UBL/Peppol - creating customers and suppliers automatically

If an invoice is sent or received via UBL or Peppol, Robaws will create customers and/or suppliers automatically in certain cases.
You can choose yourself whether or not you want to use this function.

• Creating a supplier automatically - applies when an invoice is received via UBL or Peppol
• Creating a customer automatically - applies when an invoice is received via Self-billing

Creating a supplier automatically

To create a supplier in Robaws automatically, you have to activate the following setting: settings > incoming invoices > settings > 'Create supplier automatically'.

A supplier is created automatically in Robaws when an incoming invoice is received from a supplier that does not yet exist in Robaws or cannot be found there.
The details needed to create the supplier are taken from the invoice.
If the setting for creating a supplier automatically is switched off, no new supplier is created if none is found either. In that case the supplier stays blank and you can link one yourself afterwards.

How does Robaws determine whether a supplier already exists?

To link a supplier, Robaws goes through the steps below (in the given order of priority). As soon as we have a match at one step, the following steps are no longer carried out.

1. Robaws checks whether the supplier on the invoice is not your own company. If the VAT number or KvK number of the "supplier" on the invoice matches that of your own company, no supplier is linked.
2. Robaws searches on identification characteristics, in order of reliability. Robaws searches the list of suppliers in Robaws for a match on the following fields (in this order): VAT number, KvK number, GLN, Name, IBAN + BIC. As soon as there is a match on one of these fields, Robaws stops searching on the following fields and we link that supplier straight away.
3. A smart safety check to prevent incorrect matches. Suppose Robaws finds no match on the VAT number, but does find one on the name. Before Robaws accepts that match on the name, we carry out one additional check. If both the supplier found and the invoice have a VAT number, they should already have matched on the VAT number at the previous step, so we reject the match after all.

Creating customers automatically

To create a customer in Robaws automatically, you have to activate the following setting: settings > invoices > settings > 'Create customer automatically'.
This function only applies if 'Self-billing' is active on your Peppol account.

A customer is created automatically when a self-billing invoice is received via Peppol from a customer that does not yet exist in Robaws or cannot be found there.
The details needed to create the customer are taken from the invoice.
If the setting for creating the customer automatically is switched off, no new customer is created if none is found either. In that case the customer stays blank and you can link one yourself afterwards.

How does Robaws determine whether a customer already exists?

To link a customer, Robaws goes through the steps below (in the given order of priority). As soon as we have a match at a particular step, the following steps are no longer carried out.

1. Robaws checks whether there are enough customer details: if there are no customer details at all in the message, no customer is linked.
2. Robaws searches on identification characteristics, in order of reliability. Robaws searches the list of customers in Robaws for a match on the following fields (in this order): VAT number, KvK number, GLN, Name. As soon as there is a match on one of these fields, Robaws stops searching on the following fields and we link that customer.
3. A smart safety check to prevent incorrect matches. Suppose Robaws finds no match on the VAT number, but does find one on the name. Before Robaws accepts that match on the name, we carry out one additional check. If both the customer found and the invoice have a VAT number, they should already have matched on the VAT number at the previous step, so we reject the match after all.

Updated on: 08/09/2026