Written for: IT and system owners, trade management at carriers with OEM contracts
Contents
A carrier with several manufacturer contracts rarely receives forecasts in one format. The largest partners send EDI messages from their own systems. Mid-sized ones may connect by API. Smaller ones email a spreadsheet or upload a file.
Each channel can work. The mistake is choosing one before knowing what partners send, how often, and how changes are handled.
The three channels compared
| EDI | API | File upload | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical partner | Large manufacturer with established logistics IT | Partner with modern systems and developer capacity | Smaller manufacturer or one-off shipper |
| Set-up effort | High: message standards, mapping, testing per partner | Medium: agreed endpoints and data model | Low: a template and validation rules |
| Update frequency | Scheduled or event-driven | On demand | When someone uploads |
| Error handling | Acknowledgements and rejection messages | Error responses in real time | Validation messages to the person uploading |
| Main risk | Long onboarding per partner | Partner capacity to build and maintain | Template drift and manual mistakes |
What to settle before choosing
- The minimum dataset. Cargo type, volume, period, origin and destination, and the contract reference.
- How amendments work. Does a new forecast replace the old one, or add to it?
- Who resolves rejections. A forecast that fails validation needs an owner on both sides.
- How often data arrives. A weekly forecast and a daily one need different matching rules.
Most carriers need more than one channel
Supporting only EDI shuts out smaller partners. Supporting only upload burdens the largest ones. A common pattern is EDI or API for the biggest partners and a validated upload template for the rest, with all three feeding the same matching rules. How forecasts are then matched to allocation is covered in From forecast to booking.
Why this capability matters
How forecasts arrive decides how fast they can be matched and confirmed. A carrier that supports the channels its partners actually use, with the same rules behind all of them, onboards new contracts faster and spends less time correcting data.
Map your partner formats
List your OEM partners, the format each sends today, how often and how exceptions are handled. Bring the list to a conversation about which channels to support.
Cartagena builds these capabilities together with each customer, as tailored solutions on the Microsoft platform.
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