# Data Sharing

The Scout platform is designed to allow for data sharing across multiple organizations. This function allows you to share number/license plate reads sent to Scout with other entities also using Rekor Scout.

If your goal is to allow another Scout account searching your plate reads, you can use the "Data Sharing" capability of Rekor Scout®.

Your data will be part of the other Scout account "Federated search" results, but cannot be used as part of the Alerts capability of Rekor Scout®.

{% hint style="info" %}
Since your data never leaves your Rekor Scout® account, you can revoke access to it at any time.
{% endhint %}

As the sharing organization, you will need to provide to the receiving organization:

* The URL for your Scout instance (the URL for Rekor secure cloud Scout customers is <https://cloud.openalpr.com/>) and ensure that that Scout Web application is accessible by the receiving organization.
* An API key to the receiving organization.

To get your API Key, navigate to your Account settings then scroll to System Settings.

<figure><img src="/files/vUvpVgC01jqIrCIhLEeh" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

As the receiving organization, you will need to setup a Data Sharing source and use the API key that the sharing organization will provide you.

To setup your searches to include the sharing organization, navigate to Configuration -> Data Sharing and click on Add Server:

<figure><img src="/files/c9CcpAJXi024eJ5JazN6" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Enter the Server URL and the API Key that the sharing organization provided for you to use. Select a name that will make sense to you in the future, we suggest you use the legal name of the sharing organization. To verify that the URL and the API key are correct, click Test.

<figure><img src="/files/LSYWzZbDpTardNs1kIuj" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

If the connectivity testing successfully complete, you will be prompted to save that data search source by clicking the Save button.


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