Solutions

...for Data Transfers from POS Systems

An excerpt from the report by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) on the extension of data access to POS systems from 26th November 2010:

"Individual pieces of data that are relevant to tax issues must be stored in their complete and unchanged form. Compression of these data or only saving the total sums of bills is not permitted and solely providing printed copies of documents that must be stored is not sufficient. The data must be available at all times, be immediately readable and be able to be automatically analysed throughout the duration of the retention period. An archive system must enable the same analyses as those that are possible in the running system."

The decision by the BMF has, to some extent, led to major problems for companies. In order to help these companies to fulfil the legal requirements, we have developed a solution that enables users to archive up-to-date POS data on a daily basis in a manner that does not enable them to be altered and to quickly be able to re-access these data. The number of POS systems (branches) and the scope of the data do not play a role when it comes to using this solution.

The steps of the process:

1. Transferring the POS data (up-to-date and on a daily basis)
2. Archiving the data in a standardised format (csv, xml, etc.) and in a manner that does not enable them to be altered
3. Accessing the data from the archive (via the audit database) for audits or internal purposes
4. Accessing data (Z1, Z2 and Z3) for the auditor

The archived POS data can be managed and accessed using the GDPdU (German Principles of Data Access and the Auditability of Digital Records) platform CIC (Compliance Information Center). 'At the push of a button', data is taken from the archive in a targeted manner and the 'business logic' is then established between the data before being presented to the user. The data is exported in a universal format (IDEA, Z3, etc.) and therefore fulfils the BMF requirements.

This method provides an 'analysable archive' that is also accepted by the tax authorities.