The Real Time Component of Mexico e-Invoicing and SAT Enhancements, Part 3

This is Part 3 in the series The Real Time Component of Mexico e-Invoicing and SAT Enhancements.  In Part 1 we identified four key enhancements of the Mexico e-Invoicing enhancements that could require work.  In Part 2 we identified follow-up questions that we all have and IT departments are going to need to know.  In Part 3 we will list out some potentially impacted IT systems.

Let's first list the four key enhancements that were recently announced by the Mexico SAT:

1. Companies will be required to integrate with the SAT for invoice approvals in real time.  Your SAP or other ERP system that generates invoices will need to have a customized process that sends invoices to SAT for approval.  When the approval is issued and returned to the ERP, something must be done to associate the approval with the invoice.  This sounds like a business process change, a B2B/EDI system change and an ERP change.
2. Outgoing invoices must be prepared in a specific XML format and authorized in advance as part of the logistics process before shipments can be delivered.  This sounds like an integration between the ERP/Logistics system and the B2B/EDI system, business process changes and a new XML format and protocol that needs to be set-up in your B2B/EDI system.
3. Incoming invoices must be externally validated.  The AP (accounts payable) system must have a business process change that ensures all invoices have been validated before they are accepted.  The validation needs to be stored in a database and associated with the inbound invoice.  This will require a change.
4. Incoming invoices must be archived and stored.  I believe there are going to be specific requirements that the Mexico SAT has for archiving and storing.  We will all need to make sure our content management and data warehousing solutions are set-up to be compliant.

I bet these enhancements and changes were not in your IT budget or on your calendar for the fourth quarter of 2010, so the next question is how are you going to be compliant by January 1, 2011?

You essentially have three choices:

1. Support all of these requirements in-house by training your IT staff and customizing all of your own IT systems to support these requirements.
2. Bring in outside contractors to work with your staff to customize your systems.
3. Work with an e-Invoicing services provider like Crossgate, a company co-owned by SAP, to outsource as much of the e-Invoicing requirements as possible, and then work with your internal staff to ensure your ERP supports these requirements.

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Kevin R Benedict SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, SAP Blogger
Independent e-Invoicing and EDI Analyst and Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
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*Full Disclosure: I am an independent consultant that has worked with and for many of the companies mentioned.