Supply Chain Management Blogs by Members
Learn about SAP SCM software from firsthand experiences of community members. Share your own post and join the conversation about supply chain management.
cancel
Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

BN4L Global Track & Trace - Testing GTT tracking requests with a Postman Mock Server

ZenonK
Active Participant
‎2024 Mar 25 3:56 PM
2,915

SAP Global Track & Trace (GTT) can be used to capture, process and store tracking information about tracked business processes.  A typical use case for GTT is for tracking ocean container shipments.  

Postman can be used to quickly test and simulate the BN4L APIs without connecting to a backend carrier system.  Best of all, it's free to use!

 

Below is a typical data flow. I have not shown any optional middleware.

ZenonK_0-1711378716238.png

 

In this blog I will show you how to connect the Carrier Tenant to a Postman Mock Server via a webhook API and how to post a tracking request.
More details on Postman mock server: https://learning.postman.com/docs/designing-and-developing-your-api/mocking-data/setting-up-mock/

 

PREREQUISITES

Shipper backend System is already connected to BN4L.
Shipper GTT is already connected to the Carrier Tenant (aka Data Contributor tenant).

STEP 1  - Get an API Key for the mock server

This will be used for authentication to the mock server.   Note that this is an optional step because you can call the mock server with no authentication.

 

ZenonK_1-1711378716244.png

 

 

Step 2 – Create the Mock Server

a) In Postman click Create Mock Server (click on the Configure Workspace button if you can’t see Mock Servers):

ZenonK_2-1711378716249.png

b) Enter a new PUT request method. Give it a name that will be used to call it (e.g. "GTTTrackingRequest") and a Response text (e.g. "Tracking request successful").  Then click Next:

ZenonK_3-1711378716253.png

c) Enter a name for your mock server.  Select 'make mock server private' if you want to use the API key created in Step 1a.

ZenonK_4-1711378716262.png

 

d) Mock server is ready!

ZenonK_5-1711378716264.png

e) Postman will automatically create a Collection that you can use to test or make changes.

ZenonK_6-1711378716267.png

 

STEP 2 – Configure the Carrier (Data Contributor) tenant.

a) In System Connections, select Manage Details then Communication Details.  Add an HTTPS connection and assign a name and the url of the mock server from Step 1d.

ZenonK_7-1711378716271.png

ZenonK_8-1711378716273.png

ZenonK_9-1711378716275.png

b) In Authentication details add the api key from Step 1a.

ZenonK_10-1711378716276.png

c) System Connections.  Create a new service using the communication and authentication just created.

ZenonK_11-1711378716278.png

 

Step 3 – Shipper Tenant – Partner Connections.

Add x-api-key and the api key from step 1a to the Custom Headers.

ZenonK_0-1711528775325.png

 

Step 4 – Test

Create a new shipment in your backend Shipper system that triggers a new tracking request idoc (or trigger a ShipmentEvent from the GTT Runtime).
In the  Postman mock server logs you should see a payload and a Success message 😊

ZenonK_14-1711378716299.png

 

CONCLUSION

In this blog I showed how to quickly start testing tracking requests with BN4L GTT and Postman.
Next steps would be to replace the mock server with your own carrier system.

 

Further Details

SAP Help for GTT - https://help.sap.com/docs/business-network-global-track-and-trace

 

Help for carriers who want to join BN4L network:

https://help.sap.com/docs/business-network-logistics-provider

https://github.com/SAP-samples/logistics-business-network-integration

 

1 Comment
md_ab
Explorer
‎2024 Aug 13 6:55 PM
0 Kudos

Hello Zenon,

may i know the  difference between this postman and write service postman ?

Labels in this area