| Term |
Definition |
Source |
| 3-Corner model |
an invoicing process set-up whereby Trading Partners have separate contractual relationships with the same Service Provider. When both senders and receivers of invoices are connected to a single hub for the dispatch and receipt of invoices, it is referred to as a 3-Corner model. This central hub consolidates the invoices of several receivers and many senders in the case of accounts payable, and several senders and many receivers in the case of accounts receivable processing. Consolidators and trade platforms are usually ‘3-Corner models’ in which both senders and receivers are connected to the service. The 3-Corner model in principle can only offer reach to the parties that are connected to the central hub. This means that either invoice senders or invoice receivers often have to connect to multiple hubs in order to increase their reach. To solve limited reach in 3-Corner models, roaming has been introduced. |
CENfisc; INNOPAY |
| 4-Corner model or multi-corner model |
an invoicing process set-up whereby each Trading Partner has contracted with one or several separate Service Providers, whereby the Service Providers ensure the correct interchange of invoices between the Trading Partners. The concept of the 4-Corner model originated in the banking sector. When senders and receivers of invoices are supported by their own consolidator service provider (for the sender) and aggregator service provider (for the receiver), it is referred to as a 4-Corner model. A network usually based on open standards provides connectivity and the facilities for the secure trusted exchange of invoices and or other business documents. In the 4-Corner models, the consolidator and aggregator roles are often two different service providers. |
CENfisc; INNOPAY |
| accountability (technical) |
The property of a system or system resource that ensures that the actions of a system entity may be traced uniquely to that entity, which can then be held responsible for its actions. (See: audit service.) Tutorial: Accountability (a.k.a. individual accountability) typically requires a system ability to positively associate the identity of a user with the time, method, and mode of the user's access to the system. This ability supports detection and subsequent investigation of security breaches. Individual persons who are system users are held accountable for their actions after being notified of the rules of behavior for using the system and the penalties associated with violating those rules. |
RFC4949 |
| Accounting |
the supplier sends the buyer an invoice corresponding to previously ordered and delivered goods, services or works. |
IDABC ord inv |
| Accounting Customer (Party Role) |
The party responsible for making settlement relating to a purchase and resolving billing issues using a Debit Note. The Accounting Customer must be referred to in an Order and may be referred to in an Order Response. In a Self Billing scenario, the Accounting Customer is responsible for calculating and issuing tax invoices. |
UBL2 |
| Accounting Supplier (Party Role) |
The party who claims the payment and is responsible for resolving billing issues and arranging settlement. |
UBL2 |
| Accounts payable automation |
The (semi-) automated management of accounts payable administration by automated processing of invoices. Accounts payable automation requires integration of the invoicing process with accounting software. |
INNOPAY |
| Accounts Receivable (AR) |
supplier party for payment-related issues |
IDABC ord inv |
| Accounts receivable automation |
The (semi-) automated management of accounts receivable administration by managing invoices sent and payments received. Accounts receivable automation requires integration of the invoicing process with accounting software. |
INNOPAY |
| accreditation |
An administrative action by which a designated authority declares that an information system is approved to operate in a particular security configuration with a prescribed set of safeguards. Tutorial: An accreditation is usually based on a technical certification of the system's security mechanisms. To accredit a system, the approving authority must determine that any residual risk is an acceptable risk. Although the terms "certification" and "accreditation" are used more in the U.S. DoD and other U.S. Government agencies than in commercial organizations, the concepts apply any place where managers are required to deal with and accept responsibility for security risks. For example, the American Bar Association is developing accreditation criteria for CAs. |
RFC4949 |
| Acknowledgement of receipt |
The acknowledgement of receipt of an EDI message is the procedure by which, on receipt of the EDI message, the syntax and semantics are checked, and a corresponding acknowledgement is sent by the receiver. |
94/820 |
| Advanced electronic signature |
an electronic signature which meets the following requirements: a) it is uniquely linked to the signatory; b) it is capable of identifying the signatory; c) it is created using means that the signatory can maintain under his sole control; and d) it is linked to the data to which it relates in such a manner that any subsequent change of the data is detectable; |
SigDir |
| Aggregator |
Short description: Provides bill payers a single point of contact for the reception of bills from multiple senders. Long description: often an invoice payer will need to connect to multiple seller direct solutions and/or consolidators. To avoid ‘silo’ effects involving multiple connections and integration projects, an Aggregator provides bill payers with a single point of contact for as wide as possible a number of invoices on the receiving side. This is considered to be of special value to SMEs and consumers. Again the Consolidator itself may perform this function as part of a total service and in other cases the Aggregator is a different entity. |
INNOPAY |
| Agreed format of an electronic invoice |
The electronic data format that the Trading Partners have agreed to treat as the data format of the original electronic invoice for taxation purposes. |
CENfisc |
| Agreed format of an electronic invoice: |
The electronic data format that the Trading Partners have agreed to treat as the data format of the original electronic invoice for taxation purposes. |
CENfisc |
| Amount |
A number of monetary units specified in a currency where the unit of the currency is explicit or implied |
IDABC ord inv |
| Archiving (also Storage, Record or Document Retention) |
the keeping of invoices and related audit trails and materials under the conditions and for the period required by a competent VAT administration |
CENfisc |
| Audit of an electronic invoice |
The process of inspection of an electronic invoice and/or the processes and systems used for processing or storing an electronic invoice during its life cycle by a competent tax administration to ascertain the compliance of that electronic invoice and the underlying sales transaction with applicable law. |
CENfisc |
| audit service |
A security service that records information needed to establish accountability for system events and for the actions of system entities that cause them. (See: security audit.) |
RFC4949 |
| Audit trail |
information or data (whether in the form of logic, e.g. an algorithm or computer code, or a process recording e.g. an event log, a video etc) that allows an auditor to verify that a process was performed in accordance with pre-defined expectations. |
CENfisc |
| Auditability of an electronic invoice |
The ability for an electronic invoice to be audited. |
CENfisc |
| authenticate |
Verify (i.e., establish the truth of) an attribute value claimed by or for a system entity or system resource. (See: authentication, "relationship between data integrity service and authentication services" under "data integrity service".) |
RFC4949 |
| authentication |
The process of verifying a claim that a system entity or system resource has a certain attribute value. (See: authenticate, authentication exchange, authentication information, data origin authentication, "relationship between data integrity service and authentication services" under "data integrity service".) |
RFC4949 |
| authenticity |
The property of being genuine and able to be verified and be trusted. (See: authenticate, authentication.) |
RFC4949 |
| B2B / Business-to-Business |
Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Small Business (B2b) e-invoicing adoption is mainly influenced by a desire to achieve end to end supply chain efficiency. Einvoicing may be (but is not necessarily) linked to a wider automation of the trade process. Given that the entities are taxable in a VAT sense the process must fully support the handling of VAT accounting. |
INNOPAY |
| B2B context |
Business-to-business context, the market between business providers and clients. |
INNOPAY |
| B2C / Business-to-consumer |
Business to Consumer e-invoicing has been motivated by a desire on the part of large organisations to improve their cost structure and effectiveness of accounts receivable collection. In addition it is seen as a convenience to consumers whoincreasingly are adopting electronic channels for banking, for other financial requirements for money management and for many other lifestyle activities. |
INNOPAY |
| B2C context |
Business-to-consumer context, the market between business providers and consumers. |
INNOPAY |
| B2G |
the drivers here are very similar to B2B and B2b and as often stimulated by the desire of public authorities to improve their own efficiency and also stimulate e-invoicing and e-business generally in society as a whole. |
INNOPAY |
| Basic process |
see functional module |
|
| Bilateral exchange model |
A model for the exchange of information directly between a buyer and a seller in a one-to-one relation. These can be seller driven or buyer driven (see seller direct and buyer direct). |
INNOPAY |
| Biller portal |
Web portal of a invoice provider to which the invoice receivers can log on with a username and password and check and manage their invoices. This is often a protected environment. |
INNOPAY |
| Billing collaboration |
In the Billing collaboration, a request is made for payment for goods or services that have been ordered, received, or consumed. In practice, there are several ways in which goods or services may be billed. |
UBL2 |
| Billing Service Provider (BSP) |
Business provider offering services to senders and receivers involving the sending, collection and administrative processing of invoices. |
INNOPAY |
| Business process |
a process that takes place within an entity. |
INNOPAY |
| Business process integration |
the activity of integrating (various) business processes. |
INNOPAY |
| Buyer |
the Trading Partner to whom the Supplier makes a supply and that may be obligated to receive and store an invoice, as well as being required to report and declare; and being entitled to deduct/reclaim applicable input tax VAT. |
CENfisc |
| Buyer (Party Role) |
The party that purchases the goods or services on behalf of the Originator. The Buyer may be referred to in Order Response, Despatch Advice, Invoice, Self Billed Invoice, Credit Note, and Account Statement. |
UBL2 |
| Buyer direct |
Powerful buying organisations require their suppliers to deliver e-invoices directly to their systems, often providing tools to convert accepted orders into VAT compliant invoices. In addition to the use of a buying portal, the sender may use a direct connection or an EDI system. Service providers may be involved as technical enablers. banks. They are usually national in scope but may also support cross-border flows. |
INNOPAY |
| Carrier (Party Role) |
The party providing physical transport services. |
UBL2 |
| Certificate Policy |
named set of rules that indicates the applicability of a certificate to a particular community and/or class of application with common security requirements (ISO/IEC 9594-82001) (Each CP is assigned a unique Object Identifier – ID by an authorised entity.) |
CWA15579 |
| Certification authority (CA) |
a body trusted by all users to create and assign (public key) certificates |
CWA15579 |
| certification-service-provider (CSP) |
an entity or a legal or natural person who issues certificates or provides other services related to electronic signatures |
SigDir |
| Code |
A character string (letters, figures, or symbols) that for brevity and/or language independence may be used to represent or replace a definitive value or text of an attribute together with relevant supplementary information. |
IDABC ord inv |
| Consignee (Party Role) |
The party receiving a consignment of goods as stipulated in the transport contract. |
UBL2 |
| Consignor (Party Role) |
The party consigning the goods as stipulated in the transport contract. A Buyer, Delivery, Seller, or Despatcher Party may also play the role of Consignor.Also known as the Transport Service Buyer. The Consignor may be stipulated in a transport contract. |
UBL2 |
| Contracting |
the process in which two trading entities agree bilaterally on what the trade will entail and how the trade will be executed. The result of this process is an agreed and exchanged contract. Contracts may cover all aspects of a trade and all processes that are part of the end-to-end trade process: ordering, delivery, invoicing, payment and taxation. The contracting process may vary from an extensive written contractual agreement to a verbal agreement in an ‘over the counter’ transaction |
INNOPAY |
| Contractor (Party Role) |
The party responsible for the contract to which the Catalogue relates. |
UBL2 |
| correctness |
The property of a system that is guaranteed as the result of formal verification activities. (See: correctness proof, verification.) Tutorial: Documents SHOULD NOT use this term without providing a definition; the term is neither well-known nor precisely defined. Data integrity refers to the constancy of data values, and source integrity refers to confidence in data values. However, correctness integrity refers to confidence in the underlying information that data values represent, and this property is closely related to issues of accountability and error handling. |
RFC4949 |
| correctness integrity |
The property that the information represented by data is accurate and consistent. (Compare: data integrity, source integrity.) Tutorial: Dcouments SHOULD NOT use this term without providing a definition; the term is neither well-known nor precisely defined. Data integrity refers to the constancy of data values, and source integrity refers to confidence in data values. However, correctness integrity refers to confidence in the underlying information that data values represent, and this property is closely related to issues of accountability and error handling. |
RFC4949 |
| correctness proof |
A mathematical proof of consistency between a specification for system security and the implementation of that specification. (See: correctness, formal specification.) |
RFC4949 |
| Credit management |
The management of invoice collection, outstanding invoices and the associated payment risks and the processing of received payments. The sender can outsource this set of tasks to a BSP or specific service provider. The payment risks can be transferred to the party in question. |
INNOPAY |
| Credit Note |
Sent by the supplier to the buyer confirming that the supplier owes him money. |
IDABC ord inv |
| Credit note |
an advice of a credit to be compensated against account balances payable as a result of a previous invoice. |
INNOPAY |
| Customer |
the person or organization who owns the products after successful completion of the transaction. The following roles can be found in a customer company: buyer, consignee, invoicee, VAT representative. |
CWA15582 |
| Customer Service |
supplier party responsible for issues related to purchase order fulfilment (despatch, delivery and carriage); |
IDABC ord inv |
| data |
Information in a specific representation, usually as a sequence of symbols that have meaning. |
RFC4949 |
| data integrity |
The property that data has not been changed, destroyed, or lost in an unauthorized or accidental manner. (See: data integrity service. Compare: correctness integrity, source integrity.) |
RFC4949 |
| data integrity service |
A security service that protects against unauthorized changes to data, including both intentional change or destruction and accidental change or loss, by ensuring that changes to data are detectable. (See: data integrity.) Tutorial: A data integrity service can only detect a change and report it to an appropriate system entity; changes cannot be prevented unless the system is perfect (error-free) and no malicious user has access. However, a system that offers data integrity service might also attempt to correct and recover from changes. The ability of this service to detect changes is limited by the technology of the mechanisms used to implement the service. For example, if the mechanism were a one-bit parity check across each entire service data unit (SDU), then changes to an odd number of bits in an SDU would be detected, but changes to an even number of bits would not. Relationship between data integrity service and authentication services: Although data integrity service is defined separately from data origin authentication service and peer entity authentication service, it is closely related to them. Authentication services depend, by definition, on companion data integrity services. Data origin authentication service provides verification that the identity of the original source of a received data unit is as claimed; there can be no such verification if the data unit has been altered. Peer entity authentication service provides verification that the identity of a peer entity in a current association is as claimed; there can be no such verification if the claimed identity has been altered. |
RFC4949 |
| data origin authentication |
The corroboration that the source of data received is as claimed. (See: authentication.) |
RFC4949 |
| data origin authentication service |
A security service that verifies the identity of a system entity that is claimed to be the original source of received data. (See: authentication, authentication service.) Tutorial: This service is provided to any system entity that receives or holds the data. Unlike peer entity authentication service, this service is independent of any association between the originator and the recipient, and the data in question may have originated at any time in the past. A digital signature mechanism can be used to provide this service, because someone who does not know the private key cannot forge the correct signature. However, by using the signer's public key, anyone can verify the origin of correctly signed data. This service is usually bundled with connectionless data integrity service. (See: "relationship between data integrity service and authentication services" under "data integrity service". |
RFC4949 |
| data security |
The protection of data from disclosure, alteration, destruction, or loss that either is accidental or is intentional but unauthorized. Tutorial: Both data confidentiality service and data integrity service are needed to achieve data security. |
RFC4949 |
| Debit note |
a reminder of an outstanding amount due under a previous invoice. |
INNOPAY |
| deception |
A circumstance or event that may result in an authorized entity receiving false data and believing it to be true. (See: authentication.) |
RFC4949 |
| Delcredere |
invoice sent to an agent paying for a number of buyers. |
INNOPAY |
| Delivering |
the process in which the seller ‘delivers’ to the buyer the ordered (part of the) performance. The result of this process is an agreed delivery. As such it may entail all activities necessary to conform to the agreed performance, such as manufacturing, transport or service delivery. |
INNOPAY |
| Delivery Party (Role) |
The party to whom goods should be delivered. The Delivery Party may be the same as the Originator. The Delivery Party must be referred to at line item level in RFQ, Quotation, Order, Order change, Order Cancellation, and Order Response. The Delivery Party may be referred to at line level in Invoice, Self Billed Invoice, Credit Note, and Debit Note. The Delivery Party may be stipulated in a transport contract. |
UBL2 |
| Delivery Point |
buyer party that receives goods/works/services and identifies variances in receipt; |
IDABC ord inv |
| Despatch Advice |
Sent by the supplier to the buyer to inform him that goods or services have been dispatched and/or delivered. |
IDABC ord inv |
| Despatch Party (Role) |
The party where goods are to be collected from. The Despatch Party may be stipulated in a transport contract. |
UBL2 |
| Despatch Point |
supplier party responsible for the delivery of goods; |
IDABC ord inv |
| digital document |
An electronic data object that represents information originally written in a non-electronic, non-magnetic medium (usually ink on paper) or is an analogue of a document of that type. |
RFC4949 |
| digital notary |
An electronic functionary analogous to a notary public. Provides a trusted timestamp for a digital document, so that someone can later prove that the document existed at that point in time; verifies the signature(s) on a signed document before applying the stamp. (See: notarization.) |
RFC4949 |
| Digital signature |
data appended to or a cryptographic transformation of, a data unit that allows a recipient of the data to prove the source and integrity of the data unit and protect against forgery (ISO/IEC 7498-2) |
CWA15579 |
| Direct debit/authorisation |
Payment method whereby consumers authorise a provider to deduct money from their account, either on a one-time basis or on a regular basis. |
INNOPAY |
| E-bill / Electronic bill |
Electronic bill, usually used in the B2C context. |
INNOPAY |
| eBusiness |
A way of conducting business electronically, leveraging technology initiatives such as ecommerce, electronic data interchange (EDI), and electronic funds transfer (EFT). Electronic storefronts, selfservice. Web applications, and Web-based supply chain integration are a few examples of new e-business opportunities. (Source Internet) |
CWA15578 |
| ebusiness service customer |
the person or organization who acquires electronic business services from an ebusiness service supplier |
CWA15582 |
| ebusiness service supplier |
the person or organisation who supplies electronic business services to a customer |
CWA15582 |
| EDI message |
An electronic data interchange message (EDI message) consists of a set of information, structured using agreed formats, prepared in a computer readable form and capable of being automatically and unambiguously processed. |
CWA15574 / CWA15581 |
| E-invoicing Service Provider |
a company that, on the basis of an agreement, performs certain e-invoicing processes on behalf of a Trading Partner, or that is active in the provision of support services necessary to realise such processes. To determine whether an IT vendor is an Service Provider, the following circumstances should be taken into account: - That the contract with the Trading Partner(s) leads the latter to expect a VAT-compliant service. - The nature of the service is such that VAT compliance is appropriate. - The provider is insured against service related risks to his clients’ tax compliance. Trading Partners can use multiple e-Invoicing Service Providers; see 3-corner model and 4-corner model definitions. An e-Invoicing Service Provider can subcontract all of parts of its services to other providers; such subcontractors can also be e-Invoicing Service Providers if they meet the criteria set out in this definition. |
CENfisc |
| Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) |
Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP), usually consumer-oriented ‘bill paying’ presented and paid through the Internet. Other terms such as IBPP (Internet Bill Presentment and Payment), EBP (Electronic Bill Presentment) and OBPP (Online Bill Presentment and Payment) are also in use. |
INNOPAY |
| electronic commerce |
1. Business conducted through paperless exchanges of information, using electronic data interchange, electronic funds transfer (EFT), electronic mail, computer bulletin boards, facsimile, and other paperless technologies. 2. "The exchange of goods and services for payment between the cardholder and merchant when some or all of the transaction is performed via electronic communication." |
RFC4949 |
| Electronic data interchange (EDI) |
Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the transfer of commercial, administrative and business information between computer systems, using data formats which have been mutually agreed by the parties. EDI exchanges of invoices are normally used between trading partners to automate their supply chain. For e- invoicing, there should be an Interchange Agreement between the EDI trading partners making provision for the use of procedures that guarantee the authenticity of the origin and integrity of the data. Examples of such procedures include: o use of secure networks; o controls over access to networks (for example, checking "trading relationships; o syntax checking of data in accordance with the rules of the transmission standard; o in some Member States a summary file or summary paper control reporting |
CENfisc |
| Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) according to 94/820/EC: Commission Recommendation |
Electronic data interchange is the electronic transfer, from computer to computer, of commercial and administrative data using an agreed standard to structure an EDI message. |
94/820 |
| Electronic invoice / e-invoice |
A dataset in the agreed format, issued by or on behalf of a Supplier, which contains all details agreed between the Trading Partners and all the properties that the competent tax administration may wish to audit. |
CENfisc |
| Electronic invoice data / e-invoice data |
A dataset not yet or no longer representing an electronic invoice, but which is intended to become an electronic invoice or which has been derived from an electronic invoice. |
CENfisc |
| Electronic invoice life cycle |
A process comprising (1) the issue of the electronic invoice by, or in name and on behalf of the Supplier; (2) receipt of the invoice by or on behalf of the Buyer; and (3) storage of the electronic invoice during the storage period by or on behalf the Supplier and the Buyer. |
CENfisc |
| Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment (EIPP) |
Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, Originated in the B2B world and describes the process through which companies present invoices and organise payments through the Internet. |
INNOPAY |
| Electronic invoicing |
The management of an electronic invoice life cycle without the use of paper-based invoices as tax originals. |
CENfisc |
| electronic signature |
data in electronic form which are attached to or logically associated with other electronic data and which serve as a method of authentication |
SigDir |
| Electronic Statement Presentation (ESP) |
refers to the electronic presentment of a variety of other commercial documents, apart from invoices, such as account statements, purchase orders, delivery notifications etc. Not included are many unstructured documents that are exchanged. |
INNOPAY |
| electronic-signature product |
hardware or software, or relevant components thereof, which are intended to be used by a certification-service-provider for the provision of electronic-signature services or are intended to be used for the creation or verification of electronic signatures |
SigDir |
| Email service provider |
there are entities who offer techniques for invoice presentment through email. Such services may then link to supplier/bank portals for further processing steps. |
INNOPAY |
| Endorser (Party Role) |
The party appointed by the Government of a country who has the right to certify a Certificate of Origin. This endorsement restricts goods imported from certain countries for political or other reasons. |
UBL2 |
| End-to-end trade process |
The activity or set of activities that result in a trade that is then settled between the trading entities concerned, their respective banks and their respective tax authorities. |
INNOPAY |
| Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) |
systems that contain many of the tools and software to create, account for and manage invoices as part of wider corporate processes. |
INNOPAY |
| European Electronic Invoicing (EEI) Framework |
The European Electronic Invoicing (EEI) Framework Is the objective of the European Commissions Expert Group. |
INNOPAY |
| European Single market |
Stands for the free movement of people, goods, services and capital. |
INNOPAY |
| Exchange format |
the exchange format is the format in which the invoice is exchanged between sender and receiver. The exchange format can either be structured or unstructured. The exchange format can change during the exchange in the situation where a service provider changes the format of the invoice. |
INNOPAY |
| Exchange models |
Exchange models are the models for the exchange of business documents between a sender and a receiver. There are bilateral, 3-party/corner and 4-party/corner models. |
INNOPAY |
| Exporter (Party Role) |
The party who makes regulatory export declarations, or on whose behalf regulatory export declarations are made, and who is the owner of the goods or has similar right of disposal over them at the time when the declaration is accepted. |
UBL2 |
| Factor |
the person or organization who supplies factoring services |
CWA15582 |
| Factored invoice |
invoice assigned to a third party for financing and collection. |
INNOPAY |
| Factoring |
A form of invoice financing for the seller, where an invoice or a collection of invoices is sold to a factoring company. The factoring comp |
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