Exploring the Possibilities with SAP AIN APIs
The SAP Asset Intelligence Network (SAP AIN) solution have APIs that you can consume and deploy in the cloud adding an entirely new dimension.
Most API documentation assumes an understanding of the foundational technology, and while REST API architecture gives enormous freedom to innovate and fewer guidelines for application behavior. Since these APIs are based on HTTP, a mature protocol, there are numerous strategies you can use to develop and debug your application. First, though, you need a comprehension of the basics of HTTP, a grasp of REST architecture, and some tools for inspecting traffic and strategies for debugging problems.
The following APIs are provided by SAP AIN:
| Name | Description |
| Company Profile | View details of an organization, its locations, invitees and subsidiaries. |
| External IDs | Create, update, delete and view the unique object ID of an external system that you want to map the object ID. |
| Templates | Format or a template created by the manufacturer to maintain metadata related to an equipment. |
| Models | Define all maintenance and specification information related to a new or existing product. |
| Spare Parts | Record a spare part’s manufacturing information such as dimensions, quantity, shelf life etc. |
| Equipment | Maintain an item of an equipment where the system returns the details of the created item of an equipment along with auto-generated ID. |
| Instructions | Maintain and carry out set of steps for a specific task. |
| Documents | Upload and assign a document to various business objects to ensure they have sufficient documentation. |
| Announcements | Maintain announcement information that a manufacturer communicates to an operator. |
| Locations | Maintain a location for an equipment. |
| Performance Improvement | Trigger workflow that brings together the relevant stakeholders of your asset and help you resolve your case by giving a solution or recommendation. |
| Measuring Point | Retrieve the measuring point values of your equipment in SAP AIN from an external system. |
| Searching Objects | Search objects such as models, equipment, subclass and templates. |
REST APIs generally format the responses in JSON or XML. Both formats are well supported, with libraries available in most any modern programming language. Using one of these libraries, you’ll find it relatively straightforward to convert the response into an object that you can manipulate in your application.
Our rest APIs from SAP AIN are flexible to be consumed by difference environments such as JAVA, ABAP and so on. The following link displays a list of Rest APIs provided with SAP AIN: https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/SAP_ASSET_INTELLIGENCE_NETWORK
This overview should arm you with enough information to get started using REST APIs. We strongly recommend that you take a look at the in-depth tutorial https://help.sap.com. Or if you just want to dive right in, there’s excellent payload and response information available for many REST APIs provided by SAP AIN.
Once you’re comfortable with REST APIs, they are a great way to add integration between the SAP AIN application and existing Web services. REST APIs not only share a consistent interface, but they invariably rely on HTTP; after you’ve used one, you’re in great shape to try out others. REST’s consistency and openness make it one of the easiest API types to work with. With the ability to inspect the traffic between the client and the server, developing and debugging REST integrations is made that much easier.
As I read many different blogs, I find the possibilities are nearly endless.
Michelle