Connection Accelerator is a new self-service feature within the project44 Connection Center that automates the process of connecting with your carriers. It eliminates the need for manual ticketing or invites for carrier onboarding across all modes and functions, allowing you to rapidly expand your network, achieve immediate return on investment (ROI), and begin tracking shipments sooner.

Step-by-Step Guide to Connecting with Carriers

Follow these steps to leverage the Connection Accelerator and quickly connect your desired carriers.

Step 1: Access Connection Center

1. Log in to project44 Movement.
2. Navigate to Network > Connection Center.
3. Select the All Records tab.
4. Click Add carriers.

Step 2: Download the Carrier Template

On the “Add carriers” screen, download the provided template.

Note: A single template supports all modes and offerings. Specific data requirements are detailed within the template.

Tip: Each requested service (a unique combination of mode and function) for a carrier requires its own row in the file. A carrier might appear multiple times if you're requesting different services or modes for them.

Step 3: Fill Out the Carrier Template

Open the template and accurately fill out all required columns for each carrier you want to add to your project44 network.

Required Columns for All Modes

• Carrier Name
• Mode:
  • Accepted entries: FTL, Ocean P2P, Ocean D2D, LTL, Air P2P, Air D2D, Parcel
  • Not currently in scope: Last Mile, Rail
• Function List:
  • Accepted entries: Tracking, Shipment Initialization, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Documents
• Expected Annual Volume

Mode-Specific Requirements

• Full Truckload (FTL): 
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • Carrier Origin Region must be provided
    •  Accepted entries: NA, EU, MEA, APAC, LATAM, China
  • At least one provided identifier must be VAT or DOT/MC if the indicated origin region is EMEA or NA.
• Less Than Truckload (LTL):
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
  • Carrier Origin Region must be provided
    •  Accepted entries: NA, EU, MEA, APAC, LATAM, China
• Ocean P2P: At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
• Air P2P: At least one sample shipment identifier of AWB must be provided 
• Ocean D2D: 
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
• Air D2D: 
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
• Parcel: At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.

Accepted Offerings (Mode and Function Pairs)

• FTL: Tracking, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Shipment Initialization, Documents 
• Ocean P2P: Tracking, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Shipment Initialization 
• Ocean D2D: Tracking
• LTL: Tracking, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Shipment Initialization, Documents
• Air P2P: Tracking
• Air D2D: Tracking
• Parcel: Tracking 

Step 4: Upload Your File and/or Correct Errors

After completing your template, upload the file through the Connection Center interface.

If there are any errors in your file, they will be displayed on the next screen.

You will have the option to download a diagnostic file that highlights rows with errors, and includes the error reason, allowing you to correct them and re-upload the file from the same screen. Alternatively, you can proceed to the next step by clicking “Add Carriers” and only the correct rows will proceed to the next step.

• Option A: Download the diagnostic file (containing error reasons), correct the data and re-upload.
• Option B: Click Add Carriers to proceed with only the valid rows.

Step 5: Review Carrier Analysis

Once your file is processed, Connection Center will display the results of your carrier analysis against the project44 Network. 

The carrier analysis screen is a tabular overview, with each requested mode represented by a dedicated tab. The purpose of this readout is to give you a clear understanding of which carriers are already within the project44 network, which are outside, and what the current state of the connections are with the carrier for the requested offering. 

Understanding Network Status

Each carrier will be categorized as In or Out of Network:

In Network: Carriers that have successfully shared any category of data with project44 at any point in time

This may be tracking, rating, or any other type of data i.e. not necessarily the data type you have requested as a part of your carrier analysis, but they are active within our network.  

Out of Network: Carriers that have never shared any data with project44 

Understanding Offering Status

The support status describes the relationship between the requested offering and the carrier 

Carriers can and do support multiple offering types (tracking, rating, booking etc.) with project44. Depending on the SKUs you have purchased and are attempting to onboard, you will see the status of your carrier for that offering in the project44 system. 

• Instant Live Connection (Green): The carrier has provided data for this offering in the last 12 months AND the connection will be ready to use instantly. It will immediately be available under the “Live Network” tab of Connection Center.  
• Active Connection (Blue): The carrier has provided data for this offering within the last 12 months. Going live with these connections likely requires an invitation to be accepted by the carrier or an API credential to be added. 
• Inactive Connection (Grey): The carrier has provided data for this offering in the past, but not within the last 12 months. Reactivation timelines may vary depending on the reason the carrier became inactive.  
• In Development Offering (White): The carrier has built a new connection with project44 in the last 90 days to support this offering, but the connection has not yet been successfully used  
• New Integration Required (Yellow): The carrier has never supported this offering.  

Note: A minority of carriers that are marked as Out of Network and New integration required may be undergoing a manual review by our network team due to an insufficient match in our system. If this is the case, your account team will reach out to you directly. 

Based on the current offering status, customers can understand approximately how long connection with a carrier will take for that type of data.

Duplicate requests: If a customer submits a connection request for a carrier/offering pair that they already have an open request for i.e. a request that is not in a live or cancelled state, the duplicate will be rejected (it will appear with a line through it). If a customer submits a duplicate request for a connection that is already live or cancelled, it will be accepted and passed through to the network team to evaluate. 

Step 6: Set Communication Preferences

Click Confirm and Complete Onboarding.

1. You will first be asked what language you would like your carrier invites to be sent it.

This language only applies to FTL carrier invites and only one language can be selected at a time. The default language is English. If you require invitations to be send in multiple languages, we recommend uploading multiple carrier lists, split by language needed. 

2. You will also be asked if you would like to be cc’d on communication with the carrier

If you select "Yes," you will be asked to enter an email address. This email address will be included on any outreach our network team sends to carriers. This will NOT apply to automated invites sent to FTL carriers.

Step 7: Initiate Carrier Connections

Once you have set your communication preferences, click Begin Onboarding.

You will receive a confirmation message, and the onboarding flow will automatically close, returning you to the Connection Center. In the background, project44 will initiate automated connection actions. You may see any of the following actions/statuses in Connection Center:

• Invited: Only applies to FTL carriers. Carrier has been invited to the project44 network if new. This invite will allow them to begin self-service onboarding. If they are already within the project44 network, the invite indicates that your company is requesting to receive data from them, and the carrier can accept or reject.
• Ticketing: A ticket has been created for our network team to review your connection request. 
• Pending: These connections require customer credentials to begin data flow. Customers can enter necessary credentials directly from Connection Center.
• Live: Connection is live on the project44 network 

You will see pending and live connections appear in your Connection Center instance with updated statuses. Connection center is made up of two tabs: Live Network and All Records.

Live network tab: The Live Network tab displays all of the carriers who have connections which are live with you, the customer. Users can view specific metrics and insight cards on data availability, milestone completeness, ping frequency, and latency related to their live connections for each carrier.

All records tab: The All-records tab displays all of the carriers that have been uploaded to Connection Center to be onboarded, or that were discovered as open requests by project44. Customer users can easily view metrics and insight cards on carrier onboarding status & responsible party for next steps on connection development, as well as the progress to being live with all carriers on their network.

Note: All modes and open requests are currently supported and visible in the All Records tab. However, certain modes, specifically Air and Parcel, are not yet supported in the Live Network tab. As a result, when Air and Parcel connections move to a Live status, they will continue to display with the correct status in the All Records tab, but they will not appear in the Live Network tab.

What Happens Next

For connections that are not instant, project44's internal Direct Integrations team will process your requests. You will see the status of these connections reflected in the Connection Center under the "All Records" tab as they progress through phases like "Invited" or "Ticketing" until they are ultimately "Live."

For Connections marked in a Pending status:

These connections are connections that can go live with customer provided credentials (usually LTL related connections). To activate these connections: 

1. Locate the carrier connection in your Connection Center with the status In Progress and the reason Customer Action Required - Customer needs to provide credentials or details.
2. For any carrier in this status, navigate to the integrations tab in the right-hand side pop up menu
3. Under Integration details, there will be a hyperlink to “Enter New Credential.” Click on this hyperlink.
4. A pop-up of the credentials screen for that carrier will appear directly within the Connection Center.
5. Provide your credentials in the pop-up. 
6. As soon as you exit the pop-up, that connection will be marked as Live and Ready within the Connection Center.

Need Assistance?

If you encounter any issues or have questions about the Connection Accelerator, please reach out to your project44 Customer Success Manager (CSM) or our support team. We're here to help you get the most out of your visibility experience.

Connection Accelerator FAQs

What is a Connection Accelerator?

Connection Accelerator is a new self-service feature within the project44 Connection Center that automates the process of connecting with your carriers. It eliminates the need for manual ticketing for carrier onboarding across all modes and functions, allowing you to rapidly expand your network, achieve immediate return on investment (ROI), and begin tracking shipments sooner.

Who can use the Connection Accelerator?

Connection Accelerator is available to Admin users within the project44 Movement platform. All other users can only use the connection center to monitor connections’ statuses and progress.

What is the scope of Connection Accelerator?

Supported Modes: You can check the network status of, connect with, create a ticket for, or invite your carriers for any of the following modes via connection center – FTL, LTL, Air (D2D and P2P), Ocean (D2D and P2P) and Parcel.

Supported Offerings: Connection Center will only allow you to request and connect with carriers for SKUs/Offerings you are currently contracting for with project44. 

The following offerings can be onboarded via connection center:

• FTL: Tracking, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Shipment Initialization, Documents  
• Ocean P2P: Tracking, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Shipment Initialization  
• Ocean D2D: Tracking 
• LTL: Tracking, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Shipment Initialization, Documents 
• Air P2P: Tracking 
• Air D2D: Tracking 
• Parcel: Tracking

For any other modes or offerings, please reach out to your project44 account team.

The number of connections each customer can request via connection center is limited, in alignment with any integration allotments. Please reach out to your project44 account team to learn more about your integration allotment and usage.  

Supported Regions: Customers can add carriers in all regions via Connection Center. 

For FTL and LTL customers, you will need to ensure your tenant configuration is set up correctly to support the regional or global structure of your network. Your project44 Professional or Managed Services team will have done this on your behalf.

To confirm, for FTL and LTL customers: 

If you require visibility only in EMEA, APAC, or both: You need an EU tenant i.e. you will log in via https://movement.eu.project44.com/

If you require visibility only in North America: You need an NA tenant i.e. you will log in via https://movement.project44.com/

If you require global visibility: You need a global tenant. This means you need both an NA and an EU tenant with the same tenant ID so that connection center can send invites in both regions on your behalf.

If you think you are not correctly set up based on the above information, please reach out to your project44 account team before proceeding. 

How do I start onboarding carriers with Connection Accelerator?

To begin onboarding carriers using Connection Accelerator:

1. Log into Movement.
2. Navigate to Network > Connection Center.
3. On the All Records tab, click the Add carriers button.
4. You will be prompted to download a template provided by project44. All modes are centralized into one template. 
5. Fill out the required information for each carrier you wish to add to your project44 network.
6. Upload your completed flat file.

What information do I need to provide in the carrier upload template?

For each carrier, you will need to fill out the following required columns. Each requested service (combination of mode and function) must be on its own row, meaning a single carrier may be listed multiple times if you require different services from them.

Required Columns for All Modes

• Carrier Name
• Mode:
  • Accepted entries: FTL, Ocean P2P, Ocean D2D, LTL, Air P2P, Air D2D, Parcel
  • Not currently in scope: Last Mile, Rail
• Function List:
  • Accepted entries: Tracking, Shipment Initialization, Rating, Booking/Dispatch, Documents
• Expected Annual Volume

Mode-Specific Requirements

• Full Truckload (FTL): 
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • Carrier Origin Region must be provided
    •  Accepted entries: NA, EU, MEA, APAC, LATAM, China
  • At least one provided identifier must be VAT or DOT/MC if the indicated origin region is EMEA or NA.
• Less Than Truckload (LTL):
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
  • Carrier Origin Region must be provided
    •  Accepted entries: NA, EU, MEA, APAC, LATAM, China
• Ocean P2P: At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
• Air P2P: At least one sample shipment identifier of AWB must be provided 
• Ocean D2D: 
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
• Air D2D: 
  • Carrier Contact details must be provided
  • At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.
• Parcel: At least one provided identifier must be SCAC.

How does project44 match my carriers to its network?

When you upload your carrier file, project44's backend system processes the data to find the best match for each carrier in its extensive network. This matching process uses a hierarchy of identifiers and data points to ensure accuracy. If multiple matches are found, an internal ticket will be created for manual review by the project44 network team. 

What do "In Network" and "Out of Network" mean?

In Network – Carriers that have successfully shared any category of data with project44 at any point in time

This may be tracking, rating, or any other type of data i.e. not necessarily the data type you have requested as a part of your carrier analysis, but they are active within our network.  

Out of Network – Carriers that have never shared any data with project44

What are "Instant Connections"?

"Instant Connections" are carriers that can be onboarded and made "Live" almost immediately due to their existing connection type and setup within the project44 network. These are indicated in a green status during the carrier analysis stage.

Can I prioritize carrier connections?

Priority is generally indicated to our network team based on estimated annual volume. 

What happens to connections that are not "Instant"?

For carriers that require further action beyond instant setup (e.g., specific API integrations, out-of-network carriers), Connection Accelerator automatically creates invites or tickets. These tickets contain all necessary details from your upload, streamlining the process for project44's internal teams.

The status of these connections will be reflected in your Connection Center instance, typically showing as "Ticketing" or "Invited" until they become "Live."