In order for the conversion of the Order into a human-readable equivalent and the sending via email to be successful the sender needs to follow a number of rules.
Email: the sender must provide the email address of the recipient in the element <Order/SellerSupplierParty/Party/Contact/ElectronicMail>.
Example: <ElectronicMail languageID="NL">email </ElectronicMail>
Language: The sender must pass a language code (only “FR” or “NL”) in attribute "Lang" of UBL data element <Order/SellerSupplierParty/Party/Contact/ElectronicMail> . The Language code is compulsory. There is no default/backup language.
Example: <ElectronicMaillanguageID="NL"> email </ElectronicMail>
Own PDF: Mercurius foresees a mechanism to prioritize the customer's own PDF versus the Mercurius generated PDF. This offers a solution:
for those who wish to use their own layout
when a more extensive or complicated order is used
if another language (then NL or FR) is needed
The sender must use <additionalDocumentReference> with "human-readable equivalent order" in the DocumentType element.
Exception handling: If Mercurius detects an error in the transformation process into a PDF then an exception handling process will kick in. This means that the Mercurius servicedesk gets notified and will contact the sender to notify of the error.
Auxiliary information:
PDF Layout:
Integrity: All data from the UBL are displayed on the PDF. In order to display all data in a meaningful way, the PDF layout is broken into a fixed zone and a flex zone
Fixed zone vs Flexible zone:
Fixed zone:
Contain fields that occur on a usual, typical, standard order.
All fields are identified with labels. These labels only exist in Dutch and in French.
Flex zone :
Contains data that does not occur often and therefore data that is not included in the Fixed zone
Important notes
Negative prices:
Not BIS standard and therefore not supported
The sender is obliged to send own PDF
Element "Description" vs "Name":
In the conversion this will lead to repeating the info on the PDF (once in the fixed part, the second time on the FlexZone of the LineItem).
“Name”:
Cardinality: 1..1
“A short name for an item. A short name given to an item, such as a name from a Catalogue, as distinct from a description.”
“Description”:
Cardinality: 0..1
“Free-form field that can be used to give a text description of the item. A detailed description of the item.”
Measurement Unit (MEH) :
On the basis of the list Units of Measurement, see PEPPOL BIS version 3 | Rules. All values in the list may be used.
Delivery address ID :<DeliveryLocation><ID>
Some customers work with unique codes per delivery address
Sometimes a GLN code is used, sometimes its own code
There is no guarantee that it is interpretable by all possible recipients – it can be very specific.