Public administration is shaped by federal structures, complex areas of responsibility, and heavily regulated processes. When it comes to rolling out e-invoicing, the EU standard EN 16931 meets a heterogeneous landscape of different IT systems, portals, and organizational frameworks. As a result, the rollout of e-invoicing comes with a number of challenges: invoices have to be embedded in multi-stage procurement, budgeting, and review processes that the standard reflects only in part. At the same time, legacy systems and missing interfaces complicate end-to-end integration. Complex organizational structures with different roles and routing IDs lead to error-prone addressing, while high requirements for documentation, archiving, and traceability create additional complexity. Varying levels of digital maturity on the part of both the administration and suppliers further increase the coordination effort.

At the “Public Administration” Industry Center, representatives from public authorities work together with the relevant industry association and application developers to make these implementation challenges tangible. From concrete scenarios such as procurement, invoice review, or treasury processes, requirements are derived and translated into practical implementation recommendations. Participating authorities contribute their specific challenges, while robust guidelines for the consistent implementation of e-invoicing in the public sector are developed at the same time.

Key Focus Areas

Harmonizing federal IT and process landscapes

Integrating into procurement, budgeting, and review processes

Connecting legacy systems and specialized applications

Clarifying routing ID and addressing logic

Ensuring compliance, documentation, and archiving