Frequently asked questions
What is PDK?
PDK is a standard of electronic communication between suppliers and recipients of pharmaceutical and medical goods in the Czech Republic. Its most widespread and most used variant is the electronic delivery note.
What is the Czech PDK format and what is it for?
The Czech PDK format is a standardised format created by PharmData for automated electronic data exchange between manufacturers, suppliers and the distribution network — distributors, wholesalers, dealers, traders and also the end recipients: university hospitals, regional hospitals, area and community hospitals, outpatient clinics, clinics, laboratories, pharmacy chains, individual pharmacies, medical-supply retailers and other customers…
How does the PDK format work and how to use it?
It is a format for Czech electronic delivery notes and their simple, user-driven, semi-automated or automated transfer between supplier, distributor and the end recipient. A manufacturer uses it to communicate with pharmacy wholesalers, a distributor in turn with pharmacies. The maintainer of the PDK code list continuously improves and updates the format to match the current needs of the pharmacy wholesale distribution network. Delivery notes in the PDK format can be imported and exported electronically through the dedicated export gateway pdkexport.cz developed and operated by ONLINE APPS s.r.o. (www.onlineapps.cz). For its customers we handle all technical aspects of this communication for an affordable monthly fee, including changes and updates from the format maintainer. Customers can stop worrying about new updates and any new communication specifics.
Why use electronic delivery notes in the PDK format?
Habits die hard, and someone who has been used to sending delivery notes in Excel or PDF for ten years will be reluctant to leave that practice behind. The other side of the coin, however, is the receiving party — the recipient. Manually re-typing delivery notes into a system, checking them row by row, the high human-error rate, the huge time and therefore financial cost and the related need for many administrative staff at goods receipt — that is the downside of the current way. The need for a machine-processable standard has been obvious for a long time; postponing the use of Czech electronic delivery notes is possible but unsustainable in the long term. More and more recipients realise this and are switching to electronic delivery notes in PDK. For some it is already a condition for cooperation. Those who still accept old non-standardised delivery notes strongly recommend the PDK format to their partners. By the logic of things, sooner or later anyone resisting this trend gains a competitive disadvantage.
Is using the PDK format too complex?
Using the PDK format is simple and very effective. Through the pdkexport.cz service it is possible to connect PDK to virtually any accounting system, connect to invoice exports in the ISDOC standard, in XML, CSV, JSON, ISDOC/IDOC, or some other machine-readable format.
Just sign up for the service, tell our team your needs by phone and agree on the best integration approach.
Can Czech PDK delivery notes also be used for Slovakia?
For Slovakia there is the Slovak standard ADC, which is effectively a counterpart of the Czech PDK standard. Both PDK and ADC are local implementations of the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) concept used in international EDI. ADC is implemented in pdkexport.cz and is used by suppliers shipping to Slovakia. For pdkexport.cz users delivering to both CZ and SK the benefit is that they do not have to deal with format differences. You decide at the start which recipient receives which format and from then on the electronic delivery notes are always emitted in the matching format.
What about the Unique Device Identifier (UDI) that is to become mandatory under EU legislation?
UDI is a unique barcode for every product. The PDK delivery note carries UDI from version 19; older versions do not. Some distributors therefore use their own PDK-format extension that adds UDI and other parameters (such as SÚKL). The pdkexport.cz service supports those extensions too. If you want to include UDI on your electronic delivery notes today, that is possible — provided the recipient also supports it.
What does the PDK acronym mean?
PDK stands for PharmData kód (the Czech for "PharmData code"), i.e. the code list where every pharmacy product has a unique code. Under valid Czech legislation no medical goods can be sold to pharmacies without this designation, i.e. delivered to the Czech pharmacy distribution network.
The PDK code is therefore central to every supply of goods to pharmacies and to the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.
Who is PharmData?
The company PharmData, s.r.o. was founded in 1997 by the Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers AVEL to manage the pharmacy goods code list. You can contact this company for registration of a new user, new products or changes to existing ones.
Is PharmData registration mandatory to use the PDK format?
Given the cost of official product listing, some larger recipients have introduced their own code lists that act as an alternative to the PDK code, assigning their suppliers custom PDK codes for free within supplier-recipient agreements.
PharmData registration is therefore not mandatory to use the format. The only requirement is to agree on the identifier used with the recipient.
What is the .DOD extension?
Delivery notes in the PDK format use the .DOD extension.
What does it take to handle delivery notes for Phoenix, Perfect Distribution, Dr Max or another distributor or healthcare facility online?
It is simple. Sign up via our sign-up form and follow the instructions you will receive by e-mail.
Whom can pdkexport.cz deliver to electronically?
The pdkexport.cz application lets manufacturers of medical goods generate electronic delivery notes to the largest pharmacy wholesale networks, hospitals, laboratories and small target pharmacies. Drug producers, suppliers of medical materials and devices can use this application to automatically communicate data with the central warehouses of the main Czech drug distributors: Phoenix, Pharmos, Alliance Healthcare, ViaPharma, Agel, Perfect Distribution, Dr Max and more.
The service also lets suppliers generate electronic delivery notes to all the recipients who support electronic delivery notes. Delivery notes in PDK are very welcome to all recipients running on ESO9, Mediox 3000 from Apatyka and other systems.
Can pdkexport.cz be used with the SAP information system?
You can use the application regardless of the business or accounting system you use: SAP, Pohoda, Helios, Money S3, Altus Vario, the Ekonom accounting program, Abra, ERP, MRP, Cézar or any other. The application is web-based and therefore independent of the accounting system. It is also independent of the operating system or web browser. All you need to use it is a computer, phone or tablet with a web browser and an internet connection.
Can exports be fully automated?
Yes, full automation is possible. For customers whose needs go beyond the level of automation included in the standard pdkexport.cz tariffs we offer individual solutions. We can integrate an accounting bridge into your accounting program per your specific needs. FTP or EMAIL API can be used as an automated communication channel. Get in touch for this purpose. To understand each other better, send us a list of PDK codes for your goods or at least the number of items. Also send us the rough export frequency, the typical number of items on a single document and the accounting software and version you use. We will propose the most suitable solution based on this information.
Through our service it is possible to convert data your accounting software or information system can export as CSV or XML into the PDK format.
How does a delivery note reach the recipient?
We deliver the issued delivery note to the recipient automatically. In addition to standard channels — MEDIDATA e-Kurýr, delivery API gates, shared storage and e-mail — we support recipient-specific solutions on demand. The delivery channel and the output format are set for each recipient separately, so one input file can end up in different outputs depending on the recipient. See Accepted formats for an overview.
What is e-Kurýr and how does PDK Export deliver delivery notes through it?
e-Kurýr is a MEDIDATA service for the electronic delivery of delivery notes to hospitals and pharmacies. The name is often also written as eKurýr, ekurýr or e-kurýr — it is the same service. If a recipient takes delivery notes through e-Kurýr, pdkexport.cz is set to deliver to that recipient via e-Kurýr, together with the recipient's e-Kurýr recipient code; the supplier needs its own registration in the e-Kurýr system for this. Issued delivery notes for that recipient are then sent this way. We fine-tune the delivery set-up with you during onboarding.
Which versions of the PDK delivery note do you support?
We cover the PDK delivery note in versions 7 to 21, from the 2008 revision to the version effective 1 January 2026. The version is dictated by what the recipient's system accepts and is set for each recipient separately. Newer versions may not be supported by every recipient system. Details are in the description of the output formats.
Can you issue anything other than PDK?
Yes. Besides the PDK delivery note we support the Lekis DL interface (DL6 and DL7) and Lekis XML v4, the EDI DESADV despatch advice in the XML profile of the ORION (GRIT) communicator, and the ADC / NR SYS format for Slovakia. Which output a recipient gets again depends on what its system accepts. See Output formats.
From which accounting and ERP systems can you issue a PDK delivery note?
We run imports for exports from, among others, SAP (IDoc as XML and XLSX spreadsheets), Money S3 and Money S5 (XML), Pohoda (XML), Helios (XML), Premier (ISDOC), Byznys ERP (ISDOC and CSV), Altus Vario (ISDOC), and for CSV exports from the Servant warehouse system. We also accept files already in the PDK format and, for new integrations, our canonical pdk-conversion-delivery-note format (JSON / XML). We take care of mapping your export to the gateway's input during onboarding — just send us a sample export, even if your system is not on the list. More on the Accepted formats page.
Can a PDK delivery note be issued without an accounting system?
Yes. With manual entry a signed-in supplier fills in the document directly in a web form — the recipient, number and date, then the individual items (product, quantity, price, VAT rate, and batch and expiry where needed). Once saved, the gateway issues the PDK delivery note and delivers it to the recipient. It suits a small catalogue and low frequency; when the volume grows, moving to file upload or full automation is usually straightforward.
Do you also process orders and invoices, not just delivery notes?
Yes. Electronic orders from the recipient — by e-mail, from the MEDIDATA server or as an EDI ORDERS message — are converted into your system's format or delivered straight to its API. We also process an invoice as the basis for a delivery note — as ISDOC, as an EDI INVOIC message or as an accounting export. If you already run EDI, we work with DESADV, INVOIC and ORDERS messages.
How can I view a PDK order (.OBJ file)?
The Electronic orders page has a Load a PDK order form. Upload a file with the .OBJ or .TXT extension (at most 512 KiB) and the order is shown as a clear table with its header and items, which you can download as PDF, CSV or XLSX. No sign-in is needed. The form reads orders in the PDK communication format, versions 8 to 22.
Is it safe to use pdkexport.cz over Internet Explorer on MS Windows?
Yes — pdkexport.cz uses a high level of data security. The terms also guarantee discreet handling of all data. Third-party data leaks are explicitly excluded. Being a multi-platform application, you can safely use it on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS, iOS or mobile devices such as Android or iPad.