If your business has been dealing with lots of bottlenecks in its invoice processing, then e-invoicing might not be news to you. Hence, you might already know that it is not only about streamlining invoicing but, most importantly, about being compliant with international laws and regulations. The primary challenge for making the switch is that your PDF invoices must be converted to an entirely different format.
The format in question is called Universal Business Language (UBL) and it has been developed for all electronic documents, especially invoices. It allows your business to safely process invoices and comply with worldwide regulations. To do so, you would first need to convert all your invoices to UBL, which can easily be done via an Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) solution. Curious to know more? Keep reading!
Why Use Universal Business Language (UBL) Format?
UBL is a popular format embraced by many e-invoicing platforms, including government systems, EDI channels, or platforms like Peppol. Let’s take a quick look at what advantages you’re going to gain by converting PDF invoices to invoices in a UBL format:
- Converting your invoices to UBL format allows you to immediately send e-invoices to your customers or vendors via various e-invoicing platforms.
- You open opportunities for working with businesses worldwide from countries that only support e-invoicing.
- And, as a bonus, since UBL is a machine-readable format, you can forget about manual data entry as your accounting or ERP software is more than likely capable of reading it! It makes it much easier to keep track of and access your invoice data and get valuable insights for decision-making.
To find out how you can achieve this and get the most out of these advantages, keep reading!
Steps to Convert PDF Invoices to UBL Format
In this section, we will show you step by step how to convert PDF invoices to a UBL format using our Klippa DocHorizon, an Intelligent Document Processing solution that allows you to go above and beyond with your document management.
Step 1: Sign Up to the Platform
The first step is to sign up to the platform. Simply provide your business email address and you’re good to go.
Step 2: Select Input Location
Once you’re settled in the platform, it’s time to start your conversion flow. Using the intuitive flow builder, select the input location of your PDF invoices. Our platform supports a multitude of integrations, such as cloud applications, email providers, accounting and bookkeeping systems, and many more!
For this example, however, we will use Google Drive. Simply click on “New file” and connect your business account. This way, every time a new PDF invoice is added to the selected folder, the platform will automatically retrieve and process it.
Step 3: Extract Document Information
In order to convert the invoice information to a UBL format, it is necessary to first read, capture, and extract the data. To do so, you will need to use a document capture model.
Our platform offers special document capture models, depending on the document type used in the flow. In this case, however, since we are processing invoices, hence a financial document, the financial document capture is best suited.
Simply select the model from the left side of your screen and add it to your flow.
Step 4: Convert the PDF invoice to UBL format
By default, our platform’s AI-powered OCR extracts the data in a JSON format, so regardless of the action you want to take from here onwards or the output format you need, the data is now in a machine-readable format and ready for further processing.
In this step, simply choose the converter component and the platform will automatically convert the JSON output to a UBL format.
Step 5: Forward Data to E-invoicing Systems
Once we have extracted and converted the data, we can choose from multiple options to further process it. With Klippa’s DocHorizon platform, you have the possibility to:
- Simply download the data in the new UBL format
- Forward it to your accounting software for your invoice processing
- Connect an e-invoicing API and automatically send the digital invoices to your customers via Klippa’s Peppol Access Point
And that’s it! Your organization can easily and accurately convert PDF invoices, and not only, to a UBL format, making it fit for joining any e-invoicing system you want! If you have any difficulties in implementing this workflow, feel free to consult our documentation.
Automate Your Invoice Workflows with Klippa
With Klippa DocHorizon you can automate all of your invoicing workflows, including e-invoicing. Streamline invoice processing and forward the necessary data to third-party applications, such as ERP systems, or connect Klippa’s e-invoicing API and simplify your entire flow! Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy:
- Create custom invoice workflows: Automate the processing of traditional invoices and facilitate precise data extraction, classification, conversion, and fraud detection to gain spot-on invoice insights or simplify AP&AR processes
- Convert your invoices to e-invoicing formats: Enable your business to send e-invoices through major e-invoicing platforms or EDI networks even if they were created in a PDF format
- Reduce processing times by 70%: With our bulk document processing capabilities, you can process a large number of invoices simultaneously, making it possible to stay on top of your workload even during the busiest periods
- Unlock cross-border business opportunities: Process foreign invoices, thanks to our global coverage for documents issued in more than 100 different languages
- Skip lengthy data exporting processes: Make use of a large variety of post-processing destinations (with 50+ integrations to choose from) or connect to our E-invoicing API to instantly send and receive e-invoices through the Peppol network
Our ISO-certified and GDPR-compliant platform gives you all the necessary resources for a smooth and secure transition to automation and e-invoicing, bidding farewell to time-consuming and error-prone invoice processing. Book a free demo down below or contact our experts for any additional information!