An application programming interface (API) is a set of protocols, definitions, and guidelines used to create, organize, and integrate business application software.
Read on to learn more about APIs, UKG Pro API integration, UKG Dimensions API Empowerment Services, and how our consultants can help your organization.
What is API Documentation?
APIs give companies the flexibility needed to simplify application design, outline user access, and streamline administration processes by allowing systems to communicate with each other without needing specific implementation information.
When it comes to building, using, and monetizing APIs, documentation plays an important role in helping users understand their systems and learn how to organize and leverage APIs in the most efficient way possible. API documentation acts as an “instruction manual” that helps organizations and users understand how to use APIs and their services, including defining specific API endpoints, describing API call requests, outlining user authentication procedures, and more.
How to Set Up a UKG Pro API Integration
1) Find the customer API key.
API keys are specific identifiers assigned to individual users to authenticate application programming interfaces within their ERP software. A user’s individual alphanumeric API key is typically included within an API call and can be used to track usage within the system and identify invalid or improper requests.
Within the UKG system, API keys can be found and accessed through the Service Account Administration tab. After identifying your API key, it’s important to make note of your personal information as your customer API key will be needed throughout the API integration process.
2) Create a service account in your UKG system.
Setting up a service account within the UKG Service Account Administration tab is another important step in ensuring users have access to the correct information and API functionality they need. In this step, users will create a username and include an email for their new account, and, once that information is submitted, a secure password will be auto-generated for each user.
Once an employee account has been created, specific web service permissions need to be enabled to run the solution as effectively as possible. Individual users will want to request the following permissions:
- Personal employee information (i.e., job title, contact information, department, etc.)
- Integration functionality for specific personnel
- Company configuration integration capabilities
3) Find the correct UKG Pro domain and build a security profile.
A user’s subdomain can be found within the URL used to log in to their UKG service account. For example, if the URL used to login to the UKG system includes “customer.ultipro.com”, then the user will use “customer” as their access token for the correct UKG domain.
Each API user account within the domain needs to be assigned to a specific security profile used for a particular API integration. Building a security profile for each user not only helps customers import and export important data between UKG systems and application, but it also helps outline the necessary permissions required for each user within the specific integration.
4) Set up your UKG Pro integration.
The final step of API integration within the UKG system requires users to enter both their UKG Pro credentials, including the username and password they previously created, and their user-specific API key.
Once these credentials have been entered into the system, users will be able to navigate their integrations and connect a new API integration within the UKG Pro domain.
Acceleration with UKG API Empowerment Services
The Dimensions platform offers a few main levels of API Empowerment Services, including…
Core Integration Services
Core Services within UKG Services give your technical team the functionality needed to contact UKG integrations developers directly, eliminating time-consuming middlemen.
With direct-contact capabilities, team members can not only get top-of-the-line guidance from UKG and API-specific developers to solve issues within their system, but they can also save valuable time typically that’s typically wasted trying to navigate complex issues with API calls and integrations on their own.
Enhanced Integration Services
Enhanced Services give users access to all the core integration services, while also providing technical standard and integration design review sessions to ensure API integrations leverage technology and industry-specific best practices and stay up-to-date with the latest technical standards and requirements.
With UKG’s Enhanced API Empowerment Services, users can leverage comprehensive architectural integration reviews to avoid rewrites and other costly mistakes that could potentially delay your deployment timeline. Enhanced Services also provide an Interface Design Document that outlines and describes the best ways to write APIs to meet your organizational needs, ensure proper operations and integrations, and prevent any potential system interruptions.
Advanced Augmentation Services
UKG Augmentation Services allow users to connect directly with a Dell Boomi-certified UKG integration developer to help your team improve overall knowledge transfer throughout each area of the organization, speed up key integration processes, ensure APIs are operating according to UKG best practices, reduce time-to-deployment for complex APIs, and shorten the learning curve for employees and API users.
By leveraging these integral backend services, UKG Dimensions users can not only meet the needs of their employees, budget, and organizational objectives, but they can also ensure they are connecting critical business systems and applications and getting the most out of their seamless API integrations.
Navigating HTTP Status Codes
When outlining integrations for a specific API version or making API calls, things don’t always go exactly as planned. Luckily, this is where HTTP status code messages can help.
HTTP status codes help users understand HTTP status code responses than indicate an error message and provide the information needed to anticipate API integration errors and outline proactive solutions to combat errors before they turn into bigger issues.
Here are a few of the most common client and server-side error messages…
- 404 Not Found: This message indicates that the requested URL does not exist on the API or origin server. A 404 error can reveal an issue on either the client or server-side, and can typically be combatted by checking for typos within the URL.
- 400 Bad Request: A 400 error reveals an improperly-formatted API request. To fix this error, users should check their API documentation, including queries, data fields in the request body, and overall syntax.
- 502 Bad Gateway: This error response indicates an issue with the gateway or proxy rather than the API server itself. A 502 error is typically temporary and can be fixed by checking your network or API server functionality.
- 500 Internal Server Error: This status code usually reveals that the API server crashed. It can typically be solved by double-checking query fields and response headers or making sure your API call is correct.
- 422 Unprocessable Entity: A 422 error occurs when the server understands content type and syntax, but is unable to process the request. This response usually includes a JSON body containing error details for each field, making it easier to solve the issue.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help designing your custom API integration architecture, additional support outlining global setup plans for API key configuration, or anything else API-related, Surety Systems is here to help.
Your technology. Your priorities. Our expertise. That’s the name of the game with us.
Getting Started with Us
Our team of senior-level UKG consultants have the technical skills and functional expertise needed to lead your team to success, regardless of the complexity and scope of your API configuration or integration process.
Contact us today to learn more about API integrations or get started with one of our top-notch UKG consultants.
