API/Integration Partner Onboarding Guide

Welcome to the Foundation Software API Integration Partner Onboarding Guide. This guide covers the full lifecycle for integrating with Foundation Software APIs, from early assessment through ongoing support.

Overview

The onboarding process is divided into seven phases that are designed to ensure secure, successful integrations.

Onboarding Phases

Phase 1: Commercial Evaluation

During this phase, Foundation Software will gather detailed information about your project and desired usage of its APIs and review it from both a business and technical perspective to ensure it is aligned with Foundation's business ecosystem, as well as our technology and security.

Once reviews are completed and approved at the business and technical levels, you are assigned an IT Account Manager that is your key point person and contact between your team and ours as we help you build out your solution and successfully launch to production. The IT Account Manager will guid your team through the entire process to help ensure the success of your solution.

Outcomes:

• ✅ Move forward with available capabilities
• ⚠️ Identify required enhancements or scope changes
• ❌ Decide not to proceed

Phase 2: Provisioning Sandbox & Credentials

In this phase, we provision a sandbox account for your team to develop against. We also set up all credentials, including API subscription keys etc. at this time. Instructions are issued on how to get into our Development Portal to access documentation,allowing you to familiarize yourself with the APIs and usage while the sandbox provisioning is taking place.

Outcomes:

• ✅ A dedicated test environment is provisioned for your team, with verified API access.
• ✅ Instructions on how to sign up and access the Development Portal for API reference and usage documentation.

Phase 3: Technical Kick-off Meeting

Once your sandbox and credentials have been set up and verified, the IT Account Manager schedules a kick-off meeting with our teams, which includes a dedicated Project Manager and Technical Lead assigned to you. These are experts on the platform and APIs your solution is being developed against.

Outcomes:

• ✅ Teams are introduced.
• ✅ Lines of communication are established.
• ✅ Solution is reviewed to make sure we're in alignment and a project plan established.
• ✅ You are up and running and able to make calls in your sandbox environment.
• ✅ Ensure the Development Portal is accessible to you and you are directed to the proper API documentation for your solution.
• ✅ Schedule a cadence for on-going developer support meetings to get questions answered and help while developing out your solution.

Phase 4: Developer Support

This is an ongoing sync-up meeting with the teams to go over any unanswered questions or technical issues you may be experiencing, as well as making sure our project plan is on schedule and make any adjustments necessary.

Outcomes:

• ✅ General developer support from our Technical Lead and your developer(s).
• ✅ Project Manager ensures we are on target with the plan, or we make adjustments where necessary.

Phase 5: Testing & Evaluation

Once development of your solution is complete, the assigned Project Manager schedules a technical review of your solution. This may be an online meeting with your Technical Lead assigned, and may include Quality Assurance and/or Security team members from Foundation Software, depending on the complexity of the solution and areas it touches in the underlying system. There may be multiple iterations for this process until our review team passes on the solution.

Outcomes:

• ✅ Solution reviewed in general by a Foundation team based on the complexity and usage of the APIs in the solution.

Phase 6: Launch & Post-Launch Support

Once testing has passed, the IT Account Manager schedules a launch meeting with team members to issue production keys for moving your solution to live production. Our teams are available to help troubleshoot and ensure several successful runs of your API-based solution during this phase.

Outcomes:

• ✅ Issue production key(s) to your team and plan the go-live to production.
• ✅ Foundation team will support you during this phase through several live iterations until it is at a stage to transition you to general support.

Phase 7: Support Transition

Your IT Account Manager schedules a support transition meeting to go over the solution and identify any gaps or issues that need to be addressed. They make sure you are trained on the general support process, including any change requests going forward. A follow-up meeting will be established on an agreed cadence to check in with you once in a while to make sure your solution is still running as expected, as well as go over any API changes or enhancements that could help you.

Outcomes:

• ✅ Go over any issues or gaps in your solution and make sure issues have been created to get them resolved.
• ✅ Go over the general support process and how it works.
• ✅ Go over change management for APIs.
• ✅ Schedule a routine follow-up meeting to check on your overall solution health and cover any API changes and enhancements that can assist you.

Getting Started

If you have not yet started the onboarding process, contact the Foundation Software support team at (800) 811-5926.