An independent field guide to structured invoicing

An e-invoice is more than a document. It is data in motion.

Electronic invoicing moves structured, machine-readable invoice data between business systems for validation, exchange and processing.

From issue to receipt

Explore the relationships between supplier systems, formats, exchange routes, buyer systems and country rules.

Illustration of a structured invoice travelling from a supplier through validation to a buyer
DOCUMENT / DATA / DELIVERYOne business transaction. Several technical hand-offs.
The transaction path

Follow the invoice, not just the file.

Each hand-off can affect whether the receiving organisation can actually process an invoice.

01 / ORIGIN

Create

Capture invoice information in a business system.

02 / STRUCTURE

Map

Represent the fields in an agreed model and syntax.

03 / CONTROL

Validate

Check structure, calculations and business rules.

04 / EXCHANGE

Route

Send through the accepted channel to the recipient.

05 / OUTCOME

Process

Receive, match, reconcile and handle exceptions.

Read the full exchange walkthrough →

Reading the structure

The visible invoice is only one layer.

Underneath a human-readable invoice are fields, references and validation rules. Reliable exchange depends on preserving their meaning as information passes between systems.

Semantic meaningWhat a field represents
Syntax & formatHow the data is encoded
Delivery routeHow the recipient receives it
Business stateWhat happened afterward

Understand invoice data fields →

Invoice anatomySCHEMATIC / NOT A FORM
DOCUMENT IDINV-0248
PARTIESSeller → Buyer
LINESItem / quantity / price
TOTALSNet / tax / payable
STATUSMapped → Validated → Delivered
Requirements change by context

Start country research with the primary source.

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