Preparation
As our team was preparing for German hotel systems migration, I was responsible for validating fiscal integrations and supporting technical readiness during hotel onboarding. I began by reviewing documentation on the fiscal setup process within our administrative dashboard, as well as Linux middleware installation procedures on a property-level server. This also involved studying official TSE documentation to understand the structure of the fiscal interface, signature requirements, and relevant technical standards — Guideline BSI TR-03153, KassenSichV / DSFinV-K. To ensure consistency in implementation, I mapped out an SOP for fiscal validation during German migrations.
Discovery
While on-site at one of the properties, I ran a quick SQL check on the local database to validate the installation status of the fiscal integration by checking presence of a certain integration type. It was not installed. Upon reviewing a few additional German sites, I recognised a wider pattern and manually confirmed similar gaps. This prompted development of a tool, which swept 40+ German hotel instances for fiscal module status — revealing that 33% had NO software installation to work with the mandatory fiscal interface.
I then began reviewing the dedicated property fiscal reports to identify functional issues, not just uninstalled integration. I reused the PowerShell script above, replacing the invoked SQL command and changing the connection to a report database. I uncovered some consistent issues, from signatures not created to transactions not sent to the TSE server. Turns out the total number of transactions amounts to millions.
Outcomes
• Following escalation, migrations for German region have been temporarily paused, to prevent any potential costly compliance issues.
• I was temporarily assigned to the openings team to deepen my understanding of TSE behavior, resulting in creation of detailed documentation for fiscal processes.
• The tool has since been adopted by our team to use in preparation for German migrations.
• I learned that fiscal compliance systems rarely scream when they’re broken — they just quietly log non-compliant transactions.