Blockfactu develops an interoperable platform for ERP manufacturers to respond to the anti-fraud legal changes affecting invoicing programs and systems.
- The Blockfactu project, financed by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism within the framework of the Next Generation funds and led by AEI Ciberseguridad y Tecnologías Avanzadas, involves the GAIA Cluster, Funditec, Grupo Igarle and Proconsi.
- The main objective of the project has been to provide a solution to the technological challenge brought about by the legal changes that establish the anti-fraud requirements to be adopted by computer systems and programs that support invoicing processes (Anti-fraud Law and u2018Crea y Crece` Law).
- The continuity of the project and the commercialization of an interoperable platform for ERP manufacturers and their users is planned for January 2024.
With the aim of responding to the technological challenge posed for ERP manufacturers by the Royal Decree that establishes the requirements to be adopted by computer or electronic systems and programs that support the invoicing processes of companies and professionals, as well as to offer the standardization of formats for invoicing records, several entities have been working over the last few months on the Blockfactu project, which has just held its results presentation meeting in León.
As a result of these months of work, a new document persistence and custody platform has been developed which, under the name of BlockFactu, will meet the new needs set by the legislation and which can be easily integrated into any ERP manufacturer. Thus, Blockfactu guarantees the integrity, conservation, accessibility, legibility, traceability and inalterability of the records of the documents that are exchanged between the different billing software, as well as the integrity of the events that audit the use that users make of the ERP system.
All this with the advantage that, with a single investment, amortized by the large number of ERPs that are expected to use it, it will replace significant investments by manufacturers. It is expected to be marketed from January 2024. In a second phase of the project, they report, the platform will incorporate new services that will help simplify regulatory compliance with the Anti-Fraud Law and the Crea y Crece Law for manufacturers and users.
The project is led by AEI Ciberseguridad and counts with the participation of: GAIA Cluster, Funditec, Grupo Igarle and Proconsi. It is an initiative financed by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism through the Next Generation European funds.
Legal changes and technological challenges
From the technological point of view, the Blockfactu project responds to four challenges faced by ERP manufacturers:
- Manage the high volume of data and data storage.
- Extending interoperability to different ERPs.
- Non-repudiation systems.
- Auditability of each event to ensure non-alterability.
As the consortium reminds us, all large and medium-sized companies and a large number of small and micro companies currently have invoicing software or ERPs that enable them to manage their business electronically and generate the documentation that interrelates the business with other economic agents (orders to suppliers, orders received, delivery notes, output notes, invoices received, invoices issued, etc.).
ERPs, they explain, are going to be imminently and significantly affected by two legal changes with profound technical impact that establish requirements such as:
- “The obligation, on the part of producers, marketers and users, that the computer or electronic systems and programs that support the accounting, invoicing or management processes of those who carry out economic activities guarantee the integrity, conservation, accessibility, legibility, traceability and unalterability of the records, without interpolations, omissions or alterations of which there is no due notation in the systems themselves that the ERP guarantees in a mandatory manner”;
- “The integrity and unalterability of the billing records so that, once the billing data is recorded, it is protected against any action that compromises the accuracy, authenticity and completeness of the stored data, so that none of the recorded data can be altered, neither by the computer system itself, nor by the user or by any external device, system or computer or electronic program”.
Faced with this reality, and given that there is currently no document persistence and custody platform that effectively and efficiently meets these needs and can be easily integrated with any ERP, the Blockfactu project has emerged.
“Thanks to this new interoperable platform, ERP manufacturers will be able to delegate with technical guarantees the challenges of non-repudiation and the integration of documents exchanged between different billing software, as well as the integrity of the events that audit the use that users make of the ERP system,” the participants in the project state.
