Angeles Galbis
Senior Content Marketing Managerin
Last updated on
7.1.25
Product Release
E-Invoicing with Ninox — Everything you need to know
7
min
Table of contents
Why e-invoicing?
Digitalization is changing the business world — and the focus is on e-billing. Electronic invoicing is becoming increasingly mandatory in Germany and Europe. More and more companies must legally ensure that invoices are issued, transmitted and processed in standardized electronic formats such as ZUGFeRD or XRechnung.
Statutory regulations such as EU Directive 2014/55/EU and the EN16931 standard set standards that companies must comply with. Ninox makes it possible to implement these requirements efficiently. In this article, you will learn how to successfully implement e-billing in your company
Meet e-invoice requirements with Ninox
With Ninox, companies can easily meet the legal requirements for e-billing. The platform supports the two most important formats ZUGFeRD and XRechnung, thus facilitating electronic invoicing.
Highlights of e-billing functionality in Ninox:
- EN16931 Compliance: Ninox complies with regulatory standards, including the EU Directive and national requirements, as in Germany. Ninox enables companies to fulfil the legal requirements by supporting the ZUGFeRD and XRechnung formats. Ninox uses a GDPR-compliant service for electronic invoicing (Mustang). The entire solution is hosted and maintained by Ninox, ensuring reliable and secure use.
- Flexibility through scripting: Use Ninox's scripting functionality to make individual adjustments.
- Easy to set up: With the predefined template for e-invoices, it is particularly easy to get started.
- Availability: The functions that make it possible to create and receive e-invoices are available from the version with Ninox 3.14 for customers with Professional and Enterprise plans. From December 6 Also available a new e-invoice template which meets the minimum requirements for e-invoices and should make it easier to get started. It is not a “plug and play” solution, but should serve as a basis for individual implementation.
E-invoicing functions: incoming invoices
Our technical documentation describes in detail how to implement and use e-billing functions — Click here for the documentation (available starting December 6).
Enter and process incoming invoices.
Ninox offers various options for entering and processing e-invoices.
Import or upload:
Invoice files can be entered either by import, via a mail hook or by uploading to appropriate image fields. In the Ninox e-invoice template, the upload takes place via an image field. As soon as a file is uploaded, a stored trigger script is executed, which automatically triggers the further processing steps and thus significantly reduces the workload compared to manual invoice entry.
Validation:
The next step is to check the invoices for technical and formal accuracy. Thanks to the interaction with the Mustang server, invoices can be technically validated. The Mustang server functions can be called from Ninox using the SendCommand () Ninox script function. This function is already set up in the Ninox e-Invoice template (as are other Mustang features mentioned here).
Read and save data:
E-invoices are available in various formats and with different content. In order to make it machine-readable, the data must be brought into a standardized form. Ninox uses the functions of the Mustang server, which extracts the invoice data and processes it in uniform JSON structures. Careful field assignment is necessary to ensure that the data fields are correctly assigned. In Mapping documentation section Find the assignment of Business Terms (BT) to the corresponding attributes. This data can then be stored in Ninox and reused for various business processes, such as accounting, project billing or cash flow management.
Visualization of billing data:
With pure XML invoices, it is difficult for people to interpret the data without additional tools, as the content can only be extracted directly from the XML data with difficulty. To ensure a complete and understandable view of the invoice content, a visualization of machine-readable XML data is required. Invoice data stored in Ninox can be presented in tables using the appropriate fields in such a way that it is easy for people to record. In addition, the functionality of Ninox also makes it possible to visualize the complete invoice data in the form of a separate HTML view.
Integration with other systems:
Ninox offers a special DATEV integration solution for companies that want to further process their invoice data or integrate it with other systems such as DATEV Unternehmer Online. This feature is available for private cloud customers starting with the Enterprise plan.
E-invoicing functions: Outgoing invoices
Creating e-invoices in ZUGFeRD or XRechnung formats is a multi-stage process that takes into account both legal requirements and technical standards.
Create and send outgoing invoices
Entering billing data:
The creation of an e-invoice starts with the recording of all necessary data. Which information is required depends on the legal requirements and the chosen invoice format. The billing data is recorded in Ninox and prepared for further processing.
Detailed information on requirements and assignment of business terms in ZUGFeRD and XRechnung can be found in Resources & Tools documentation.
Create an invoice file:
Invoices in ZUGFeRD format require a PDF/A-3 document that is enriched with XML data. This can be done in Ninox using the carbon print function. This feature enables dynamic print layouts and is available for Private Cloud and Public Cloud customers starting with the Professional Plan. The XML data is then embedded in the PDF using the Mustang server combine function, resulting in a complete ZUGFeRD compliant file.
For invoices in XRechnung format, a pure XML file is required. For this purpose, Ninox provides the Mustang server function Invoice2xml, which converts invoice data into the required format. This function is controlled directly via Ninox scripts.
Sending the e-invoice:
The finished e-invoice is usually sent to the recipient by email. With the SendEmail Ninox script function, invoice files can be sent directly from the platform. This ensures a seamless transition from creation to shipping process.
