The central government’s detailed instructions for using the Advanced Ordering process in Peppol

Peppol is an international communication network that allows different parties to relay Peppol-compliant messages as part of their invoicing and delivery processes. These instructions specify the data content requirements for Peppol-based procurement messages that are sent to the central government.

Using Peppol-based procurement messages in the Central Government’s Advanced Ordering process

The central government began using the Peppol network and its Advanced Ordering messages on 1 April 2024. The ability to send and receive Peppol-based procurement messages has been implemented in the state’s Handi service. The possibility of adding this feature to other state ordering systems will be assessed at a later date.

In Peppol’s Advanced Ordering process, the state sends an order message to the supplier, based on a previously made procurement request. The supplier then responds to the order with an order confirmation message. The supplier can accept or reject the order in its order confirmation message, or accept the order with certain changes. The state then confirms these changes with an order change message, or it can reject them with an order cancellation message.

Peppol’s Advanced Ordering process includes the following messages: order, order confirmation, order change, and order cancellation:

*Not mandatory for supplier

Source: https://docs.peppol.eu/poacc/upgrade-3/profiles/65-advanced-ordering/

Minimum data requirements for messages sent to the central government

In the message descriptions (Appendix 1, Appendix 3, Appendix 5, and Appendix 7), the data elements processed by the central government’s Handi service are available in the “Field in use” column. These elements represent the minimum data points that an organisation must be able to process when engaging in Peppol’s Advanced Ordering process with the central government. Examples XMLs of these messages are available in Appendices 2, 4, 6, and 8.

Appendix 1. Order description

Appendix 2. Order sample message

Appendix 3. Order confirmation description

Appendix 4. Order confirmation sample message

Appendix 5. Order rejection description

Appendix 6. Order rejection sample message

Appendix 7. Order change description

Appendix 8. Order change sample message

How the central government’s special characteristics impact the processing of order changes

The state’s budgetary legislation sets requirements for the data content of procurement messages that are not recognised by Peppol.

These requirements are classified into classes A and B. Any Class A changes will always result in the cancellation of the order. Any Class B changes are left to the discretion of the party who placed the order. If the supplier submits an order confirmation that has a blank field that was not blank in the original order, this will be considered a change. In addition to the information presented below, any backorders will be treated as a Class A change that will cancel the order. In addition, the state requires that each message must include a delivery date, even though this information is marked as optional in the Peppol message. The table below lists the fields that are important for processing order changes, and it is not exhaustive in terms of the fields that are in use. A list of the fields that are processed by the Handi service is available in the appendices to the “Minimum data requirements for messages sent to the central government” section.

Additional information

For more information on matters related to these instructions, please contact the State Treasury’s T3 – Government Finance Administration, Information and Working Life Management Division, tel. 0295 50 2000 or by email hankintatoimi@valtiokonttori.fi or peppol@valtiokonttori.fi.

For more information on the Peppol network, visit the State Treasury’s website at www.valtiokonttori.fi/peppol