An API call is the request of an interface method. What is meant by this can be explained clearly with an example.
How many API calls are needed to synchronise two systems?
Let’s assume that a marketing automation system and a CRM system are synchronised via the HubEngine. As soon as a new lead is generated in the marketing automation system, it should also be available to the sales department in the CRM system.
To do this, we regularly check via the API of the Marketing Automation system whether a new lead has been generated since our last query. For the query, we need the method “changes” and an API call of the HubEngine.
Let’s further assume that there was a change. Then we ask the CRM system via the HubEngine whether the lead already exists there. Again, we check for “changes” and consume another API call.
If the lead is not yet stored in the CRM system, we write it via the API with the method “create”. If the lead is already stored in the CRM system, we update it using the “update” method. In both cases, we consume at least one more API call in the HubEngine.
So in our simple example, we need three API calls from the HubEngine. Two for the queries of the connected systems and one for writing the new record in the CRM system.
Control of the API calls
The number of API calls required for continuous and automated synchronisation depends on the configuration of the HubEngine plan that has been set up. The frequency of the HubEngine plans and the conditions under which data is synchronised have a significant influence on the number of calls.
If the API is queried for changes every minute, 1,440 calls (60 *24) are consumed daily. This is 2,880 calls per day with bidirectional synchronisation. In a month with 30 days, 86,400 calls are consumed for the check for changes. If you set the frequency to hourly, the volume is reduced to only 720 API calls (24*30) per system. This would reduce the volume to one sixtieth. If the data must be available quickly, a high frequency is of course reasonable. Often, however, an hourly or even daily synchronisation of the data is sufficient.
API call statistics
The previously required API calls of the HubEngine can be queried very easily via the statistics. However, we also offer the possibility to display the information via a BI dashboard. Here is an excerpt that was created in Grafana: