Usage statistics and local storage
Translation for your convenience. The German original is authoritative.
X-Factura keeps its own, server-side usage statistics. They serve to operate and improve X-Factura: we want to know which functions are used, which invoice types and tax situations are common and where errors occur – not who uses X-Factura.
What is recorded
- the event, e.g. form opened, invoice created, file downloaded, invoice read in or saved, and in the case of an error a fixed error code,
- whether X-Factura was used with or without logging in – without reference to a user account,
- characteristics of the invoice in broad classes: invoice type, number of items in bands (e.g. “2–5”), tax structure (e.g. “one tax rate” or “reverse charge”), number of tax rates, payment method, whether a service date or a service period is given, whether a buyer reference is present, whether seller and buyer are based in the same country, in different EU states or outside the EU, and the format (XML, PDF),
- the estimated region of use (country and federal state),
- the time, truncated to the full hour.
What is not recorded
No names, companies, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, bank details, invoice or customer numbers, Leitweg-IDs or buyer references, item texts, amounts and no content of the XML or PDF files. The statistics store no identifier of a user, an invoice or a session, no IP address – neither in full nor shortened or hashed – and no browser identifier. The language of the interface is not recorded either.
Region of use
To estimate the country and federal state, the IP address of your request is matched, at the moment of the request, against a database located on the server of X-Factura; no external service is queried for this. Only the result is stored, for example “DE” and “DE-SN” (Saxony) – not the IP address, no city, no postcode and no coordinates. The assignment is an estimate and can be inaccurate, in particular with mobile networks, VPNs or company networks. Currently no region is determined; all events are recorded with the region “unknown”.
No cookies, no external services for the statistics
Neither cookies nor your browser’s storage are used for the usage statistics, and no data is transmitted to external analytics services. The statistics are processed exclusively on the server of X-Factura.
Retention period
Individual events are kept for at most 30 days. After that they are combined into daily totals per combination of characteristics and deleted. These daily totals no longer contain individual events and are kept long-term.
Evaluation
The statistics are evaluated only internally by administrators of X-Factura. In detailed reports, such as region and invoice type combined, groups with fewer than 5 events are not shown individually but combined.
Generated files
The generated invoice files (XML and PDF) remain on the server only as long as you can download them: without an account they remain available in your session – also more than once – and are deleted after 24 hours, at the next hourly clean-up. With an account, your stored invoices are kept until you delete them or your account; a PDF is not kept as a file but generated anew on every download – except the file an earlier version of X-Factura stored for an invoice; it stays with its invoice and is deleted with your account. A deleted invoice disappears from your account; on the server it is only marked as deleted and remains stored, so that the operator can restore it – until you delete your account.
Storage in your browser
X-Factura stores only the following in your browser’s storage (local storage):
- Theme: If you switch between the light and dark theme, your browser remembers the choice (entry
xf-theme). - Language: If you switch the language of the interface (DE | EN), your browser remembers the choice (entry
xf-locale) so that X-Factura starts in this language the next time. The entry contains only the language – no identifier – and is not counted. The server also remembers the language for the current session; with an account, X-Factura also stores it in your account, including for the emails sent to you. - Sender details: Only if you switch on “Remember sender details on this device” in the invoice form does your browser store your sender details including bank details (entry
xf-sender) to fill them in the next time. If you switch it off, the entry is deleted. - Draft without an account: While you write an invoice without logging in, your browser automatically keeps its state (entry
xf-draft) so that your entries are not lost when you reload or come back later. It contains only the details of the form – no files, no identifier for the statistics – and is deleted as soon as you have created the invoice or choose “Start over”. If you log in from the invoice form, it is moved into your account once and then deleted from the browser; with any other login, X-Factura asks first.
These entries do not leave your device; X-Factura does not transmit them and cannot read them – except for the draft, when you log in and thereby move it into your account.
Other technically necessary processing
Independently of the statistics, X-Factura sets technically necessary cookies for the session and for protection against forged form requests; they are needed, among other things, for downloading your invoice. When you log in, a cookie stores your login status; with “Stay logged in” also beyond the session, for at most 30 days. To protect against overload and abuse, the number of requests is counted per IP address or per logged-in account, for logins per account and address, and for password reset requests additionally per email address – in each case only as a checksum; the counters expire after one hour at the latest and are then deleted hourly. You can find further information in the privacy policy of X-Factura.