Develop APIs That Work Properly for the

Organization
Leverage APIs to connect your systems in today’s web-based world.

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Our understanding of the problem

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:

CIOs looking for a way to improve quality and
development throughput to support business
priorities.
Application development managers who want
to understand best practices with API
development.
QA and test managers who need to create a
testing practice for APIs.
Determine where the use of APIs can enable
potential business benefits.
Implement effective, design, development,
testing and monitoring techniques for API
development.

Outcomes of this Research:

Alignment of API development with business priorities.
Step-by-step approach on how to apply best-practice design and development techniques as it relates
to API development.
Preparation for ongoing evolution of APIs through monitoring and analysis of usage patterns.

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Executive summary

Situation ! Info-Tech Insight

• Organizations are looking for ways to leverage web APIs in order to • Make web API development a
increase app quality, code reusability, and improved development strategic competency that is critical
throughput. to enabling speed of development,
• Organizations are looking for opportunities to create an application quality of applications, reusability,
ecosystem which can expose internal services across the organization innovation, and business alignment.
and/or external business partners. • Design your web API as a product
to be consumed which will promote
speed of development and service
Complication ? reuse.
• Web APIs are regularly designed for short-term code reuse. When they • Incrementally optimize the design,
eventually break, the redevelopment effort is significant. development, testing, and
monitoring of your APIs to cover all
• Web APIs are commonly tested using functional testing through an
use cases in the long term.
application’s user interface. This ignores other testing techniques that are
available, resulting in missed test cases.

Resolution 
• Define the business purpose of the web API and the common uses cases that it will service.
• Understand the development techniques are required to develop an effective web API based on Info-Tech’s web API
development framework.
• Continually improve your web API development approach to demonstrate to business stakeholders the value your web
API provides.

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Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your
needs

Consulting
Onsite
Info-Tech Involvement

Workshop
Guided
“Our team does not
Implementation
have the time or the
“We need to hit the knowledge to take this
DIY Toolkit project on. We need
ground running and
get this project kicked assistance through the
“Our team knows that entirety of this
we need to fix a off immediately. Our
team has the ability to project.”
“Our team has already process, but we need
assistance to take this over once we
made this critical get a framework and
project a priority, and determine where to
focus. Some check-ins strategy in place.”
we have the time and
capability, but some along the way would
guidance along the way help keep us on track.”
would be helpful.”

Degree of Customization
Diagnostics and consistent methodologies throughout all four options

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 Develop APIs That Work Properly for the Organization
– Project Overview
Examine the Monitor and
Test the web
opportunities web Design and develop a web API continuously optimize
API
APIs can enable the web API
1.1 Verify how your web 2.1.1 Understand how your web API fits into your 3.1 Create test cases 4.1 Identify roles for your
API initiatives support system architecture. using model, API development projects.
your overall business 2.1.2 Define high-level design details. synthetic, and 4.2 Develop governance for
objectives. scenario-based test web API development.
2.1.3 Define your process workflows and
design techniques.
business rules. 4.3 Measure the value of
3.2 Create a test plan your web API project.
2.1.4 Map the relationships among data tables
for your web API.
through ERDs.
2.1.5 Document your web API data flow
diagrams.
2.1.6 Identify the integration risks, security gaps,
bottlenecks, and other risks in your data flow.
2.1.7 Define your objects by effectively
Best-Practice referencing your data model.
Toolkit
Determine what Develop a process for designing your web Develop a Develop a process for
value your web APIs APIs to determine your endpoints. process for monitoring your web
offer. testing your web APIs for continuous
Determine how to develop your web APIs
APIs. optimization.
Guided with considerations made for how it will be
Implementations consumed.

Module 1: Module 2: Module 3: Module 4:

Examine the Design your web API. Test your web API. Monitor and continuously
opportunities web APIs Develop your web API. optimize your web API.
Onsite can enable.
Workshop
Phase 1 Results: Phase 2 Results: Phase 3 Results: Phase 4 Results:
• Identification of web • Process flow, ERD, and data flow models. • Web API test plan. • IT governance and
API benefits. • URLs/objects identified. process governance
models for web API
management.

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Workshop Overview

Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

This workshop can be deployed as either a three-day engagement depending on the client’s level of completed preparation
prior to the facilitator’s arrival onsite.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Workshop Day Workshop Day Workshop Day

Workshop Preparation
• Verify how your web API
initiatives support your overall
business objectives.
• Understand how your web API
fits into your system
architecture.
• Define high-level design details.
Itinerary
• Define your process workflows
and business rules.
• Map the relationships among
data tables through ERDs.
• Document your web API data
flow diagrams.
• Identify the integration risks,
security gaps, bottlenecks, and
other risks in your data flow.
• Define your objects by
effectively referencing your data
model.
Itinerary
• Create test cases using model,
synthetic, and scenario-based
test design techniques.
• Create a test plan for your web
API.
• Identify roles for your API
development projects.
• Develop governance for web
API development.
• Measure the value of your web
API project.

The light blue slides at the end of each section highlight the key activities and exercises that will be
completed during the engagement with our analyst team.

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Use these icons to help direct you as you navigate this research

Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to
the recommended activities.

Guided Implementation
Signifies an opportunity to speak with an Info-Tech analyst to receive tailored advice for your organization on the completion of this
project.

Workshop Activity
Indicates that there are further details regarding the completion of this project while working in workshop setting.

Info-Tech Insight
A symbol of unique insight from an Info-Tech analyst that relates to the completion of the current step of the project.

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Realize the importance of web APIs in the technology
landscape today
As applications have become more distributed, technologies continued to evolve to
allow for more scalable ways to develop APIs. Web APIs are now the forefront for web
service communication between and within enterprise applications.

∞
Application Architecture Evolution

Monolithic
Application CORBA/IIOP SOAP REST
Libraries
Any change Implementation was Inconsistent APIs Consistent Technological
required would complex and across providers. approach for web Advancements
necessitate a sometimes non- services to make in APIs…
recompilation of the implementable. function calls using
entire application. Costly to implement. GET, PUT, POST,
DELETE.

• Microservices Architecture
Where in web services is REST being applied today? • Enterprise Integration & Development
• Cloud Services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS)

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 The growing demand for efficient processes is driving the need
for better integration among services and applications
Business processes cross applications and services as well as leverage data
assets to deliver functionality to users and integrate partners.

Process Orchestration Architectural Components

• APIs – a programmatic interface into an
Transfer
application’s functions, data, or process
Servers

Protocol
External Web APIs

Business that operates over a network.

Internal Web APIs

Web

Users • ESB – a software architecture model

used for designing and implementing the
interaction and communication between
Applications
Transfer ESB mutually interacting software
Protocol applications.
Gateway

Business • Process Orchestration – management

Partner

Partners Data of multi-interaction processes across

business applications and people.
• Application – running instance of a
business software program operated by a
Infrastructure user or a running server program that
responds to requests.
Info-Tech Insight • Partner gateway services and web
servers act as a pipeline, transferring
Organizations that adopt a Service-Oriented Architecture, without proper
information from the business to clients
integration implementation, end up with SOS: Service-Oriented Spaghetti.
and business partners.
Use web APIs to map, manage, and control service interactions regardless • Data – an application data repository.
of underlying implementation to deliver appropriate functionality to • Infrastructure – the underlying
business users.
foundation of the system, which includes
basic support services and hardware.
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The goal of web APIs is improved quality and reusability

Web APIs are instruments which enable your development teams to increase the
quality of applications and adopt a “code once, use many” development approach.

Your Organizational Needs

Web APIs enable development teams
to reuse existing code which enables
1. You need a way to develop and maintain faster development.
applications faster. Business users want
applications delivered faster, placing pressure on
IT to quickly release high quality software
1
(develop more with less time).
Web APIs enable
2. The business expects applications to be
development teams to
flexible. With a greater number of organizations Benefits 2
retain flexibility.
embarking on mobile and cloud development
projects, application functions and services are
constantly changing to reflect the evolving 3
business requirements.
3. IT needs a way to integrate business systems
to better support internal processes. Business Web APIs enable ease of
processes often touch multiple systems which transfer of critical data
means application integration is an essential across the organization.
component of delivering value.

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Understand the importance of web APIs in the marketplace
Web APIs are an essential component that enable the strategy of an organization.
The apps, data, and APIs that are driving this digital
transformation are not just enabling business; they are
becoming its very fabric. Whether digital native or
analog immigrant, today’s digital pioneers recognize
that an app strategy is the key to customer
engagement, user experience, and business success.
– Promod Hague. “Businesses must embrace the
programmable world. Or die.” Fortune.com. 2013.
In an effort to leverage the mobile channel more
effectively, enterprises are increasingly exposing data to
mobile developers via APIs. Traditional web service
based on SOAP and designed for a world prior to
ubiquitous mobile computing is being transformed to
REST APIs that are better suited for mobile applications.
– Peter Crocker. “Mobile Apps in the API Economy:
Avoiding the Mobile Cliff.” Smith’s Point Analytics. 2013.
APIs are the new dial tone…APIs are the connective
tissue of everything you do.
– Jeff Lawson, cofounder of and Chief Executive of
Twilio as quoted by Dean Takahashi. “The new dial
tone: How the API economy accelerates the growth of
cloud apps.” The API economy panel at CloudBeat.
2013.
An API is only as valuable as the data or functionality to
which it provides access. So if an organization delivers a
particular core competence…it stands to reason that the
most valuable APIs this organization could provide link
to and drive volume to exactly these core competencies.
– Steve Willmott. “The Five Axioms of the API
Economy, Axiom #4 – Organizations must provide
core competence through APIs.” 3scale. 2014.
Industry Facts
The first annual API community survey indicates:
• The most common protocols are REST (91.9%)
and SOAP (41.9%).
• The most three important factors for APIs are
complete and accurate documentation, service
availability/uptime, and service
responsiveness/performance.
DuVander, Adam. “API Consumers want reliability,
documentation, and community”. ProgrammableWeb. 2013.
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Web APIs should enable business strategy execution

There are real above-the-line and below-the-line benefits that web APIs can unlock.
Most significant business motivation for using web APIs: Most significant technical motivation for using web APIs:

75% of organizations want to connect to more partners. >80% of organizations want to integrate applications.

APIs enable flexibility in terms of partners
connecting to web services…APIs let you put
business logic and services in a centralized spot.
This logic can be reused and it becomes incremental
to expand to different devices.
Organizations using web APIs found that they:
• Increased their customer/partner reach by 50%.
• Increased the number of platforms reached by 57%.
• Increased the number of apps built from web APIs by 50%.

…APIs enable an increase in traffic and usage Organizations using web APIs found that they:
by enabling developers and partners to more • Increased web/device traffic by 70%.
easily develop apps that tap into a company’s • Increased web service usage by 58%.
online services.

…APIs lead to developer/partner productivity Organizations using web APIs found that they:
improvements and create an environment that • Reduced the time it took to onboard partners by 30%.
supports innovation. • Increased partner productivity by 30%.

Source: Fern et al. “Web API Study: The Benefits of APIs in the App Economy.” Hurwitz & Associates. 2011.

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 Unfortunately not everyone is doing web API development
effectively
Both development and runtime issues prevent high adoption of web APIs, leading to
less than adequate business benefits realization.
It’s all too common that web APIs are not adopted due to development and runtime issues the APIs cause for consumers.
Bottom-line: consumers won’t come back to your API if it returns a negative experience the first time around.
It is critical for your organization to adopt the appropriate
development practices for web APIs in order to minimize
the following problems from occurring.
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
• Bad documentation: API consumers don’t know how to use the web API
properly.
• Versioning problems: API changes lead to compatibility breaking causing
a lot of rework for anyone using the API.
• Unexpected behavior: When API changes are made, the interface
remains compatible, but the internal logic has changed, causing retesting
and recoding for API consumers.
RUNTIME ISSUES
• Poor performance: The API takes too long to execute or has severe
limitations on how it should be used.
• Version changes break compatibility: Deployment causes several
integrations to break because of lack of compatibility.
• Intermittent failures: Errors that are hard to replicate but known to exist.
At 22:30 CST, the FedEx Shipping API became
unavailable. Due to FedEx’s lack of proper
timeouts, this is causing requests to backup for
both the Shipping Service and all Storefronts.
– Bigcommerce Status Report. 17 Jan. 2015.
…requests to most Google APIs resulted in 500
error response messages…a configuration change
was inadvertently released to our production
environment without first being released to the
testing environment. The change specified an
invalid address for the authentication servers in
production.
– Google Developers Blog. 3 May 2013.
Indicators of a Poor Web API
• API consumers request a copy of your data
(rather than using your API to access it).
• API consumers are not informed of changes
made to your API.
• API consumers do not find your API easy to
use.
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Use web APIs to enable below-the-line process improvement

Adopting an API-enabled application ecosystem enables your

organization to improve internal processes. Utilizing APIs to
abstract access to backend services within your organization
creates a fast-moving, flexible infrastructure for your developers
to work with.
• Using web APIs across
• Data access can often • APIs can not only
the organization can
become frustrating and enable your business
help build awareness of
complex when working to manage internal
what services and data
with multiple business processes, but also
files are available for
groups. potentially lead to
business units to use.
• Used appropriately, your creating new
• If used correctly, APIs business value
API speeds up system
can enable your chains by arranging
integrations for
business to organize existing services,
improved business
internal systems to data, and
agility and provides a
reduce maintenance functionalities into
common path for
costs and support the new and valuable
transactions to flow from
creation of innovative configurations.
which can potentially
products and services.
lead to a more efficient
allocation of resources.

A study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute estimated that organizations can improve productivity levels by
20 to 25 percent by improving internal collaboration through the use of an internal API.
Source: Boyd. Mark. “6 Business Benefits of Private APIs”. Nordic APIs Blog. 2014.

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Use web APIs to enable above-the-line revenue generation

Consider the possibility that your internal services can be

monetized through your web API. Consider how valuable your
internal services can be to external third parties and business
partners. Services like data transfer and partner integration are
potential opportunities where your organization can take
advantage of using an API.
It is important to consider what type of monetization model you will take on, what your API should charge, and who will pay
for API usage. Depending on what services you provide with your API, certain methods of charging API consumers may be
more appropriate than others.

Pay As You Go Tiered Pricing Freemium In order to monetize

your API, it is critical to
$10/month for first 500
transactions Free Trial understand how your API is
Upsell… being used. And the way to
understand how your API is
Pay for what you use.
$0.80/month for next 100
transactions… Try before buying. being used is through
appropriate monitoring tools and
metrics. Deploy a few monitoring
Unit-Based Pricing Transaction Fee
initiatives at first and increase
$70 for 1300 $0.05 every time you
the level of monitoring as
$50 for 500
$60 for 900
transactions
transactions call me. adoption of your API increases.
transactions
Source: Pedro, Bruno. “How to Monetize your
Fixed prices per number of service Source: Musser, John. “API Business Models.” API”. Nordic APIs. 2014.
calls. API Strategy Conference. 2013.
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