The procurement solution called the peppol Italy is not a new thing in the particular country. The national e-invoices of the country are practiced based on the peppol services and set of standards. It is one of the strategic plans to increase the deliverance, transparency, and interoperability of the documents exchanged in the public and private sectors in Italy.

The initiation of the implementation date back to April 2016, when the EU Directives on Public Procurement were formalized into the national law. What does it mean then?

Anybody, whether it is government or private, will be obliged to adopt the new set of standards provided by peppol Italy.

That means the different e-procurement systems in Italy would turn into a centralized and seamless network where there will be no errors in translating, comprehending, and interpreting the meaning of the information.

The peppol network will also synchronize the specifications in the country in accordance with the EU requirements.

As we know, each system in every business might have different procedures and methods in delivering the invoicing. When a local business in Italy wants to make a partner overseas, they will have to deal with such complicated layers of standardizations. There are too many loopholes that can lead to misunderstandings and errors when interpreting the message. It is because each software uses different standards of communication.

With the help of the peppol services, it will be easy and straightforward to inject the e-procurement software and solution into an effective interoperable network or single market which can make it easy for all parties to collaborate with each other without any hassle. The seamless e-documents procedures will produce tons of opportunities for both public and private organizations to get involved in the global market.

What is Peppol?

Peppol is the standardized specification that guides cross-border electronic files transfers. Of course, when we are talking about eProcurement, it is not only about e-invoicing, but also other business papers such as the order, shipment, transport infrastructure, and so on.

In Italy, this set of standards is utilized by businesses and governments, from the private to the public entities. The one which supervises and manages all of these is OpenPEPPOL. It is an organization that sets the rules and supervises how the entities will use the peppol network to conduct their eProcurement.

Some parties might consider that Peppol is a platform. But it is a misleading opinion. PEPPOL is not a platform to use. Rather, it is the method that consists of a set of standards that the projects and government entities can implement into their existing eProcurement software and systems. So, when one body has been using the particular exchange software, they don’t need to build the procurement solution from scratch in order to use the peppol network in the process. Rather, they can just infuse the new set of standards into their system.

The participants who are using the peppol Italy can exchange the business documents according to its standards so that the project owners have peace of mind since their files will be understood by the other software. The peppol services can help in online paperworks including peppol e-invoicing, shipping notes, orders, memos, catalogs, and many more.

How to optimize e-procurement with Peppol?

The organizations who want to improve their cross-border business documents exchanges can join with the peppol network. From there, they can automatically upgrade the P2P progress of the documents in the network.

The basic feature of the peppol Italy is to enable organizations within the country and across the globe to communicate electronically with the public entities in every procurement progress.

It is done automatically so that it can erase the good amount of manual laborers and operational costs. Both the organizations and providers will take many perks of the commencing of the peppol services.

The accurate data will be stored and run via the system, easing the participants to audit and make deeper analyses of their progress.

Since the files are transacted within the peppol network, the data will be recorded and centralized.

The private and government bodies will be able to see and assess the deeper insights of the supply chains. With these insights, one can build a new strategy to improve their supply chain practices. All of the benefits of the business thanks to the automated collaborations procedures ruled by peppol Italy.

Which countries use Peppol?

So far, there are 38 confirmed participants who are OpenPeppol members. 31 of them are coming from the European continent.

It is great to know the authority who is ready to manage and monitor the procurement assignments in their particular country to make sure everything is on the right track. The Agency for Digital Italy or AGID is the Peppol authority in Italy. Businesses or other entities could reach out to AGID for quotes and questions.

OpenPeppol organization allows the business from where no national authority exists to participate in the peppol network by using the OpenPeppol AISBL option.

Which companies are already connected to Peppol?

AS mentioned, AGID is the supervisor in Italy that manages and monitors the practices of peppol Italy. Electronic invoicing to public entities is mandatory. This regulation has been effective since 2015. so, it is not a new thing for the government and private entities to apply the standards in their existing eProcurement solutions.

Many organizations have implemented the Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications. They are currently using the specifications for making orders, invoices, as well as advice in the Peppol framework.

There are three main procurement actions in Italy: the National e-invoicing system, e – Certis, and European Single Procurement Document.

The National electronic invoicing system, it allows the Italian Public Bodies to receive business documents that are aligned with the EU regulations.

Meanwhile, e-Certis represents a different domain. Managed by ANAC, it is centralized in SIMOG, the Italian regulating system. This solution is to identify the different certificates procured in the usual procedures across the European continent.

Meanwhile, the European Single Procurement Document works at a local and national level. But all the implementations will be according to the EU rules and regulations.

How do I connect to Peppol? 

To use the peppol network, you will need to reach out to a trustworthy provider to provide you with the API. All organizations must connect to the peppol access point in order to conduct the procurements. Consider reaching out to the most renowned provider for this: Galaxy GW. Don’t hesitate to contact their representative now for inquiries and quotes.