Originally Posted by Hugh
An API can be as simple, complex, or extremely complex - it doesn’t just connect systems, it can also be required to extract data (which could be hundreds or thousands of data fields, often with interdependencies) from a system (or multiple systems), validate that data (is it in the format required for the other system(s)), convert if required to the format(s) required by the other systems (and vice-versa), and then make sure the data integrity across multiple systems is maintained. At the same time, you have to ensure that any changes in the multiple issuing/receiving systems is under strict Change Control, as a minor change to a file or data format could cause major issues. Then you have to design the error-handling for all times that data is incorrect (after all the Business Analysis required to understand interdependencies between all the data fields, finding what can still be processed if data validation raises errors) and the resolution paths to fix and resume the data Extraction, Translate, & Loads between all the different systems. Are all the systems capable of real-time integration, or do some have to be batch processes, and if so, what is the periodicity of the batch runs, and how do you ensure data integrity between the feeds to/from batch systems and those with real-time updates?
Now multiply that by all the different systems used in different countries.
Can I ask what your experience in Systems Design, Systems Integration, or Technical Architecture is, please, which gives you the knowledge, experience, and background to summarily dismissed the complexity and duration of the work involved?
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