Manual E-bill 499.41

4. Biller processes
4.1 Bill data preparation
Bill data are prepared in the biller’s billing system or by a BSP.
4.2 Sorting bills and delivering bill data
Based on the subscriber number for e-bill in the customer database, the
biller puts the electronic bills through a separate billing run and transmits
them in a data format supported by PostFinance to PostFinance (see
section 12).
If the bills are to be signed digitally by PostFinance or an affiliated network
partner, the bill generation process is only complete once the digital
signatures have been added. The process of generating bills is therefore
completed by PostFinance or a partner system. It is essential to use
the bill presentment module (see sections 4.3.1 and 8) because a PDF of
the bill is always required.
4.3 Presentment of electronic bill details
There are three options for the presentment of bill details:
• with bill presentment module (see section 4.3.1)
• without bill presentment module (see section 4.3.2)
• static bill detail (see section 4.3.4)
4.3.1 Presentment of bill details with bill presentment module
In the option with the bill presentment module (see section 8) – the PDF
is stored and presented in PostFinance – there are two options:
• In addition to the bill data the bill details are also delivered to PostFinance
as a PDF file. The biller can choose to integrate the PDF in the corresponding
file or to deliver it separately (see section 8.1).
• The biller can ask PostFinance to generate the bill details. For this purpose,
PostFinance generates a PDF from the submitted data using a standard
style sheet (see section 8.2).
4.3.2 Presentment of bill details without bill presentment module
In the option without the bill presentment module only the payment-related
data and a URL that refers to the bill detail are transmitted to PostFinance.
The URL is an encrypted https connection in one of the following formats:
• https:/ /w ww.yourcompany.ch/yourbill.php
• https:/ /w ww.yourcompany.ch/yourbill.asp
Umlauts are not permitted in the URL and are not supported by PostFinance.
Bill presentment takes place on the biller’s platform.
Manual E-bill Version October 2010 18/64