The core concepts of the eConnect platform: environment, user and organisation. Plus icons, language settings and receiving registration.
The eConnect platform is built around three core concepts: the environment, the user and the organisation. Understanding how these three work together lets you use and configure the platform efficiently, whether you work as a freelancer, as a company with multiple branches, or as an accountant managing clients.
Your environment is the overarching workspace on the platform. When you create an account, the platform checks whether an environment already exists for your email domain. If so, you are added as a guest to that existing environment. If no environment exists yet, a new one is created automatically. For generic domains (such as gmail.com or hotmail.com) the platform always creates a new environment, because these domains cannot be linked to a single organisation.
Within your environment you manage the organisations for which you process invoices, the users who have access, and your subscription.
Each environment has its own balance (transaction credit) that is shared across all organisations within that environment. It does not matter which organisation sends or receives an invoice: the costs are deducted from the shared credit. Balance and payment options are available from the Basic subscription. The free Invoice Portal allows you to send invoices at no cost, but does not include balance or payment options.
A user is anyone with their own account on the platform. Each user logs in with an email address and password and has a role within the environment: basic user, advanced user or administrator. The role determines what someone can do at the environment level, such as inviting other users or creating organisations.
In addition, each user has permissions at the level of individual organisations. You can be a member of one or more organisations. Only the organisations you are a member of are visible to you in the platform. If you see no invoices or empty screens after logging in, you are probably not yet linked to the right organisations. The organisation administrator can add you as a member and manages who has access within that organisation.
When an environment is created, the first user automatically becomes the administrator. All users added afterwards receive the basic user role by default. The administrator can adjust roles at any time.
An organisation represents a single company, foundation or government body for which you send or receive invoices. When adding an organisation, the platform automatically searches by Chamber of Commerce number or company name. After activation the organisation is registered on the Peppol network and you can start processing invoices immediately.
You can manage multiple organisations in one environment. This is useful if you have a holding company with subsidiaries, or if you work as an accountant for multiple clients. Each organisation has its own Peppol registration, its own invoice settings (invoice numbering, logo, email address) and its own members. If a single company has multiple administrations (for example, separate departments or cost centres), you can create a separate organisation for each administration.
Visual: environment → organisations → users. A user who is a member of organisation A only sees the invoices of A. Member of both A and B? Then you see both. The administrator of each organisation determines which members have access. An environment administrator does not automatically have access to all organisations.
The structure works as follows: the environment contains organisations, and users are linked to organisations. A user who is a member of organisation A only sees the invoices of A. A user who is a member of both A and B sees the invoices of both. Each member can see all invoices within that organisation (both incoming and outgoing).
The platform distinguishes two levels of administrators. The environment administrator can invite users to the environment and create new organisations. The organisation administrator determines which members have access to that specific organisation. For a full overview of roles and permissions, see Rights and roles.
This model offers a lot of flexibility. Some common setups:
One company, one employee: you have one environment with one organisation. You are the administrator and member yourself, and you have access to everything.
One company, multiple employees: you add colleagues as users. Per colleague you determine which organisations they are linked to and which permissions they receive. Each member of an organisation can view all incoming and outgoing invoices; the platform does not yet distinguish between accounts receivable and accounts payable.
Holding with subsidiaries: all organisations are in the same environment. Per organisation you assign the employees who are responsible for it. The holding administrator sees the complete overview.
Accountant with clients: you have your own environment. Via the authorisation model you link client environments to your own environment, so you can manage the invoices of all your clients from a single location.
The platform is available in multiple languages. You can change the language via Edit profile (top right in the menu) and select your preferred display language. After switching it may take a moment for all labels to update. Refresh the screen if you briefly see untranslated text.
Invoices are automatically translated based on the recipient's country code. The same languages are available for invoices.
Tip: you do not need to set the invoice language manually. The platform automatically selects the correct language based on the recipient's country.
Tip: next to each invoice you see an icon (Scan, Email, Platform or Peppol). This lets you recognise at a glance which channel the document was processed through, without opening the details.
In the Inbox and Outbox you see an icon next to each document indicating which channel the invoice was received or sent through. The four most common icons:
These icons help you quickly recognise how a document was processed, without having to open the invoice details.
After logging in, the platform shows a pop-up asking whether you want to receive e-invoices per organisation. This pop-up appears at every login until you disable it. By default receiving is turned off, because it is a paid service that requires pre-loaded balance or a subscription (Basic or higher).
Click Enable to activate receiving for an organisation. Don't want to see the prompt again? Choose Disable pop-up. The receiving setting is stored in the organisation details, where you can turn receiving on or off at any time.
Once you enable receiving, your organisation is registered on the Peppol network for receiving documents. Other parties can then send you e-invoices via Peppol.
Tip: unsure whether receiving is already active? Go to your organisation details and check the setting there.
Want to learn more about the different roles and permissions? Read Rights and roles on the platform.
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