Quality APIs Matter

Developing high-quality APIs is challenging, and in a large company, the process often encounters extra obstacles. Sabre’s extensive experience in API development is evident in the hundreds of SOAP and REST APIs in our portfolio. But after decades of creating and implementing these APIs, we noticed a major issue: we were working in separate silos.

So, what happened?

Many product areas were focused solely on the microcosm of their products and were creating APIs exclusively within their own taxonomy. This focus created a few problem areas:

• Our APIs contained different field names for the same elements (for example, number versus cardNumber).
• Documentation, default values, and examples were often left as an afterthought instead of at the forefront of the development process. Our API references and resources didn’t meet the highest standards expected in today’s travel technology market.
• API fields with the same names often had different meanings, making the learning curve difficult and confusing for customers.

We realised that the process of integrating our APIs wasn’t as seamless as we expected, both for external companies and our internal teams. Teams found themselves spending a lot of time consuming our APIs, each of which had a different structure and taxonomy for the same data. More time was spent mapping data than developing, and we knew something needed to change.

Expectations from the market were set, and we heard our customers loud and clear:

• “I can tell different teams write different APIs because there are inconsistencies. Data format changes. Stuff like that, I have to wrestle.”
• “Developers hate it when an attribute name stays the same and has different meanings. Makes it difficult to reason about the code.”

Enter Sabre APIs governance

A few years ago, a group of brave Sabre employees proposed a new approach to designing APIs. We formed an internal team focused on developing a company-wide common taxonomy for new APIs, assisting teams in designing advanced API solutions, and providing guidance on best practices for API documentation. Sabre APIs governance is a team that was established from scratch and is comprised of passionate developers, architects, product managers, and technical writers dedicated to building new APIs for our customers.

Over the years, the Sabre APIs governance team has been actively engaged in implementing solutions aimed at creating the high-quality APIs we’ve always aspired for:

• We built the OpenAPI Linter (Spectral), a customised tool that automatically validates RESTful OpenAPI specifications against Sabre’s established best practices. We have also launched an open community of API practitioners.
• We established an API-First approach, where API design is the first step and development is the second. This approach addresses customer wants, needs, and feedback at the beginning.
• Various automation methods to accelerate the development of new API products for our customers.
• We created the Common Taxonomy Library, a starting “parts inventory” for building JSON payloads aimed at keeping shared data concepts consistent between Sabre APIs.
• We established in-depth API OpenAPI specification and documentation reviews. Through these efforts, we ensure that our APIs meet the quality and expectations of the ever-evolving travel technology landscape.
• We have defined our own RPC Protocol, which, by separating the application layer from the transport layer, can also be used in the REST architecture (it is publicly available on Dev Studio).
• We rely on industry standards such as REST and OpenAPI that make API client integration intuitive.

Is there a catch?

New processes will inevitably lead to some growing pains. Thanks to Sabre APIs governance, delivering APIs to the market is not a quick process like before. Preparing these high-quality APIs for our customers now takes more time, but the benefits of this new approach are already evident. We are providing robust solutions with quick integration times for new products, leading to new business wins and renewals. We understand that replacing and enhancing existing APIs won’t be easy and that there’s still work ahead, but gradually, we are changing our approach to APIs case-by-case.

Here at Sabre, we are at the forefront of adopting new technology, strengthening customer relationships, and developing products that help our clients achieve their goals. With great products, amazing people, and well-built APIs, this is possible, and it will be our future.