Difference between revisions of "API Authentication"

Revision as of 16:37, 9 April 2020

1. Heading

API access requires being a user of the system. A user in this context is anyone who has access to your data. Each user has a 2 tabs on their record which control this:

• The Website and Call-round Access tab controls access to your data via our website, and/or our mobile app, Call Round.
• The 3rd Party Systems tab controls the access to your data that other systems have via the API

Using this approach, there are 3 possibilities:

• Website/Call-round access only. This will be most users of the system doing day-to-day tasks
• API access only. This could be to migrate data in from other systems, reporting dashboards etc
• Both. An example of this would be if Alice sometimes logs in via the website, and sometimes using a 3rd party app. Alice's access controls are the same in both situations, i.e. she will have the same access to branches, projects and fields.

Instead of a user name and password, the API grants access based on three headers:

• Source. Identifies the 3rd party software provider. If Example Software Ltd supplies a number of Dizions clients, they will use the same Source key for all requests. The Source key is provided, and periodically updated, via text message.
• Org. Identifies the charity or company
• User. Identifies the user within the charity or company. This controls branch, project and field visibility, as if the user were using the web interface.

Currently, a user name and password are still required, even if the user has no website access. In the case, they can be made-up, and immediately forgotten. Removing the tick from their website access would prevent them logging in, even if they knew their password.

Remember, that as a system administrator, you are responsible for controlling who has access to your data, whether via the website, Call-round or a 3rd party application. Switching off a user is the same regardless - make them inactive on their General Details tab.