rocket How to Managing Trade Partners in GoFreight API Integration
Trade Partners (TPs) are essential entities in GoFreight that represent the vendors and customers involved in your shipments and invoices. When integrating with GoFreight’s API, you’ll need to properly reference these Trade Partners using their unique reference IDs. This guide explains how to effectively obtain and match Trade Partner reference IDs in GoFreight.
For example, when specifying a shipper in a shipment creation request, you’ll use the Trade Partner’s reference ID in the shipper_ref field rather than their name.
Implementation Guide: Matching Trade Partners
To effectively match Trade Partners between your system and GoFreight, we recommend implementing the following comprehensive approach:
Create a Mapping System
Start by establishing a persistent mapping system in your application. This system should:
- Store associations between your system’s vendor names and their corresponding GoFreight Trade Partner reference IDs
- Cache successful matches to minimize API calls and improve performance
Implement the Initial Data Retrieval
Make calls to the GoFreight Get Trade Partners API to retrieve the current list of Trade Partners. The response will include essential information such as:
- TP reference IDs
- TP names
- Additional identifying information like addresses and contact details
Consider storing this information in your mapping system for efficient lookups.
Develop a Robust Matching Process
When integrating systems, Trade Partner names often differ across platforms due to variations in data entry, naming conventions, or business unit preferences. For example, “XYZ Logistics Inc.” in your system might appear as “XYZ Logistics Incorporated” in GoFreight. This makes exact name matching insufficient for reliable integration.
Start with basic name matching by normalizing and comparing Trade Partner names. When this fails, progressively apply more sophisticated matching techniques. Consider implementing fuzzy matching algorithms that can account for common variations in company names, such as differences in legal suffixes (“Inc” vs “Incorporated”) or abbreviated terms. To improve matching accuracy, supplement name comparison with additional data fields when available. Address details, tax ID numbers, or contact information can help confirm matches or resolve ambiguous cases.
The system should track successful matches in a mapping table, allowing for quick lookups in future transactions and reducing the need for repeated matching operations. Since Trade Partner information may change over time, the system may need to handle updation of the mapping table to maintain data accuracy.
Handle Non-Matches and Edge Cases
When your system cannot find a matching Trade Partner in GoFreight, users will need to take additional steps to ensure proper data flow. Users should access the GoFreight Trade Partner management page where they can manually create the new Trade Partner. Once they’ve added the Trade Partner in GoFreight, your system should re-attempt the matching process to establish the connection between your system’s Trade Partner and the newly created GoFreight entry.
