Since June 2010 the CEN/BII profile “Basic Order Only” is recommended as a standard in Sweden for the public sector e-ordering process within the standardization concept SFTI (Single Face To Industry), under the name “Sveorder”. The Sveorder has been recommended since 2008, but was then based on the NES Basic Order Only, an order from NES( Nothern European Subset), based on UBL version 2, an earlier version than the CEN/BII profile. SFTI has now decided that it is preferable to use the CEN/BII Basic Order Only, both for ordering process cross border and within Sweden.
Before recommending the CEN/BII Basic Order Only as an SFTI standard, a working group was established to discuss the order; both regarding the content and the syntax. The working group came to a consensus that this would be a good alternative for Swedish e-orders.
Since 2004 SFTI recommends a stand alone e-invoice as a complement to EDI called Svefaktura (Swedinvoice).The Svefaktura is used in a large scale in Sweden, mostly between public buyers and their suppliers but it is also used business-to-business. In July, 2008 it became mandatory for governmental agencies to both send and receive electronic invoices, using the mandatory standard Svefaktura.
Svefaktura, which is also based on UBL, but an earlier version, is implemented in a broad scale by many IT-providers and ERP-systems. On the website, www.svefaktura.se there is a list over those IT-providers that have implemented it and that have also verified the standard against a web-based service for verification of the invoices. This web-based service is very popular.
A mapping guide has been published in order to use the Sveorder/CEN/BII Basic Order Only and the Svefaktura together, which means that it is possible to match the invoice against the order, even if the messages have different versions of UBL.
Since the Svefaktura is implemented in several solutions and now also the Sveorder, SFTI has gained important experience from the first authorities using them together. One of the first was The Employment Services Agency (Arbetsförmedlingen) in Sweden, which sends Sveorders and receives Svefaktura with good results. Several municipalities, regions and other authorities are now going to introduce the Sveorder. It is an important complement to the recommended advanced ordering process with EDI, based on UN/Edifact.
Lessons learnt
SFTI has received very positive comments from those IT-providers that have implemented the Sveorder and the Svefaktura. A valuable lesson learned is however that is it not enough to only recommend a standard. It is important to also publish implementation guides, and conduct awareness activities as education for both those implementing the standard and those using it. Even if it is mandatory for the Swedish governmental authorities to introduce e-orders within the next 4 years and the Sveorder/CEN/BII Order Only will be recommended as the standard, it is important to reach both those that implement the Sveorder and the suppliers. SFTI will continue it’s work in assisting them by holding meetings, organsing seminars and raising awareness through for instance media when introducing standards and the way of working with them. SFTI will also continue to gather experiences from early adopters, which provides valuable feedback, not only on a national level, but also for the continued work within CEN/BII.
Next step in Sweden
The next step is to recommend a standard for e-notification under the threshold in Sweden, based on the CEN/BII standard, probably during spring 2011. We also work with the e-catalogue and coordinate this with the work in the CEN/BII workshop.
Background about SFTI and e-procurement in Sweden
The public sector Sweden cooperates in order to recommend standards for e-procurement between public buyers and their suppliers. This cooperation goes under the name SFTI (Single Face To Industry). Behind SFTI stands the Swedish National Financial Management Authority (ESV), The Swedish Association of Local Authorities an Regions (SKL) and the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Kammarkollegiet). The standards, guidelines and other documents in order to promote e-procurement are published on the web site www.sfti.se.
SFTI is based on international standards as UN/CEFACT , OASIS and CEN. Together with private sector we identify business requirements, agree on standards and also publish guidelines and other support for those that implement and use the standards. We also have the specifications recognized among various industries and groups of users.
In the beginning, from 1997, the recommended standard was EDI, based on UN/Edifact for the post award processes. This means receiving pricelists, ordering and invoicing. This generated results such as better efficiency and financial control and also statistics since all the information is held within one system and the invoices match against the orders – benefits that many municipalities and regions have enjoyed. Approximately 40 % of the municipalities and 60 % of the county councils/regions have now implemented e-procurement with EDI in various scale. But in order to have an e-invoice, easier to use and in another format we recommended the Svefaktura in 2004. And after having recommended the Svefaktura it was important to continue with an order and in the same XML format as Svefaktura and this is the Sveorder/CEN/BII Basic Order, which gives possibilities for also SME:s to introduce the ordering process.
More information
For further information about the Sveorder/CEN/BII Basic order Only and other SFTI specifications, please find information at www.sfti.se.
If you have questions regarding the specifications, please do not hesitate to contact SFTI technical staff, [email protected]
For information about SFTI; implementation and usage in Sweden, please contact
Kerstin Wiss Holmdahl, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, 046 8 452 79 87 , or
Peter Norén, The Swedish National Financial Management Authority , +46 8 690 45 96 ,
For information about SFTI and the work regarding e-notification and the pre-award processes, please contact
Nils Fjelkegård, Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency , +46 8 700 07 15,