Get Started with Direct Data Intake API

Everything you need to know to get started with the Direct Data Intake API.

Prerequisites: Have a Visier tenant that contains objects you want to load data into.

Get a Visier Account

To use the API, you must have a Visier account with a profile that has the following capabilities:

  • Data: Write (Access Level), Simple (View Level)
  • Model: Write (Access Level), Simple (View Level)
  • Request Auth Token
  • Manage Jobs
  • Data Upload
  • Direct Publish

If you don't have an account, contact your administrator. They will create an account for you with the above capabilities.

Generate your API key and security token

To make an API request, you will need an API key and a security token. For more information about how to get an API key and request a security token, see API Authentication.

Note: If using Postman to send requests, you can request a security token directly in the tool, see Use Postman to Call Visier APIs.

Choose your tool

To begin working with the Direct Data Intake API you will need to choose a tool to make your first request. This can be Postman or whichever method you usually use to make HTTP requests. For more information about using Postman for your first request, see Use Postman to Call Visier APIs.

Put your data files in the right place

To send data files using the DDI API, the data files must be in a location that your API application can access. If using Postman, the data files you want to upload must be in Postman's files folder on your local device. For more information, see "Working directory" in Setting up Postman.

Make your first request

To test that you have everything set up correctly, we'll make a request to the Retrieve an object's data load schema endpoint. For a complete list of available endpoints, see "Direct Data Intake" in API Reference.

The following sample request is used to retrieve the data load schema of the Employee Exit event. Replace {vanity_name} with your tenant name. The API key is expected as a header, while the token ID is expected as a cookie.

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cURL sample request: Retrieve Employee Exit's data load schema
curl -X GET --url 'https://{vanity_name}.api.visier.io/v1/data/directloads/prod/schemas/Employee_Exit' \
-H 'apikey:{api_key}' \
-H 'Cookie:VisierASIDToken={security_token}'

If everything was set up correctly and the request was successful, you should see a similar response:

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Sample response
{
  "schema": [
    {
      "name": "EmployeeID",
      "dataType": "TEXT",
      "isMandatory": true
    },
    {
      "name": "EventDate",
      "dataType": "DATE",
      "formats": [
        "yyyy-MM-dd",
        "MM/dd/yyyy",
        "dd-MM-yyyy"
      ],
      "isMandatory": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Record_Period_ID",
      "dataType": "DATE",
      "formats": [
        "yyyy-MM-dd",
        "MM/dd/yyyy",
        "dd-MM-yyyy"
      ],
      "emptyValuesAllowed": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Employer_Post_Termination",
      "dataType": "TEXT",
      "emptyValuesAllowed": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Termination_Reason-Termination_Detailed_Reason",
      "dataType": "TEXT",
      "emptyValuesAllowed": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Termination_Reason-Termination_Reason",
      "dataType": "TEXT",
      "emptyValuesAllowed": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Termination_Type",
      "dataType": "TEXT",
      "emptyValuesAllowed": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Sequence_Number",
      "dataType": "NUMERIC",
      "emptyValuesAllowed": true
    }
  ]
}

Note:  

  • All fields specify the required data type and name. For example, Employee_Exit has a field called EmployeeID. Its data type must be TEXT and it must contain a value in the data file. If you try to load Employee_Exit with a field called Employee-ID, it will fail.
  • Fields with "dataType": "DATE" specify acceptable date formats.
  • "isMandatory": true indicates the field must contain a value. If a mandatory field is empty, the data load will fail.
  • "emptyValuesAllowed": true indicates the value is optional and may be empty.

Next steps

Now that you've successfully authenticated and completed your first API request, you're ready to start loading data into Visier.

To learn more: