Base Sociétés
A software building block, not yet another platform.
A web application, a PostgreSQL database, a Windows server in your own environment. One file in, one file out. No online service to vet, no customer data leaving your tenant, no new dependency in your invoicing chain.
What comes in, what goes out, and what stays with you.
A conventional web application, on components you already know.
Web application
It opens in a browser, on your network. Nothing to install on workstations, nothing to maintain on the user side: a single server to administer, and updates benefit everyone at the same time.
PostgreSQL database
The engine shipped as standard, installed on the same server. Backup and restore fit into your usual tooling.
A Microsoft SQL Server version is available on request, if your internal policy mandates that engine: data access goes through a dedicated layer, the rest of the application is identical.
Windows server, in your tenant
Physical or virtualised, according to your standards. The entire stack — application, database and embedded public register — stays within the perimeter you are accountable for.
One file in, one file out. Nothing else to wire up.
The simplest integration is also the fastest to put in place, and the only one that requires no development on your side to get started.
Input
An Excel file exported from your ERP: your business customer database. The expected format is specified with your teams during scoping — we start from what your system can produce, not the other way round.
Output
A corrected Excel file, carrying the values approved by your teams and the record of each decision. It is re-imported into your ERP through the import channel you already use.
Optional: a connector
If you want to eliminate the manual export and import, a custom connector can automate the round trip with your system. Bespoke development, priced on quotation.
Why start with files
A file exchange is set up in a few days, requires no flows to be opened between applications, and can be checked by eye. It is the best way to validate the value before investing in automation — and many organisations never need to go further.
In your own environment, because customer data is sensitive.
Installation on your Windows server
The application, its database and the embedded public register are installed on a Windows server of your choice — physical or virtualised — within your tenant. Nothing is hosted by the vendor, nothing is replicated to a third-party cloud, and your customer file is never transmitted to anyone.
This is a design choice, not a technical constraint: customer master data is sensitive, and it has no reason to leave the perimeter that is accountable for it.
Single sign-on through your directory
The application supports single sign-on: an account provisioned from your directory has no local password, and authentication is entirely handled by your identity provider — with your Conditional Access rules and your second factor. The connection to your Entra ID tenant is set up at deployment.
You can also keep local accounts, on their own or alongside SSO: password policy, lockout after repeated failures and a security log. Keeping at least one local administrator account is in fact recommended, so that you can intervene if your identity provider is unavailable.
A direct consequence for your risk analysis
Since the tool is not an online service, there is no hosting subcontractor to contract and oversee, no data transfer to assess, and no dependency on a third party's availability to access your own customer master data.
What your IT department needs to allow.
Outbound flows only, over HTTPS, to public services. No inbound flow from the Internet is required: the application is not meant to be exposed.
Official company register
Single-record queries by identifier, in addition to the local copy of the register used for bulk processing.
VAT number validation
European Commission service, queried one number at a time.
Legal announcements
Lookup of publications relating to insolvency proceedings.
European addressing directory
Check of a customer's presence on the invoice exchange network.
Address normalisation
Public reference service for French postal addresses.
Mail relay
Optional — only if you want the application to notify you by email.
TLS inspection
If your gateway decrypts outbound traffic, your corporate certificate authority must be declared to the application. The point is documented and dealt with at installation: it is not something to discover in production.
A granular permissions module.
Every screen in the application is assigned by role, with three levels: no access, view, edit. You build the profiles that match your organisation yourself — the team that decides on identifiers is not necessarily the one that administers accounts, nor the one that views statistics.
Profiles are configured from within the application, with no involvement from the vendor, and connect to your Entra ID: authentication is then handled by your directory, with your Conditional Access rules and your second factor, while screen assignment remains driven by your business-side administrators.
Every sensitive action is logged. Logins, repeated failures, account changes and decisions taken on the data leave an audit trail you can consult.
Operational tasks come with tooling, not improvisation.
| Task | Who | How |
|---|---|---|
| Backup | IT | Restore points triggered from the application and verified on creation — a backup that has not been read back is not a backup. They fit into your existing policy. |
| Upgrade | IT | Conventional installer, then an upgrade operation triggered from the administration screen. A verified backup is required before any change to the database structure: without one, the operation refuses to start. |
| Before maintenance work | IT | The administration screen lists connected users, lets you notify them and then temporarily close access. The history of shutdowns, restarts and updates is kept. |
| Refreshing the sources | Business users | Triggered from the application by the team that manages the master data. No server access is required: this is not an infrastructure task. |
| Processing decisions | Business users | Dedicated work queues, processed as they come. Every decision is logged under its author's name. |
| Diagnostics | IT | A built-in check verifies the installation, access to the sources and the configuration, and produces a readable report. It serves both for acceptance testing and for later support. |
You buy the software. You do not rent your data.
The model is deliberately simple to take through an investment committee: one purchase, then an optional maintenance contract — and no pricing indexed to how many customers you have.
Perpetual licence — capital expenditure (CAPEX)
You acquire the right to use the software, once. It is installed in your own environment and keeps running for as long as you wish, regardless of any subsequent commercial relationship.
For accounting purposes, it is a capitalised intangible asset: the cost is amortised over time instead of weighing on the operating budget every year.
Optional maintenance — operating expenditure (OPEX)
An application maintenance contract covers corrective and adaptive maintenance (fixes and enhancements). It is optional, subscribed separately, and can be terminated without affecting the licence.
We recommend it: the interfaces of the public registers change, and the regulations even more so. Without maintenance, the tool keeps running — but it does not keep up with those changes.
What you are never billed for, in either case
The data. The six registers used are public and free of charge: there is no data licence, no volume-based billing, and no cost that grows with the size of your customer master data. That is the fundamental difference from a subscription to a B2B data provider.
What to plan for.
Better to know before the scoping meeting than at installation time.
A Windows server dedicated to the application
Physical or virtualised, in your tenant. The web application and its PostgreSQL engine are installed on it together; nothing needs to be exposed to the Internet.
Disk space
Allow around fifteen gigabytes for the application and the embedded public register. The latter is what takes the space: it makes it possible to work without depending on a remote service.
An export of your customer database
In Excel format, from your PMS, ERP or CRM. The column specification is established with your teams during scoping.
Only the data needed for e-invoicing: legal name, SIREN and SIRET, EU VAT number, address. No turnover, no outstanding balances, no commercial history — Base Sociétés has no use for them.
Publishing on your internal network
The application opens in a browser, on your network, and serves over HTTPS from its very first run: TLS 1.2 minimum, automatically generated certificate, Secure session cookie. There is no option to enable and no reverse proxy to install.
The only action expected on your side: replace that certificate with one signed by your PKI, using the certificate signing request (CSR) that the application generates itself. A reverse proxy remains possible if that is your standard.