Glossary

Accounts Payable (often abbreviated as AP) literally translated means “accounts payable. Thus, AP refers to all amounts due to suppliers for goods or services received but not yet paid. The sum of all outstanding amounts due to suppliers is shown as the balance payable on the balance sheet. The fluctuation of total AP from the previous period appears on the cash flow statement.

Accounts Receivable (AR) in Dutch literally means the “accounts receivable. AR is therefore about the outstanding revenue or payment that a company will receive from customers who have purchased goods or services on credit (in many cases 30 days). Until payment for the goods or services has been made, Accounts Receivable (AR) are treated as current assets on the balance sheet.

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a software interface that allows two applications, datasets or devices to communicate with each other. The difference between an API and a Web service is in the network. An API that communicates over the Internet based on the REST or SOAP protocol is a Web service. An API that communicates over another network, such as an internal network, is not a Web service.

EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange: the electronic exchange of data between systems and applications. This can be financial, logistical or commercial data, for example, invoices, contracts, order confirmations or delivery notes. EDI messaging follows an agreed upon standard so that the software systems of the companies communicating with each other speak the same digital language.

An e-archiving system is used to store, index, classify and manage electronic documents and data while ensuring their preservation and integrity throughout their life cycle. A digital archive must meet strict legal requirements in that stored data cannot be altered or corrupted. Strict security is also of paramount importance.

An e-invoice or electronic invoice is technically a structured UBL or XML file (and therefore not an e-mail with pdf) sent from one company to another via the secure and regulated PEPPOL network. E-invoicing allows from the sender’s system, the invoice to be processed electronically in the other system. Because the e-invoicing process is fully automated, human error and time-consuming manual operations are eliminated.

Electronic invoicing, also known as e-invoicing, refers to the process of sending and receiving invoices in electronic format, rather than on paper. The purpose of electronic invoicing is to simplify and speed up the invoicing process between companies.

In electronic invoicing, invoice data is created, processed, transmitted and received electronically. This can be done in various standardized formats, such as PDF, XML or other electronic data exchange formats.

The four-corner model is applied in e-invoicing. Besides sender and receiver, the sender’s service provider (the billing service provider) and the receiver’s service provider(s) are also in the communication cycle. The fourcorner model removes all administrative burdens in the billing process from both the sender and the recipient. The sender sends its invoices in one format. The billing service provider ensures that the invoice reaches the recipient in the desired format.

An identity provider (IdP) is a service that stores and manages digital login credentials. Think of when you use your login credentials at Google to log into another service. Companies use an identity provider to give their employees or users access to digital resources. With an IdP, that access can be managed by adding or removing permissions. An IdP invariably comes with strong security.

Interoperability occurs when a system, product or organization can work with other independent systems, products or organizations (now or in the future) without access or implementation restrictions. This mutual compatibility makes it easy to create a network and exchange data from different programs. This involves the use of open standards. XML and SQL are just two examples of commonly used data formats and protocols.

The invoices are stored on a server accessible from Belgium, even if the server is located abroad. They can be easily read via a download function and previews within the archive. The identiteir of the issuer of the invoices and their content, including amounts and dates, cannot be changed. Each invoice also has demonstrable authenticity, for example through unique watermarks and document numbers.

The Mercurius platform is the electronic mailroom for all e-invoices sent by companies or organizations to Belgian public institutions. The platform handles the transfer of electronic invoices between the suppliers’ software and the software of the government departments. For government suppliers not yet doing e-invoicing, there is also a web portal where they can send electronic invoices manually in the (required) structured format.

Order-to-cash or O2C refers to a company’s order management system, from the time a customer places an order through fulfillment. Many companies put a lot of energy into optimizing the O2C cycle because it can affect the operations of the entire company: from supply chain to inventory management to cash flow. If there is a bottleneck somewhere, it can create problems for other units in no time. Thus, a lubricated O2C cycle is also crucial to a good customer experience.

The PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) network allows companies to exchange standardized electronic documents among themselves. Are both your accounts and those of the recipient registered on the network? Then you can send an electronic invoice directly from your accounts to the recipient’s accounts. This prevents human error and ensures that electronic invoices are automatically entered into the accounts in most cases.

PEPPOL Participants. Entities participating in the PEPPOL Network. This includes sender and recipient of invoices and procurement documents.

SAML stands for Security Assertion Markup Language and is one the most popular standards for exchanging authentication data. SAML enables secure Single Sign-On. Users need to authenticate once after which they do not have to log in again. Another important benefit is the smooth user experience, because of the quick access to applications with one set of login credentials.

Single Sign-On, SSO for short, means that end users only have to log in once. The SSO software then takes care of authentication to other applications automatically. The biggest advantages of Single Sign-On are highly reliable security, simplicity for the end user, and less wasted time due to password resets or support questions. SSO solution is often combined with two-factor authentication.

Two-factor authentication or 2FA is a method of verifying a user’s identity. It requires you to successfully complete two steps each time to access something. The first step is usually entering a username and password. The second step can vary, such as a PIN or SMS code. The world’s most widely used two-factor authentication app? Google Authenticator.

With the rising popularity of e-signing, time stamping is more relevant than ever. The mechanism of time stamping associates a date and time with a piece of computer data and specifies the time when an action was performed. This allows companies, for example, to record the time when an invoice or contract was signed, or in reducing potential liability when it comes to time-sensitive transactions. Even in that context, it is very important that the time stamp is properly secured.

By default, a paper invoice or PDF invoice is exchanged between two parties. This is called a two-corner model. Both parties make (often tacit) agreements about the format of the invoice and the technical connection. E-invoicing uses a four-corner model. In addition to the sender and the recipient, the service provider of the sender (the billing service provider) and the service providers of the recipient (ERP software, payment providers, etc.) are also involved in the cycle.

UBL (Universal Business Language) is an open library of commercial XML documents designed for necessary correspondence in the areas of procurement and transportation. The electronic UBL format allows business documents such as purchase orders and invoices to be exchanged internationally, thereby creating better cooperation between manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers and retailers. Namely, they can electronically align their processes.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a computer language used since 1998 to simplify data exchange on the Internet. It is a standard syntax of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) that allows structured data to be represented as plain text. In terms of function and structure, XML is quite close to HTML, but it is an improved and more open language that allows for the creation of new tags (markup). XML files are often used in e-invoicing.