PEPPOL delivery for outgoing invoices: how it works

PEPPOL is a global network for exchanging business documents including invoices between trading partners without email attachments or manual data entry. When you send an outgoing invoice via PEPPOL in Docnova, the document travels from your system through the network directly into your customer’s ERP or accounts payable platform. This guide explains how PEPPOL document delivery works, what you need before you can send, how to trigger a send in Docnova, and what happens when an invoice is not eligible.

What is PEPPOL Delivery

PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) is a set of standards and a network infrastructure that allows organisations to exchange structured electronic documents. Instead of sending a PDF by email, a PEPPOL-enabled sender transmits a UBL (Universal Business Language) XML document that the receiver’s system can process automatically.

The key concept is the Peppol Participant ID a unique identifier in the format ICD:identifier (for example, 9945:pl8460002329-t for a Polish entity). Both the sender and receiver must be registered on the PEPPOL network to exchange documents. The sender’s access point routes the document to the receiver’s access point using their Participant ID, without requiring prior knowledge of the receiver’s specific software or email address.

For outgoing invoices, PEPPOL delivery means the buyer receives a machine-readable document rather than a scanned PDF, which eliminates manual re-entry, reduces errors, and typically accelerates payment processing.

How PEPPOL Document Delivery Works

The delivery flow is:

1. Sender creates a UBL-format invoice containing the buyer’s Peppol Participant ID.
2. Sender’s access point looks up the buyer’s access point in the PEPPOL Service Metadata Publisher (SMP).
3. The document is transmitted from the sender’s access point to the buyer’s access point over the PEPPOL network.
4. The buyer’s system receives and processes the structured document.

From the Docnova Outgoing Invoices page, this process is triggered by selecting an invoice and clicking “Send via Peppol.” The invoice must be in a Peppol-ready status (such as “Saved as UBL”) and must include a valid Peppol Participant ID for the buyer.

The Send via Peppol modal shows the eligibility status of selected invoices before any transmission occurs. Invoices that cannot be sent appear under a “Not Suitable Invoices” label. Only eligible invoices proceed to confirmation.

Prerequisites for Sending via PEPPOL

Before you can send outgoing invoices via PEPPOL in Docnova, two conditions must be met:

1. Your company must have an approved Peppol registration.

The PEPPOL Registration page (/peppol-registration) manages your company’s Peppol Participant IDs. The registration table shows columns for Active status, Status, ICD, Identifier, and Participant ID. A registration must reach “Approved” status before it can be used for sending. The registration flow is: click “New Registration” → fill in the Peppol Scheme and ID → submit → the status moves from “Pending” to “Approved” after network synchronisation. Only one registration can be active at a time.

2. The customer invoice must include the buyer’s Peppol Participant ID.

In the invoice creation form, the Partner Company Information section includes a Peppol Participant ID field and an Endpoint ID field (scheme + value). These must be populated with the buyer’s registered PEPPOL identifier. Without a valid buyer Peppol ID, the invoice will appear in the “Not Suitable Invoices” list in the send modal.

3. The invoice must be in a Peppol-eligible status.

Invoices must be in the appropriate status (e.g., “Saved as UBL”) to be eligible for PEPPOL sending. Invoices in other statuses will be flagged as not suitable in the modal.

Step-by-Step: Send via PEPPOL in Docnova

1. Go to the Outgoing Invoices page.
2. Locate the invoice you want to send. Use the Search input or the filter comboboxes (Invoice Status, Supplier, Customer) and date range inputs to narrow the list.
3. Check the checkbox on the invoice row (or use Select All for bulk selection).
4. Click “Send via Peppol” in the page toolbar.
5. The Send via Peppol modal opens. It displays your selected invoices and their eligibility.
   • Eligible invoices are listed for confirmation.
   • Ineligible invoices appear under “Not Suitable Invoices” with a reason.
6. If the modal shows only the error state (“Please select at least one invoice from the table that is suitable for shipping with Peppol”), click “Select Another Invoice” to close the modal and re-select from the list.
7. For eligible invoices, confirm the send. The document is transmitted to the PEPPOL network.

Alternatively, open the invoice detail panel by clicking the row, then use the Send Invoice icon (first button in the panel header) and select “Send via Email”

note: PEPPOL sending from the panel uses the toolbar flow above; the panel’s Send Invoice dropdown offers Email and KSeF options directly.

Handling Errors and MLR

The Send via Peppol modal surfaces ineligibility before transmission. Common reasons an invoice appears under “Not Suitable Invoices”: wrong invoice status, no Peppol Participant ID on the customer record, or the invoice format is not UBL-compatible.

The PEPPOL Registration page includes an Automatic MLR Settings section. MLR stands for Message Level Response a structured acknowledgement sent by the receiver’s access point back to the sender to confirm receipt or report processing errors. Docnova shows a table of registered Peppol IDs with an AUTO PEPPOL RESPONSE toggle per ID. This toggle is Inactive by default. When enabled, Docnova automatically sends a Message Level Response to incoming PEPPOL invoices received on that Participant ID. TODO: verify: whether AUTO PEPPOL RESPONSE also applies to outgoing MLR receipts, or only to responding to incoming invoices the wiki describes the toggle in the context of “auto-respond to incoming Peppol invoices”

If a PEPPOL send fails after transmission (network-level error rather than eligibility error), the invoice status in the outgoing list will reflect the failure. Refer to the History tab in the invoice detail panel for a log of all send attempts and status changes.

Conclusion

PEPPOL delivery removes the manual steps between issuing an invoice and the buyer processing it. In Docnova, sending via PEPPOL requires an approved Peppol registration, a buyer Peppol Participant ID on the invoice, and the correct invoice status. The Send via Peppol modal shows exactly which invoices are eligible before anything is transmitted.