Opening shipment-tracking APIs to 40 partners
How we would help a logistics company replace file transfers and one-off integrations with a single, secure set of APIs for its retail and marketplace partners.
This is a composite example built from common enterprise requirements. It is not a specific client engagement, and the figures are design targets for the scenario, not measured results.
Forty partners, forty integrations
Each retail or marketplace partner had its own integration: some received hourly CSV files over SFTP, some called an old SOAP service, two had direct database access. Adding a partner took weeks. A missed file meant customers saw stale tracking.
What we would do
- One contract: a tracking API and a webhook for status changes, designed with three friendly partners and written in OpenAPI.
- Gateway and portal: partner sign-up, keys, sandbox and documentation in one place.
- Events behind the API: status changes published once, delivered to partner webhooks with retries.
- Strict object checks: every request verifies that the shipment belongs to the calling partner.
- Migrate partners in batches, keeping the old file feeds running until each partner is live.
- Retire direct database access first, because it is the highest risk.
Targets and how they are checked
| Measure | Target | Checked by |
|---|---|---|
| Time to onboard a partner | Days instead of weeks | Onboarding records |
| Tracking freshness | Minutes instead of hours | Event delivery metrics |
| Partners seeing others' data | Never | Automated authorisation tests on every release |
What we would flag
- Partners move at their own pace. Old feeds may need to run for months.
- Webhooks need care. Partners' endpoints go down; retries and a replay option are essential.
- Versioning discipline matters from day one, because forty partners will depend on the contract.
Untangling integrations, or opening APIs to partners?
Tell us which systems need to talk, who will call your APIs, and what breaks today. We will come back with a plain view of the right structure, what to change first, and what to leave alone.