Is your API Smart?

Posted by cfaurer on April 15th, 2015 filed in Frameworx Consulting, Frameworx Training, REST APIs

What is an API and Who’s Using Them?

A simple view on application programming interfaces (APIs) is that they provide a way for users to interact with a business through a well defined touch point. API users could be internal to the business, a business partner and/or the public.

These API users will interact with the business through an API provider and platform using WSDL SOAP and/or RESTful JSON techniques and technologies.

Behind the API provider and platform are the endpoints that provide access to the applications providing the business capability that the API users want to access.

What Kind of Business can APIs Support?

Work is underway at the TM Forum to define APIs that will support doing business with communication service providers (CSPs) – mobile providers, fixed line providers, satellite providers, cable providers, etc.

Shown is a typical customer journey – onboarding, offering, selling, ordering, delivering, using, billing, fixing and canceling products.

API Lifecycle Pain Points

There is a lot of time, interaction and complexity represented in the diagrams shown above. We can categorize the API lifecycle into design, publish and support stages.

 

Each stage of the API lifecycle has its own set of pain points. What are yours?

Make Your API Smart!

Make your API smart to reduce your API lifecycle pain points. In the design stage consider leveraging the industry knowledge and best practice of the TM Forum members by referencing or using the REST API specifications. Adopt a rapid prototyping approach to requirements-design-publish with auto-generation of Swagger UI and RuleX artifacts.

Most importantly, capture your API business rules in the design phase and implement them in the publish phase so that users in the support phase will receive rich diagnostics and auto-help services at run time. This will significantly reduce your onboarding and support costs and time spent by the help desk getting your API users up to speed on your API.

Give Smart APIs a Spin

Try out for yourself smart APIs built by AMBK Cloud using MagicDraw, Nomos RuleX & Swagger UI tooling.

Let’s talk about how we can help you create Smart APIs. 

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