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Effort-Complexity Calculation for Integrations

The effort required to develop an API or customize an existing one to expand its coverage is based on the number of objects or data resources exposed and the number of their properties (fields). The larger and more complex the entity, the more effort is required to build it.

Complexity considers the validation, processing, or transformation of the original data needed to generate these entities.

For example, suppose we need to build an API with another system to retrieve and expose a data object for an insurance claim.

Each entity representing the claim has approximately 15 properties (fields), 10 of which require validation. Building this API will involve a medium effort—2 weeks—and medium complexity (x 1.5), plus 1 additional week for field mapping.

  1. Transformation describes the processing required to convert information retrieved from the original source (system) into accessible, logical data based on Looplex’s standardized domain in the Common Data Model.
  2. Orchestration is the process of integrating two or more applications/services to automate a process or synchronize data.
  3. Business logic refers to specific business processes that need to be built into the integration, such as automated email notifications about the status or actions of the integration, error notifications, etc.

When the scenario is reversed, where Looplex consumes a third-party API (active integration), the calculations will remain essentially the same. However, additional time will be required for coordinating meetings and communications with the company exposing the other system’s API if the documentation does not conform to OpenAPI Standards and/or if we do not have automatic access to a test environment (sandbox).

This coordination and understanding phase is a mapping task similar to those performed for other setup services. The estimated timelines and service credit costs are detailed in the respective mapping chapter.