...

Contents

Purpose and target Audience

The purpose of this guide is to explain the web service simpl.ePRIOR to its users. what it does consist of, what are the usage patterns, how to use it to accelerate its adoption path towards e-invoicing and e-Procurement for Belgian public sector entities. It contains practical information needed to integrate the web service into the users' (potentially multiple) software affected by e-Invoicing and e-Procurement.

Its target audience is software developers, analysts and architects charged with the integration - at connectivity level and at business logic level. it is only relevant to Belgian public sector entities. Private sector entities are out of scope. Additionally, simpl.ePRIOR is only available through the network of the service integrators of the Belgian public sector. Therefore, its use requires the ability to connect to such a service service integrator (FSB, Magda/VSB, FIDUS, BCED:eWBS, ...). The present document does not provide information covering this aspect, for is not specific to the service.

Prerequisites

To be able to fully understand the concept and technologies used in this document, you need to first get knowledge about the following :

• SOAP
  • SOAP with Attachment ( MIME )
  • WS-* Policies : X509
  • WSDL : XSD, namespace, ...
• eProcurement
  • Peppol High-level architecture and interoperability framework
  • 4 corners model
  • UBL data type : Peppol BIS, CEN BII 3.0, ...

Failing at understanding those principles and technologies 'll be a serious impediment to the implementation of this service in your solution.

Also please note that the endpoints exposed by the different integrators are secured and may require an on-boarding process, that is driven by the integrators. Without a completed on-boarding you won't be able to get access to the Simpl.ePRIOR web service.

This document is not describing how to integrate with the web service exposed by an integrators but more as a technical guide on how the Simpl.ePRIOR interface works independently from the integrator.

Also it doesn't provide any support for particular technology to integrate with the web service. We only provide a sample CXF for reference only.

Introduction

When you send a document to someone through the postal services, you just put it in an envelope, put the address on it, stamp it (if required) ... and that's it. Basically, PEPPOL is the solution for doing the same, but between computers. This is however quite a different, more complex challenge to solve in the world of computers than in the world of paper, because the ultimate goal - automation of invoice processing -  is much more sophisticated, and due to the inherent nature of computer systems - programs can hardly cope with deviations. Therefore, achieving such a universal, fully inter-operable exchange system, is a challenge. PEPPOL offers a framework that enables this universal "new way of posting". 

Image Removed

SRC https://peppol.eu/about-openpeppol/

The solution setup in Belgium for the business to government exchanges is composed of the following keyline elements:

1. Mercurius: it is the centralized mailroom for reception and routing of all e-Procurement related electronic and structured documents to and from the public sector. Mercurius thereby serves the public sector in their automation projects, and ensures consistency throughout all public sector entities.
2. PEPPOL: it is the "new way of posting", suited to structured electronic documents. Mercurius is fully aligned with the PEPPOL model. It is exclusively connected through a PEPPOL accesspoint
3. Simpl.ePRIOR: interface with the public sector entities, suited to their context, and more specifically aligned with the technology in use on the public sector integrators.
4. Mercurius portal: provides track and trace function to staff of entities using Mercurius platform. the portal reuses the Network infrastructure (proxy) and the Authentication and Authorization service

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Context of this document

This document is about the Simpl.ePRIOR interface defined on the right side of the schema : it describes the interaction between the Mercurius platform and the Public sector, the customers. The other flows aren't part of this document.

Image Removed

Scope covered by this document

The simpl.ePRIOR interface is defined by a WSDL as it's a SOAP based service. This service is exposed by the Federal integrators for federal customers and by Regional integrators for regional customers. 

How does it work?

Keyline-principles

The Simpl.ePRIOR webs service defines the following four operations : submitDocument, submitInboxRequest, retrieveDocument, and markDocument. Each operation is  explained later in appropriate details.

Any consumer of the simpl.ePRIOR service can send valid documents (of a supported document format, see later)  through Mercurius, on behalf of any business entity (no control of representation by Mercurius).

Once properly configured in Mercurius,

• any business entity (=enterprise belonging to the Belgian public sector) can receive documents through Mercurius. It is identified with an inbox, where the documents are dropped, for collection by the receiver.
• any consumer of the simpl.ePRIOR can collect the documents received by all business entities it represents

As explained above, to perform meaningful business exchanges, the operations must (a) be performed using the appropriate document format (BISv3 INVOICE, BISv2 ORDER, BISv2 MLR, ...) and (b) be combined appropriately.

Example: to handle an inbound invoice, the following 3-phases sequence applies:

1. the consumer collects incoming invoice:
   1. the consumer performs a submitInboxRequest on behalf of the target business entity→ in return he gets the list of new documents available in his inbox.
      1. we assume that an invoice is waiting to be picked up
      2. we also assume that it is a PEPPOL BISv3 Invoice  (see later form more explanations over document formats, BISv2 and BIS v3)
   2. the consumer performs a retrieveRequest to pick up the invoice
   3. the consumer performs a mark request to notify Mercurius that it successfully retrieved the invoice, and that the invoice can be removed from the business entity's inbox
2. The consumer performs the appropriate business processing. This phase is out of scope of the current process. It ends up with a possible response to the original document sender
3. The consumer performs a submitDocument Request to posts a response to the original document sender, notifying him of the results of the processing by the business entity. It uses the following document format: PEPPOL BIS v2 MessageLevelResponse (MLR).

Sequences of operations

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Document conformance

Documents flowing through Mercurius and simpl.ePRIOR always comply with (a) syntax and (b) semantic rules:

• the integrators validate the conformance to the syntax, ie the applicable UBL xsd (*), and
• additionally, Mercurius (ie, the backend service), validates the conformance to the semantic standard, hereafter referred to as "document format". (**)

(*) The service only supports the transport of UBL documents. Although the subject has been informally discussed, no requirements any other syntax have been raised to date, such as UN/CEFACT, EDIFACT, ...

(**) Notice that:

• Outbound documents are validated at runtime: if a non-conformant document is submitted, the submit will fail (the service consumer will get a false ack indicator - and a SOAP fault describing format violations encountered in the document [Cmt 10 May 2019: hasn't yet been checked] ).
• Inbound document validation is performed asynchronously - due to a lack of consensus to exploit the PEPPOL transport protocol (AS2/AS4), to send non-conformance feedback (it is questionable whether this belongs to the transport layer). Fatal validation errors on inbound documents are handled as breaches against the PEPPOL agreements. Therefore the documents are intercepted and propped with no further follow up. This aspect does not affect the interface with the Public sector. Howver, it adds context to the end-to-end business exchanges with business correspondents, which our service consumer must be aware of to properly drive their end-to-end projects.

How to test the service?

To familiarise yourself with the web service, you can use SOAPUI.

See for download : https://www.soapui.org/downloads/soapui.html

See here for documentation : https://www.soapui.org/soapui-projects/soapui-projects.html

Hereunder is a document about how to configure SOAPUI to integrate with the FSB ( Federal Service Bus - Federal integrator ) in the case you represent a federal customer.

You can repeat the same with the WSDL for Simpl.ePRIOR .

Testing your development

When you start development or wish to validate your logic, you can exchange information with "sparing partners" : the fakeCustomer and fakeSupplier. In an upcoming version of this guide, this section will elaborate on this service, that is not completely finalized yet.

In the meantime, we recommend you:

• develop your own mock or use SOAPUI as a sparing partner, using your favorite integrator's wsdl, and the information in this document.
• when the development is sufficiently advanced, test the service by sending documents to yourself through simpl.ePRIOR. You can also use the Mercurius portal to generate incoming documents - however this does not guarantee that you will see all possible document patterns.
• When this is OK, test the service in combination with other public sector entities
• eventually, organize tests involving private sector entities.

Detailed presentation of the service

Overview

Image Removed

The following elements are used in the Simpl.ePRIOR interface. This is part of the required transmission items, on top of that the payload needs to contain a valid UBL document ( retrieve and submit document ). The Mercurius platform validates the UBL is correct based on the document type defined : this is a schematic and format validation against XSD and Schematron. The business content like PO, price, ... is not validated and must be checked by the consumer.

See UBL document definition and UBL document Validation for reference.

...

Boolean indicating the status of the operation

• True : Request successfully processed
• False : An exception occurred and the process failed

Submit Inbox

Description

This operation accesses the inbox on Mercurius for a particular receiverID. Note that you need to have a contractual obligation before you can access a receiver's inbox ( to be configured with your integrator ).

Parameters

...

• receiverID ( mandatory )
• senderID
• DocumentType
• DocumentFormatIdentifier (new, only in TEST)

...

• list of the unmarked documents ( 0..N ):
  • documentID
  • receiverID
  • senderID
  • DocumentType
  • DocumentFormatIdentifier (new, only in TEST)

...

• No access allowed to inbox

...

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...

...

Contents

Business context, purpose, scope and target audience

As layed out in the article Mercurius: the electronic mail room for our public entities, the Mercurius platform operates as a main/central mailroom for Belgian government entities, in the context of e-Invocing and e-Procureent. Such entities, and more generally, any Belgian Contracting Authority, can take advantage of teh services offered by the Mercurius platform to ease, improve, and/or boost its transition towards standardized, interoperable e-Procurement. The article Contracting Authorities : how to integrate your accounting software with the Mercurius platform? introduces the technical side of the Mercurius platform for such Belgian contracting authorities, eligible to use the Mercurius platform.

This guide provides the additional technical information required to understand and use the simpl.ePRIOR web service in this context. What it does consist of, what are the usage patterns. It contains practical information needed to integrate the web service into the users' software.

Other services offered by the Mercurius platform to support and boost e-invoicing adoption, such as conversion to human readable equivalents, Portal services (for suppliers not yet able to send structured electronic invoices, or for the sake of tracking the exchanges), are out of scope . Also, the non-technical aspects of the integration of simpl.ePRIOR, such as registering on the platform - and thereby obtaining access to the test environment and to the production environment, or the technical support through the lifecycle of use of the services, are not covered here. For such questions please contact Mercurius support by either filling out a support request (cf section D. of Contracting Authorities : how to integrate your accounting software with the Mercurius platform?)

Notice also that the Private sector-side of Mercurius is not discussed here. Technically speaking, private sector entities do not even need to know about Mercurius, they only need to know about Peppol (which Mercurius is aligned with, offering Business-to-Government interoperability).

simpl.ePRIOR is mainly available through the network of the service integrators of the Belgian public sector. Therefore, its use requires the ability to connect to such a service service integrator (FSB, Magda/VSB, FIDUS, BCED/eWBS, ...). The present document does not provide information covering this aspect, for it is not specific to the service. See also the section B of article mentioned above.

Another possibility to access simpl.ePRIOR is offered by the subcontractor operating the Mercurius platform. Such direct technical access can be considered when the Contracting Authority does not fall in the scope of any Public sector integrator (and thereby cannot be serviced by any of them), or when the disadvantages of using the network of the service integrators of the Belgian public sector are higher than the benefits. This is typically the case for organisations operating accross mutiple regions, or for entities services by IT service providers operating accross multiple regions. The technical information available in this guide, also applies to such direct access mode. On the other hand, such direct access requires (a) a direct agreement with the subcontractor operating the Mercurius platform, and (b) a registration

The target audience is software developers, analysts and architects charged with the integration of the systems of eligible Belgian Contracting Authorities with Mercurius - at connectivity level and at business logic level.

Prerequisites

To be able to fully understand the concept and technologies used in this document, you need to first get knowledge about the following :

• SOAP

  • SOAP with Attachment ( MIME )

  • WS-* Policies : X509

  • WSDL : XSD, namespace, ...

• eProcurement

  • Peppol High-level architecture and interoperability framework

  • 4 corners model

  • UBL data type : Peppol BIS, CEN BII , EN 16931, ...

Failing at understanding those principles and technologies 'll be a serious impediment to the implementation of this service in your solution.

Also please note that the endpoints exposed by the different integrators are secured and may require an on-boarding process, that is driven by the integrators. Without a completed on-boarding you won't be able to get access to the Simpl.ePRIOR web service.

This document is not describing how to integrate with the web service exposed by an integrators but more as a technical guide on how the Simpl.ePRIOR interface works independently from the integrator.

Also it doesn't provide any support for particular technology to integrate with the web service. We only provide a sample CXF for reference only.

Introduction

When you send a document to someone through the postal services, you just put it in an envelope, put the address on it, stamp it (if required) ... and that's it. Basically, Peppol is the solution for doing the same, but between computers. This is however quite a different, more complex challenge to solve in the world of computers than in the world of paper, because the ultimate goal - automation of invoice processing -  is much more sophisticated, and due to the inherent nature of computer systems - programs can hardly cope with deviations. Therefore, achieving such a universal, fully inter-operable exchange system, is a challenge. Peppol is (a) a framework that enables this universal "new way of posting", and (b) a global, open ecosystem into which the interoperability framework is respected by all actors.

...

SRC https://Peppol.eu/about-openPeppol/

The solution setup in Belgium for the business to government exchanges is composed of the following keyline elements:

1. Mercurius: it is the centralized mailroom for reception and routing of all e-Procurement related electronic and structured documents to and from the public sector. Mercurius thereby serves the public sector in their automation projects, and ensures consistency throughout all public sector entities.

2. Peppol: it is the "new way of posting", suited to structured electronic documents. Mercurius is fully aligned with the Peppol model. It is exclusively connected through a Peppol accesspoint

3. Simpl.ePRIOR: interface with the public sector entities, suited to their context, and more specifically aligned with the technology in use on the public sector integrators.

4. Mercurius portal: provides track and trace function to staff of entities using Mercurius platform. the portal reuses the Network infrastructure (proxy) and the Authentication and Authorization service

...

Context of this document

This document is about the Simpl.ePRIOR interface defined on the right side of the schema : it describes the interaction between the Mercurius platform and the Public sector, the customers. The other flows aren't part of this document.

...

Scope covered by this document

The simpl.ePRIOR interface is defined by a WSDL as it's a SOAP based service. This service is exposed by the Federal integrators for federal customers and by Regional integrators for regional customers. 

How does it work? - Keyline-principles

The Simpl.ePRIOR webs service defines the following four operations : submitDocument, submitInboxRequest, retrieveDocument, and markDocument. Each operation is  explained later in appropriate details.

Any consumer of the simpl.ePRIOR service can send valid documents (of a supported document format, see later)  through Mercurius, on behalf of any business entity (no control of representation by Mercurius).

Once properly configured in Mercurius,

• any business entity (=enterprise belonging to the Belgian public sector) can receive documents through Mercurius. It is identified with an inbox, where the documents are dropped, for collection by the receiver.

• any consumer of the simpl.ePRIOR can collect the documents received by all business entities it represents

As explained above, to perform meaningful business exchanges, the operations must (a) be performed using the appropriate document format (BIS INVOICE, BIS ORDER, BIS MLR, ...) and (b) be combined appropriately.

Sequences of operations

...

Document conformance

Documents flowing through Mercurius and simpl.ePRIOR always comply with (a) syntax and (b) semantic rules:

• the integrators validate the conformance to the syntax, ie the applicable UBL xsd (*), and

• additionally, Mercurius (ie, the backend service), validates the conformance to the semantic standard, hereafter referred to as "document format". (**)

(*) The service supports (a) the transport of UBL 2.1 documents ( syntax for Peppol BIS documents), and (b) the transport of the UNCEFACT / CII invoice compliant with the EN 16931 specifications

(**) Notice that:

• Outbound documents are validated at runtime: if a non-conformant document is submitted, the submit will fail (the service consumer will get a false ack indicator - and a SOAP fault describing format violations encountered in the document.

• Inbound document validation is performed asynchronously:

  • Upon fatal error in the validation process, Mercurius attempts to return an MLR to the document sender, notifying him that the document cannot be processed further due to non conformance. Such MLR can only be return if document sender has published MLR receiving capabilities.

  • This aspect (asynchonous validation and MLR feedback) does not affect the interface with the Public sector. thisinformation is only provided to add context to the end-to-end business exchanges with business correspondents, which the user, our service consumer, must be aware of, to properly drive their end-to-end projects.

How to test the service?

To familiarise yourself with the web service, you can use SOAPUI.

See for download : https://www.soapui.org/downloads/soapui.html

See here for documentation : https://www.soapui.org/soapui-projects/soapui-projects.html

Hereunder is a document about how to configure SOAPUI to integrate with the FSB ( Federal Service Bus - Federal integrator ) in the case you represent a federal customer.

You can repeat the same with the WSDL for Simpl.ePRIOR .

Testing your development

When you start development or wish to validate your logic, you can exchange information with "sparring partners" : the fakeCustomer and fakeSupplier. In an upcoming version of this guide, this section will elaborate on this service, that is not completely finalized yet.

In the meantime, we recommend you:

• develop your own mock or use SOAPUI as a sparring partner, using your favorite integrator's wsdl, and the information in this document.

• when the development is sufficiently advanced, test the service by sending documents to yourself through simpl.ePRIOR. You can also use the Mercurius portal to generate incoming documents - however this does not guarantee that you will see all possible document patterns.

• When this is OK, test the service in combination with other public sector entities

• eventually, organize tests involving private sector entities.

Detailed presentation of the service

Overview

...

The following elements are used in the Simpl.ePRIOR interface. This is part of the required transmission items, on top of that the payload needs to contain a valid xml (UBL in most cases) document ( retrieve and submit document ). The Mercurius platform validates the UBL is correct based on the document type defined : this is a schematic and format validation - against XSD and Schematron. The business content like PO, price, ... is not validated and must be checked by the consumer.

See UBL document definition and UBL document Validation for reference.

Submit Inbox

Description

This operation accesses the inbox on Mercurius for a particular receiverID. Note that you need to have a contractual obligation before you can access a receiver's inbox ( to be configured with your integrator ).

Parameters

...

submitInboxRequest

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:head=”http://fsb.belgium.be/header”  xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <head:fsbHeader>
         <head:messageId>9397cbe5-174f-479f-941d-2371129acb05</head:messageId>
      </head:fsbHeader>
   </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:submitInboxRequest>
         <v1:receiverId>?</v1:receiverId>
         <v1:senderId>?</v1:senderId>
      </v1:submitInboxRequest>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

...

submitInboxRequestResponse

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00>
   <soapenv:Header>
      <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd">
         <wsu:Timestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
            <wsu:Created>2018-10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
            <wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
         </wsu:Timestamp>
	<!—More elements on security and signature:-->
      </wsse:Security>    </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:submitInboxRequestResponse>
         <v1:documentGroup>
            <!--Zero or more repetitions:-->
            <v1:documentReference>
               <v1:documentId>?</v1:documentId>
               <v1:documentTypeCode>?</v1:documentTypeCode>
               <v1:receiverId>?</v1:receiverId>
               <v1:senderId>?</v1:senderId>
            </v1:documentReference>
         </v1:documentGroup>
      </v1:submitInboxRequestResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Retrieve Document

Description

This operation retrieves a document from the inbox of a defined receiver.

Parameters

Request 

...

retrieveDocument

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:head=”http://fsb.belgium.be/header”  xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <head:fsbHeader>
         <head:messageId>692da97e-e4a0-4ed0-b0bd-6e3f01e1e601</head:messageId>
      </head:fsbHeader>
   </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:retrieveDocument>
         <v1:receiverId>?</v1:receiverId>
         <v1:senderId>?</v1:senderId>
         <v1:documentType>?</v1:documentType>
         <v1:documentId>?</v1:documentId>
      </v1:retrieveDocument>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

...

retrieveDocumentResponse

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/  xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00>
   <soapenv:Header>
      <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd">
         <wsu:Timestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
            <wsu:Created>2018-10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
            <wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
         </wsu:Timestamp>
	<!—More elements on security and signature:-->
      </wsse:Security>    </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:submitInboxRequest>retrieveDocumentResponse>
         <v1:receiverId>?<receivedDate>yyyy-MM-dd</v1:receiverId>receivedDate>
         <v1:senderId>?document>
            <!--Valid UBL document returned-->
         </v1:senderId>document>
      </v1:submitInboxRequest>retrieveDocumentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

Image Removed

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00>
   <soapenv:Header>
      <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd">
         <wsu:Timestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
            <wsu:Created>2018-10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
            <wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
         </wsu:Timestamp>
	<!—More elements on security and signature:-->
      </wsse:Security>    </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>/soapenv:Envelope>

Mark document

Description

This operation marks a document when it has been processed at the customer side. Once it has been marked, it isn't accessible anymore from the entity's inbox, via the submit inbox request or the retrieveDocument request.

Parameters

Request

...

markDocument

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:head=”http://fsb.belgium.be/header”  xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <v1<head:submitInboxRequestResponse>fsbHeader>
         <v1:documentGroup><head:messageId>692da97e-e4a0-4ed0-b0bd-6e3f01e1e601</head:messageId>
       </head:fsbHeader>
    <!--Zero or more repetitions:--></soapenv:Header>
            <v1:documentReference><soapenv:Body>
      <v1:markDocument>
         <v1:documentId>receiverId>?</v1:documentId>
     receiverId>
         <v1:documentTypeCode>senderId>?</v1:documentTypeCode>
    senderId>
          <v1:receiverId>documentType>?</v1:receiverId>
     documentType>
         <v1:senderId>documentId>?</v1:senderId>documentId>
      </v1:markDocument>
   </soapenv:Body>
 </v1soapenv:documentReference>Envelope>

Response

...

MarkDocumentResponse

<soapenv:Envelope        </v1:documentGroup>xmlns:soapenv=”http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/” 
xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
      </v1:submitInboxRequestResponse>    </soapenv:Body> </soapenv:Envelope>

Retrieve Document

Description

This operation retrieves a document from the inbox of a defined receiver.

Parameters

...

• receiverID
• senderID
• documentType
• documentID

...

• reception date
• UBL Document

...

• Document doesn't exist or is not accessible (unauthorized)

...

Request 

Image Removed

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv<soapenv:Header>
            <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://schemasdocs.xmlsoapoasis-open.org/wss/soap2004/envelope/" xmlns:head=”http://fsb.belgium.be/header”  xmlns:v101/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd">
               <wsu:Timestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
   <soapenv:Header>       <head:fsbHeader>          <head<wsu:messageId>692da97eCreated>2018-e4a0-4ed0-b0bd-6e3f01e1e601</head:messageId>10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
          </head:fsbHeader>    </soapenv:Header>    <soapenv:Body>
<wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
     <v1:retrieveDocument>          <v1:receiverId>?</v1wsu:receiverId>Timestamp>
	         <v1:senderId>?</v1:senderId>  <!—More elements on security and signature:-->
  <v1:documentType>?</v1:documentType>          <v1:documentId>?</v1:documentId>wsse:Security>          </v1soapenv:retrieveDocument>Header>
   </soapenv<soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

Image Removed

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/  xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00>
   <soapenv:Header>      <v1:markDocumentResponse>
		<!—When successful ackIndicator is true-->
       <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" <v1:ackIndicator>true</v1:ackIndicator>
		<!—When an exception occurred ackIndicator is false-->
		<v1:ackIndicator>false</v1:ackIndicator>
		-->
         <wsu:Timestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
            <wsu:Created>2018-10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
            <wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
         </wsu:Timestamp>
	<!—More elements on security and signature:-->
      </wsse:Security>    </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:retrieveDocumentResponse>
         <v1:receivedDate>yyyy-MM-dd</v1:receivedDate>
         <v1:document>
            <!--Valid UBL document returned-->
         </v1:document>
      </v1:retrieveDocumentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Mark document

Description

...

</v1:markDocumentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Submit Document

Description

This operation allows to send a document type to a receiver (in the case of the invoice response, the receiver is the supplier who issued the invoice).

The format of the document must be supported by Mercurius (and, thereby, by simpl.ePRIOR), which involves an onboarding of the format (see supported document flows).

Additionally, the receiver must support that document format, meaning he must have published the receiving capability in a Peppol SMP. To overcome that limitation, Mercurius provides services that convert the structured electronic document into a human-readable equivalent, and transmits it per email to the receiver, provided that the sender commnicates such email address in the original document. This strategy is gradually rolled out accross inbound and outbound flows. The availability of such additionnal service is documented flow per flow, in the next main section.

Parameters

Request

...

...

submitDocument

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:head=”http://fsb.belgium.be/header”   xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <head:fsbHeader>
         <head:messageId>692da97e-e4a0-4ed0-b0bd-6e3f01e1e601</head:messageId>
      </head:fsbHeader>
   </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:markDocument>submitDocument>
         <v1:receiverId>?</v1:receiverId>document>
            <v1:senderId>?</v1:senderId>
         <v1:documentType>?</v1:documentType><!--You may enter ANY valid UBL document at this point-->
         <v1:documentId>?</v1:documentId>document>
      </v1:markDocument>submitDocument>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

...

submitDocumentResponse

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=”httphttp://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/” 
xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
         <soapenv:Header>
            <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd">.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
         <soapenv:Header>
          <wsu  <wsse:TimestampSecurity wsusoap:IdmustUnderstand="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q221" xmlns:wsuwsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
                  <wsu:Created>2018-10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
                  <wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>secext-1.0.xsd">
               <wsu:Timestamp </wsu:Timestamp>
	      <!—More elements on security and signature:-->
            </wsse:Security>Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
          </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>       <v1:markDocumentResponse> 		<!—When successful ackIndicator is true<wsu:Created>2018-->10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
           <v1:ackIndicator>true</v1:ackIndicator> 		<!—When an exception occurred ackIndicator is false<wsu:Expires>2018-->
		<v1:ackIndicator>false</v1:ackIndicator>
		-->
10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
      </v1:markDocumentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Submit Document

Description

This operation allows to send a document type to a supplier. The format of the document must be supported by Mercurius/simpl.ePRIOR, which involves an intake of the format (see supported document flows). Additionally, the receiver must support that document format, meaning he must have published the receiving capability in a PEPPOL SMP. NB: to increase interoperability, Mercurius will soon add a default conversion to human readable of the documents whose receivers do not yet support the document format used by the sender. This echoes the already existing conversion for inbound documents, that was implemented to accelerate regularisation of Belgian public sector towards directive 2014/55.

Parameters

...

valid Document

...

ackIndicator = True

...

• unsupported document format
• document format violation (list of errors found)

...

Request

Image Removed

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:head=”http://fsb.belgium.be/header”   xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <head:fsbHeader>
         <head:messageId>692da97e-e4a0-4ed0-b0bd-6e3f01e1e601</head:messageId>
      </head:fsbHeader>
   </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:submitDocument>
         <v1:document>
            <!--You may enter ANY valid UBL document at this point-->
         </v1:document>
      </v1:submitDocument>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response

Image Removed

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/
xmlns:v1         </wsu:Timestamp>
	      <!—More elements on security and signature:-->
            </wsse:Security>          </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:submitDocumentResponse>
         <!—When successful ackIndicator is true-->
         <v1:ackIndicator>true</v1:ackIndicator>
		<!—When an exception occurred ackIndicator is false-->
		<v1:ackIndicator>false</v1:ackIndicator>
		-->
      </v1:submitDocumentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

SOAP with attachments

In order to keep the size of xml documents small enough for middleware processing, Simpl.ePrior is using SOAP with attachments when exchanging UBL documents.

It is required to remove any embedded attachment present in the UBL tag <EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject> and to move it to a content part of the SOAP with attachments. The 'Content-ID' of the mime part must correspond to the value of the <ID> element of the parent of the <EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject> element.

Note: in case you submit an outbound document to the relevant schematron validation before sending it, the document must contain the base64 encoded attachment in the UBL tag <EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject>.

------=_Part_20_1065051393.1568991070704
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8
Content-ID: <rootpart@babelway.net>

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
 <soap:Header/>
 <soap:Body>
  <v1:retrieveDocumentResponse xmlns:v1="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
   <receivedDate xmlns="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">2019-09-20</receivedDate>
   <document xmlns="http://fsb.belgium.be/einvoicing/simpleprior/v1_00">
         <soapenv:Header>
            <wsse:Security soap:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd">
               <wsu:Timestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-HvumButHp993jGDym7t89Q22" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
                  <wsu:Created>2018-10-03T10:07:55Z</wsu:Created>
                  <wsu:Expires>2018-10-03T10:12:55Z</wsu:Expires>
               </wsu:Timestamp>
	      <!—More elements on security and signature:-->
            </wsse:Security>          </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <v1:submitDocumentResponse>
         <!—When successful ackIndicator is true-->
         <v1:ackIndicator>true</v1:ackIndicator>
		<!—When an exception occurred ackIndicator is false-->
		<v1:ackIndicator>false</v1:ackIndicator>
		-->
      </v1:submitDocumentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

SOAP Fault

Hereunder you can find a list with all the SOAP fault triggered by the simpl.ePrior backend. This lists can be longer based on the integrator layer.

...

Endpoint URL

The endpoint URLs are defined by the integrator. Once you start your on-boarding process those 'll be communicated by the integration team plus the necessary security/authorisation artefacts ( certificate, credentials, ... ).

Detailed explanations of the document exchange patterns supported by Mercurius AND simpl.ePRIOR and their composing flows

As explained above, Mercurius supports business transactions consisting in exchange of documents, according to a preliminary defined exchange Profile. The PEPPOL specifications for the Document types and exchange Profiles are re-used. Only the connectivity is customised to the specificity of the service integrators operating in the Belgian public sector.

The scope of such transactions supported by Mercurius and its simpl.ePRIOR interface, grow according to its users community needs and expectations. This section keeps track of, and provides details over the supported document flows. For the sake of completeness, a section about the ePRIOR legacy documents is provided at the end of this heading.²

Inbound Invoicing

This exchange pattern starts with an inbound flow: the reception of an invoice or a credit note, with 0..n attachments (supporting documents). It can be followed by and outbound flow: the transmission of a business response.

(a) Reception of invoice/creditNote

supported formats

The initial, inbound flow of this pattern currently handles four possible formats:

• PEPPOL BISv2 INVOICE (CENBII-conformant) : optional since 18 Apr 2019 .  In practice all current users do support this format and need to maintain it, to preserve business continuity
• PEPPOL BISv2 CREDIT NOTE (CENBII-conformant ): optional since 18 Apr 2019 .  In practice all current users do support this format and need to maintain it, to preserve business continuity
• PEPPOL BIS v3 INVOICE (EN 16931-conformant) : mandatory since 18 Apr 2019 due to Directive 2014/55.  In practice current users are still finalizing the intake of this format
• PEPPOL BIS v3 CREDIT NOTE (EN 16931-conformant): mandatory since 18 Apr 2019 due to Directive 2014/55. In practice current users are still finalizing the intake of this format

See "defined Document formats" for detailed format specifications

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

Each time a new processing cycle starts, the collection of incoming documents takes three steps:

...

1. submitInboxRequest

...

• the receiver ID is the only mandatory parameter.
• you can filter the documents per sender, per document Type, per documentFormat

...

Mercurius returns the document in the payload.

attached files are provided using SWA protocol, instead of inline encoding (see applicable section)

...

(b) Response to an Invoice/CN

supported formats:

...

    <inv:Invoice xmlns:inv="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2"
         xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2"
         xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2">
    <cbc:UBLVersionID>2.1</cbc:UBLVersionID>
...
    <cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
     <cbc:ID>file1</cbc:ID>
     <cac:Attachment>
      <cbc:EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject filename="file1.txt" mimeCode="application/octet-stream"/>
     </cac:Attachment>
    </cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
    <cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
     <cbc:ID>file2</cbc:ID>
     <cac:Attachment>
      <cbc:EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject filename="file2.log" mimeCode="application/octet-stream"/>
     </cac:Attachment>
    </cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
    <cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
     <cbc:ID>file3</cbc:ID>
     <cac:Attachment>
      <cbc:EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject filename="file3.txt" mimeCode="application/octet-stream"/>
     </cac:Attachment>
    </cac:AdditionalDocumentReference>
...
   </inv:Invoice>
  </document>
      </v1:retrieveDocumentResponse>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
------=_Part_20_1065051393.1568991070704
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Content-ID: <file1>
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=file1.txt

file1
------=_Part_20_1065051393.1568991070704
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Content-ID: <file2>
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=file2.log

file2
------=_Part_20_1065051393.1568991070704
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Content-ID: <file3>
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=file3.txt

file3
------=_Part_20_1065051393.1568991070704—

SOAP Fault

Simpl.ePrior uses standard SOAP fault, without defining substructures.

The Fault code [soap:Client Or soap:Server] is defining where is the probable system responsible for the error.

The fault string is the normalized definition of the error code. Hereunder you can find a list of all  SOAP fault triggered by the simpl.ePrior backend.

Please note that this list can be augmented with the error thrown by the FSB or the integrator layer.

Endpoint URL

This remark only applies to users of the Belgian public sector integrators.

The endpoint URLs are defined by the integrator. Once you start your on-boarding process those 'll be communicated by the integration team plus the necessary security/authorization artifacts ( certificate, credentials, ... ).

Detailed explanations of the document exchange patterns supported by Mercurius and simpl.ePRIOR and their composing flows

As explained above, Mercurius supports business transactions consisting in exchange of documents, according to a preliminary defined exchange Profile. The Peppol specifications for the Document types and exchange Profiles are re-used. Only the connectivity is customised to the specificity of the service integrators operating in the Belgian public sector.

The scope of such transactions supported by Mercurius and its simpl.ePRIOR interface, grow according to its users community needs and expectations. This section keeps track of, and provides details over the supported document flows.

Inbound Invoicing

This exchange pattern starts with an inbound flow: the reception of an invoice or a credit note, with 0..n attachments (supporting documents). It can be followed by and outbound flow: the transmission of a business response.

(a) Reception of invoice/creditNote

supported formats

The initial, inbound flow of this pattern currently handles 2 possible formats:

• Peppol BIS INVOICE (EN 16931-conformant) : mandatory since 18 Apr 2019 due to Directive 2014/55. 

• Peppol BIS CREDIT NOTE (EN 16931-conformant): mandatory since 18 Apr 2019 due to Directive 2014/55. In practice current users are still finalizing the intake of this format

See "defined Document formats" for detailed format specifications

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

The transmission of the Response is optional. Nevertheless its use is recommended because it creates consistency through the community.

It is performed in one single step:

...

submitDocumentRequest

...

Upcoming changes (update: 27 Apr 2019 )

...

Remark: Directive 2014/55 also imposes European Contracting Authorities to receive and process the European Norm in the UN CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice (CII) syntax. Mercurius converts such documents into their Peppol BIS Invoice (UBL-based) equivalent, before transmitting them to the receiver. Therefore, this format is not listed above.

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

Each time a new processing cycle starts, the collection of incoming documents takes three steps:

(b) Response to an Invoice/CN

supported formats:

• Peppol BIS InvoiceResponse (IMR) - In production as of March 2022

• Peppol BIS (2.0) MLR (CENBII-conformant) - Decommissioned as of 30/03/2022

See "defined Document formats" for detailed format specifications.

Remarks:

• The use of old BIS (2.0) MLR by the Belgian Public sector for responding to invoices, originates from the fact that when we adopted Peppol, there was no Invoice Response document type available. The introduction of the Invoice Response took several years to schedule, also due to the many other changes that needed to be performed.

• in phase 1, the IMR will be used only for business scenarios limited to approval and rejection. Other scenarios will be introduced later, depending on the progress of the user community. Mercurius will support the exchange of Invoice Responses beyond this limitation, however the information displayed on the Mercurius Portal may not be fully aligned with the other possible statusses.

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

The transmission of the Response is optional. Nevertheless its use is recommended because it creates consistency through the community.

It is performed in one single step:

Outbound invoicing

This pattern currently consists only one outbound flow : submission of an invoice /CN.

The inbound flow, collection of the response, is not configured yet. It is foreseen, but not scheduled yet. see "upcoming changes"

For Mercurius staff, see also page 201 - Simpl.ePRIOR: Outbound Invoicing - Implementation (secured page)

...

(a) Sending an Invoice/CN

supported formats:

...

• Peppol BIS INVOICE (

...

• EN-conformant )

...

• Peppol BIS CREDIT NOTE (

...

• EN-conformant )

See "defined Document formats" for detailed format specifications

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

This exchange is performed in one single step:

Outbound ordering

This pattern currently consists only one outbound flow : sending an order.

For Mercurius staff, see also page 202 - Simpl.ePRIOR: Outbound E-Ordering - Implementation (secured page)

sending an Invoice/CN

supported formats:

PEPPOL BISv2 ORDER (CENBII-conformant )

...

(b) Receiving Response

• add an invoice response reception flow: this is part of the introduction of the Invoice Response (IMR), see section “(b) response to an invoice” above. This is in development. Target availability date: March 2022.

• see above: support of the Hermes error flow is expected to be available in March 2022.

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

This exchange is performed in one single stepEach time a new processing cycle starts, the collection of incoming documents takes three steps:

Upcoming changes (update: 27 Apr 2019 )

• adding the response reception flow: order response. This is currently not being planned yet.
• adding a PDF plan B to the main flow:
  • the current situation generates a lot of burden to the public sector entity that sends the documents: the entity must know in advance for each receiver  if he is capable of receiving the PEPPOL BIS format, and find other ways to handle the sendings to other receivers
  • to improve this, Mercurius will soon generalize a logic that converts the document and sends it via pdf/email if the receiver does not have suitable receiing capabilities. this way the public sector entities are freed from the cumbersome process described above, and can plan massive use of the outbound flows.

Outbound e-Ordering

This section will be available soon.

Legacy flows (decommissioned)

This list is maintained for the sake of completeness. ePRIORis the legacy system that was re-used during the pilot B2G e-invoicing project. After the pilot project the ePRIOR interface with the private sector was phased-out (and replaced by PEPPOL interface), but the interface with public sector was maintained. only in 2018 this interface phase-out became necessary, due to introduction of European Norm and new exchange patterns such as eOrdering.

ePRIOR is also a suite of CEN-BII-, UBL2.0-based document formats (invoice, credit note, application response, attached document, ...). based on these documents formats, the following series of flows was set up and kept alive until ePRIOR interface is completely stopped. see also Transition from ePRIOR interface to simpl.ePRIOR (temporary section)

these flows are:

• inbound ePRIOR Invoice
• inbound ePRIOR CreditNote
• inbound ePRIOR Attached Document
• outbound ePRIOR Application Response

Document formats specifications

The document in the payload are based on specificatiosn available on : http://peppol.eu/downloads/post-award/. These specifications provide strong business interoperability by

• defining the detailed semantics of the documents, and
• mapping the semantics into the (UBL) Syntax.

The semantic layer are defined by standardization teams . that new PEPPOL BIS 3 Invoice format is an implementation of the european stadard for electonic invoice, that provides the semantic specification and the syntaxt binding. PEPPOL teams only add implementation-level specifications .

Image Removed

Defined document formats

the following 2 table summarize the key information about the supported document formats.

Format specifications

...

BIS V2 Invoice

...

380

...

UBL-Invoice-2.1.xsd

...

PEPPOL BIS 5A Billing

...

• in phase out.
• bidirectional support (in-,outbound).

...

BIS V2 Credit Note

...

81

...

UBL-CreditNote-2.1.xsd

...

PEPPOL BIS 5A Billing

...

• in phase out.
• bidirectional support (in-,outbound).

...

cf   http://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/billing/3.0/codelist/UNCL1001-inv/

...

UBL-Invoice-2.1.xsd

http://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/billing/3.0/

EN-compliant

...

BIS V3 Credit Note

...

UBL-CreditNote-2.1.xsd

...

BIS V2 Message Level Response (MLR)

...

301

...

UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.xsd

...

PEPPOL BIS 36A Message Level Response

...

• in phase out.
• [TO CHECK] bidirectional support (in-,outbound).

...

Order Response

...

231

...

UBL-OrderResponse-2.1.xsd

...

PEPPOL BIS 28A Ordering

...

Invoice Response

...

23

...

UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.xsd

...

PEPPOL BIS 63A Invoice Response

...

PEPPOL Format identifiers

Outbound Ordering

Outbound Ordering involves (a) issuing an Order, and (b) receiving an OrderResponse

(a) Issuing an Order

supported formats:

Peppol BIS ORDER

See "defined Document formats" for detailed format specifications

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

This exchange is performed in one single step:

(b) Receiving an Order Response

supported formats:

Peppol BIS order Response

See "defined Document formats" for detailed format specifications

Sequence of simpl.ePRIOR operations to apply

Each time a new processing cycle starts, the collection of incoming documents takes three steps:

Upcoming changes (update: 07 Jul 2022 )

• None

Legacy flows (decommissioned)

This list is maintained for the sake of completeness.

ePRIOR is the legacy system that was re-used during the pilot B2G e-invoicing project. After the pilot project the ePRIOR interface with the private sector was phased-out (and replaced by Peppol interface), but the interface with public sector was maintained. Only in 2018 this interface phase-out became necessary, due to introduction of European Norm and new exchange patterns such as eOrdering.

ePRIOR is also a suite of CEN-BII-, UBL2.0-based document formats (invoice, credit note, application response, attached document ...). Based on these documents formats, several flows were set up and kept alive until ePRIOR interface is completely stopped.

Additionally, in the context of the BIS BILLING migration, the old BIS (2.0) Invoice and credit note was also phased out, after due migration towards the new Peppol BIS invoice and credit note.

Here is the list of decommissioned flows

• inbound ePRIOR Invoice

• inbound ePRIOR CreditNote

• inbound ePRIOR Attached Document

• outbound ePRIOR Application Response

• inbound Peppol old BIS (2.0) Invoice

• inbound Peppol old BIS (2.0) CreditNote
  

Document formats specifications

The document in the payload are based on specifications available on : http://Peppol.eu/downloads/post-award/. These specifications provide strong business interoperability by

• defining the detailed semantics of the documents, and

• mapping the semantics into the (UBL) Syntax.

The semantic layer are defined by standardization teams. The new Peppol BIS Invoice format is an implementation of the European Norm for electronic invoicing, that provides the semantic specification and the syntax binding. Peppol teams only add implementation-level specifications.

...

Defined document formats

The following 2 tables summarize the key information about the supported document formats.

Format specifications

Peppol Format identifiers

The message type you have to support are the one defined for your organisation in the SMP. See http://smp.belgium.be.

curl -X GET --header 'Accept: application/xml' 'http://smp.belgium.be/{identifierscheme}::{id}

id					Identifier of PEPPOL participant
identifierscheme	Scheme under which the identifier is registered

Documents Format Validation

You can validate that your message contain documents that respect format specifications  with the following tools :

• https://vefa.difi.no/validator/
• https://peppol.helger.com/public/menuitem-validation-bis2

NB: the tool sallow using diferent rues set. It is important to use the correct rule set, ie the latest version of the rule set that contains the exact format denomination (example : BISV2 INVOICE 4A)

Develop your own validation tool via :

• https://github.com/difi/vefa-validator
• https://peppol.helger.com/public/locale-en_US/menuitem-validation-ws2

BOSA doesn't support those tools, for question please direct them to their respective developers.

Transition from ePRIOR interface to simpl.ePRIOR (temporary section)

Context

Mercurius was setup during a pilot project (2013-2015Q1) to validate the feasibility of B2G eInvoicing. It reused the open-source implementation of the ePRIOR platform, provided by DIGIT, and using formats provided by CENBII workshops.

Mercurius was aligned with the PEPPOL model in 2016Q1, to enable massive onboarding of suppliers - in fact, get rid of onboarding activites since alle participants adhering to the PEPPOL model are supposed to inter-operate directly, thereby eliminating the need for preliminary bilateral negociation and tests and associated costs. To  minimize the amount of simultaneous changes, the ePRIOR documents formats and interface to the public sector were preserved: the ePRIOR and the PEPPOL BIS v2 semantics were both coformant implementation of CENBII works-results, and the syntaxes were close (UBL2.0 and UBL 21 respectively), making this approch straightforward.

In the meantime the new European Norm (EN 16931) is mandated by law to the European Public sector, since april 2019. On the other hand new many public sector entities initiated projects involving new flows, especially outbound invoicing and ordering. Third, experience demonstrated that even simplistic transformations can, by combination (by diverse integrators and other intermediators),  cause significant confusion, thereby generating waste. To acommodate this triple evolution, required a refactoring of the customer interface.

The simpl.ePRIOR interface , the sucessor of ePRIOR, is able to transport an unlimited amount of different kinds of documents, each one in multiple formats. it is also desgnd to enable a systematic planB, when the receiver is unable to receive the sender format - in that case Mercurius converts it into a human readble and sends it by email or to an eBOX.

This paragraph provides users of former ePRIOR with specific information to migrate from ePRIOR to simpl.ePRIOR.

Transition

• Both interfaces are available in parallel
• the legacy invoices and CNs, sent by (5) suppliers still using the interface implemented during the Pilot-phase (not yet PEPPOL), are only accessible through the ePRIOR interface
• all portal invoices (and CN), all BIS2 Invoices (and CN), and all EDIFACT-pilot invoices are accessible through both interfaces.
• only simpl.ePRIOR gives access to BIS3 and UNCEFACT/CII invoices and CNs
• only simpl.ePRIOR enables outbound flows.

The message layer data accessible through the Mercurius Portal, enable the follow up of the pickup of the documents on bth interfaces, making it very convenient to follow up.

It is recommended to encourage pilot suppliers to migrate to PEPPOL. If a few weeks is needed, it is recommended to use following pattern at each invoice collection cycle:

1. pick up invoices through simpl.ePRIOR interface (and mark all collected invoices)
2. pick up remaining invoices on ePRIOR interface

(*) Support of this format is only mentioned for the sake of completeness: mercurius converts such documents into their UBL equivalent to make them available to the simpl.ePRIOR consumer application.

The message type you have to support are the one defined for your organisation in the SMP. See http://smp.belgium.be.

curl -X GET --header 'Accept: application/xml' 'http://smp.belgium.be/{identifierscheme}::{id}

id					Identifier of Peppol participant
identifierscheme	Scheme under which the identifier is registered

Documents Format Validation

You can validate that your message contain documents that respect format specifications with the following tools :

• https://vefa.difi.no/validator/

• https://ecosio.com/en/peppol-and-xml-document-validator/

NB: the tools allowing to use different rules set, it is important to use the correct rules set, ie the latest version of the rules set that contains the exact format denomination (example : BISV2 INVOICE 4A).

Develop your own validation tool via :

• https://github.com/difi/vefa-validator

• https://Peppol.helger.com/public/locale-en_US/menuitem-validation-ws2

BOSA doesn't support those tools, for question please direct them to their respective developers.

Definitions

References

Sample Code

This example is provided without any guarantee or support. It's only to help you and show you how to generate code based on the WSDL definition.

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FAQ

Links