The Digital Business Network Alliance (DBNA) manages an open network for the standardised exchange of e-invoices and payment information between businesses in the United States. DBNA was founded in 2023 by participants in the E-invoice Exchange Market Pilot of the Business Payments Coalition; in that pilot, the BPC and Federal Reserve Financial Services worked together on more efficient B2B payments.
For businesses that already work with Peppol, DBNA will feel familiar: one connection, open standards and a network in which every participant can reach every other participant.
How does e-invoicing via DBNA work?
You connect through a service provider with a DBNA Access Point. As with Peppol, there are four parties: the sender, the sender’s service provider, the recipient’s service provider and the recipient.
- Create the invoice: The sender creates an e-invoice in its own accounting or ERP system.
- Send: The sender’s service provider checks the document and sends it via the network.
- Receive: The recipient’s service provider receives the document.
- Process: The recipient processes the e-invoice in its own system.
DBNA uses UBL documents, AS4 for transport and its own SMP and SML to locate recipients. Published document profiles include the invoice (core and extended), the credit note and the remittance advice, plus technical responses (message level response and receipt acknowledgement). Participants are identified in accordance with the DBNA identifier policy. Source: DBNAlliance, published specifications.
How does DBNA compare to Peppol?
DBNA and Peppol are very similar in architecture and standards. Both work with four parties (sender, two service providers, recipient), UBL documents and a system for looking up recipients automatically. The main difference is the geographical focus: Peppol is used in Europe and in countries beyond (see Peppol worldwide), whereas DBNA focuses on the US market.
Interoperability between the two networks is an explicit aim. The standards are closely aligned, but fully seamless exchange between Peppol and DBNA is still in development. If you are active in both markets, it is wise to check for each network how the connection is arranged. You can read more about the basics in What is Peppol?.
What this means for you: invoicing customers in the US
Does your organisation work with Peppol, for example in Europe, and do you also have business relationships in the US? Then go through these points.
DBNA readiness checklist
- Trading partners in the US: do you have customers or suppliers in the US who want to receive or send e-invoices via DBNA?
- Your service provider: does your service provider also support DBNA connectivity, or do you need to arrange this separately?
- Document types: do you only need the invoice, or also the credit note or remittance advice?
- Your system: can your accounting or ERP system already create and process UBL documents?
- Identification: do you have an identifier that is recognised within DBNA, or does your service provider arrange this for you?
- Internal organisation: who owns the project internally and who provides technical support?
For software vendors
For software vendors, the technical basis is familiar. An Access Point handles transport via AS4, with its own envelope (XHE), digital certificates and validation of UBL documents. Recipients are located via a Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) and a central, DNS-based register (SML). Security is based on a PKI with X.509 certificates; these have a limited validity period and must be renewed periodically. If you have already built a Peppol integration, you can reuse many of the concepts, although the network-specific agreements differ.
In conclusion
DBNA brings principles similar to Peppol’s to the United States. For businesses with US trading partners, the key question is whether their service provider supports both networks. In the comparison tool on Peppol.now, filter by the public network DBNAlliance to see which service providers also support DBNA.
