Document Handling Server

Receiving e-invoices made easy

The obligation to receive e-invoices from 2025 onwards, which was enacted with the Growth Opportunities Act, applies to SMEs as well as large corporations. This poses a challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises, as the purchase or licensing of software that also handles incoming invoice processing for e-invoices is often extremely expensive.

With its Document Handling Server, Open7 has created a solution that is scalable from small confectioners to large corporations and, thanks to its open source basis, remains affordable in every version.

The Document Handling Server can be installed quickly and easily alongside existing systems. This means that e-invoices can be received even during the transition phase. In a later step, the server can completely replace the existing solution.

Functions of the Document Handling Server

Receive e-invoices

Even after the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing, invoices will still arrive at companies in various ways. Our server supports email retrieval via MS Exchange Online, on-premise or IMAP for invoice receipt.

Upon receipt of the invoice, the Document Handling Server can automatically send a response message. This lets the invoice sender know immediately that the invoice has arrived.

Invoice Extraction

For e-invoices that comply with the EN16931 standard, which will be mandatory from 2025, the data can be read and processed completely automatically.

However, an add-on to the Document Handling Server can also be the solution for all PDF documents that initially arrive in an unstructured format. Thanks to AI OCR algorithms, relevant information can be automatically extracted and classified.

Validate e-invoice

E-invoices can offer significant cost advantages for businesses, but errors or deficiencies can quickly negate this advantage and lead to additional costs and effort. Therefore, invoices should be checked for accuracy both upon receipt and upon dispatch.

With the new Document Handling Server, you can upload e-invoices to our system via file upload or web services. The XML Validator Server ensures that the XML data complies with the specified standards, saving time and money. We use the official KoSIT validator of the German federal government, as it is assumed that invoices that are valid for the federal government will also be accepted by companies.

An additional advantage of our solution is the availability of the service via an API that can be accessed directly from your ERP system. If errors occur during validation, the Document Handling Server can automatically send a message to the invoice sender. This message provides information about the problems and contains a test report so that errors can be corrected quickly and easily.

Visualise e-invoices

Structured electronic invoices are difficult for the human eye to read, which makes them difficult to check and process. The EPO XRechnung Viewer provides a solution by converting these XML e-invoices into a readable HTML file within seconds.

A special feature of the viewer is its ability to decode and visualise invoice attachments. Invoices often contain attachments with additional information and details that are encoded by the sender and embedded in the invoice’s XML. The EPO e-invoice viewer decodes this (base64) encoded part and ensures that both the invoice and the attachments are fully readable. This functionality greatly simplifies the work, as all relevant information is accessible at a glance.

Further processing of the invoice

Thanks to Open7’s open source expertise, invoice data can be forwarded to any workflow, ECM or DMS system after receipt, validation and visualisation (including conversion to PDF, if necessary).

This enables them to implement e-invoice acceptance in their company with minimal effort and low costs. The entire process can be integrated in parallel with the existing system. This allows companies to remain flexible for future process optimisations.