Continia eDocuments flows

  • 12.03.2026
  • 7 Minuten Lesedauer

Wichtig

The functionality described in this article requires the Enhanced Continia eDocuments feature – introduced in Continia Document Output 2026 R1 (v28) – to be enabled and is not applicable to older versions. This feature is enabled by default for new installations and replaces the old XML export framework with the more advanced, flexible, and future-proof eDocuments framework. As an existing Document Output user, you can enable it manually.

With the introduction of the new feature, the eBilling part of the eDocuments vendor flow has been moved to Document Output. This means that it's no longer possible to send sales invoices and sales credit notes from Continia Document Capture – only from Document Output.

For more information, see New Document Output framework.

Continia eDocuments supports multiple document flows, currently involving the following four types of documents:

  • Invoices and invoice responses
  • Credit memos
  • Orders, order responses, order cancellations, and order changes

More document types will be added in the future, meaning that even more flows and scenarios will be possible with Continia eDocuments at a later stage.

The sections below outline two typical document flows between two parties (customer and vendor) using Continia eDocuments in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Hinweis

For the sake of example, the outlined flows use the Peppol Network – but many other similar networks can be used instead. Continia eDocuments supports all major networks and digital infrastructures for the exchange of business documents.

For actual user guides on how to carry out the various actions related to these flows, see:

  • eDocuments customer flows (Document Capture article) – note that you need Document Capture to support this flow.
  • eDocuments vendor flows – as of version 28 (2026 R1), the eBilling part of this flow is supported by Document Output, while you need Document Capture for the ordering flow.

Ordering flow

The ordering flow is supported by Document Capture and described under Ordering flow (Document Capture article).

Billing flow

A classic Continia eDocuments billing flow involves a vendor (seller) who sends an invoice to a customer (buyer), who then responds to that invoice. Such a flow will typically look as follows:

  1. The vendor creates a sales invoice in Business Central for the items that were ordered by and shipped to the customer, for example by posting a sales order as part of the ordering flow mentioned above.
  2. The vendor sends the sales invoice using Continia eDocuments (via the Peppol Network).
  3. The customer receives the invoice (Document Capture article), and one of the following two types of invoice response is sent either manually (or skipped, if desired) or automatically from the customer to the vendor, indicating the status of the invoice:
    • In Process – the customer is reviewing the invoice.
    • Under Query – the customer needs clarification or has questions about the invoice and may contact the vendor via phone or email.
  4. When no more information is needed, the customer matches the invoice against the original order. One of the following three types of invoice response will then be sent either manually (or skipped, if desired) or automatically from the customer to the vendor, depending on the result of the matching process:

    • Rejected – the invoice and the order don't match, so the customer rejects the invoice.

      Hinweis

      If the customer rejects the invoice, the vendor will have to start the flow again by creating a new sales invoice and sending it to the customer.

    • Conditional – the invoice and the order almost match, so the customer accepts under certain conditions – for example, provided that the vendor adjusts the price.

    • Accepted – the invoice and the order match, so the customer accepts.

  5. Following successful matching, the customer registers the invoice using Document Capture, thereby creating a purchase invoice.
  6. The customer pays the invoice, and a Paid notification is sent to the vendor.

Hinweis

On the vendor side, all invoice responses except Rejected are purely informational and require no action. When an invoice is rejected, the vendor must take action by sending a credit memo to the customer.

The eDocument Status field

For all flows, both customers and vendors can monitor the status of a document throughout the process using the eDocument Status field. This field is available from a number of key pages, such as the Sales Order, Purchase Invoice, and Posted Sales Invoice pages. For all of these pages, it's located on the General FastTab.

If you select the status message in the eDocument Status field for a given document, the eDocument Overview page opens. This page lists all document statuses and activities that have been automatically logged for the document. It also provides additional useful details like Change (if changes have been made) and Conditionally Accepted (if a document has been accepted under certain conditions).

Supported electronic document formats
eDocuments advanced ordering flows