Operations Support

Day-to-day operational support for your e-invoicing pipeline. We monitor the inbox, triage exceptions, resolve disputes, and deliver a weekly ops report so your AP lead can focus on the work that matters.

Good fit

Who this is for

  • Finance and AP teams running Peppol receive in production who routinely hit exceptions they lack bandwidth to chase.
  • Mid-market companies with one overworked AP lead handling 3,000+ inbound invoices per month.
  • Finance managers who need visibility into what is going wrong and how fast it gets fixed.
  • Teams where receipt disputes, supplier format issues, and VAT-lookup failures consume unpredictable hours every week.
Not a fit

Who it isn't for

  • Companies that have not yet gone live on Peppol. Start with a Readiness Assessment or Implementation engagement.
  • Teams with a fully staffed AP operations desk and low exception rates.
  • Organisations looking for one-off troubleshooting rather than ongoing support.
Deliverables

What you get

01

Inbox monitoring and routing

We monitor your e-invoicing inbox, verify that invoices route correctly to your ERP, and triage anything that does not. Manual intervention happens same-day.

02

PDF conversion triage

When a supplier sends a PDF embedded inside a Peppol UBL envelope or a format that fails downstream conversion, we catch it, convert it manually if needed, and follow up with the supplier to fix the root cause.

03

Customer dispute resolution

When a customer claims non-receipt, we pull the MLR delivery proof, share the evidence, and close the loop. Disputes that would take your team hours to research are resolved in minutes.

04

Escalation management

Issues that need your input get a clear write-up with context and a recommended action. No ambiguous forwarded emails. You decide, we execute.

05

Weekly ops report

A structured weekly digest covering inbox stats, PDF conversion results, dispute status, open escalations, and pattern observations. The report reveals trends your AP lead cannot see day-to-day.

Anonymised customer profile. Names and figures changed. Company details available on request under NDA.

Case study

Belgian distributor with high exception volume

Client profile
Type
Belgian distributor
Headcount
~120 staff
Inbound volume
~6,000 invoices/month
Peppol status
Receive in production
Buyer: finance manager|AP team: 1 lead|Exception rate: high

The situation

A Belgian distributor with around 120 staff processes approximately 6,000 inbound invoices per month via Peppol receive. The pipeline is live and routing works for the majority of invoices. The problem is the exceptions. Wrong VAT lookups, missing PO references, suppliers sending the wrong format. Each one requires manual investigation.

One AP lead handles it all. She triages exceptions between closing cycles, chases suppliers for corrections, and fields calls from customers disputing receipt. The finance manager has no structured view of what is going wrong, how often, or how long resolution takes. Fire-fighting is the default mode.

What Operations Support would cover for this profile

In an Operations Support engagement for this profile we would take over daily inbox monitoring, triage all exceptions same-day, and handle supplier follow-ups directly. The AP lead would keep ownership of her closing cycle and approvals. We would handle everything that currently pulls her out of that focus.

The weekly ops report would give the finance manager structured visibility into exception volume, resolution times, and recurring patterns. Trends that are invisible day-to-day become clear in the weekly digest: a single supplier causing 40% of PDF conversion failures, a VAT-lookup issue that affects every non-EU vendor, a dispute resolution process that takes 5 days when the data to close it exists in under 5 minutes.

What commonly goes sideways

For a profile like this, the most common issues we would handle include:

PDF-in-UBL failure

Supplier sends a PDF embedded inside a Peppol UBL envelope. Downstream PDF-conversion fails. The invoice sits in limbo until someone investigates manually.

False non-receipt claims

Customer claims they never received the invoice. The invoice was delivered. The MLR proof exists but nobody has time to pull it, format it, and send it to the customer's AP team.

Non-EU VAT lookups

Long-tail VAT-number lookups failing for non-EU vendors. VIES does not cover UK, Swiss, or Norwegian numbers. Each failure triggers a manual override and a note in the exception queue.

Invisible patterns

The weekly digest reveals patterns the AP lead cannot see day-to-day. One supplier causing most format failures. A recurring PO-reference mismatch from a specific ERP export. A dispute resolution bottleneck that a single process change would fix.

Indicative outcomes
4–6× faster

late-payment disputes resolved

MLR delivery proof pulled in minutes instead of hours. Cash impact: disputes that block payment are closed before they age.

<2 weeks

exception backlog cleared after onboarding

Stale exceptions, unresolved disputes, and unrouted invoices worked through systematically during the first two weeks.

6–8 hrs/week

focus time returned to your AP lead

Exception triage, supplier chasing, and dispute research handled externally. Your AP lead stays in closing cycles and approvals.

Sample deliverable
Sample artefact

Weekly Ops Report

Client: ████████ NV

Week 14 · 2026
31 Mar – 4 Apr
Inbox & routing
Total received1,247
Auto-routed to ERP1,189 (95.3%)
Manual triage required42
Undeliverable / bounced16
Duplicate suppressed██
Format & PDF conversion
Peppol UBL received1,084
PDF auto-converted87
PDF manual conversion2
PDF embedded in UBL (failed)4
Hybrid (Factur-X / ZUGFeRD)70
Customer disputes
INV-2026-████████████ BVBAclosed2d
INV-2026-████████████ NVclosed3d
INV-2026-████████████ SRLopen1d
INV-2026-████████████ GmbHescalated5d
Escalations needing client input
high
ESC-014

Supplier ████████ sending PDF embedded in Peppol UBL. Downstream PDF-conversion fails. Supplier contacted, awaiting fix.

medium
ESC-015

VAT-number lookup failing for non-EU vendor ████████ Ltd (GB). Manual override applied. Root cause: VIES does not cover post-Brexit UK numbers.

high
ESC-016

Customer ████████ NV claims non-receipt of INV-2026-████. MLR proof confirms delivery at ██:██ on ██/██. Evidence shared with customer AP team.

Patterns & observations
  • Manual triage volume down 18% vs. prior 4-week average. Two recurring suppliers now auto-routing after format correction.
  • PDF-embedded-in-UBL failures concentrated on 1 supplier. Escalation ESC-014 tracks resolution.
  • Non-EU VAT lookup failures: 3 this week (GB, CH, NO). Workaround in place. Recommend adding fallback lookup for non-VIES jurisdictions.
  • Customer dispute resolution time: median 2.1 days (target: <3 days). On track.

Report generated weekly. Redacted fields (██) contain client-specific data available under NDA.

Process

How we run it

1

Onboarding and access setup

Week 1

We set up monitoring access to your e-invoicing inbox, ERP exception queue, and support channels. Define escalation paths and SLAs.

2

Exception backlog clear-down

Week 1–2

Work through the existing backlog of unresolved exceptions, stale disputes, and unrouted invoices. Start from a clean baseline.

3

Steady-state monitoring

Ongoing

Daily inbox checks, same-day triage of exceptions, dispute research and resolution. Supplier follow-ups as needed.

4

Weekly reporting and pattern analysis

Weekly

Deliver the weekly ops report. Flag recurring patterns, supplier-specific issues, and opportunities to reduce exception volume at the source.

5

Monthly review call

Monthly

30-minute call with your finance manager to review trends, discuss open escalations, and adjust scope or priorities for the next period.

Investment

Format and pricing

From €1,000/month

Light-touch monitoring at the base rate, scaling to a full retainer for high-volume or high-exception environments. Final price depends on invoice volume, exception rate, and escalation depth.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What access do you need to our systems?
Read access to your e-invoicing inbox and ERP exception queue. We agree on the exact scope during onboarding. We never modify your ERP data directly.
How quickly do you respond to exceptions?
Same business day for standard exceptions. Urgent escalations (e.g. a customer disputing a high-value invoice) are picked up within 2 hours during business hours.
Can you handle non-EU suppliers?
Yes. Non-EU VAT lookups are a common exception source. We maintain workarounds for jurisdictions not covered by VIES (UK, Switzerland, Norway, and others) and flag cases that need manual override.
What if a supplier keeps sending invalid formats?
We document the issue, contact the supplier with specific remediation steps, and track follow-up. Repeat offenders get escalated in the weekly report with a recommended action for your team.
How is the weekly ops report delivered?
Email with a structured PDF attachment. The report covers inbox stats, PDF conversion results, dispute status, open escalations, and pattern observations. It is designed to be scannable in under 5 minutes.
Can we scale up or down?
Yes. The retainer adjusts based on actual volume and exception rate. We review scope quarterly, or sooner if your volume changes significantly. No lock-in beyond the current month.
Discovery call

Discuss on a discovery call

30 minutes with a co-founder or senior e-invoicing expert. You leave the call with a clear next step. Tailored proposal in your inbox within 48 hours.

Vendor-neutral. No obligation to switch platforms.

E-invoicing Operations Support | Peppol Ops Retainer | e-invoice.be