e-Invoicing

Greater Interoperability Fosters Ubiquity

Electronic invoicing (e-Invoicing) is a necessary first step to achieving straight-through processing for business-to-business payment transactions.

Using common standards and protocols in a federated network of access points, an e-Invoice interoperability framework will create a scalable ecosystem that simplifies and reduces the cost of exchanging e-Invoices between disparate systems. This will enable broader connectivity for e-Invoice exchanges and adoption.

What is an e-Invoice Interoperability Framework?

An e-Invoice interoperability framework is a set of policies, standards and guidelines that enable businesses to exchange documents and messages independent of the system or standards they use. Much like email, which achieved global interoperability by establishing format and delivery standards, the e-Invoice interoperability framework will enable document delivery across an open network of providers.

Resources

e-Invoice Interoperability Framework Assessment Report (Off-site, PDF)

• Report of the findings of a preliminary e-Invoicing Interoperability Framework assessment with an overview of the goals and approach used for the preliminary assessment along with key themes that emerged. The report includes recommendations and considerations for future Business Payments Coalition (Off-site) e-Invoicing efforts.

Catalog of Electronic Invoice Technical Standards in the U.S. (Off-site, PDF)

• The catalog documents the large number of electronic invoice technical standards that exist in the U.S. market, resulting in a fragmented market and interoperability challenges among the standards.

U.S. Adoption of Electronic Invoicing: Challenges and Opportunities (PDF)

• U.S. corporations lag behind the rest of the world in adopting e-Invoicing solutions. This white paper by the Payments, Standards and Outreach Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis highlights opportunities for businesses to gain efficiencies and reduce costs by more broadly adopting e-Invoicing.