Identify and work with the right person
In some organisations, there can be multiple people responsible for making the decision to switch to eInvoicing.
You, or the contract manager in your organisation, may need to talk to your supplier contacts and ask them to escalate the request to start using eInvoicing to the right person. You may want to speak with their business’s decision makers to discuss the benefits directly.
Understand your supplier's eInvoicing solution
Most businesses require certain data elements to process an invoice. Ensure your supplier:
- understands your data requirements
- agrees to provide them directly in the eInvoice if they can.
Some suppliers may have limitations to their accounting software. Your receiving solutions may also have some limitations. It is important you work with your suppliers to understand each other's software capability to find the best way for your systems to interact.
If you work with your suppliers to find the right balance and placement of required data, you can minimise any potential impacts from changing to eInvoicing.
Supplier help and resources
Be prepared to help your suppliers when they send their first eInvoice. They may ask you: 'How do I start?'
Point them to ato.gov.au/eInvoicing to find out more about eInvoicing, its value to them and how to get started. And, to research how easy it may be for the software they already use to connect to the Peppol network.
Remember to also outline your eInvoice data requirements and share this with your suppliers. Make this available in an appropriate place for your suppliers to easily find it if needed.
This approach contributes to a positive experience for both you and your supplier:
- For you, it means less time spent responding to supplier enquiries.
- For suppliers, it makes the change to eInvoicing easier.
Pilot where possible
It’s common for some large business suppliers to want to pilot and validate their new eInvoicing solution with you. This gives you an opportunity to ensure suppliers meet your requirements in a range of scenarios and circumstances. It helps facilitate smooth processing and minimise manual intervention.
These pilots should be done with real transactions, meaning these eInvoices should be for goods and services that have actually been delivered, if a test environment isn't available to both you and your supplier. Communication is key when this is occurring. For the first one or two of these transactions, make sure you follow up with confirmation that the eInvoice has been received as planned and work through any issues and adjustments together with your supplier before moving to 'business as usual'.
Ongoing procurement activities
It pays to update relevant procurement documents and templates to make eInvoicing the new normal:
- Include an eInvoicing preference into new procurement requests (for example, request for tender) as well as supplier panels and standing offer arrangements.
- Discuss eInvoicing capability with suppliers as part of contract reviews or renewals (or both). Embed your eInvoicing preference in all renewed or new contracts.