Transcript FMCSA Internet App-to-App Data Transactions

FMCSA use of
XML and Web Services
Jeff N. Hall
Traffic Records Forum
July 14, 2003
Quote
“… XML and Web Services are becoming the language of
business and that deciding not to invest and go in that direction
would be similar to deciding not to invest in having a telephone
number or even a web site for your business.”
Neil Charney
Director, Platform Strategy Group, Microsoft
June, 2003
Agenda
 What are XML & web services?
 XML examples
 Web services examples
 SAFER/CVISN
 Issues & lessons learned
 Summary
What is XML?
 W3C specification (International standard)
 Tagged document (like HTML)
 Uses dynamic tags (unlike HTML)
 Is human readable & flexible
 Is interoperable between any two
systems/environments
 FMCSA standard data exchange format
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
- <T0032 xmlns="http://www.safersys.org/namespaces/T0032V1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.safersys.org/namespaces/T0032V1 T0032V1.xsd">
- <INTERFACE>
<NAME>SAFER</NAME>
<VERSION>04.02</VERSION>
</INTERFACE>
- <TRANSACTION>
<VERSION>01.00</VERSION>
<OPERATION>REPLACE</OPERATION>
<DATE_TIME>2002-02-11T15:05:00</DATE_TIME>
<TZ>ED</TZ>
</TRANSACTION>
- <LICENSING_INSURANCE>
<CARRIER_ID_NUMBER>6789</CARRIER_ID_NUMBER>
<DOCKET_NUMBER>90807</DOCKET_NUMBER>
<BOND_TRUST_FUND_REQD>1</BOND_TRUST_FUND_REQD>
<BOND_TRUST_FUND_STATUS>1</BOND_TRUST_FUND_STATUS>
<BOND_TRUST_FUND_SUMMARY>VALID</BOND_TRUST_FUND_SUMMARY>
<BROKER_AUTH_DATE_INACTIVE>2002-08-02</BROKER_AUTH_DATE_INACTIVE>
<BROKER_AUTH_REASON_INACTIVE>567</BROKER_AUTH_REASON_INACTIVE>
<BROKER_AUTH_STATUS>1</BROKER_AUTH_STATUS>
<CANADIAN_ID>2090407</CANADIAN_ID>
<CARGO_INSURANCE_REQD>1</CARGO_INSURANCE_REQD>
What is a Web Service?
 Self-contained business functions that operate over
a network (e.g. Internet)
 Emerging technology for exchanging information
 Standards based and interoperable between any two
systems/platforms
 Enable application-to-application interaction
without human intervention
 Two-way communication
 FMCSA standard data exchange method
Query Central (QC)
 Secure information retrieval via the Internet
 Single input retrieves data from multiple
sources (replaces stovepipe systems)
 Data from authoritative source in real time
 Provides data analysis & summarization
 External data retrieved in XML format
 Data specific to inspections & investigations
MX
SCT
TML
MX
LIFIS
State
CDLIS
Query Central
Data Flow
XML
Query Central
Application
Security
Internet
XML
CVIEW
& ITDS
Web
Service
HTTP
FMCSA
Internal
Databases
This slide contained CDLIS driver text which
was removed for security and privacy
reasons. The point of the text was to show
how cumbersome it was for enforcement
personnel to read through the text to find
important data.
This slide contained a screen shot from Query Central
which displayed driver information. It was removed
for security and privacy reasons.
The point of this screenshot was to show how the use
of XML allows QC to summarize the data and alert
the user to possible problems, in this case a driver
without a valid CDL.
Motor Carrier Profile
 Originally an ASCII text report
 Replaced in 2002 with two documents


Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) document for reading
XML document for analysis
 XML document provides ability to analyze
profile data (ProVu)
FMCSA Web Services
 Inspection Selection System database refresh

Automatically detect status & perform refresh
 CAPRI review upload to MCMIS

Move data up, integrate into central Oracle DB, and
return confirmation or error report
 FMCSA (QC) / Customs (ITDS/ACE) interface
for southern border pre-clearance and clearance

Driver, vehicle, & carrier data sent to QC, checked
against multiple data sources, return pass/fail
SAFER/CVISN
 SAFER 4.2 supports


XML data format
FTP data transfer method
 Volpe CVIEW XML Certification available
 Reference - SAFER 4.2 ICD
 XML documentation

http://www.jhuapl.edu/cvisn/downdocs/safer.html
Lessons Learned
 XML and web services are relatively new and
require training on both sides of any transaction
 Party generating XML should also use it
 Coordination is key to success
 We need standardized XML vocabularies
 Important to include an XML schema and data
dictionary
 XML/web services are cheap and flexible relative
to EDI
Summary
 XML is a valuable data format for
exchanging data between disparate systems
 Web Services are the best method for
automating the movement of data between
applications over the Internet
 FMCSA has standardized on both