1. Expand the Data Management branch on the Home window, double-click on the Import Properties branch;
2. On the Import Properties window, select the appropriate tab: click on the Shipping Instruction Data tab if waybills (EDI 417) are to be gathered and / or click the Sighting Data tab if CLMs are to be gathered; check the Railroad / VAN check box; the EDI File Transfer Profiles form will open (you may also open the EDI File Transfer window by expanding the Data Management branch on the Home window and double-clicking on the EDI File Transfer branch);
NOTE: Yellow shaded boxes are required entries .
3. Click the New command button.
4. Fill out a name for the particular profile in the Name text box – this is just to identify the account so that you can easily recognize and retrieve it if it needs to be updated.
5. Choose a Source of the data from the Source drop-down box; this is usually the railroad or VAN (value added network) that has set up this particular account.
6. Type in the User Name and Password in the respective text boxes to access the account.
7. Select the Format of the file from the Format drop-down box.
8. Enter the URL (Universal Resource Locator – in other words, the Internet address) of the account (example: ftpedi.bnsf.com).
NOTE: Do not enter the FTP:// or HTTP:// or HTTPS://
11. If the files reside in a folder, enter the folder name in the Folder text box.
12. The Filename text box is not used at this time. You must only have one kind of file for each EDI File Transfer Profile.
13. Each company (your company) has a unique identification code, get or establish this with the railroad and enter it into the Corp. ID text box. If you do not know this or are unable to get it, simply enter a three character abbreviation for your company.
14. Departments or subsidiaries may have separate unique identifications, get or establish this with the railroad and enter it into the Dept. ID text box. If you do not know this or are unable to get it, simply enter a three character abbreviation for your company department.
15. Place a check in the Passive Connection check box if your firewall retricts incoming connections from any of these accounts. A passive connection allows RMS to connect to the server, instead of the other way around.
16. Most accounts will require RMS to delete the file after it is downloaded, but some will automatically delete the file once it is downloaded (Transentric accounts are the only ones that do this that we know of at this time). Place a check in the Delete File After Transfer check box if RMS must delete the file after it is downloaded (recommended).
17. If you wish to set the account as Inactive, place a check in the Inactive check box. Even if the Import Properties are set for RMS to get Shipping Instruction or Sighting Data from a railroad or a VAN, if the EDI File Transfer Profile is set to Inactive, no data will be gathered from that particular server account.
NOTE:You don't want to leave files on the account once they are downloaded because then the import process will take longer and longer while RMS is downloading duplicate files. RMS will not add duplicate records to its database, but you don't want to waste your time waiting for unnecessary files to be downloaded. Plus, the railroad or value added network that manages the account may get upset that you are using so much storage on their server.
NOTE: Some servers don't allow passive connections, so you'll have to do a little testing here.
Additional Information: Copies of the files that are downloaded from any EDI File Transfer Profile are placed in the RMS Flat File Directory. By default, this directory is set to c:\Program Files\Railcar Tracking Co\RMS\FlatFiles; you can alter this by following the steps in the Flat File Directory help topic. If you wish to schedule automatic imports, see the Scheduler help topic.