Services

Peppol is a global network and set of technical standards that allows organisations to exchange structured electronic business documents, such as eInvoices and orders, securely across borders.

Peppol operates using a four-corner model, which separates business systems from network infrastructure:

Figure 1: High‑level Peppol invoice processing flow from supplier to buyer using the four‑corner model.

How an invoice is delivered via the Peppol network:

1. The sender generates a Peppol-compliant XML invoice.
2. The invoice is sent to the sender’s Access Point.
3. The sending Access Point looks up the receiver’s details in the Peppol directory (SML/SMP).
4. The invoice is securely transmitted to the receiver’s Access Point.
5. The receiver’s Access Point delivers it to the receiver’s system.

This model means each participant integrates once, with their chosen Access Point, and can then exchange documents with any other Peppol participant worldwide.

Some key Peppol terms explained:

Access Point (AP) – A service (like Tickstar) that sends and receives Peppol documents for businesses. It acts as the technical “gateway” that connects organisations to the Peppol network.

AS4 – The secure messaging protocol used by all Access Points to exchange documents over the Peppol network.

Peppol BIS (Business Interoperability Specifications) – The official Peppol document standards that define how business documents (such as invoices) must be structured, for example Billing 3.0.

Peppol Participant / Participant ID – The unique address used to identify a business or organisation on the Peppol network.

SBDH (Standard Business Document Header) – A standard digital “envelope” that wraps the business document and carries key routing and identification details.

Service Metadata Locator (SML) – The central directory that tells sending Access Points where to find a recipient’s details. It points to the correct SMP for each Participant ID.

Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) – A registry that stores information about a participant, including:

• Their Peppol Participant ID
• Which document types they can receive
• Which Access Point should receive documents for them

SMK – The test version of the SML, used in trial and testing environments instead of live production systems.For a full list of terms, see our complete Peppol and eInvoicing glossary.

​​A Tickstar trial lets you test Peppol connectivity in a safe sandbox environment before going live, so you can:

• Learn the Peppol four‑corner model by sending real test transactions in the Peppol Test Network (SMK).
• Integrate with the Tickstar Access Point via the Transaction API or SFTP.
• Explore the Management Portal (Cockpit UI), SMP UI, Validator and Participant Lookup.

How to get started:

1. Request a free trial via https://www.tickstar.com/freesignup/
2. Receive:
   • Test Access Point
   • SMP access
   • API credentials
3. Build and submit your first Peppol-compliant document.
4. Send it to Tickstar via the Transaction API.
5. Inspect transaction states, validation results and round‑trip flows.

A Tickstar trial is the ideal opportunity to:

• Finalise mapping from your internal data model to Peppol schemas.
• Decide how you’ll handle ACK/NACKs and internal logging.
• Try out Participant Lookup and SMP registration for your own pilot participants.

​​A Peppol Participant ID is the unique address that identifies an organisation on the Peppol network. It tells other systems exactly who is sending or receiving documents.

It is made up of two parts:

• An ISO 6523 Interchange Control Directory (ICD) code – this shows which identifier scheme (type of identifier) is being used.
• The organisation’s identifier within that scheme.

The format for a Peppol Participant ID is as follows:

<ISO 6523 code>:<identifier value>

Examples:

• 0007:5567212047 – Swedish organisation number
• 0088:7365567212048 – Global Location Number (GLN)
• 0151:<ABN> – Australian Business Number (ABN)-based ID (example only)

Guidelines:

• Use the identifier scheme recommended by your local Peppol authority (for example, ABN in Australia, UEN in Singapore).
• Make sure the identifier is correct and active.
• Use the same Participant ID everywhere, including:
  • Your SMP profile
  • Your SBDH sender and receiver IDs
  • Participant lookup

An SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) is a directory service used by the Peppol network to find where documents should be delivered.

For each participant, the SMP stores:

• Their Peppol Participant ID
• The document types they can receive (for example, invoices, orders)
• The Access Point endpoint(s) that should receive those documents

In simple terms, the SMP tells the network who can receive what, and where to send it.

Note: you need an SMP if you want to receive Peppol documents.

Without an SMP record:

• Other Access Points cannot find your participants
• Documents cannot be routed or delivered
• Even if your Access Point is live, you will not receive anything

You do not need to register on an SMP if you only send documents.

What to consider when choosing an SMP

When selecting an SMP, consider:

• Reliability and uptime: SMP outages block inbound traffic
• Automation support: API access for participant onboarding
• Scalability: ability to support high volumes of participants
• Ease of management: UI and tooling for operations teams
• Compliance: alignment with Peppol authority requirements

For SaaS platforms and large service providers, automation is especially important, as onboarding and updating participants manually does not scale.

How Tickstar supports SMP services

Tickstar provides:

• A fully hosted SMP service for both production and test
• An SMP Manager API, which allows:
  
  • Automated participant creation and updates
  • Integration into your own onboarding workflows
  • Self-service enablement for customers

This makes Tickstar’s SMP suitable for SaaS vendors, platform providers and white-label Access Point customers. 

Need an SMP? Contact Tickstar today to get started.