver or the Ariba
Network adapter for Oracle Fusion Middleware.
· With customization, PDF invoice copy attachments can also be utilized by
Ariba Invoice on premise customers
and SAP Business Network Commerce Automation customers using a custom adapter.
Invoice Copy PDF Creation
If an SAP Business Network buyer account has been enabled to generate PDF
invoice copies, PDF invoice copies are generated for the following supplier-
submitted invoice types:
· Invoices submitted through EDI or cXML that are not self-signed by the
supplier · Manually created PO-based or non-PO invoices · Invoices created
through CSV import
PDF copies of invoices are not generated for the following invoices:
· Invoice Conversion Services (ICS) invoices · Supplier self-signed invoices
For these invoices, the provider or supplier is expected to include a PDF
invoice copy as an invoice attachment if required.
In the archive invoice zip file, the file name for the invoice copy PDF file
is concatenated from the following information:
· Invoice or credit memo date · Account ANID · Invoice or credit memo number ·
Invoice type · “From” and “To” countries (if the credit memo or invoice has
been digitally signed)
Example: 2012_08_20_AN12345678910_INV_IN5689774-v1_eSigned_FromDE_ToFR.pdf
If PDF invoice copies are attached to invoices, a random file name is created
for the PDF invoice copy attachment.
The PDF invoice generated by the SAP Business Network system, a new field
InvoiceTitle is displayed under the Additional Information section. The value
of the InvoiceTitle is Original /
In the cXML invoice, the InvoiceTitle is available as an extrinsic field.
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Note
To meet the local regulatory requirements of Bulgaria, when an invoice is
created in SAP Business Network, the title of the invoice is displayed as
Invoice at the top-left corner. The PDF generated displays the InvoiceTitle
field with the value Original /
In the cXML invoice, the InvoiceTitle is available as an extrinsic field
Generating and Sending Digitally Signed Custom PDF Invoice Documents to Buyers
In several countries, suppliers are required to send digitally signed
invoices. Based on the requirements, SAP Ariba buyer administrators can
configure SAP Business Network to receive either the digitally signed copies
of the standard template invoices or custom PDF invoices. Once the
configuration is done, after a supplier creates an invoice, SAP Business
Network automatically generates digitally signed PDF invoices in custom
format. Suppliers can also open and view the digitally signed custom PDF
invoices, and if required, save them on their computers. The digitally signed
custom invoice also contains an appendix section which lists out all the
additional details of each line item.
Legal or Regulatory Flow
In several countries, legal profiles refer to supplier accounts registered
with their respective tax authorities for electronic invoicing procedures.
Legal profiles contain information to facilitate the legal flow of invoices.
The Set Up Legal Profile check box is available to suppliers in such
countries. SAP Business Network displays the Set Up Legal Profile check box
only if the appropriate country/region is selected. To set up a legal profile,
suppliers must provide legal profile information in the Additional Company
Addresses section of their SAP Business Network Company Profile.
Note
Legal profiles are also referred to as regulatory profiles in this document.
Legal Flow Requirements for Downloading Auto-Generated Invoice PDF Attachments
· For countries without a legal flow, the auto-generated invoice PDF
attachment is not available for download in
the SAP Business Network buyer portal.
· For countries with a legal flow, for example Singapore, the auto-generated
invoice PDF attachment is available
for download in the SAP Business Network buyer portal only if suppliers have
already set up their legal profiles in their SAP Business Network supplier
accounts.
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Invoice PDF Generation for Suppliers
The invoice PDF generation feature enables suppliers to create a PDF version
of a submitted invoice on the SAP Business Network. A PDF can be created for
any type of invoice or credit memo. All fields visible on the user interface
are included in the PDF, including fields added by buyer customization or
country-based customizations. The Download PDF option is available in the
header and footer of the invoice details page when an invoice is submitted.
The following information is added to the PDF footer automatically:
· Username and last name of the PDF creator · Date and time when the PDF was
created, including the supplier location time zone
Note
The following terms are included on the invoice and credit memo PDFs when
these documents are generated by suppliers based in South Africa:
· Standard Invoice / Tax Invoice · Credit Memo / Tax Invoice
Prerequisites To see the Download PDF option, the print option must be
enabled.
Generating a PDF
You can create an invoice PDF and view it on SAP Business Network or you can
save it.
Procedure
1. Log into your SAP Business Network supplier account.
2. Choose Invoices Invoices . 3. Select the invoice for which you want to
create a PDF. 4. Click the Download PDF link on the header or footer of the
Invoice Details page. 5. Click Standard Template or Custom Template. 6. Do one
of the following:
· To view the invoice PDF, click Open. · To download the invoice PDF directly
to your downloads folder, click Save. · To download the invoice PDF to a
location of your choice, click Save As.
When you save a PDF, a file name is generated automatically for the PDF file,
using the following format: “invoice number.pdf”.
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PDF Invoice Copy Attachment to Invoices
In buyer accounts enabled for PDF invoice copy attachments to invoices, a PDF
copy of the invoice data is automatically added as a MIME (Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extension) attachment to the invoice cXML as follows:
Invoice Archival Options and Delivery
SAP Business Network can save invoices in zip format (twice a day, daily,
every week, every two weeks, or every month) and store them for three months.
For each specified invoice archival period, SAP Business Network waits for a
30-day period before it begins the archival process unless you want to archive
invoices immediately. The 30 day lag time for archiving reflects the average
time it takes for an invoice to complete the invoicing cycle.
For example: Using the Weekly option, the beginning date for the invoice
archival is the date that you start archiving. If you start archiving on
December 12, then the end date of the weekly invoice archival period is
December 18. After seven days (December 19), SAP Business Network waits for a
30 day period to January 18 and then archives the invoices that were created
between December 12 through 18.
Archived invoices are available for download from the Archived Invoices page.
SAP Business Network can also send archived invoice files to the pending queue
or automatically deliver them (via HTTPS) as soon as they are available.
Automatic Delivery
Regardless of whether your organization chooses to utilize the HTTPS option
for automatic delivery, archive invoice files continue to be stored for up to
three months in the buyer’s account.
The URL for the archived zip file can be any URL where you want SAP Business
Network to automatically deliver the archived zip files. You can specify a URL
with an https prefix so that communication is encrypted. SAP Business Network
uses the HTTPS post method to post the archived zip files to the location
specified in the URL. You can authenticate an HTTPS post request based on the
client certificate available for SAP Business Network. For a list of SAP
Business Network’s trusted certificate authorities, see the cXML Solutions
Guide.
SAP Business Network provides information about automatic delivery attempts in
the Delivery Status and Delivery Date columns on the Archive Invoices page. If
a delivery attempt of an archive fails, then SAP Business Network sends an
email notification explaining the failure. As an alternative, users can check
the status in the Delivery Failure Reason column of the Archive Invoices page.
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Archive Zip File Contents
The archived invoice zip files created by SAP Business Network contain one or
more of the following types of information:
· Raw invoice data in cXML format. (SAP Business Network invoices are
structured based on the cXML Invoices
Document Type Definitions).
· A human-readable copy and invoice in PDF format (an optional feature that
requires enablement through SAP
Ariba Support).
· A log file that indicates key dates for invoice processing by SAP Business
Network, including signing and
verification-related events, start of processing at the receiver side, and
approval and payment status.
· Any related attachment files. · An empty file with the naming convention
“
providers to determine the partition in their document management system /
e-Archive for loading the archive file.
· An empty file with the naming convention “
.txt”, where < STATUS >
shows the status of the invoice at the time of the archival.
The zip file uses the same filename structure as the history file, status file, and attachments. These meta attributes allow easy retrieval of archived invoices and provide the following data:
· Invoice or credit memo date · Buyer ANID / Supplier ANID (for the supplier download) · Invoice or credit memo number · CC’ed or invoice conversion (copied invoices) · “From” and “To” countries (if the credit memo or invoice has been digitally signed)
Under regulations detailed at the country/region level, all invoices issued and received by enterprises or service providers acting in their name and on their behalf must be archived for a defined number of years at the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued. This archive period also applies to all electronic signatures, certificates, and verification protocols.
The general requirement for an archive is to ensure that invoice data cannot be altered or removed. You can achieve this requirement by using special storage media (such as WORM technology = Write Once, Read Many) and applying a digital signature, which guarantees integrity (a proof that a document is unchanged) in combination with secure access rights to the storage location.
Note
The certificate used for the digital signature might expire during the archiving period. This is not critical as the certificate only needs to be valid at signing, transmission, and receiving time. After the invoice has been archived, the certificate can expire because the validity of the certificate at the time of issue remains verifiable through the stored verification protocol. The integrity can always be confirmed through a cryptographic verification of the signature regardless of the validity of the certificate at the time of audit.
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Download Archived Invoices from the Pending Queue
You can choose to automatically send archived invoice files to the pending queue, facilitating secure download. If archived invoice files are sent to the pending queue, you can download them over an HTTPS connection from your external ERP system to the SAP Business Network using a GetPendingRequest and DataRequest pair. Only one archived invoice file can be downloaded per GetPendingRequest and DataRequest pair. When using a GetPendingRequest to query for archived invoice files in the pending queue, you must set the maxMessages value to 1 to prevent failure in the case of excessive attachment sizes. If you choose to send archived invoices to the pending queue, you cannot also have archived invoice files automatically delivered via HTTPS.
Example GetPendingRequest for Archived Invoice Files
<GetPendingRequest lastReceivedTimestamp=”2015-02-13T16:00:00-08:00″
maxMessages=”1″>
Procedure
1. Log into your SAP Business Network buyer account as an administrator. 2.
Choose Administration Configuration . 3. On the Configuration page, click
Default Transaction Rules. 4. Scroll to the Invoice Archival section and
select your preferred archiving option. 5. Click Save Done .
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Setting Invoice Archiving Options for Suppliers
Procedure
1. Log into your SAP Business Network supplier account as an administrator.
2. Click the Account Settings icon, and choose 3. Click the Tax Invoice tab. 4. Select the Configure Invoice Archival tab. 5. Choose your preferred archiving option.
Settings Electronic Invoice Routing .
6. Click Done Save .
Long Term Archiving of Tax Invoices
Long term archiving of tax invoices refer to electronic archiving of invoices
for longer periods of time based on country/region-specific archiving policies
and tax auditing procedures.
Each country/region has a defined retention time for archived invoices. Most
countries/regions issuing taxcompliant electronic invoices collaborate with
third party archive providers to retain their invoices for longer periods of
time. Archive providers are required to store and retain the archived invoices
for the time specified by the tax authority of their respective
countries/regions.
SAP Business Network offers a long term archiving solution for tax invoices.
Buyers and suppliers in countries/ regions that do not have their own
archiving process can leverage SAP Business Network’s electronic archiving
process to archive their tax invoices. SAP Business Network partners with
third party archive providers to facilitate electronic archiving of tax
invoices and allow tax authorities to access, monitor, and retrieve the
archived documents during a tax audit.
To leverage SAP Ariba’s invoice archiving process during tax auditing, SAP
Business Network provides the Tax Auditor role. An auditor or a user with Tax
Auditor role can view, access, and search invoices during a tax audit. The
Download Archive Document link on the Invoice Details page allows the user to
download archived invoices directly from the archive provider’s portal.
Suppliers and buyers can configure their account for long term invoice
archiving. After the configuration, SAP Business Network automatically
archives the latest invoices and users can manually archive the older
invoices.
The following fields in the Search Filters pane allow buyers to filter the
archived documents search criteria:
· Expiration Date Range · Archive Status
On the Invoice Details page the link named Download Archive Document allows
users to download archived documents directly from the service provider’s
portal.
The following describes the end to end steps to view, search, access, and
download archived invoices on SAP Business Network:
1. Suppliers and buyers enable their account for long-term document
archiving. 2. The Archived Documents and Download Status options are available
to users.
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· For buyers, these options appear on the Quick links dropdown. · For
suppliers, they appear on the … dropdown.
3. Account Administrator enables Archive Access permission to the relevant
users.
Note
Archive Access permission allows suppliers and buyers to access and download
the archived tax invoices on SAP Business Network.
4. To view archived tax invoices:
· Buyers click Quick links Archived Documents in the Document Archive section.
· Suppliers click … Archived Documents in the Document Archive section.
Use the Search Filters criteria to enable a customized search of archived tax
invoices. To download the archived invoices, click the Request Download
button. 5. To check the status of a download:
· Buyers click Quick links Download Status in the Document Archive section. ·
Suppliers click … Download Status in the Document Archive section.
Note
For auditing purposes, account administrator creates the Tax Auditor role and
provides Archive Access permission. This allows auditors to view, search,
access, and download archived tax invoices.
Prerequisites
You must enable your account for long-term invoice archiving. You must have
Archive Access permission to access, view, search, and download archived tax
invoices on SAP Business Network.
Restrictions
SAP Business Network supports the electronic archiving of invoices only. For a
list of countries/regions supported for long-term invoice archiving, see the
E-archiving country coverage page . SAP Business Network does not apply a
digital signature to paper invoices or invoices generated from invoice
conversion. Consequently, SAP Ariba invoice conversion services invoices
aren’t archived as part of the SAP Business Network long-term archiving
option.
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Support for PDF and Scanned Paper Invoices
SAP Business Network offers two types of PDF invoicing solutions: Partner
enabled solution that supports PDF invoices and the out of the box Intelligent
Invoice Conversion that supports PDF and Scanned paper invoices. Suppliers can
upload PDF or scanned paper invoices, depending on the solution, and SAP
Business Network assists in processing and sending the invoices to customers.
SAP Partner Enabled PDF Invoicing
This feature provides suppliers with the ability to send invoice data to their
buyers who have subscribed to PDF invoicing on SAP Business Network, by
uploading or sending a PDF invoice as an attachment. An SAP partner (third-
party service provider) extracts the invoice data from the PDF based on the
partner enabled onboarding and buyer inputs. After that, a cXML version of the
invoice is generated and sent to SAP Business Network, where it is validated
against the business rules setup by the buyer. Suppliers can review the data
before submitting the invoice to the buyer, or the invoice gets auto submitted
to the buyer after successful validation.
For more information about this solution, refer to Support for PDF Invoices
[page 47]
Intelligent Invoice Conversion
This feature offers suppliers a self-service guided onboarding to set up
templates for extracting invoice data from PDF and scanned paper invoices,
without requiring a buyer subscription.
In the initial release of this feature, suppliers can upload their PDF or
scanned paper invoices, which is then processed using the templates to
generate a cXML version of the invoice. The cXML version of the invoice is
sent to SAP Business Network for validation against the buyer’s established
business rules. Suppliers have the option to review the data before submitting
the invoice to the buyer, or the invoice can be auto-submitted to the buyer
after successful validation.
For more information about this solution, refer to About Intelligent Invoice
Conversion [page 69]
Support for PDF Invoices
This SAP Business Network feature is applicable to:
· all supplier users who are eligible to use PDF invoices · all buyer users
who are eligible for Enablement Services
Note
Suppliers are eligible to use this feature when their main company address is
in one of the countries/regions that support PDF invoicing and they have at
least one buyer who is subscribed to use the PDF invoices.
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This SAP Business Network feature provides suppliers with the ability to send
invoice data to SAP Business Network by uploading PDF invoices or sending them
by email. An SAP Business Network partner (third-party service provider)
extracts the invoice data from the PDF and then a cXML version of the invoice
is sent to SAP Business Network, where it can be reviewed by suppliers.
Uploading of PDF line item credit memo is also supported.
In order to send PDF invoices to SAP Business Network, the supplier must first
complete an onboarding process allowing them to set up their PDF invoice
extraction and conversion functionality with the partner.
The feature consists of the following subfeatures:
· Supplier Onboarding for PDF Invoices [page 52] · PDF Invoices Processing
[page 52] · PDF Invoices – Line Item Credit Memo [page 53] · Email PDF Invoice
Processing [page 53]
Enabling this feature
This feature is disabled by default. To enable it for the buying organization,
the buyer’s Designated Support Contact must log a service request with SAP
Business Network Support. As a result, the buyer will be subscribed to the PDF
invoices functionality and once enabled, the feature will be available to all
suppliers of the buyer, provided they meet the requirements to use this
feature.
General information
· This feature is available for suppliers of enterprise or standard account. ·
This feature is appropriate for suppliers who send more than 100 invoices per
year to their SAP Business
Network buyers. If suppliers send more than 1500 invoices per year, they
should submit them electronically from their external system via cXML or EDI.
· The SAP Business Network partner, which extracts the PDF invoices, executes
validations that are limited to
the data necessary to generate valid invoice cXML.
· The SAP Business Network partner may infer any missing data from the PDF in
order to build a valid cXML
document containing the information required for a paper invoice.
· Purchase order invoices and non-purchase order invoices are supported. ·
Typically, it takes between 10 minutes and a couple of hours to receive the
cXML after sending the PDF, but it
may take longer depending on volume.
· SAP Business Network may decline to activate this feature for a specific
supplier at SAP Business Network’s
discretion, for example due to expectation of low volume or data quality
concerns.
· The supplier is responsible for making sure that the extraction results are
in line with the PDF content.
Suppliers should regularly review the extraction results using the draft
invoice configuration, before submitting the invoice.
· SAP Business Network applies all buyer-specific invoice rules (default
transaction rules, country-based rules,
and supplier group rules) for invoices submitted through methods of PDF
uploading or email, in the same way that they are applied to invoices
submitted through other methods available on SAP Business Network.
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· To see the supported countries/regions and languages, refer to Supported
Countries/Regions and Languages
for PDF Invoices [page 50]
Prerequisites
· Buyers need to work with the SAP Team to provide the Project Initiation
Document (PID) before activating the
PDF Invoices feature.
· Buyers have to request the activation of the PDF Invoices solution in their
SAP Business Network account from
SAP Business Network Support.
· This feature is applicable to suppliers who have at least one buyer who has
activated PDF invoices. · The supplier must successfully complete the supplier
onboarding for PDF invoices. · The supplier must upload data PDF files, not
scanned paper invoices. · The PDF files must be unique and must not contain
the same data, for example, the same invoice number,
totals, and so on.
· The PDF files must have the same invoice layout. · One PDF file must contain
a single invoice. · The PDF files must not be password protected. · All PDF
files must be in one language. · If the email PDF invoice processing
functionality is being used, then as part of onboarding the supplier must
register the email address for their organization from which they are sending
PDF invoices.
· If the PDF invoices for LICM functionality is used, the supplier must have
submitted an original invoice to SAP
Business Network.
· An invoice or LICM PDF must contain the fields listed in PDF Invoicing –
Minimum Fields Requirement to
post to SAP Business Network
· Before enabling this feature and to ensure the functionality can be used,
the buyer’s PO and suppliers PDF
invoice data must be 100% aligned (Eg. Unit of Measures, number of lines,
etc.) as the partner is simply extracting the information present on the
layout of the PDF invoice and not performing any data manipulation or
enrichment.
· PDF invoicing supports no customization or enrichment and hence the invoice
data required to be sent to the
buyer should be made available in the PDF Invoice.
· Suppliers are recommended to set the preferred timezone in their supplier
Company Profile, to ensure that
the timezone is used for date related fields in the PDF invoice, else the
default Pacific Standard Time (PST) is used.
· Unless there is a business requirement for suppliers to setup the preferred
timezone based the country of
operation, it is recommended to set the timezone as GMT, so that the invoice
dates extracted from the PDF invoice is not changed based on the set timezone.
Restrictions
· The maximum file size of one PDF is 2 MB. · Only material invoices are
supported. Service invoices are not supported.
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· PDF invoices feature does not support invoices referring to multiple POs. ·
PDF invoices feature does not support debit memos. · During onboarding the
supplier cannot upload less than 5 or more than 10 PDF documents at a time. ·
Suppliers can upload up to 10 PDF documents in a single transaction for one
buyer. · Suppliers can attach only one PDF document if they are sending PDF
invoice through email. · Currently the following types of LICM are not
supported:
· LICM generation from goods receipt note (GRN) return · LICM for return items
– only for collaborative supply chain (CSC) customers · The file name must not
contain any of the following characters: &, “, `, <, >. · The invoice number
for each file must be unique. · All invoices being submitted for processing
must be in the same layout as the sample files uploaded during
onboarding.
Supported Countries/Regions and Languages for PDF Invoices [page 50] PDF
Invoices [page 52] PDF Invoice Workflows [page 54] Upload and Send PDF
Invoices [page 63]
Related Information Workflow for PDF Invoices [page 54] Supported
Countries/Regions and Languages for PDF Invoices
The PDF invoices functionality is currently available for limited countries
and languages.
Supplier’s Address Must Be in One of the Following Supported Countries/Regions:
Country/Region Australia Austria Belgium Brunei Darussalam Canada Czech Republic Denmark
Invoice Generated cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Proforma with standard fields only Proforma with standard and country specific fields Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice
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Country/Region France Germany Hong Kong India Ireland Italy Macao Malaysia Netherlands New Zealand Philippines Poland Singapore Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand United Kingdom United States Vietnam
Invoice Generated Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice but with standard fields only. Signed cXML invoice Proforma with standard and country specific fields Signed cXML invoice Proforma invoice Proforma with standard fields only Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice cXML invoice Proforma with standard fields only Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Signed cXML invoice Proforma with standard fields only Proforma with standard fields only Signed cXML invoice cXML invoice Proforma with standard fields only
Note
· India – Proforma invoices with fields mandated by the Indian Tax Portal will
be generated for invoices that
were already registered with the Indian Tax Portal by suppliers through their
procurement system.
· Germany – XRechnung is not supported.
The Following Languages Are Supported:
Dutch English French German
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PDF Invoices
Supplier Onboarding for PDF Invoices
This feature allows a simple online onboarding for suppliers using PDF
invoices to send invoices through SAP Business Network. The onboarding process
allows a supplier to set up their PDF invoice extraction functionality with a
partner (third-party service provider) in order to send invoice data to SAP
Business Network by uploading PDF invoices or sending them by email.
To onboard successfully, the supplier has to log in to SAP Business Network
with a test account and upload at least five representative sample PDF
invoices on SAP Business Network. The supplier needs to upload sample
documents for each of the buyers they want to transact with. Then the partner
sets up the extraction process for invoices sent by this supplier to the
respective buyer and returns the onboarding status to SAP Business Network as
part of the onboarding process.
Related Information
Workflow for Supplier Onboarding for PDF Invoices in the Test Account [page
56] Uploading Sample PDF Invoices [page 63]
PDF Invoices Processing
This feature provides suppliers with the ability to send invoice data to their
buyers on SAP Business Network by uploading a PDF invoice. An SAP partner
(third-party service provider) extracts the invoice data from the PDF. After
that, a cXML version of the invoice is generated and sent to SAP Business
Network, where it is validated against the business rules setup by the buyer.
Suppliers can review the data before submitting the invoice to the buyer, or
the invoice gets auto submitted to the buyer after successful validation.
Related Information
Workflow for PDF Invoice Processing in the Production Account [page 59] Uploading PDF Invoices [page 65]
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PDF Invoices – Line Item Credit Memo
This SAP Business Network feature provides suppliers with the ability to send
invoice data to SAP Business Network by uploading a PDF line item credit memo
(LICM). An SAP partner (third-party service provider) extracts the invoice
data from the PDF, and after that a cXML version of the LICM is generated and
sent to SAP Business Network, where it is validated against the business rules
setup by the buyer. Suppliers can review the data before submitting the LICM
to the buyer, or the LICM gets auto submitted to the buyer after successful
validation. This feature has the same functionality as the PDF invoice
processing. However, instead of a standard invoice the supplier uploads a PDF
LICM document to adjust errors in an invoice that has already been submitted
to SAP Business Network.
Note
The supplier must provide an invoice ID and invoice date in the LICM PDF to
identify the invoice with which the LICM is associated.
Since LICM is a type of invoice, you can see how it is processed through the
PDF invoices by referring to the following:
· Supplier Onboarding for PDF Invoices [page 52] · PDF Invoices Processing
[page 52] · Email PDF Invoice Processing [page 53] Email PDF Invoice
Processing
This feature offers an alternative submission method for suppliers to send
invoice data to SAP Business Network through email with attached invoice PDF.
Note · The supplier must use the following To email address: pdfinvoice-
prod@ansmtp.ariba.com · The email Subject must contain SAP Business Network
buyer ID (ANID) of the buying organization on the
SAP Business
References
- Spend Management Software Solutions | SAP
- SAP Help Portal
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- Ariba eSigning Country Matrix
- Your request has been blocked. This could be due to several reasons.
- supplier.ariba.com
- Spend Management Software Solutions | SAP
- Spend Management Software Solutions | SAP
- Trademark | SAP
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- SAP Help Portal
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