What is an API?
API is a common acronym in technology that stands for Application Programming Interface. This type of interface is a widely used method to facilitate the digital exchange and integration of data between two different software platforms or systems. APIs can be used for a wide variety of purposes and allow for extended features and functionalities between a requester and a provider, in partnership with each other.
Granicus API Offerings
To better meet the needs of our clients and to help them more seamlessly integrate their software systems with the capabilities Granicus has to offer, we’ve created a set of APIs that your organization can code against. These APIs allow you freedom and flexibility in your use of Granicus. There are three common types of APIs that Granicus offers, which can provide even deeper value to your organization.
Subscriber APIs
Once properly implemented, our set of Subscriber APIs allows your organization to automatically add, delete, and modify both subscribers and subscriber related data in your govDelivery account through information from another source. This subscriber information could come from a database that your organization already has in place, and you’d like to keep that information in sync with your govDelivery account. Some organizations use our Subscriber API set to create a customized or external signup form, either through a mobile application or on a tailored web page.
Success Story
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) implemented a Subscriber API integration that allows for the distribution and management of grants related to their industry. Since their grants are given to a wide variety of grantees on a wide variety of topics, all of whom they wanted to stay in contact with via email using govDelivery, they needed a system to be sure their lists were current and comprehensive.
Using Subscriber APIs, the HRSA mapped their internal database of grantees to topics within govDelivery. As grantees enter or leave the cycle of their grant award in the HRSA database, they are also automatically added and removed as subscribers to specific govDelivery topics via API. This ensures that the HRSA is able to automatically manage their govDelivery message recipients, giving them the most up-to-date data and saving them time, while preventing costly or confusing errors.
Topic and Category APIs
Similar to Subscriber APIs, Topic and Category APIs allow organizations to customize the appearance and availability of their govDelivery Topics and Categories on websites, apps, and more. Topic and Category APIs can also be used to automatically create or remove Topics and Categories based on separate databases of information.
Success Story
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, also known as the NHLBI, has continued to feature a Topic and Category API integration to customize the look and feel of their email alert signup process. When they display the available updates they have for their account, they do so using a custom website page that adds more information about their Topics and Categories, creating a unique signup flow process that best meets their specific needs and the branding of their organization. Doing so gives the NHLBI flexibility and a depth of information that they feel best represents their email alert offerings.
Bulletin APIs
Bulletin APIs are used to automatically send data based on specific trigger events or processes related to an organization. Using Granicus’s set of Bulletin APIs can be extremely helpful for organization that want to send automatic time sensitive updates, or automatically create and send content based on data events.
Success Story
Bay Area Rapid Transit, also known as BART, provides public transportation to the San Francisco Bay Area, and uses a Granicus Bulletin API in the process. With the complexities of public transportation, and the extensive system BART manages, there are a variety of reasons that riders require updates, including delays, elevator updates, times of arrival, and more.
With a Bulletin API implementation BART’s communication center recognizes specific data related to triggers they set. For instance, when an elevator is out of order at a specific BART stop, this internal communication is recognized, and using their API integration, it is turned into a govDelivery notification and automatically sent out through the channels BART chooses. With this feature in place, BART can automatically provide as close to real-time information to their audience as possible, keeping them safe and informed through govDelivery.
How to Get Started
Please contact Granicus by clicking the 'Contact Support' button at the top-right hand corner of the page, and our API specialists will contact you to learn more about your needs and provide you with further information, API examples, and answers to any questions you may have.
