API Integrations

API work has featured quite heavily in recent times as businesses find ways to utilise & capitalise on each other's data, with the objective of streamlining operations.

API stands for Application Programming Interface and is effectively a controlled/secure way of obtaining or passing information from one system to another. Many well-known applications offer an API to allow programmers to access their systems for automation purposes.

DFDS

We did a project to tie in Scottish Shellfish's (SSMG) bespoke system in Brae with DFDS's booking system, creating up to 50 bookings a day automatically. 

This is a significant time-saver for DFDS, whose admins would previously extract the information from emailed PDF files generated by the system and create each booking manually. With the integration, these are now automatically generated inside their system using order details from SSMG, covering different products, their weights and distribution routes. It has been successfully running for a number of months. 

Marine Scotland

Scottish Shellfish's system also calls Marine Scotland APIs to automatically submit landing information. Marine Scotland replaced their system at the start of March 2021, but luckily for the most part it was backwards compatible with just some minor data/reference/setting changes. 

We also supply a spreadsheet to several Scottish based seafood businesses to make landings easier to submit, and with a few settings tweaks, these now fully work with the new system.

Singula Decisions

Are a partner of ours based in Fife, who provide an API gateway to Sky TV's platform. We integrated with their latest API cloud solution to facilitate online subscriptions and additional customer processing on behalf of our broadcaster customer. PSD2 legislation featured heavily in this also, meaning an integration with GlobalPay and login processes introduced. 

For me this particular project, which ran for several months last year, highlighted the new way of working through Zoom calls, which could see up to 12 people on a single call based around different parts of the UK and Dublin. It enables even the remotest of companies (us) in Shetland to participate on an even keel with other business's teams, joining in with some occasional friendly banter also. This can only be a good thing as we've often been seen as a rather random outpost!

Sage Cloud

Our EaseSuite mobile app and associated billing application that the mobile app feeds into, integrates with both Sage Cloud or Sage Line v50. 

This offers the ability for workers to tap in timesheet & purchase info for jobs on the go, which filter back into the office for admin approval/tidying before being automatically pushed onto Sage for billing, taking several steps out of paper-based timesheets. 

We continue to push this integration and have ambitions of getting onto the Sage Cloud app store with a cloud version of our app that is in production.