In 2008, the Pan European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) was launched as an innovation project funded by the EU, which seeks to identify a set of infrastructure and technological requirements enabling e-procurement processes across borders.
When it comes to international electronic invoicing and procurement processes, this means dealing with the PEPPOL world, which, in many cases, has facilitated the digitization of these processes, offering standards, technologies, and best practices. E-Invoicing offers a clear benefit, which is precisely why PEPPOL’s network has become so rapid in growth, regardless of whether you are part of a public sector organization or an individual company or have dealings with both.
How does it work?
To facilitate the exchange of documents and information between businesses and public authorities, the PEPPOL network is composed of several components that interact with each other:
Access Points (APs):
These are direct points of access between businesses or entities and are certified by OpenPEPPOL (which is a network that develops and maintains the PEPPOL network). Access Points allow for the creation and exchange of Information Technology Documents using approved communication protocols and standards, such as UBL XML.
Therefore, only accredited APs are involved in exchanges meaning – as communication through this infrastructure is only possible by accessing points, any transaction issued from an Access Point needs to be handled by a different Access Point.
Service Metadata Publishers (SMP):
It is an actual decentralized registry that contains information on receiving capabilities of access points (delivery addresses, business processes and document types supported, etc.) of the PEPPOL recipients (such as contracting authorities or suppliers).
For example, the beneficiary might be able to receive an invoice in accordance with a PEPPOL standard but not any electronic orders or documents for transport. The available addresses and metadata for users associated with the PEPPOL network are contained in SMPs (Service Metadata Publishers).
Note: The Access Point is sufficient for companies that only send documents. However, for all organizations which receive documents, an SMP is required.
Service Metadata Locator (SML):
All PEPPOL Access Points need to be aware of each other and the participants they support so that electronic documents may be delivered from a sender to the correct recipient. To do so, PEPPOL has set up a centralized service called Service Metadata Locator – SML.
It is a network that registers all SMPs and identifies them. To determine the delivery details of each PEPPOL Participant, the PEPPOL SML identifies which SMP is to be used. The approach is like how the World Wide Web can find websites based on their domain names. A key service to identify all PEPPOL secure access points and SMPs, of unique identifies as URLs, is the PEPPOL SML.