The French e-invoicing reform has reshuffled the cards in the cash collection chain. Until 2025, an invoicing tool generated the invoice, an email delivered it, and a debt collection software took over downstream for unpaid cases. From September 1st, 2026, a mandatory new brick sits in between: the Approved Platform (PA, formerly PDP).
For a CFO or a credit manager, the operational question is not simply “which Approved Platform should I pick?”. It is “how do my Approved Platform and my debt collection software interlock to accelerate collections?”. This article unpacks the Y-scheme architecture, the five platform typologies on the market, the APIs you should insist on, and the concrete workflows that turn lifecycle statuses into faster cash.
The Y-scheme: what the reform actually changed
Before diving into workflows, the target architecture needs to be clear. Since the Ministry of Economy release of October 15th, 2024, the French State has dropped its plan to route B2B invoice flows through its own portal. The original V-scheme (every invoice transiting the Public Invoicing Portal) was replaced by the Y-scheme.
In this model:
- Each business picks an Approved Platform for reception (mandatory from September 1st, 2026) and for issuance (mandatory from September 1st, 2026 for large enterprises and ETIs, September 1st, 2027 for SMEs, VSBs and micro-entrepreneurs).
- Approved Platforms issue, route, convert formats if needed, and archive invoices.
- Approved Platforms extract tax data and forward it to the Public Invoicing Portal (PPF), which now only plays the role of tax data concentrator and central recipient directory.
- The DGFiP accesses the data via the PPF for audits, VAT pre-filling and fraud detection.
In practice, an invoice issued via your Approved Platform is routed to your client’s receiving Approved Platform (identified in the central directory by the client’s SIREN). A synthetic extraction is sent to the PPF. Your debt collection software consumes the statuses surfaced by the Approved Platform and triggers the appropriate actions.
Around 115 Approved Platforms were fully approved by the DGFiP by April 13th, 2026, with roughly 20 more awaiting interoperability tests. Approval is granted in two stages: a “provisional” approval after documentary validation and ISO 27001 audit, then a full approval after interoperability tests with other Approved Platforms and the PPF. The approval is valid for three renewable years.
The five typologies of Approved Platforms
The Approved Platform market has segmented into five broad families. Understanding this segmentation drives the selection of a solution fit for your volumes and your existing stack.
1. Legacy French accounting and ERP vendors
Cegid, Sage, Esker, Itesoft, Cegedim. These vendors have dominated the SME, mid-market and large account segments for decades. Their logic is vertical integration: you generate your invoice in their ERP, they handle certification, routing, archiving and compliance. Perfect for organisations already embedded in their ecosystem. Typical budget: a few hundred to several thousand euros per month.
2. Pure-play SaaS vendors
Pennylane, Sellsy, Axonaut, Abby, Indy, Tiime, Kolecto. A new generation of SaaS vendors built for VSBs, SMEs and chartered accountants. Modern interface, fast onboarding, transparent SaaS pricing. These players have invested heavily to secure approval and capture the SME wave. Budget: from 14 € to several hundred euros per month.
3. International EDI operators
Generix, Docaposte, Basware, Comarch, Pagero, SAP, Seeburger, Tradeshift, Edicom, Ecosio. Focused on large accounts and multi-country industrial flows. Their strength: international coverage and massive volume handling. Their weakness: deployment complexity, enterprise pricing.
4. Industry-specific solutions
Darva (insurance), Logilec (Leclerc retail), Voxel and Amadeus (hospitality, travel), Infologic (agrifood), Digipharmacie (pharmacies). These platforms address vertical needs with deep industry integrations (specific product codes, sector workflows, custom matching rules). Relevant if your business carries heavy industry specifics.
5. Banks and fintechs
Qonto, Kolecto (Crédit Agricole), @iPaidThat (BPCE), Euro Information (Crédit Mutuel), Spendesk, Agicap. These players use approval as a banking acquisition or retention lever. They bundle invoicing into broader offerings (business account, financing, factoring, cash management). Often aggressive pricing, sometimes free for existing clients.
Notable edge cases: EBP, a historical French vendor, did not apply for approval and resells Cegid’s Approved Platform. Evoliz and Inqom, within the Visma group, rely on Chaintrust. QuickBooks left the French market in late 2023. The Le Village Connecté joint-venture (ACD, RCA, Coaxis, Tessi) was approved on January 8th, 2026.
Approved Platform vs debt collection software: two distinct jobs
A common confusion is assuming that an Approved Platform also “does” collections. It does not.
An Approved Platform is a fiscal compliance provider. Its job is to:
- issue, transmit and receive invoices compliant with the EN 16931 standard;
- handle format conversion between Factur-X, UBL 2.1 and UN/CEFACT CII if issuer and receiver diverge;
- forward fiscal data to the PPF (e-reporting, e-invoicing);
- keep the central recipient directory up to date;
- ensure interoperability with other Approved Platforms, via bilateral conventions or the Peppol network;
- manage and surface the invoice lifecycle statuses;
- archive invoices with evidentiary value for 6 to 10 years.
A debt collection software, on the other hand, has a radically different mission: turning an overdue or risk signal into actual cash. Its functions are:
- detecting overdue invoices, upcoming delays and behavioural risk signals;
- triggering multi-channel follow-ups (email, SMS, mail, call) at the right moment;
- adapting tone, content and channel to each client, based on their history;
- handling disputes and refusal motives, orchestrating formal notices, escalation and legal recovery;
- piloting the DSO, producing cash KPIs and feeding cash forecasts.
The two functions are complementary, not substitutable. Some Approved Platforms offer a minimal dunning module (email templates, simple rules). These modules work for VSBs with very low volumes, not beyond. For an SME with 200 invoices per month or a mid-market company with several thousand, a decoupled Approved Platform + specialised debt collection software architecture remains the best-performing option.
Approved Platform to debt collection software interoperability: what the API must expose
The make-or-break factor in the Approved Platform to debt collection articulation is the API. Without a rich, well-documented API, your debt collection software will remain blind to the valuable signals surfaced by the Approved Platform.
Mandatory endpoints
At minimum, your Approved Platform API should expose:
- The list of issued and received invoices with full metadata (number, issue date, due date, ex-VAT and VAT-inclusive amounts, client SIREN, transaction category, contract or purchase order reference).
- The current lifecycle status of each invoice, with history of status changes, timestamp and origin (who changed the status and when).
- Codified refusal motives per the 40 DGFiP codes, with free-text comments from the refusing client.
- Settlement statuses (Payment Transmitted, Settled) to automate reconciliation in the debt collection software.
- Normalised client data (SIREN, SIRET, official company name, billing address, delivery address), for client record qualification and enrichment.
Real-time webhooks
Hourly or nightly polling is a 2015 workflow. In 2026, insist on push webhooks for every lifecycle status change. Your debt collection software gets notified in real time, with no latency. It can, for instance, trigger a preventive follow-up minutes after an at-risk invoice moves to “Approved”.
Standards baseline
The AFNOR XP Z12-013 standard, published on February 26th, 2026, codifies Approved Platform APIs. It specifies objects, formats, response codes and security best practice. Requiring XP Z12-013 conformance in your vendor selection criteria is a good filter.
Security
Approved Platforms are required to hold ISO 27001 certification. Their APIs must meet equivalent standards: OAuth 2.0 authentication with token rotation, TLS 1.3 encryption, audit logs on every access, a GDPR-compliant data protection policy. Your debt collection software must match those expectations, ideally with sovereign hosting if relevant to your industry.
Three concrete operational workflows
Moving from architecture to reality. Here are three real-world scenarios where the Approved Platform to debt collection articulation generates value.
Workflow 1: preventive follow-up on an “Approved” signal
Context: a 12,000 € invoice issued on the 1st of the month, 30-day terms. Historically, this client pays at 45 days average.
Without Approved Platform to debt collection integration: follow-up is triggered on D+1 after due date, meaning the 1st of the following month. Delay already set in.
With integration: the Approved Platform surfaces the Approved status on the 15th (D-15 before due). The debt collection software reads this signal as a positive confirmation. On D-5, it sends a short, courteous reminder: “Your invoice is validated and scheduled for payment. Reminder: due on the 30th.” On a habitually slow client, this preventive nudge statistically reduces average delay by 3 to 7 days.
Workflow 2: accelerated refusal resolution
Context: a 4,500 € invoice is refused by the client on D+3 after submission. DGFiP motive: Quantity discrepancy.
Without integration: the refusal lands in someone’s inbox, gets read two days later. A sales admin opens a case, calls the client, identifies the quantity mismatch, issues a credit note and a new invoice. Average cycle: 7 to 12 business days.
With integration: the webhook surfaces the refusal in real time with the codified motive. The debt collection software automatically opens a dispute case, suggests a credit note workflow, notifies the sales admin with context pre-loaded. Cycle: 2 to 4 business days. On a monthly volume of 50 refusals, the cumulative gain represents several weeks of accelerated collection.
Workflow 3: real-time DSO reporting
Context: the credit manager produces a weekly DSO report for leadership.
Without integration: manual extraction from the accounting tool, Excel reformatting, approximate payment reconciliation, DSO calculated D+7 or D+14 after week-end close.
With integration: the Payment Transmitted and Settled statuses, surfaced in real time by all the Approved Platforms across the group, feed the debt collection software dashboard directly. Weekly DSO is produced automatically, with breakdowns by client segment, sales rep, industry. The credit manager moves from four hours to fifteen minutes on reporting, freeing capacity for priority recovery actions.
Selection criteria for an Approved Platform in a debt collection project
If the reform is already driven by procurement or IT in your organisation, involve credit management in the selection. Here are the criteria that matter for collections.
API quality. Require public documentation, REST endpoints compliant with XP Z12-013, real-time webhooks, a test sandbox. Rule out Approved Platforms that do not publish clear API documentation.
Lifecycle status granularity. Some platforms only surface the four mandatory statuses. Others emit every AFNOR recommended status. Granularity drives the richness of your dunning workflows.
Multi-entity coverage. If your group has several legal entities, check that the platform supports French VAT groups (single liable party) and cross-entity aggregation in a single interface.
Vendor economic sustainability. The market has already seen exits (QuickBooks, EBP opt-out). Favour Approved Platforms backed by solid groups with a documented product roadmap.
Cost and economic model. Volume-based versus flat-rate pricing, API cost, switching fees. Simulate over three years with your real volumes.
Native integrations with your accounting stack. A platform that integrates natively with your ERP (SAP, Cegid, Sage, Pennylane, etc.) reduces deployment costs. In heavily industrial sectors, EDI compatibility is a hard criterion.
Deployment timeline for a typical mid-market project
For a mid-market company handling one or several thousand invoices per month, the combined Approved Platform and debt collection project breaks down into three phases.
Phase 1, platform compliance (T-6 to T-3 months): platform selection, ERP integration, central directory registration, master data cleanup (SIREN, SIRET, intra-EU VAT), invoice template update, sales admin and accounting training.
Phase 2, pilot (T-3 to T-1 month): pilot issuance and reception on a limited scope (one business unit, one sector, one client segment). Technical rejection monitoring, adjustments, validation of the status loop.
Phase 3, debt collection software plug-in (T-1 month to T+3 months): dunning workflows configured against Approved Platform statuses, dunning scenarios defined, history migration, credit management training, progressive go-live. By T+3 months, 100% of flows run through the combined PA + debt collection workflow.
A well-executed mid-market project wraps up in 6 to 9 months. A standard SME project in 3 to 6. Below those benchmarks, you chase compliance without ever truly exploiting the new signals.
Conclusion: the Approved Platform secures, the debt collection software collects
The Approved Platform is an infrastructure provider. It guarantees that your invoice is compliant, routed, archived and integrated into the DGFiP tax data flow. It will not shave a single day off your DSO.
The debt collection software is a performance provider. It exploits the signals surfaced by the Approved Platform to trigger the right follow-ups, at the right time, with the right tone, for each client. It turns the lifecycle into a cash flow.
Organisations that address only the first layer (platform compliance) will extract little value from the reform. Those articulating both layers through a clean API architecture will capture both upsides: VAT security on the tax side, cash acceleration on the collection side.
Billabex connects natively to the leading French Approved Platforms to exploit lifecycle statuses and automate your collections. Discover the Billabex debt collection software.
