SIS and Miscellaneous Invoicing ICHUG3

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Not like Passenger and Cargo Invoice standards are defined (RAM Chapter A9) Tickets all have the same data in the same formats They have a very limited amount of data They are now mostly electronic anyway The majority of Passenger items on invoices are tickets Rejects and other debits/credits form around 25% of the total Cargo has Air Waybills, which have a limited amount of data Most prime billings are not accompanied by documents E-AWBs are coming Both have an electronic data standard as an option VAT does not usually apply

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting On the Miscellaneous side There are virtually no standards for invoices Most invoices have attachments (perhaps 60% or more) Some of those attachments can be very large (100+ pages is not uncommon) Some of them are physical paper (as opposed to printouts from your systems), e.g. meal vouchers Some have to carry a signature (e.g. cash payment receipts) VAT frequently applies We have a lot to do!

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting How much? About 350,000 Misc invoices per year An unknown number of supporting documents – maybe 3m or more Some are also supplied on CD or as soft copies, or available as downloads, but no standards apply Almost none are processable automatically by financial systems That means lots of manual effort to get the information into systems and pass the item to the person who needs to review it

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting E-data vs e-presentation Electronic data can be read by a financial system, and interpreted This is the ideal Electronic presentation enables the invoice to be viewed in a paperless environment (e.g. pdf document), but does not allow automated processing The desired hierarchy is: Highest level -E-invoice + e-Support Middle level -E-invoice + e-presentation support Lowest level-E-presentation throughout

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Automatic processing Automated Workflow The billed carrier needs to be able to send the electronic invoice automatically to the right department/team/individual for checking or approval Automated Posting The billed carriers needs to be able to post the invoice automatically to the correct cost centre & cost account At least to the right suspense account Automated Reconciliation (invoice checking) Depending on their internal systems sophistication the billed carrier needs to be able to automatically reconcile (check) the invoices in their system – without human intervention

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Automatic processing These three goals can be achieved by including: Charge Category (invoice level) – e.g. GroundHandling Charge Code (line item level) – e.g. Catering, Baggage Data elements (Invoice or line item level) – e.g. Location code of service delivery Not all of this is achievable immediately

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Structure IDEC is similar to an e-Invoice with e-Support IDEC is a billing file, not an invoice Contains limited required data (not 14 elements) Needs to be supported by a paper original IDEC is not for us – fixed record lengths are suited to consistent data, such as tickets, and air waybills Miscellaneous invoices are too variable Miscellaneous invoicing will be based on the IATA Aviation Invoice Standard XML format, not flat file Enables variable record lengths Does not require empty field transmission Is eXtensible – can be developed flexibly to meet future needs

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting What is XML? XML is a mark-up language, much like HTML XML was designed to carry and store data, not to display data Opening an XML file in a web browser will display the data as a text file XML tags are not pre-defined. We have to define these so that everyone uses the same tags A style sheet (CSS or XSLT) converts the data into a formatted display

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting T09:40:43 IATA:AviationInvoiceV Invoice ABC ABC AIRPORT Aircraft - DUNSABC

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Readability A computer system can read and act on the XML data People need an interpreter (in the form of a style sheet) to display the information in the appropriate format SIS will include an interpreter that displays the data in a standard invoice format, suitable for printing Airlines that wish to work from the paper formats will be able to print the invoices and supporting data This is will be done by the IS-Web, using a standard developed by the SIS e-Invoicing WG the E-Invoicing WG is prioritising the current Invoice Types and based on this they will define the structure as well as suggest the level of implementation

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Impact Output of invoices will need to be in XML, or data will need to be manually loaded to the IS-Web Supporting documents need to be data files High volume files will have to be structured Low volume files may be pdf Documents that are not output from a system will need to be scanned Workflow implications need to be considered

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Governance

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting RAM chapter A13 Covers billings and rejections of Miscellaneous items Was apparently written by Passenger accountants Is not being applied properly, or is out of date Revenue Accounting WG has proposed that responsibility be transferred to ICH Wordings are now being updated by the SIS e-Invoicing WG Standard invoice base will be the IATA Aviation Invoice Standard The changes are expected to be incorporated as part of the 2010 RAM Will include the display/print standards for e-Invoices

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Standards development The e-Invoicing WG will be responsible for agreeing additions or changes to the charge categories/codes, and for the display/print structure of the e-Invoice Responsible for the data dictionary and standards documentation Will incorporate the IDEC standards into the XML format, so that IDEC files can be displayed/printed in the same way as Miscellaneous invoices Will develop e-supporting standards for high-volume/high hassle documents (BSP billings, GDS billings, ATC billings, etc) In discussion with the originators Will suggest or develop improved processes for problem transactions (e.g. passenger expenses, baggage)

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Reference documentation No finalised SIS standards yet The Aviation Invoice Standard can be found at: WARNING: this is not yet compliant with ICH settlement and is still being developed, but it provides useful background SIS website will have new documentation as it is produced

22-23 Oct 2008, Rome2008 ICH User Group Meeting Thank you. SIS Website: