Overview
This document's purpose is meant to guide users, customers, prospects, partners, and employees through the journey of identifying and gaining access to another software application using API calls. If you are unfamiliar with the idea general idea of APIs it is recommended to start here:
https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/api/FAQ
- I would like to integrate Workday with Acumatica, why am I reading this document?
- In order to get data from one system into another you must call Workday from Fuuz, then push the data from Fuuz into Acumatica.
- I googled "Company Name API" and could not find an API, how do I integrate?
- This doesn't mean an API doesn't exist, some companies hide their APIs
- Smaller companies don't have public access to APIs
- The company said they "support integration but they don't write APIs". How is that possible?
- Most companies that support integration in some form have an API
- What the company probably means is that they don't write "integrations" or calls to other companies. That is how we help.
- Company A (source of data ex: Workday) introduced us to Company B (partner/integration company ex: Bob's Consulting LLC) to talk to Company C (destination system ex: NetSuite), Why should I use Fuuz instead?
- In this example Company B will need a platform like Fuuz to get the job done.
- Company B is often familiar with your vendor (Workday) but not your system (NetSuite) this can lead to delays, increased costs, and unsuccessful integrations.
- The solution is often built with a narrow focus to solve the specific need.
- Fuuz offers a standard platform with prebuilt solutions that can be configured to support specific requirements.
Gathering Requirements
In order to have a productive discovery our customer must provide the following pieces of information:
- Access - Often including access to the administration of the product (ex: https://www.workday.com/), or an alternate site for APIs (https://new.developers.plex.com/)
- Documentation - Often including URLs, connection methods, and security protocols (Note: Access to a site may include this documentation by default)
- Technical Support - Often a technical contact(joe@plex.com) or support website (https://answers.sap.com/) at the company we wish to connect with. (Note: This person is often a gatekeeper for documentation and technical questions in smaller companies)
- A list of actions - Examples include pulling users from System A to create them in System B, or Push Invoices from System B into system C
Access
In order to get a better idea of what is possible, our team, and partners need access to the third party's website. In most cases the documentation is hidden. If access is not appropriate at the time of discussion a PDF or alternated documentation should be provided. Some systems allow admin users the ability to create users, keys, and tokens to access APIs directly within their system (Ex: NetSuite) while others require ticket submissions to generate them (Ex: Plex)
Documentation
APIs can often be hidden or "private". Fuuz hides our APIs behind user security. This is a common and safe practice for many websites. Most modern products have an API, so it is no longer a benefit to advertise an API to the public. By hiding the API documentation products limit the knowledge on a need-to-know basis. Thus reducing risk. For more information refer to this link
https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/api/
Typical forms of documentation from a company hopefully answer the following questions:
- What information does the system provide?
- What URL(s) to call to pull information out of a system? (Ex: How do I get a list of employees?)
- What URL(s) to call to push information into the system? (Ex: How do I add invoices from another system?)
- How does an integration authenticate?
Technical Support
Technical support can vary from a specific contact to website access about the endpoints. This often starts with the customer reaching out to their vendor asking for information on how to integrate. It is strongly recommended that a customer email their vendor asking "I am interested in accessing information stored in your application remotely. We have a partner capable of making API calls. Do you have documentation or a technical contact that can help us get started?"
A List of Actions
Simply put, customers need to define their specific goals. Instead of "Integrate with Workday", challenge your customers and end users with "What does that mean?". Identify areas, objects, tables, or entities.
The goal is to create a list of statements similar to these:
- I would like to add users to Plex after they are added in ADP
- I would like to terminate users in Plex when they are terminated in ADP
- I would like to use Nesting Data from SigmaNest and group Workorders in NetSuite
- I would like to push pricing changes from Acumatica into my Magento Website