Wellington City Council’s eInvoicing progress

Overview

Since going live with receiving eInvoices in 2024, Wellington City Council (the Council) has steadily grown its number of suppliers on board and monthly eInvoice volumes received.

This has produced a surprising number of benefits within a short period of time – no more emailed PDFs mean efficiency gains for the Council and quicker payments for suppliers.

So, what’s behind the Council’s ongoing success in switching suppliers to sending eInvoices?

Implementation journey

The Council’s transition to eInvoicing was straightforward. Configuring TechnologyOne via Desktop Imaging enabled the seamless delivery of eInvoices.

Adoption and growth

Since going live in early 2024, the Council has had more than 43 suppliers on board sending eInvoices, and monthly volumes have grown from 12 per month to 96 in September 2025.

“When suppliers send an eInvoice to us, coupled with the correct [purchase order] number, it means more efficient processing for the Council and quicker payment to suppliers,” says Michael Nyamudeza, Finance Operations Manager at the Council. “It’s a win-win for everyone. So, the more suppliers we get sending us eInvoices the more we all win.”

Supplier engagement strategies

To encourage more suppliers to switch to eInvoicing, the Council are harnessing every touchpoint with suppliers to educate, inform and reinforce its ‘we prefer eInvoices’ message. These involve the following initiatives – many of which are easy and quick to implement.

• Initial ‘we prefer’ email communication to suppliers: Suppliers receive a clear message: “The Council prefers to receive eInvoices instead of emailed PDFs. It will smooth the process for approving and paying your invoices, which usually means suppliers get paid faster.”
• Inclusion of ‘we prefer eInvoices’ on remittance and purchase order advices: Remittance and purchase order advices usually go to the suppliers’ accounts person – the person who can choose to switch to eInvoices.
• Response to email queries about ‘where’s my payment’: The Council includes a message to let suppliers know that by switching to eInvoicing they are more likely to be paid quicker and therefore reduce the number of enquiries the Council must deal with. The Council also plans to share the ‘how to’ guides for Xero or MYOB users with their suppliers. These guides were originally developed and provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
• Updated onboarding: New supplier onboarding processes now request eInvoices from the get-go, backed up by an educated team of staff who deal with the supplier. This ensures that the Council requests this of new suppliers from the outset.

Internal change management

The Council also recognises the importance of internal advocacy. A renewed internal communications push, led by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), reinforces the following eInvoicing messages:

• CFO communications: Emails and stand-up meeting messages from the CFO emphasise the importance of eInvoicing.
• Staff empowerment: All staff who interact with suppliers are encouraged to promote eInvoicing as the preferred method.

Tools and resources

The Councill recommends using MBIE’s ‘How to‘ guides, Change Management Guide and Communication Toolkits to do the heavy lifting to support both internal and external engagement efforts.

Getting set up for eInvoicing: Xero Business Edition - November 2024 [PDF, 697 KB]

Getting set up for eInvoicing: MYOB Business Essentials / AccountRight - November 2024 [PDF, 681 KB]

eInvoicing change management guide - July 2025 [DOCX, 1 MB]

Get your suppliers ready for eInvoicing with this communications toolkit [DOCX, 1.1 MB]

Get your customers ready for eInvoicing with this communications toolkit [DOCX, 1.1 MB]