01
API design and implementation
Define what each system can send or receive, who may use it and what should happen when a request fails.
- Internal and public APIs
- Contract design
- Authentication
- Versioning strategy
APIs & Integrations
Make the systems your work depends on work together.
Move approved information between products and business tools, make failures visible and give the team a clear way to recover.
Source system
Explicit contract
Operational state
Visible, reviewable, recoverable
Where integration helps
Reduce the friction between systems without hiding the complexity.
A useful integration moves the right information without making the team guess what happened. It should also make ownership and unusual cases clearer to the people operating it.
- Important information is re-entered between systems by hand.
- A product needs to use a third-party or internal service through an API.
- Separate tools hold related data but disagree about its current state.
- A webhook or event works in routine cases but can fail silently when something unexpected happens.
- A team needs a controlled interface around a legacy or specialist system.
- An existing integration has become fragile, hard to diagnose or difficult to extend.
Capability areas
Interfaces designed for the work around them.
First confirm which systems can connect, what information may move and what the team needs to do if a transfer fails. The technology choice follows those facts.
02
Third-party system integration
Connect business platforms and product services after checking what they support, how they authorise access and where their limits are.
- Capability review
- Secure authorisation
- Data mapping
- Operational handover
03
Events, webhooks and workflows
Trigger useful work from system events while planning for delays, duplicates and unavailable downstream services.
- Webhook handling
- Event processing
- Retries and idempotency
- Exception routing
04
Data synchronisation
Move approved data between systems with one agreed source, a policy for conflicts and a clear way to recover from partial failure.
- Source-of-truth decisions
- Scheduled synchronisation
- Reconciliation
- Audit-friendly records
Reliability model
A connection is more than a successful API call.
Production behaviour depends on the source, contract, failure path and operational visibility working as one understandable system.
- 01
Source
Identify the authoritative system, event and information that may be used.
- 02
Contract
Define what crosses the boundary, in what form and under which permissions.
- 03
Failure path
Decide how to retry, reconcile, stop safely or route an exception to a person.
- 04
Visibility
Give operators enough context to understand state and respond to a problem.
Delivery process
Map, define, connect and operate.
The work begins with the current systems and their owners—not a preferred integration platform.
- 01
Map the systems
Understand the current flow, accountable owners, source-of-truth decisions and the business outcome the connection should support.
Example outputs
- System map
- Data and permission notes
- Risk and dependency list
- 02
Define the contract
Specify the events, inputs, outputs, identity model, validation rules and behaviour when a dependency is unavailable.
Example outputs
- Interface contract
- Failure model
- Implementation plan
- 03
Connect and test
Implement the narrowest useful flow and test expected behaviour, edge cases, retries and operational recovery.
Example outputs
- Working integration
- Automated checks
- Reviewable test evidence
- 04
Operate and evolve
Observe the connection in use, address reliability issues and update it when upstream systems or business rules change.
Example outputs
- Operational notes
- Monitoring points
- Prioritised improvements
Before implementation
The constraints belong in the design.
Connected systems introduce dependencies that the team does not fully control. Making those dependencies explicit is part of engineering the integration.
Permissions
Use credentials and scopes that match the approved purpose rather than broad access by default.
External limits
Account for API availability, rate limits, version changes and contractual or technical restrictions.
Sensitive information
Minimise data movement and review handling, storage and retention needs before implementation.
Human ownership
Name who reviews exceptions, resolves mismatches and decides when the integration should stop.
Integration FAQ
Questions worth resolving early.
Each connected platform brings its own technical and operational constraints. Feasibility is confirmed against the systems in scope.
What is an API integration?
An API integration is a controlled connection that lets separate software systems exchange approved information or trigger defined actions through documented interfaces, permissions and failure handling.
Can you connect tools we already use?
Often, but feasibility is not assumed. It depends on each tool's API or export capability, permissions, data model, reliability, usage limits and the terms under which it can be integrated.
Do we need a custom API?
Not always. An existing supported interface may be enough. A custom API is useful when a product or internal system needs a stable, purpose-built contract that it does not currently expose.
Can an integration replace manual data entry?
It may reduce repeated transfer where the source information, mapping and exception rules are clear. Ambiguous or sensitive cases can still require human review.
How do you handle a third-party service going offline?
The appropriate response depends on the workflow. Options can include bounded retries, queues, reconciliation, an operator alert or a safe pause. The failure path should be designed before launch.
Can you improve an integration that already exists?
Potentially. The first step is to inspect its contracts, credentials, data flows, error handling, operational evidence and the constraints of connected systems before recommending changes.
Do you provide ongoing support?
Ongoing engineering and reliability work can be discussed for a specific engagement. Responsibilities, response expectations and third-party dependencies need to be agreed rather than assumed.
Start with the real problem
Which systems need to work together?
Share the current tools, the information that needs to move and where the process breaks down today.