Paul Horn GmbH is a German manufacturer of precision tools and accessories with headquarters in Tübingen. The company employs around 1,400 people worldwide and specializes in the manufacture of high-precision tools. Their cutting tools are used in industries that require the highest precision, including automotive, aerospace, jewelry and medical.
To meet the legal requirements, Paul Horn’s internal SAP system had to be connected to the NAV interface of the national tax and customs office in Hungary in order to transmit invoices securely and in encrypted form.
The challenge: High precision requirements in various industries
In addition to the high precision demands in various industries, Paul Horn GmbH is also confronted with various legal requirements.
In the specific case of Hungary, a law was introduced that has been effective since July 1, 2018. This law requires that information on invoices issued in the context of business relations between companies registered in the country and subject to VAT must be reported to the National Tax and Customs Office.
This notification must be in a specific form: The data must be in a serial, structured digital form and transmitted to the Hungarian Tax Administration via a special interface – the NAV interface. To verify and process this data efficiently, a special logic is used at Paul Horn – the logic of the Orchestra platform from soffico.
The data involved in this process is inherently sensitive – it contains billing information, after all. Therefore, it is crucial that they are stored in a secure manner. The data must be encrypted and stored securely and non-manipulable in Horn’s database. In addition, every change to the data must be logged to ensure its integrity and to guarantee its traceability and auditability.
An additional challenge is to ensure that both the SAP system and the NAV interface are always up to date and in the correct version. This is necessary to ensure compliance with legal requirements while maintaining the proper versioning. The company is therefore faced with the challenge of meeting these regulatory requirements while making its business processes seamless and efficient.
The solution: Integration of SAP and NAV interface for efficient invoice processing
In order to meet the legal requirements and ensure efficient processing of invoice data, a solution was sought that would connect Paul Horn’s SAP system to the NAV interface of the local financial administration. This solution was found with soffico. As a standard software provider, soffico GmbH develops effective solutions to improve business, process and communication workflows for international customers. The company combines technical expertise and industry knowledge to realize future-proof, efficient and sustainable software solutions through visionary and modular concepts. The focus is on interoperability between systems for secure, smooth and fast electronic data exchange. Ease of use, high product quality and comprehensive service are the basis of their success. sofico’s product is the integration platform Orchestra.
Orchestra acts as an independent SAP system in this use case and forwards electronically generated invoices to the central Orchestra database. Through a decoupled process, the status of invoice processing is reported back to the local financial administration. Feedback is provided to the initial system and is made possible by automated transmission. This involves a technical check of the data to ensure that it is correct and complete.
The entire process remains in place until a final result, be it a positive or negative, can be transmitted to the SAP system. This enables efficient processing of invoices and ensures compliance with legal requirements.
To ensure the security of sensitive invoice data, the data is stored in the database in encrypted form. This ensures that the information is protected from unauthorized access and manipulation.
The result: Maximum precision and efficiency in the production of cutting tools
Thanks to the flexible structure of the interface architecture through its modular design, both the billing system and financial administration can be substituted. Accordingly, the solution can be adapted to changing requirements at any time. This flexibility allows for in-house processing that results in cost savings and gives employees the chance to drive digital value within the organization. Cost savings, and therefore a benefit of implementation, can be determined by quantifying cost savings compared to external service expenditures.
