Cloud Integration in 2011: Hubspan Extends B2B Cloud for Invoicing 
Hubspan is extending its managed B2B cloud integration platform to help customers better manage, view and archive electronic invoices. SnapShot for Invoice captures information from electronically transmitted invoices and makes them human-usable by generating form-fitting PDFs for printing, emailing, storage and compliance needs.
Hubspan is extending its B2B cloud integration platform to help customers better manage, view and archive electronic invoices. SnapShot for Invoice captures information from electronically transmitted invoices and makes them human-usable by generating form-fitting PDFs for printing, emailing, storage and compliance needs.
SnapShot for Invoice is an add-on product to any Hubspan’s B2B cloud-based managed services integration solution. It provides B2B partners, suppliers and customers support for document sharing, real-time messaging, cloud-based managed file transfer and business processes integration for e-procurement, e-commerce and EDI operations.
“We introduced SnapShot because we are resolving the issue of working with secure documents for invoicing,” Stuart Lisk, Hubspan’s senior product manager, told IDN.
Hubspan’s SnapShot for Invoice processes e-documents that originate as EDI or XML and can convert the invoice into a PDF for storage and other record keeping. The cloud-based app uses a process that will also ensure the invoice’s layout complies with the requirements of both the sending and receiving parties, he added.
e-documents from existing systems and convert them into a readable format PDF.”
Stuart Lisk,
Senior Product Manager, Hubspan
“Standard e-documents created in EDI or XML are not a readable file by humans, so there’s no way to let the end user visually read it or archive it,” Lisk said, adding that ERP applications won’t even print out a formatted friendly document.
“We found many companies have had to come up with manual ways to solve the issue,” Lisk said. “Sometimes they even have to rekey in information. This is why customers are asking us to take e-documents from existing systems and convert them into a readable format PDF so they can do visual review and have human-readable documents of record.;”
Hubspan’s SnapShot for Invoice offers:
- Automatic rendering of invoice documents. Using a single automated integration process, customers can exchange electronic invoices and PDF images of the invoices, without a manual process or additional hardware or software.
- Secure invoice sharing. Creates a secure PDF image that can be used for archival, compliance, dispute resolution, and workflow authorization processes.
- Seamless, easy invoice exchange. By automatically rendering an electronic invoice document into a PDF, customers can easily print, email and archive invoices as well as share invoices with internal and external communities.
Once converted to PDF, the e-documents can also be loaded into Hubspan’s cloud-based managed services to allow workers to see information about the invoices or transactions, as corporate polices and privacy rules permit, Lisk added. “The converted PDF is going through our Hubspan managed services mapping [functionality] from the electronic machine to the readable invoice version,” he said. In turn, the PDF document is viewable from the Hubspan customer portal, allowing workers to track the status of individual transactions.
Based on early positive feedback the company has received, Hubspan plans to develop SnapShot for other electronic document types as well as additional image formats, he added.
