Feature presentation: Open validation

Like many of our features, open validations are based on a request from our customers. The idea was to easily share a link where partners can validate data without an account. In this article, we present scenarios where this approach is particularly useful.

To make an interface accessible for open validation, log in to the Cargogear platform as an administrator and switch to the Administration area. There, in the list of validation interfaces, you will find a checkbox that allows you to turn open validation on and off.

Onboarding projects with dozens of partners for standard interfaces are very different from single partner connections for special interfaces. In the case of standards, such as order responses, delivery bills, or invoices, you typically don't want to request the same information from each partner individually at project start. Also you probably want to present information for your partners consolidated in one project. In this case, a project with a questionnaire makes sense, in which the partners can provide self-disclosure and retrieve information on their own.

For special interfaces with few partners, on the other hand, it is often necessary to discuss individual data exchange scenarios. Here, the effort to create a project, accounts and a questionnaire may be greater than discussing the requirements verbally and simply sending the partner a link to the open validations for these interfaces. The partner can then directly start with the validation of his data.

You are a logistics service provider and want to show how easy it is to submit transport orders to you? You want to convince potential customers of the advantages of placing orders via EDI and at the same time show that your company is open to modern technologies? Then it might make sense to provide test interfaces in open validation.

In this way, you can also convince future business partners of your qualities in data exchange and thus gain a competitive advantage. Ideally, these new partners validate their test files at an early stage of the business relationship, so that the establishment of data exchange succeeds quickly and is error-free right from the start.

While partners often provide a central contact person when setting up the data exchange, it can be difficult to identify suitable persons at a later stage, for example for data quality projects. Perhaps the partner uses an EDI provider or there are different contact persons for each location. Having to maintain accounts here on an ongoing basis would represent a disproportionate effort.

With open validations, on the other hand, you only need to send the link to your test interfaces once to a contact person. This contact can then forward it internally to all relevant persons. This way, your partners can check individual data records quickly and easily.