Connection Options

You can connect to Accounting as a Service with different options. Each option has its own benefits. The following should help you to define the most fitting connection option for you.

Direct Integration Accounting as a Service only

Who is this for?

• Target Audience: This option is for businesses that require full control over their accounting processes, prefer flexibility, and want to get a full picture of what happens in the system. It is prepared for growth.
• Industries: eCommerce, B2B and B2C businesses, subscription-based services, omnichannel providers, and companies with complex order management needs.

Benefits

• Flexibility: Supports omnichannel, gift cards, loyalty cards, and multiple other use cases.
• Control: You control all aspects of the accounting process and you are flexible to provide more data for reporting purposes.
• Customization: You can have multiple payment service providers (PSPs) for each legal entity.
• Supports growth: Everything is prepared for expanding to other countries or new legal entities (new businesses).
• Prepared for Notifications: You are already connected to Accounting as a Service and can subscribe addtional notifications right from the start.

Technical Requirements and Setup

• Usage of the Accounting Interfaces: You will have to integrate to the Accounting - Interfaces and follow the Accounting processes:
  • Create Order: Providing the data for all subsequent processes.
  • Cancel Order: Cancel non-deliverable or cancelled line items (or orders).
  • Create Invoice: Inform about created invoices or shipments (so that Accounting as a Service can create the invoice) to book the open position and trigger the capture.
  • Add Goodwill: Inform about goodwills granted to customers to book the payable amount and trigger the refund.
  • Return Order: Inform about returned line items (or orders) to book accordingly and trigger the refund.
• Usage of the Accounting Notifications:
  • Request response: Review the Validation and Error Handling, Subscribe to the EDI Error Sent Notification and implement follow-up processes.
  • More Accounting Notifications: There are other Notifications you can subscribe to receive addtional information, what happens in the Accounting.

General Process

1. End-customer places an order, or the client creates a subscription-based order.
2. Client sends a "Create Order" request to Accounting as a Service.
3. Client handles cancellations (cancel Order), invoices (create Invoice), Goodwills (Add goodwill) and returns (return Order) via Accounting as a Service.

Considerations

• Ownership of Subscriptions: Clients manage subscriptions independently.
• Setup Complexity: More complex technical setup compared to other methods.

Direct Integration via BSS to Accounting as a Service

Who is this for?

• Target Audience: This option is designed for businesses that need a comprehensive solution to manage subscriptions, recurring billing, and usage-based data. It’s best suited for companies that want to offload subscription management to BSS while still using Accounting as a Service for invoicing and payments.
• Industries: Mobility and charging sectors, streaming services, subscription box services, product clubs, and other businesses with recurring billing models.

Benefits

• Seamless Subscription Management: We take over the management of the subscription and usage-data - billing using the contract- and price information by you.
• Simplified Integration: Businesses only need to interact with BSS for subscription management AND Accounting services.

Technical Requirements and Setup

Usage of the Subscription Interfaces: You will have to integrate to the Subscription - Interfaces:

• Contract Management:
  • Activate Contract: Activate a created Contract to a specific date
  • Contract Change:
  • Pause Contract:
  • Terminate Contract: Terminate contract for a given contractId
  • Cancel Contract Termination: Cancel the contract termination request for a given contractId
  • Update Contract: Updates Contract information
• Product Management:
  • Get Products: Returns available products including the corresponding charges. The products and charges returned are filtered per country, which is identified via the used API subscription key.
• Customer and Account Management:
  • Create Account:
  • Create Customer:
  • Get Account: Returns account to a specific account id
  • Get Active Contracts: Returns all active contracts for a given customer
  • Get Contracts for external Order: Returns all contracts for a given order id
  • Get Customer: Returns customer details for a given customer number
  • Set Customer Default Payment Method:
  • Update Account:
  • Update Customer: Updates customer information
• UsageData: Returns usage for the given transactionID
• Order and Invoice Management:
  • Create Order: Creates an order by either providing a order or a basket reference
  • Correct Invoice: Correct an order invoice by providing the invoice number to be corrected
  • Get Invoice: Returns information to a specific invoice number
  • Return Order:

General Process

1. Client sets up subscription products in BSS and manages/provides customers and contracts.
2. Client sends usage data to BSS.
3. BSS handles subscriptions, billing, and usage data and authorizes using the provided registration token.
4. BSS sends subscription-related data to Accounting as a Service for financial processing.

Considerations

• Subscription Management: BSS manages all subscriptions, and there’s seamless integration with Accounting as a Service for invoicing.

Connectors

Who is this for?

• Target Audience: This method is best for businesses that want a streamlined integration with minimal setup, using the PSP for invoicing and payments. It is ideal for companies that want a simple, reliable payment system and prefer to avoid higher efforts for the connection with the accounting interfaces.
• Industries: E-commerce businesses, Subscription-Businesses managing the subscriptions themselves, and startups with international customer bases that need to handle payments quickly and efficiently.

  Benefits

• Simplicity: Easiest setup compared to other methods.
• Stripe Ecosystem: Leverages the PSP built-in international payment gateway and invoicing features.
• Quick Setup: Fastest integration option.

  Technical Requirements and Setup

• One of the connected PSPs has to be used in the checkout and contract management.
• PSP has to take over the invoicing, capture and refund process
• Configuration of the PSP has to be done using the Accounting as a Service Integration Guide for Connector-Clients

General Process

• Customer places an Order
• PSP takes over the invoicing and capture
• Through an event that confirms the invoicing, Accounting as a Service gets all necessary information directly from the PSP

Considerations

• Limitations: Fewer reporting options and less detailed accounting control compared to direct integration. All payments must go through the PSP. The Invoicing process of the PSP has to be used. Captures and Refunds have to be done by the PSP.