Manager Features urgently required to implement API

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I am looking to implement an API to my CRM helpdesk around June this year.

Could the following features be changed/implemented before this time so I don’t have to pay twice for the API integration when changes are made.

  1. There was mention in the discussion of batch updates to remove the UUID for clients/suppliers and no doubt other fields and replace them with more user friendly names. Will this affect an API built today as we are planning on using the UUID’s to link customers on our CRM system?

  2. More secure method of authentication required. Basic Authentication is not good enough for real world business use. It needs to be far more secure and not reliant on using the Administrator account. There was talk of using API keys. Could this be implemented.

  3. I believe (and speak under correction), that the desired method to filter say Client A (on the CRM end), would be to connect to a Custom Report via Json and filter clients that way, instead of adding a lot of programming on the CRM side. My understanding is that using Json to connect to Custom Reports is not working yet and secondly, not sure if you can filter clients via custom reports yet. If this needs to be addressed, could this be sorted please. How to access to Manager data

  4. Status of quotes, Sales Orders and Purchase Orders Idea Could this feature request be implemented as well because the intended purpose of the API is to allow my clients to view their quotes, orders and invoices. Currently there is no status for Quotes and Orders in Manager. While I do use a custom field, it would make far more sense to implement this feature first then implement the API. This would mean far less time and money spent integrating Manager via API if the program itself includes statuses similar to Invoices. One of the aims is to chase up clients to approve or deny quotes so a status for quotes and orders is necessary.

I have delayed implementing the API for as long as possible as I was waiting for maturation of the API and also for the Status of Quotes feature to be implemented. Unfortunately I cannot delay this any longer. The need for clients to view their quotes, orders and invoices on the helpdesk is becoming increasingly important. I would like to do this in around June. Could the API and Status of Quotes requests be prioritised (after bug fixes), because integrating the API with the helpdesk will be time consuming and expensive. I don’t want to be in a position where I spend a lot of money now and have to spend more later.

Despite some of my concerns (specifically rollout of updates), I am actually very happy with Manager and I would like to renew the Server version again. I am hoping that there will be recognition of the importance of prioritising this work because it will save me time and money if the above issues are addressed asap. Also quite a few users are wanting to make use of the API so would benefit other users who are not using the API due to current limitations. Thank you.

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The work I’m currently doing will (beside other things) result in finalization and release of API documentation. I thought I will finish this month but now it looks like it will take until end of next month. Lots of internal changes and the challenge is to re-implement existing features in certain way while not breaking them. Lots of users using Manager in all kinds of ways (some quite obscure which I didn’t consider).

UUID will be always used internally and it’s what it should be used when two systems are talking to each other.

Currently, only administrator account can access API. The plan is to allow restricted users which will allow more granular API permissions. This is actually partially supported already. For example, if you have a system which needs access to single tab of single business, you can set up API permissions as such (just like you can already set up restricted users).

It’s not currently possible to get JSON representation of actual custom report (not just definition). But this will be easy to add once API documentation is available.

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Thank you for the feedback on where we are with this. I will check back with you in about 4 weeks regarding this. I can delay a month or so (as the exact implementation date is not important other than booking the developer in to do the work). But I would ideally like to have a set date of around June to get this show on the road.

Yes I expected you to be creating aliases for user friendly names to point to UUID in batches. That makes sense. We will continue to use the UUID.

Would it not make more sense to use keys and certificates instead of usernames and passwords? Having said that, the permissions will be very important as I largely want the clients to view only. Although with quotes, to mark as approved or declined.

We can work round the issue of not being able to filter quotes, orders and invoices by customer because we just need to add the UUID of the client on the helpdesk side. This won’t be that much work. But long term it would be great to support Custom Reports as there are a lot of things you could do in the custom reports and transformation reports.

Once the API is ready along with documentation, I will ask you about status of quotes idea as that is integral to the intended purpose of the API.