The process of sending e-invoices and invoice errors – Procountor

The process of sending electronic invoices and causes of sending errors will be discussed in this article.

It is possible to send and receive electronic invoices (called e-invoices from here on at this instruction) in Procountor. Company has two options in order to be able to send and receive electronic invoices:

1. The company orders e-invoicing addresses from Apix Messaging Oy via Procountor.

2. The company implements an e-invoicing contract with its own bank where is agreed that sending and receiving e-invoices is done by using Procountor.

These two options can also be used side by side, so the one option does not exclude the other; the company may well have both options in place, depending on the company's needs. However, it's not mandatory to have both addresses in use.

Invoices are interpreted to Procountor in the format that they are sent from the sender software.

The process of sending e-invoices

Before sending e-invoices it should be noted the e-invoice addresses should be opened (via Apix or bank) and filled in to Procountor's view E-Invoice and Scanning provider addresses. After this the receiver's (customer's) e-invoice addresses should be filled to Procountor's Business partner register so that the right addresses will come automatically to every invoice that is made to the customer. More detailed instructions how to fill in the e-invoice addresses can be found here.

In order to successfully send the sales invoices to customers as e-invoices, there is mandatory info, that must be given on the invoices. Further information about the mandatory info can be found here.

1. After the sales invoice has been done the e-invoice will be sent by clicking the Send button.

If the invoice date is in the far future the invoice will be transferred to Procountor's Invoices to be sent list and the invoice will be sent three days before the invoice date.

2. Invoice is delivered to the invoice sender's e-invoice operator which will check the invoice sender information.

If the check goes as planned and there are no errors the invoice will be sent to customer's e-invoice operator that was mentioned in the invoice.

3. Customer's e-invoice operator will check the receiver's e-invoice addresses and searches for the right receiver for which the invoice will be sent to.

If the operator finds an e-invoice address from its address book it will send it to the receiver.

4. The invoice will be read to the customer's software.

Why is there a sending error?

There can be a sending error for example if the e-invoice has wrong customer's e-invoice operator or e-invoice address.

The process of the error and the error message is shown in the picture above.
1. When the e-invoice is transferred to the Sender's e-invoice operator the sender's e-invoice addresses are checked. If the sender addresses are wrong the operator will deliver an error message to the sender software.
2. If the invoice has the correct sender addresses the invoice will be delivered to the e-invoice operator that was determined in the invoice by the sender. The operator which receives the invoice will check if it has a corresponding e-invoice address in its address book. If there is none it will deliver an error message to the sender software.
In a situation when the invoices cannot be delivered to the customer the operator will send an error message to the sender software.
Procountor will handle all the error messages and send an e-mail to the sender company (the sender of the invoice).
- There will be instructions in this e-mail how to correct the invoice details and send it again.

The most common reasons for e-invoice errors

No recipient could be found

In this situation no recipient could be found with the e-invoice address and operator ID from the operator used at sending.
In this situation the invoice has reached the receiver's operator which was filled in by the sender. However, the operator could not find the receiver from its address book. It will sen an error message to the sender software.
The sender software will handle the message and inform the sender about the error.

The error should be corrected as following:

Contact the customer and verify which is the correct e-invoice address the customer uses in receiving and which is the correct e-invoice operator your customer uses.
If necessary, correct the e-invoice information saved in the Business Partners register. This is to avoid future error notifications in sending e-invoices to this customer of yours.
- If the Verkkolaskuosoitteisto (could be translated as an "Electronic invoice address register" but this is not the official translation on the web site mentioned) is used to find the customer's electronic invoice address, please note that this address register may not always be up to date. This is because each e-invoice operator only takes care of the amendments, updates and deletions of their own customer information.
When the error occurs the Invoice(s) will be changed to status Not sent by Procountor's customer service.
Change the invoice back to status Unfinished by clicking on Edit > Unfinished in the Invoice view. Edit the e-invoice addresses to correct ones.
After the invoice has been modified send it again.
- If you wish to send the invoice by using another delivery method, switch the invoice channel.

E-invoice agreement is missing

When e-invoices are sent the sender operator (bank) will check if the sender has an agreement with the bank of sending the e-invoices.
If the operator sees that there is no agreement it will send an error message to the sender software.
The sender software will handle the message and inform the sender about the error.