8MS User Guide
Carrier Express Administration
Main Help Page

This section of the user guide documents administrative information related to Carrier Express. Since Carrier Express features have been integrated into the existing 8MS system there are no specific screens for configuring Carrier Express within 8MS.

Access to Carrier Express features within 8MS is controlled by assigning a Carrier Express API user to an 8MS company and granting that user access to one or more carriers within Carrier Express. This user is treated as a non-8MS user although it is provisioned in 8MS. There may be multiple Carrier Express platforms running, each of which has access to a different set of carriers. An 8MS company is granted access to a single Carrier Express platform. Once the company has been given access to Carrier Express, the company's users will be given access to screens that allow provisioning of data on Carrier Express. Provisioning messages are sent to Carrier Express using the Company assigned Carrier Express API user.

Access to Carrier Express on 8MS is granted to a company, not a user. Prior to configuration on 8MS, a company and user are created on Carrier Express. This may only be done by a member of the Carrier Express Support Team. Now a user must now be created on 8MS with the exact same login and password as exists on Carrier Express. This 8MS user will be given Carrier Express API access to one or more carriers within Carrier Express. After setting up the user and associating it with the company via Company Preferences, carrier provisioning users should be given access to the carrier provisioning screens. The following process describes all the steps necessary to configuring a company for Carrier Express access.

  1. Create a new API Type or select an existing one that grants access to the required carriers for this company. This is done using the API Types screen. The API Types screen has a series of checkboxes, one for each carrier. Select each carrier this company will need to update. Access to individual 8MS API calls on this screen may be ignored since these API calls have to do with access to 8MS, not Carrier Express, and this user will be making API calls to Carrier Express, not 8MS.
  2. Now create a new user using the Users screen. This user must belong to this company. The API Type selected should be the one created in the previous step. The User Type selected should grant access to the Password screen and nothing more, since this login should not be used as an 8MS user.
    There is no technical requirement in 8MS that the Carrier Express API user be treated as a special user. This user could be treated as a normal user and could be used for provisioning in 8MS. It is highly recommended that this be avoided to prevent confusion with management of regular 8MS users.
  3. Two Company Preferences need to be set: CarExpUser and CarExpUrl. CarExpUser should be set to the newly created user. This identifies this user as the one Carrier Express API user for this company on this 8MS platform. Since there may be multiple Carrier Express platforms, CarExpUrl should be set to the url of the Carrier Express platform to be used. This value will need to be obtained from a member of the Carrier Express Support Team.
  4. Each 8MS user (except the Carrier Express API User) will need to be granted access to one or more carrier tabs on the Record Management and Disconnect screens. Access to tabs is granted on the User Types screen. The User Types screen has a series of checkboxes, one for each possible tab in Record Management and Disconnect. Select all appropriate tabs. Users should probably also be given access to the Search Local CarExp screen. If a user has access to the SMS Msg Status screen then access should probably be given to the CarExpMsg Status screen. The same is true for the TFNR Comm Status and CarExpLink Status screen; having access to one implies granting access to the other.
  5. If this company has an 8MS API client, the 8MS user used by the client will need to be granted access to the 8MS/Carrier Express API calls. This is done on the API Types screen. All Carrier Express API calls are grouped under their own section titled Carrier Express Requests. The API Guide documents these API calls.