Public Authorities in Denmark to Manage Orders and Catalogs Electronically
UPDATE 25/08/2020: Denmark maintains its firm commitment to automating management processes across government agencies. The many benefits of e-invoicing have encouraged the Danish government to include electronic orders and catalogs in public procurement.
The Danish Chamber of Commerce plans to roll out the mandatory use of electronic orders and catalogs beginning 1st January 2022. From now on public institutions must receive orders electronically, drawing from electronic catalogs
All public institutions have been required to accept e-invoices via the European PEPPOL network, in the PEPPOL Bis 3 format, since 18th April 2020. Now authorities want to build on that by rolling out the use of e-orders and e-catalogs, following the same standard. This move is slated for 2022.
Providers will thus need to prepare their systems to manage e-orders in the required format. E-documents will be sent through the national NemHandel platform which will act as a PEPPOL Service Metadata Publisher (SMP).
One of the big advantages of using EDI for e-invoicing is that it allows for the streamlined incorporation of other types of electronic messages. Once the communication infrastructure is developed, the incorporation of new documents like orders is a natural addition to the EDI flow.
E-invoicing has been used in Denmark since 2005, making it one of the most advanced countries in this regard. Beyond the e-invoice, public authorities are also exchanging documents like credit notes and receipt acknowledgments for e-procurement.
Countries such as Italy, the UK, and Sweden have already introduced mandatory e-orders in the public sector, especially in healthcare. It is very likely that health sector procurement processes will be the first subject to mandatory e-orders and e-catalogs in Denmark.
Electronic Catalogs
In a typical EDI communication flow, the most common messages are orders, delivery notes, and invoices. In order to exchange orders electronically, the two companies exchanging these messages must first determine how the products and services being purchased will be identified. E-catalogs are used to streamline this process.
E-catalogs allow for the secure and automatic exchange of product information between suppliers and their customers.
In order to work with an electronic catalog, companies need a data sync solution that can integrate product and service information into their management system. This ensures that the information is constantly updated and accessible.
EDICOMDATA, Edicom’s e-catalog solution, is a comprehensive product data-syncing platform. A GS1-certified GDSN Data Pool, it is connected to all certified catalogs in the Global Data Synchronization Network. Suppliers quickly and simply publish product information to buyers who, in turn, have real-time access to the information from their own management systems.
Denmark has yet to release further details regarding the technical specifications for e-catalog use, but countries such as the UK are already using the GDSN catalog network in the public health sector. The Erhvervsstyrelsen authority is expected to determine the model in the next few months.
