New partner integrations in days, not projects
A middleware layer connects the operator's core systems and translates for partner systems that were never standardised, so data moves between them without anyone rekeying it.
- Time to connect a new partner system
- DaysTime to connect a new partner systemDown from an integration project per connection
- Data rekeyed by hand between core systems
- 0Data rekeyed by hand between core systemsMovements between core systems are automated end to end
- Partner formats the layer translates
- Non-standardPartner formats the layer translatesEach partner's own format, mapped once
- Customer
- Logistics operator with multiple core systems and many partner systems
- Scope
- Core system connectivity and partner translation
The gaps between systems
Most of the pain in a large logistics business sits in the gaps between systems. This operator had the usual estate: a transport system, a warehouse system, a finance system, and a long tail of customer and vendor systems, each with its own data model and its own idea of what a shipment is.
Middleware broke. Data was rekeyed by hand between systems that were never designed to work together. And every new customer or vendor became a project of its own, because their system spoke yet another dialect.
What we built
A middleware layer with two jobs.
It connects the core. Transport, warehouse and finance systems exchange data automatically, with one canonical model in the middle, so a shipment created in one place exists everywhere it needs to.
It translates for partners. Non-standardised partner systems are mapped to the canonical model once. From then on their data flows in and out in their own format, and nobody rekeys it.
What it produced
New integrations take days, not projects. Onboarding a customer or vendor is a mapping exercise rather than a development programme.
Inside the operation, data moves without rekeying, which removes both the labour and the errors that came with it. The same layer became the foundation for the operator's billing and reporting automation, because for the first time the operational data was in one place and trustworthy.
Products used
- Middleware