Custom UBL integration development
Appfront builds integrations with UBL, the international standard for business documents such as orders, order confirmations, delivery notes, catalogues and invoices. Many trading partners, governments and platforms require UBL. We make sure your own system creates and reads those documents: importing customer orders, sending back confirmations and delivery notes, supplying catalogues and processing supplier invoices.
What is a UBL integration?
UBL, Universal Business Language, is an international standard for business documents in XML. It covers not only the invoice but also the order, order confirmation, delivery note, catalogue and more. Many agreements build on it: the Dutch e-invoicing rules use UBL, and the Peppol network exchanges UBL documents, for invoices and increasingly for orders too.
For a business with its own order system, this means: a large customer sends orders in UBL, which are currently entered by hand. The customer asks for an order confirmation and a delivery note in UBL, and these are not produced. A platform wants a catalogue in UBL. And on the purchasing side, suppliers send invoices in UBL that are opened as PDFs and retyped. Each document is a different type, with its own rules per trading partner.
We build it custom because the integration has to fit your systems and partners: which documents you exchange, with which customers and suppliers, which agreements go beyond UBL, and over which channel. For invoices under Dutch rules and sending via Peppol, there are dedicated pages; this page covers UBL as the format for all documents between you and your trading partners.
All documents
Orders, order confirmations, delivery notes, catalogues and invoices in UBL, out of and into your own system.
Per trading partner
The agreements per customer or supplier, on top of UBL, recorded so that every document is right for the recipient.
Checked in advance
Checks against UBL and the agreements before sending, and clear alerts when errors occur.
How we build your UBL integration
We start with your documents: which types, with which partners, through which channel, and where retyping happens today.
Which documents, with which trading partners, which agreements and which channel.
Documents from your system converted to UBL, and incoming UBL documents imported into your system.
Checks against UBL and the agreements per partner, with alerts on errors.
Testing with real partners, go-live per partner, and maintenance when new agreements arrive.
What a UBL integration does in practice
The components below come up in almost every UBL integration. Which ones you need depends on your partners.
Orders
Customer orders in UBL imported into your system.
Confirmation and delivery note
Order confirmations and delivery notes in UBL sent back to the customer.
Catalogues
Articles and prices as a UBL catalogue for customers or platforms.
Invoices
Sales invoices created and purchase invoices imported in UBL.
Validation
Checks against UBL and the agreements per partner.
Audit log
For each document, what was sent or received, and with what result.
Who we build UBL integrations for
The integration is intended for organisations whose system doesn't speak UBL.
Wholesalers
Orders from large customers in UBL. Importing without retyping is the core.
Manufacturers
Delivery notes and confirmations requested. Sending them back matters most.
Suppliers to government
Orders and invoices via Peppol. UBL from your own system is what is needed.
Purchasing organisations
Invoices from many suppliers. Importing into the accounts is the core.
Technology and integrations
This page covers UBL as a format for business documents. For e-invoices under Dutch rules, see our page on a NLCIUS integration; for sending via the network, our page on a Peppol integration; and for purchase invoices, our page on accounts payable management. You can read about how we work under developing software.
Why choose Appfront for your UBL integration?
An order that gets retyped is an order that can go wrong. That is what we build on: documents in the format your partners require, out of and into your own system, and checks before they are sent.
No manual re-keying
Orders and invoices go directly into your system.
Partners satisfied
Confirmations and delivery notes in the requested format.
Fewer rejections
Upfront checks catch errors per partner.
Security and privacy in a UBL integration
The integration processes orders, prices and invoices, confidential data belonging to you and your partners. Channel access credentials are stored encrypted and used only by the integration.
The integration runs in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage, daily backups and a log of every document.
Frequently asked questions about a UBL integration
Questions businesses ask before getting started.
Universal Business Language is an international standard for business documents in XML, such as orders, order confirmations, delivery notes, catalogues and invoices. Many e-invoicing requirements and the Peppol network build on it.
UBL is the format. NLCIUS sets out the Dutch rules for e-invoices, usually in UBL. Peppol is a network for sending documents. This page covers UBL for all documents; there are separate pages for NLCIUS and Peppol.
The documents you exchange with your partners: orders, order confirmations, delivery notes, catalogues, invoices and credit notes. We usually start with the document that costs the most time to re-key, often the order or the purchase invoice.
Many partners have agreements on top of UBL, such as mandatory references or their own codes. We record these per partner so every document is correct for that recipient. Adding a new partner then comes down to adding their agreements. This way the integration grows with the number of partners without the foundation having to be rebuilt.
Yes. Every document is checked against UBL and the partner's agreements, with an alert if something is missing or incorrect. The error is fixed before the partner sees the document.
Via Peppol, a customer platform, a portal or another channel the partner requires. The integration can use several channels side by side. For each partner, the channel and agreements that apply are fixed, so every document takes the right route.
Yes, that is precisely what this integration is for: systems that do not speak UBL themselves. Standard packages often already have it built in.
Orders and invoices in UBL, without re-keying?
Tell us which documents you exchange, with which partners, and which system you use. We will show you what the integration would look like.