PEDIF automates PDF-based workflows for electronic documents, ERP, and EDI

PEDIF at a glance: where PDF documents meet structured processes

Most companies receive and send business documents digitally, yet many of these documents are still PDFs that people read and retype. PEDIF closes this gap. The following overview explains which problems PEDIF solves, who works with it and how a project typically starts.

The problem: digital intake, manual processing

Orders arrive by email, invoices are sent as PDF attachments, delivery notes are scanned or forwarded. On paper this looks digital. In practice, someone opens each document, finds the relevant values and types them into the ERP, accounting or logistics system. The more business partners and document types there are, the more time this takes and the more errors creep in.

EDI solves this problem for large partners that can exchange structured messages. But many customers and suppliers will never set up EDI. Their documents remain PDFs, and the manual work remains with your team. This is the gap PEDIF is built for.

Three directions of document flow

PEDIF supports documents in every direction in which a company exchanges them with its business partners.

• Incoming PDF to structured data: purchase orders, order confirmations, delivery notes and supplier invoices become data for your ERP, EDI or accounting system.
• Outgoing PDF to e-invoice: invoices that your billing system creates as PDFs become XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol e-invoices, validated before delivery.
• Structured data to readable PDF: XRechnung, EDIFACT or XML files become readable documents for review, approval and archiving.

Who works with PEDIF

• Finance and accounts payable teams that want supplier invoices as structured, verifiable data
• Order desks and sales operations teams that receive customer orders as PDFs
• Logistics and warehouse teams that need delivery notes and shipping documents in their systems
• IT, ERP and EDI teams that have to connect partners without EDI
• Billing teams that must issue e-invoices without replacing the source system
• Software vendors that want to offer PDF automation as part of their own product

Why e-invoicing makes the topic urgent

Across Europe, structured e-invoices are becoming mandatory. In Germany, all companies must be able to receive e-invoices since 2025, and the obligation to issue them follows in stages from 2027. France is introducing its reform from 2026, and the Peppol network is used in many other countries. For companies whose billing systems produce PDFs, this raises a practical question: how to meet the new requirements without rebuilding every system that creates invoices.

PEDIF answers this question by using the PDF as the starting point. The existing system keeps creating invoices as before, and PEDIF produces the required structured format, validates it and hands it over for delivery.

What makes the results reliable

Automation is only useful if its results can be trusted without checking every document. PEDIF achieves this with a controlled approach rather than probabilistic guessing.

• Fingerprints: each recurring layout is set up, tested and approved, so the same document always leads to the same result.
• Validation: required fields, totals, tax amounts and references are checked before data is handed over.
• Visible exceptions: documents that do not match an approved layout or fail a check are shown for review instead of being passed on silently.
• Versioned rules: when a layout changes, the fingerprint is adjusted and approved again, and it remains traceable which rules applied to which document.

How a project typically starts

• Choose one clearly bounded use case, for example invoices from your most important suppliers or orders from your largest customers
• Provide a few representative sample documents and describe the target system and format
• PEDIF sets up and tests the layouts, fields, rules and target output
• You review the results with real documents and approve them
• Processing goes live, and further layouts, partners and document types are added step by step

Industries where PEDIF is used

PDF-based document exchange is common wherever many business partners trade regularly but only some of them use EDI. Typical examples are wholesale and distribution, manufacturing and its suppliers, construction and building materials, healthcare and medical supplies, logistics, banking and the software industry. In all of these, the same partners send documents in the same layouts again and again, which is the situation in which fingerprint-based automation delivers the most reliable results.

From the first document to a connected process

Companies rarely automate everything at once. A typical path starts with the document that causes the most manual work today, for example incoming orders or supplier invoices. Once that runs reliably, the next document type follows along the same chain: order confirmations after orders, delivery notes after confirmations, invoices after deliveries.

Each step reuses the references and master data that are already in place. The result is a connected process in which documents can be matched with each other automatically, for example an invoice against the order and the delivery note, instead of a collection of isolated automations.

How to measure success

Automation should be measurable from the first day. Useful figures are the share of documents processed without manual intervention, the time from receipt of a document to its availability in the target system, the number of exceptions per layout and the time needed to resolve them. Tracking these figures shows where the process already runs smoothly and which layouts or partners are worth setting up next.

Security and operation

Business documents contain sensitive information about customers, prices and payments. PEDIF is operated in ISO 27001-certified data centres and processes data in line with the GDPR. For companies with stricter requirements on data control, an on-premises option is available. Details on hosting, access control, encryption and deletion are described on the security page.

Working alongside your existing systems

PEDIF does not replace your ERP, EDI provider or document management system. It complements them where documents still arrive or leave as PDFs. Results are delivered in the formats your systems already understand, for example ERP import files, EDIFACT messages, XML or CSV files, REST API calls or e-invoice formats. Your business partners do not have to change anything and can keep sending and receiving documents as before.

PDF, EDI and e-invoicing in brief

A PDF is a document made for people: it looks the same everywhere, but software cannot reliably tell which number is the order number and which is the quantity. EDI is a structured data exchange between systems, such as EDIFACT messages, but it requires both partners to agree on formats and connections. E-invoices such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol invoices are structured invoices that follow the European standard EN 16931 and can be processed automatically.

PEDIF connects these worlds. It turns recurring PDFs into structured data and e-invoices, and structured data back into readable PDFs where people need them.

Why OCR alone is not enough

OCR recognizes characters on a page, but it does not know what they mean. Modern AI tools can suggest which value belongs to which field, but their suggestions are estimates that can vary from document to document. For business-critical data such as quantities, prices and tax amounts, every uncertain value has to be checked. PEDIF takes a different approach for recurring documents: once a layout is set up and approved, the meaning of every field is defined, and the result is checked against rules before it is handed over.

What changes for your team

When recurring documents are processed automatically, the daily work of the team changes. Instead of opening PDFs and typing values into screens, people deal with the cases that actually need their judgment: an unknown article, a price that does not match the agreement, an invoice without a required reference, a delivery date that cannot be met. These cases appear in one place with the specific finding, which makes them faster to resolve and easier to hand over during holidays or peaks. At the same time, business partners notice no change at all, because they keep sending and receiving documents exactly as before.

More questions about PEDIF

Which document types can PEDIF process?

Typical documents are purchase orders, order confirmations, delivery notes, invoices and credit notes. Further business documents such as shipping documents, remittance advices or service reports can be assessed with their own scope.

Do we need to change our ERP system?

No. PEDIF delivers data in the format your existing systems expect. The target format and connection are agreed during onboarding.

How quickly can we start?

You can start with a single use case and a few sample documents. After setup and testing with real documents, processing goes live and can be extended step by step.

What happens with documents that do not fit?

Documents that do not match an approved layout or fail a check are shown for review with the specific finding. With pedif+, variable inputs such as email text or spreadsheets can also be prepared for focused review.

Is PEDIF also suitable for software vendors?

Yes. Software vendors can embed PEDIF into their own product through one API, under their own brand and with usage-based models. Details are described on the partner page.

What do we need to get started?

A few representative sample documents for the first use case, a description of the target system and format, and a contact person who reviews the first results.

Can PEDIF process documents in other languages?

Yes. Documents from foreign business partners are set up like any other recurring layout, with fields, rules and target output defined during setup.