---
layout: post
title: >-
  A Simple Needs Assessment To Kick Off An API Integration And Automation
  Journey
image: >-
  https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinlane-productions2/bw-icons/bw-integration-automation.png
tags:
  - Automation
  - Integration
  - Journey
  - Assessment
---
I need some help with APIs! Ok, where can I help you? Well, I have multiple systems, that we use to operate our business on a daily basis, and when we do things in one system, we need the other system to know about it, and when certain events occur we need to trigger pushes or pulls between all systems--this is how many conversations begin as the API Evangelist.

While many people think they are looking for an API solution, they are really looking for an API journey, with a little assistance from me along the way. Sure they want an API to make their world more integrated, inter-operable, automated, and real time, but in reality, they are needing to get to work unwinding a mess of legacy technical, business, and political business decisions that have been over years--this takes a journey.

Ok, so where do we get started (another common theme lately) in helping quantify the problem set, and what a journey will look like to get us closer to a solution? This post is designed to help you self assess, answer a handful of key questions, and put yourself on a path forward.

**Internal Systems Inventory**  
What systems are involved? If this is a company-wide effort, this might be a more involved task, but if it is a single project, or objective, it will hopefully be much smaller. Regardless of scope, having a well defined inventory of the internal systems that you depend on, is pretty important stuff. Let's get to list making a list of what systems are involved in the API driven solution we are looking for.