API Gateway Maintenance

Overview

The ‘API Gateway Maintenance’ program is used to set up and maintain Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that enable third-party applications to connect to or from various areas of TASS.

Using APIs, schools can securely connect a multitude of different systems to TASS, taking the guesswork out of syncing and automating solutions.

Whilst TASS has a broad and comprehensive product offering, we understand that every school is unique, and sometimes may need to engage with other educational technology providers. To support this, the API Gateway Maintenance program was established to help schools use their data, the way they want to use it.

Customers can choose to develop their own API integration against the TASS APIs publicly available on GitHub, deploy an API integration developed by a third-party vendor or deploy a tested and supported API integration from one of our certified integration partners.

About APIs

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a way of securely exchanging information between two systems. TASS offers a range of RESTFul APIs to offer customers a more seamless experience between systems schools.

TASS uses RESTful API methodologies for the security, privacy, and performance benefits they provide. TASS APIs have strict version control measures in place and have been optimised to extract and insert information from the TASS database using secure encryption. Use of APIs also removes the need for direct database connections by third-party systems, limiting access to data and ensuring that only the data required is exchanged.

The API Gateway Maintenance program features three tabs for each type of API that can be integrated with TASS:

External APIs	External APIs enable connections between TASS and third-party products to extend program functionality. See ‘External APIs’ for more information.
TASS APIs	TASS APIs are created by TASS to allow third-party companies to connect to the TASS database. These APIs are publicly available, so your school can use them to develop internally in a 'self-service' way, with all documentation and support provided through the GitHub community. Anyone- whether a school or vendor- can use these APIS to build integrations with TASS. However, usage by non-approved integration partners is not certified. Some TASS APIs require partner certification, and certain functions are only accessible through Certified Integration Partners. See ‘TASS APIs’ for more information.
OAuth2 API Applications	OAuth2 allows third-party products to connect to TASS.web APIs as an entity (e.g. a parent) and uniquely identify them in order to return targeted data. It does not require the entity (e.g. parent) to share any password data, but instead uses authorisation 'bearer' tokens to identify an entity. It is separate from the existing LDAP, SAML or proprietary Username/Password combination. This OAuth2 method also allows the Mobile App to perform push notifications. See ‘OAuth2 API Applications’ for more information.

Program Tabs