Why use our APIs?
How our APIs can help you expand the power of TruckMate
Embed TruckMate Content
Our APIs allow you to embed TruckMate content and functionality into your own applications. You can call data from the Master Data APIs, and then perform dozens of functions on that data—from setting up appointment times to providing rate quotes—using the TruckMate APIs.
The APIs can not only alleviate repetitive back-office tasks, such as data entry, but also help ensure accuracy so that jobs and forms are done right, the first time.
How do our APIs work?
APIs allow a software application to interact with other software. TruckMate APIs are built using RESTful protocol, the most common method for safe and secure information transfer over the Internet.
Our APIs perform two essential functions:
- They create, retrieve, update or delete TruckMate data and share it among various applications. This provides a single source of truth for information ranging from customer details to your rating rules.
- They perform tasks on that data to get a desired result. The example below on this page shows how data pulled from APIs can be used to automate the process of completing and processing a New Quote form for customers.
Access levels can also be set for data available through the APIs. For example, an internal application might have access to all of your fleet’s records, while you limit a customer’s access to only their own records.
What can you do with our APIs?
When our APIs are licensed, software developers have access to hundreds of API endpoints, with each endpoint allowing them to perform a specific action on TruckMate data. They can use these endpoints to build new software tools or add-ons to in-house software to take advantage of the power of TruckMate. The possibilities are endless.
Example: A New Quote Form
A common use case for TruckMate APIs is to create a custom New Quote form for customers. Many carriers provide this type of form on a public web site to help quickly and easily generate business opportunities from new and existing customers.
The graphic below highlights the API endpoints that can be used to complete and process the form. It uses both the Master Data (blue boxes) and TruckMate (green box) API endpoints.
- The GET /clients endpoint retrieves TruckMate client profiles. This can be used so a customer name can be selected from a drop-down menu, assuring it matches what is in the TruckMate database.
- The GET /serviceLevels endpoint retrieves service level code records that can be used to describe the type of service on a freight bill. Customers can choose from a drop-down menu.
- The GET /commodities endpoint retrieves commodity code records that can be used to describe the type of freight on a freight bill. Customers can choose from a drop-down menu.
- The GET /aChargeCodes retrieved TruckMate accessorial charge codes so that customers can choose them from a drop-down menu.
- Finally, after all the information is entered, the POST /tm/orders?type=q endpoint takes in all of the information from the form and creates a rate quote based on the ratesheets configured in TruckMate.