Custom iSHARE integration development
In logistics, everyone wants each other's data: the status of a shipment, a time slot, a container, a document. Giving every partner their own integration and their own agreements is expensive and insecure. Appfront builds integrations with iSHARE, the trust framework for data sharing, so you share data with the parties you give permission to and request data from others yourself, with the same rules for everyone.
What is an iSHARE integration?
iSHARE is a trust framework for sharing data securely between organisations. It originated in the Dutch Topsector Logistics, has been open to anyone who wants to join since 2018, and is managed by the iSHARE Foundation. The framework covers three things: identification, authentication and authorisation. As a result, participants don't need to sign a separate contract with every partner. Since 2021, iSHARE has worked on a federated basis: dataspaces operate independently, with satellites that safeguard trust within that dataspace.
An iSHARE integration makes your system a participant in that framework. If you offer data, such as the status of shipments or time slots, the integration checks with every request who is asking and whether that party has permission. If you request data from someone else, the integration identifies your organisation in a way the other party can verify. Without such a framework, this runs through separate accounts, shared passwords and emails with export files.
We build custom solutions because every organisation shares different data and has different partners. Which systems hold data, which partners ask for it, which dataspace you operate in and who gets which rights determine what the integration needs to do. If your software supplier already offers an iSHARE connection that does what you need, custom development isn't necessary, and we'll tell you so.
One framework
The same rules for everyone.
You decide
Who can see what.
No separate accounts
With every partner.
How we build your iSHARE integration
We start with your data and your partners: which data do you want to share or request, with whom, in which dataspace, and which systems hold that data. Then we build a first integration for the exchange with the biggest payoff, often the status of shipments or time slots with a fixed partner. You work with it for a while. Further partners, data and authorisations follow if that goes well. After that, we maintain the integration as the framework or your partners change.
Data and partners.
With one partner.
More partners and data.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What an iSHARE integration actually does
The components below feature in almost every iSHARE integration. Which ones you need depends on your role and your partners.
Identification
Your organisation, identifiable.
Authentication
With certificate and token.
Authorisation
Per partner and data item.
Data service
What you offer.
Requesting
From other participants.
Log
Every request logged.
Who we build an iSHARE integration for
The integration is intended for organisations in the supply chain that share data with many partners and no longer want to do so through separate accounts and export files.
Transport operators
Status and documents.
Shippers
Visibility of shipments.
Terminals
Time slots and containers.
Software companies
Connecting their software.
Technology and integrations
This page is about connecting to iSHARE. For digital freight documents, see our page on eFTI integration and our page on eCMR integration, and for logistics in general, our page on automating logistics processes. You can read about our approach on building software.
Why Appfront for your iSHARE integration?
Shared passwords, an account per partner or an export emailed around make data sharing in the supply chain slow and vulnerable. That's what we build on: one framework with the same rules for everyone, permissions you manage yourself, and a log of every request.
Safer
No shared passwords.
Faster onboarding
New partner, same rules.
In control yourself
Who can see what.
Security and privacy in an iSHARE integration
Data sharing involves business data from you and your partners, and sometimes personal data of drivers too. The integration only releases data to parties you have given permission, checks identity and authorisation on every request, stores certificates and keys encrypted, and logs every request.
The part we build runs in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage and daily backups. We set out the processing in an agreement and align with the requirements of the framework and of your data space.
Frequently asked questions about an iSHARE integration
Questions organisations ask before they get started.
iSHARE is a trust framework for sharing data securely between organisations, which originated in the Dutch Topsector Logistiek and is managed by the iSHARE Foundation. It covers identification, authentication and authorisation, so participants can share data without having to agree a separate contract with every partner.
It makes your system a participant in the framework. If you provide data, the integration checks on every request who is asking and whether that party has permission. If you request data, the integration identifies your organisation so the other side can verify it.
An organisation joins as a participant in the framework or in a data space, with the certificates and agreements that come with it. We'll look at which steps your role requires and what the integration does in them during the first step.
For sharing via the framework, yes. If some partners don't work with iSHARE yet, the integration can offer them another route temporarily, so you don't have to wait until everyone has joined.
You do. You define what is permitted per partner and per type of data. The integration checks this on every request, and you can withdraw permission at any time.
The integration records who asked for what and why it was refused, without releasing any data. That way you can see which partner is missing an authorisation, and add it if that was the intention.
For organisations that share data with many partners or request data from many partners, and for software vendors who want to connect their system to iSHARE. If you share with one fixed partner through an existing integration that works well, you don't need iSHARE straight away.
Sharing data without separate accounts?
Tell us which data you share with which partners and how that works now. We'll show you how an iSHARE integration can handle it.