IBX Connect - Invoices and CreditNotes via FTP
Invoices and CreditNotes that are created by suppliers in the IBX Supplier Order Management tool or which are sent to the IBX Platform by directly integrated suppliers, via a PEPPOL accesspoint or a third party roaming partner can be provided to IBX customers via FTP. In that case an account with access to a specific directory via FTPs and SFTP is set up and the customer is obliged to poll documents from that directory on a regular basis.
Folder and file structure
The FTP account includes access to separate folders for Invoices and CreditNotes (and optionally Shipment Notices or OrderResponses), hence one folder per document type. Each business document is represented by one XML Invoice or CreditNote message that can be wrapped in a a SOAP envelope containing a unique messageID, senderID and receiverID in the header. If other documents are attached to the business document then the whole message may be in a MIME 1.0 structure. Basically the structure of the files is the same as if they were received via HTTP. For more information about available formats for Invoices and CreditNotes please follow the links below.
File names - naming convention
The names of the Invoice and CreditNote files on the IBX FTP server
consists of document type, document number (e.g. Invoice number), timestamp and a random string - all separated by the underscore "_" sign.
Example: "invoice_1000985971_20170116155717_61015757.xml
The timestamp (here: "20170116155717") means the time the document was received by IBX and the format is: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS in CET (Central European Time).
The random string (here: "61015757") has a length of eight characters (letters and digits).
Attachments
Depending on the chosen XML format and on how the message was composed by the sending system in the beginning attachments can be submitted in three different ways. If the XML format is UBL 2.1 (standard for e.g. EHF in Normay) then attachments are usually base64 encoded and embedded directly in the XML Invoice or CreditNote payload. Attachments are otherwise often submitted outside the XML payload as additional base64 encoded content parts in a MIME structure where the SOAP envelope with the Invoice/CreditNote is the main part. Attachments might also be only represented by unique URL's from where the "attached" documents can be downloaded.