REST your Master Data Services

REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architecture style that is designed for communications between different interfaces in the simplest way. As the REST API uses simple HTTP calls, it is much more accessible from different interfaces. 

Thanks to Roy Fielding, REST APIs are available all over the world wide web today. For example Twitter REST feed provides the latest tweets for different applications to embed them. Before the REST took over the communication platform by storm, the general alternative was SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). Fundamental way the REST differs from SOAP is that the SOAP is a protocol which has set of rules to follow. However, REST is only an architectural style with no predefined standards. Hence REST gives more flexibility from the implementation perspective. 

Though REST is limited by HTTP operations (a.k.a HTTP verbs), it still provides a generic uniform interface that can handle the necessary user operations. 

Master data management is no longer a silo solution where different organization entities would access the data through data feeds. More and more MDM adoption expects master data to be easily accessible in real time.

REST API and Informatica MDM

• Accessibility: Any client across the interfaces of web, mobile, cloud and social media can access the master data seamlessly
• Standardization: Standard ways of tenant-aware versionable REST APIs that combines cross-product and product-specific APIs
• Mastering the data: Provides options to create, update, delete and search for master data.
• Managing the data: Ability to merge, unmerge and match records which are the fundamental operations required for managing the master data
• Workflows: Provides the task operations including create, update and search, in conjunction with Informatica BPM
• Security: Supports standard security protocols to secure the REST calls
• Operations: Different HTTP request methods (verbs) are predefined for operating the master data
• Formats: Supports both JSON and XML formats
• HATEOS: REST constraint, HATEOAS (Hypermedia As The Engine Of Application State) available within the GET APIs to include the browsing hyperlinks

Samples

REST API call (POST operation) to create a master record

REST API response from the Informatica MDM for the above call  

The REST (Representational State Transfer) API calls provide capabilities to access, update and delete the master record as a composite business entity. That is, you can update a complete business entity such as a customer and customer address in one call without additional transaction logic. On a side note, Informatica MDM still supports SOAP and EJB protocols to access the master data. 

For more details on REST APIs, you can refer to the Business Entity Services guide that is available in Informatica network portal.