PRISM receives changes in a carrier’s Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Process (MCSIP) status from FMCSA. PRISM receives information from states on vehicles registered to the carriers in MCSIP. These updates are made in batch mode.
States can query PRISM for information on carriers in MCSIP or their vehicles. Law enforcement can query PRISM for this information too, using a gateway between the AAMVAnet network and the International Justice & Public Safety Information Sharing Network (Nlets).
PRISM data is stored at the PRISM Central Site operated by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. PRISM motor carrier information comes from FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). PRISM vehicle information comes from state registration databases. PRISM information is transmitted between states and the PRISM Central Site over the AAMVAnet network in batch. All PRISM data resides at the PRISM Central Site, but states maintain copies of some of the data locally for faster access.