The SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) is the address book of Peppol. When an invoice is sent, the SMP is queried to look up how the receiver can be reached. If the SMP is unavailable, invoices cannot be delivered. Many Peppol providers use third-party SMP technology. This creates a dependency: if that third party has technical issues, your invoice traffic is affected.

eConnect has deliberately chosen a proprietary SMP implementation, fully OASIS SMP-compliant. The European Commission lists eConnect on the official list of eDelivery SMP conformant solutions, which features only ten solutions worldwide. Thanks to a built-in caching layer, the eConnect SMP is always available, independent of the uptime of other providers. Approximately 30% of all Dutch Peppol registrations are in the eConnect SMP. This combination of proprietary technology, proven compliance and scale gives you the assurance that your invoice traffic is not hindered by third-party dependencies.

When you connect to eConnect, your organisation is automatically registered in the SMP. This means suppliers can find you immediately on the Peppol network and send you e-invoices. You do not need to configure anything yourself. The registration covers not only invoices, but also other document types such as orders, despatch advices and status messages, depending on what you want to receive.

The caching layer of the eConnect SMP ensures that lookups are always available. If another provider's SMP is temporarily unreachable, eConnect uses the cached information to deliver the invoice correctly anyway. This increases the reliability of the entire delivery process. For software vendors operating as white-label partners, the SMP offers an additional benefit: your customers are registered under the Peppol certificate of eConnect, without you having to manage an SMP yourself or obtain your own certification. This saves significant costs and technical complexity.

Yes, switching is straightforward and is part of the open nature of Peppol. During a switch, your registration is transferred from your current provider to eConnect via a migration key. Your Peppol address remains the same, so your trading partners can continue sending as if nothing has changed. The only thing that changes is the Access Point where your invoices are delivered.

eConnect guides the switch and ensures no invoices are lost during the transition. The migration typically takes a few business days. In the meantime, invoices are captured at both points. After the switch, you immediately benefit from the proprietary SMP technology of eConnect, including caching, automatic registration and support for all Peppol document types.

That depends on what you want to achieve. If you exclusively want to send invoices via Peppol, an Access Point is sufficient. You do not need your own SMP registration, because it is your trading partner who needs to be registered as a receiver.

If you also want to receive invoices via Peppol, an SMP registration is necessary. By registering your organisation in the SMP, other parties on the Peppol network know that you are reachable, via which Access Point they can reach you and which document types you can receive. Without that registration, suppliers cannot find you on the network.

There is another scenario where an SMP registration is relevant, even if you primarily send: if you want to receive status messages (Invoice Response) about your sent invoices. The receiver then sends a status update back (received, approved, rejected, paid) and for that you must be registered as a receiver of that document type.

With eConnect, SMP registration is handled automatically upon connection. You do not need to configure anything yourself.

The SMP and SML work together as the address and routing system of Peppol. The SML (Service Metadata Locator) is the central register that tracks at which SMP an organisation is registered. The SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) then contains the detailed information: which Access Point the organisation is connected to and which document types that organisation can receive.

It works in two steps. When an invoice is sent, the sender's Access Point first queries the SML with the receiver's Peppol identifier. The SML responds with the address of the correct SMP. Then the Access Point queries that SMP for the technical routing information: the address of the receiver's Access Point and the supported document types.

This two-step system makes the Peppol network scalable and decentralised. There is no central point managing all registrations. Each Access Point provider can run its own SMP, provided it meets the OASIS SMP standard. eConnect is one of very few parties with a proprietary, fully OASIS SMP-compliant solution, which guarantees independence and reliability.

Approximately 30% of all Dutch Peppol registrations are in the eConnect SMP. This makes the eConnect SMP one of the largest in the Netherlands. In total, more than 20.000 organisations are connected to eConnect, ranging from freelancers and SMEs to large enterprises and government institutions.

The size of the SMP is relevant for two reasons. Firstly, it demonstrates the proven scalability of the technology: the SMP processes tens of thousands of lookups daily without performance degradation. Secondly, it increases the reliability of the network as a whole. The more registrations in an SMP, the more efficiently caching works and the faster lookups are answered.

For software vendors working with eConnect as white-label partners, the SMP offers an additional benefit. Their customers are registered in the eConnect SMP without the partner having to manage an SMP themselves. This saves not only technical complexity, but also the costs of a separate Peppol certification. The partner operates under the Peppol certificate of eConnect, while the customers are fully discoverable on the network.

More about the white-label partnership