Knit is #1 product of the week in the developer tools category on Product Hunt!
X
Insights

What is the Real ROI of Unified API: Numbers You Need to Know

Unified APIs not only help you cut costs but also increase revenue opportunities. This article will provide 10 such examples showing the true ROI of unified API

Note: You can check our ROI calculator to have a realistic measure of how much building integrations in-house is costing you as well as gauge the actual business/monetary impact of unified APIs. You can also download the calculator for future reference, here

Building a SaaS business without integrations is out of question in today’s day and age. However, the point that needs your focus today is how you are planning to implement integrations for your business. Certainly, one way to go is to build and manage all your integrations in-house. Alternatively, you could outsource the entire heavy lifting and simply adopt a unified API which allows you to integrate with all SaaS applications from a specific vertical with a single API key. 

Of course, each one has its pros and cons (we have discussed this in detail in our article Build vs Buy) , but when it comes to calculating the ROI or the return on investment, a unified API takes the lead. 

In this article, we will discuss how adopting a unified API can exponentially benefit your bottom line compared to the investment you make along with research backed data and statistics.

I) Saved engineering hours and cost

Let’s start with the first and most prominent area of cost and return on investment for integrations, engineering or IT labor hours. 

Generally, building an integration requires normalization of APIs and data models from each SaaS application that you seek to use. Invariably, each integration requires the expertise of a developer, a product manager and a quality assurance engineer, in varying capacities. Each integration can take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months to complete. 

So, if you build an integration in house, it can cost you around 10-15k USD. Now, consider if you are using 5 integrations for a specific category of software e.g. building HRIS integrations. It can cost you as much as 50-75k USD. At the same time, you will also spend many engineering hours not only building the integrations but also managing them indefinitely. And, this is only for one integration vertical. If you decide to expand your integration catalog to other categories such as ATS, CRM, accounting, etc, the number is much higher.

On the contrary, if you go for a unified API, your engineering team has to focus its energy and resources only on one API, which comes at a fraction of the cost and engineering hours.

II) Reduced time to market

Time to market, first mover advantage and market penetration are three areas that directly impact competitive advantage for any SaaS company. 57% of companies state that gaining a competitive advantage is one of the top 3 priorities in their industry. 

The ROI of a unified API can be easily expanded to gaining this competitive advantage as well. A direct by-product of saving engineering hours with a unified API is that you can get started with integrations from day one and don’t have to wait for weeks or months for the integrations to be built. Moreover, you can deploy your valuable engineering resources on improving your core product instead of spending it on integration development and maintenance.

At a time when 53% of CEO’s are concerned about competition from disruptive businesses; reduced time to market with a unified API, gives businesses the first mover advantage and addresses their concerns of being replaced by competition. 

III) Improved scalability rate

The next return on investment parameter that you need to consider for making a case for unified APIs is how fast you are able to scale. 

It is not about adding only one integration to improve customer satisfaction. Rather, you need to scale your integrations one after the other, faster than your competitors. 

Now, if you build integrations in-house, chances are you will take at least a few weeks for each integration, making scalability a challenge. 

Contrarily, with a unified API, you are able to scale faster as it enables you to seamlessly add more integrations with a single API. You don’t need to spend time and resources on normalizing data from each application that needs to be integrated. 

When you scale quickly, you are able to meet the increasing and dynamic customer demand, resulting in more closed deals in less time. 

Also Read: State of SaaS Integration Report 2023

IV) Higher customer retention rate

Customer retention is a key growth metric for any SaaS business. 

Research shows that a 5% increase in customer retention results in 25 – 29% increase in revenue. Furthermore, retaining existing customers has been shown to increase profitability by 25% to as much as 95%. Together, these data points clearly depict how customer retention impacts your bottom line. 

From an API and integration lens, chances are that your existing customers will gradually demand for new integrations during the course of your association. In case you deny them the integrations due to lack of engineering resources, or divert your IT hours towards building them in-house (which can take weeks!) — chances are that your customers will move to your competitor. 

However, providing those integrations is the only way to retain your customers. Invariably, if you want to facilitate customer retention without too much capital investment, unified APIs are the way to go. They enable you to quickly add integrations to your product, without heavy upfront costs and the customers who you are able to retain have the potential to add significant revenue to your bottom line. 

V) New monetization opportunities

Interestingly, you can use integrations not only to support your product but can also monetize them depending on how you are able to integrate them with your solution. Based on the integration, you can define specific use cases for businesses which can help them understand how their integrations can make an impact for them beyond just data exchange. For instance, you might be able to create revenue opportunities by enabling your customers to leverage API data to redefine their business models. 

However, this monetization is only possible when you can scale fast and are able to add integrations as well as customize them for your customers. If you are building integrations in-house, this speed and customization may not be possible. However, a great ROI for unified APIs is ensuring that the cost of procuring the unified API is significantly surpassed with the new revenue it brings to the table. 

VI) Big deal closure

Enterprise customers who generally offer big deals believe in the power of integration and wish to stay away from data silos. These companies want your product to come with specific integrations that can help them integrate all data from different applications. At the same time, these companies don’t want to wait too long to get their hands on your product. 

If they have to wait for weeks to start using your product because you are delayed in building integrations in-house, chances are they will sign up with your competitor. 

Therefore, a high ROI way of closing big deals is to go with a unified API over in-house integrations, providing a seamless sales experience. 

VII) Access to missed opportunities

Research shows that 46% of sales inquiries are missed opportunities. While there may be different reasons for missed opportunities for different industries, a big reason for many SaaS platforms is the inability to provide integrations prospects are asking for. 

Chances are high that your sales team is struggling hard because your platform lacks integrations or because the time to market is too slow. This will lead to missed sales opportunities with your potential customers going to your competitors. 

However, with a unified API, you can add integrations based on customer needs, without having to navigate the waiting period that comes along with in-house integration building. Therefore, the speed of execution that comes with a unified API ensures that you are able to capture and convert all sales opportunities that come your way. 

This is a direct return on investment, with a potential to increase your conversion rate by almost 50%. 

VIII) Better security

Since integrations are all about data exchange and management, security is often a key area of concern. This suggests that your security posture from an integration standpoint can make or break your business. 

Research shows that 91% of organizations had an API security incident in 2020. 

From a security lens, encryption, classification, monitoring and logging play a major role in integration. 

However, taking care of it all in-house during building and maintenance can be tricky and cost intensive. Every time there is a security concern, your in-house team will be required to take care of all troubleshooting as well as responding to your end customers. 

Fortunately, these security concerns are taken care of by the unified API provider and the onus doesn’t lie with your engineering team. Security occurrences are also accompanied with downtime costs, which can be resolved faster by third party providers. 

Thus, if you look at the return on investment from a security standpoint, a unified API will help you significantly reduce the costs from security incidents. Even if these incidents happen, all efforts to remedy the same are taken care of by the unified API provider, making security management seamless for you. 

IX) CTO sentiment

When measuring your return on investment or costs associated with integrations, you need to also take into account the soft costs. Here, catering to the CTO sentiment is extremely important. 

  • On one hand, building integrations in-house puts the pressure on your CTO to hire more resources with specific skills, which is complicated, and an added IT expense. Research shows that 67% of the digital leaders are struggling with a skills shortage. 
  • On the other hand, even when there are enough resources, CTOs struggle with allocating bandwidth to anything other than their core product feature or enhancement. Invariably, diverting attention to building integrations in-house has repercussions on the core product, delaying release. 

Together, these factors lead to CTO frustration and resentment. 

However, with a unified API, the CTO can focus all their engineering resources on the core project at hand, ensuring quality delivery in a timely manner. 

This CTO motivation along with enhanced product delivery is another way how a unified API surpasses in-house integration building from an ROI perspective. 

X) Improved customer digital experiences

Customer experiences are a core tenet guiding return on investment for businesses.

86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. This suggests that if you are able to create a great customer experience with integrations, you can secure more revenue. There are several reasons why a unified API can help you in creating exemplary customer experiences. 

First, unified APIs give a native experience to customers and are built by experts. When building integrations in-house, chances are that you may or may not be able to achieve the right mark. Second, many unified APIs come in the form of a white label solution to which you can add your own branding seamlessly

If your customers have a great experience, chances are high that they are willing to pay a premium for this experience, leading to a clear ROI for your business with a unified API.

How to compare the ROI for unified API vs in-house integrations 

If you are deciding between the build vs buy approach for customer-facing integrations, consider the following ROI metrics for both the scenarios:

1. Total cost of integrations

For a unified API, consider the cost of procurement and one time installment. Whereas for in-house integrations, calculate the capital investment and engineering cost. Here, you will get a clear picture of where the cost is higher from a short term and a long term view. 

2. Current market landscape

Second, for your ROI, you need to understand how quickly you wish to move. If there are no competitors for you, you can take time to build integrations in-house. However, if there are others already capturing the market, you need to move fast. Therefore, consider your time to market. 

3. Number of integrations

Next, from an ROI perspective, check how many integrations you need to have. If there are only a couple of them, you can consider building them in-house. But as the number of integrations increase, building in-house will become more expensive with declining return. 

4. Resource bandwidth

Finally, you need to understand how diverting resources to integrations will impact your product lifecycle. If this leads to product release delays, impacting your core revenue, building integrations in-house can be very costly, surpassing the ROI. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, it is quite evident that you can achieve a higher ROI if you go the unified API route, especially if you want to scale fast. At the end, you should simply weigh the costs associated with each in terms of set up, maintenance, security and the new revenue they bring along with customer retention, experience, monetization, scalability, etc. 

Knit unified API helps you to integrate multiple HRIS, ATS and communication apps with a single API key for each category, reducing repetitive work. Knit also provides on-going integration management and support for your CX teams. Explore the suitability of our Knit API for your use case by signing up for free. Get API keys

Sudeshna Roy

Head of Content, Knit

Decoding product and generating users with valuable content

Latest Blogs

Browse all Blogs
API Directory
Mar 21, 2024

Comprehensive Guide to Keka API Directory

11
mins

Keka is a leading human resources management system that enables organizations to seamlessly manage diverse aspects of their human resource processes, including recruitment and onboarding, attendance and time management, payroll, expense and performance management. With OAuth authentication, rate limiting, pagination, and adherence to industry standards, Keka provides developers with everything they need to build robust integrations with their software/ platform and facilitate data exchange between their application and this leading HRMS portal. 

Keka API Authentication, Pagination, Rate Limit

To ensure safe and secure access, Keka API uses OAuth for authentication. This suggests that for successful integration, developers need an access token which can be generated with specific details. This includes client id (identifier for the client), client secret (for secure authentication), api key (unique API key for accessing the system), scope (requires passing kekaapi for this key). To facilitate integration testing for applications, developers can also leverage the Sandbox Environment which is offered by Keka. This allows developers to ensure robust functionality, before integration production begins. Keka APIs already come with pagination implemented to ensure response time optimization. The standard or the default page size in Keka is 100 with 1 being the default page number. 

API limit is a critical element of any API and so is the case with Keka, which helps define the number of requests that can be made to Keka within a limited time period. Keka has a rate limit of 50 API requests/ minute. This suggests that once 50 requests are made in a minute, the user needs to wait for the quote to be refilled before any other request is made. The rate limits are enforced and automatically reset after 60 seconds. In case a request is made before the quota is refilled, a 429 error with the reason rateLimitExceeded will be sent. 

Keka API Objects, Data Models & Endpoints

As a developer or the representative of an organization seeking to integrate with Keka API, it is important to understand the endpoints that you will be using eventually for data exchange, both when it comes to read APIs (getting data from Keka) as well as write APIs (providing data to Keka). 

CORE HR

Employees

  • Get all Employees

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/employees

  • Create an Employee

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/employees

  • Get an Employee

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/employees/{id}

  • Get all update fields

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/employees/updatefields

  • Update Employee personal details

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/employees/{id}/personaldetails

  • Update employee job details

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/employees/{id}/jobdetails

Groups

  • Get all Groups

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/groups

  • Get all Group Types

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/grouptypes

Departments

  • Get all departments

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/departments

Locations

  • Get all Locations

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/locations

Job Title

  • Get all job titles

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/jobtitles

Currency

  • Get all currencies

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/currencies

Notice Period

  • Get all notice periods

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/hris/noticeperiods

LEAVE

Leave Types

  • Get all Leave Types

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/leavetypes

Leave Balance

  • Get all Leave balances

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/leavebalance

Leave Requests

  • Get all Leave Requests

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/leaverequests

  • Create an Leave Request

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/leaverequests

ATTENDANCE

Attendance

  • Get all Attendance Records

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/attendance

Attendance Capture Scheme

  • Get all captureschemes

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/capturescheme

Holiday Calendar

  • Get all holidays Calendar

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/time/holidayscalendar

PAYROLL

Salary Components

  • Get all Salary Components

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/salarycomponents

Pay Groups

  • Get all Pay Groups

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygroups

Pay Cycles

  • Get all Pay Cycles

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygroups/{payGroupId}/paycycles

  • Get Pay Register

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygroups/{payGroupId}/paycycles/{payCycleId}/payregister

  • Get all Pay Batches

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygroups/{payGroupId}/paycycles/{payCycleId}/paybatches

  • Get all Batch Payments

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygroups/{payGroupId}/paycycles/{payCycleId}/paybatches/{payBatchId}/payments

  • Update the Payments status

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygroups/{payGroupId}/paycycles/{payCycleId}/paybatches/{payBatchId}/payments

Pay Grades

  • Get all Pay Grades

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paygrades

Pay Bands

  • Get all Pay Bands

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/payroll/paybands

PSA

Clients

  • Get all clients

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/clients

  • Create a Client

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/clients

  • Get a client

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/clients/{id}

  • Update a Client

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/clients/{id}

Project Phases

  • Get project phases.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{projectId}/phases

  • Create a Project Phase

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{projectId}/phases

Projects

  • Get all projects.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects

  • Create a Project

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects

  • Get a project

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{id}

  • Update a Project

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{id}

  • Get a project allocations

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{id}/allocations

  • Get project timesheet entries.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{id}/timeentries

Tasks

  • Get project tasks.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{projectId}/tasks

  • Create a task

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{projectId}/tasks

  • Update a task

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{projectId}/tasks/{taskId}

  • Get project task time entries.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/psa/projects/{projectId}/tasks/{taskId}/timeentries

PMS

Time Frames

  • Get time frame list.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/pms/timeframes

Goal

  • Get goal list.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/pms/goals

  • Update goal progress

PUT https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/pms/goals/{goalId}/progress

Badge

  • Get badge list.

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/pms/badges

Praise

  • Add Praise

POST https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/pms/praise

EXPENSE

Expense Category

  • Get all Expense Categories

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/expense/categories

Expense

  • Get all Expense Claims

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/expense/claims

Expense Policy

  • Get all expense policies

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/expensepolicies

ASSETS

Asset

  • Get all Assets

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/assets

Asset Type

  • Get all Asset Types

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/assets/types

Asset Category

  • Get all Asset Categories

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/assets/categories

Asset Condition

  • Get all Asset Conditions

GET https://{company}.{environment}.com/api/v1/assets/conditions

Keka API Use Cases

  • Easy payroll processing and integration with attendance and leave to ensure proper calculation of payroll and taxes
  • Covers every HR workflow to manage people processes, including hiring, onboarding, probation confirmation, internal movements, etc.
  • Streamline all HR operations with automated workflows, comprehensive analytics, and hassle-free employee management
  • Conduct a multi-dimensional assessment of employees' abilities, behavioral competencies, and performance for constructive team evaluation
  • Get an accurate view of revenue against each project, resources allocation, and amount of time spent
  • Robust attendance management system that integrates every aspect of time tracking, including scheduling shifts, and tracking over-time, fully integrated with payroll

Top Customers

Keka, as an HRMS tool, is widely used with 5000+ customers, including:

  • Noise, India's trusted wearable watch brand
  • GrabOn, one of India’s top players in the coupons and deals industry
  • ICM, a UK-based global multi-regulated financial service provider
  • Easypolicy, a leading insurance aggregator
  • Traveazy, a Dubai-based travel-tech company focused on simplifying pilgrimage travel
  • Unbox Robotics, a leading supply chain robotics technology company specializing 
  • HackerEarth, a comprehensive developer assessment software that helps companies accurately measure developers' skills while recruiting
  • Metrochem API, a manufacturer of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Pellets, and Intermediates in Multi Therapeutic segments

Keka API FAQs

Here’s a list of quick FAQs which will help answer any thoughts that you might have during your journey of integrating your application with Keka API

  • How can an admin create an API access key on Keka? Answer
  • How to integrate the Mettl assessment app with Keka Hire? Answer
  • How to integrate Naukri with Keka Hire? Answer
  • How to integrate Keka Hire with HackerEarth for Sending Assessments? Answer
  • How to integrate Keka Hire with LinkedIn? Answer 
  • How to integrate MS Teams account with Keka Hire? Answer
  • How to integrate SpringVerify with Keka? Answer

How to integrate with Keka API 

If you are just getting started, it might be a good idea to go through this documentation to understand how you can initiate the integration process. The detailed documentation contains everything you need to know about the overview, endpoints and much more. Leverage this to learn about the different data models scope and other details which will come in handy to get started. At the same time, this link will help you generate the access token for seamless authentication. 

Get started with Keka API 

While the guide shared above will serve as a comprehensive starting point for you to integrate your application with Keka API, it is important to understand that the entire process can be engineering heavy, time consuming and resource intensive. Put simply, it’s not just about building an integration, but also about managing and maintaining it over time. At the same time, if you want to connect with other HRMS APIs, the process becomes multifold. In such a situation, leveraging a unified HRMS API like Knit can come in handy. Knit enables SaaS businesses to easily connect with multiple HRMS applications by integrating once with its unified API, eliminating the need to connect with each application separately.

Book a demo call today to learn how you can accelerate your integration journey with Keka and other HRMS applications using Knit. 

API Directory
Mar 21, 2024

Paylocity API Directory

11
mins

Paylocity is a market leader in providing cloud-based payroll and human capital management software. It provides intuitive and easy to use products that enable businesses to automate and streamline their HR and payroll processes, facilitate better hiring practices and build a culture of retention and engagement. To facilitate connections with different applications, Paylocity offers  open, developer-friendly APIs. With automation at the core, Paylocity API ensures that updates, i.e. when payroll is processed or when there is any change in the employee base (hire, transfer, termination) webhooks are pushed to reflect the changes.

This article will help you understand how Paylocity API functions, how developers can authenticate and access the same. Furthermore, it will highlight the different endpoints, use cases and FAQs that are integral to a smooth integration journey. Finally, it will discuss the common integration use cases for Paylocity API, focusing on the category of applications that can seamlessly integrate with Paylocity for business impact. 

Paylocity API Authentication, Filtering, Rate Limits

To ensure safe and limited access, Paylocity API leverages OAuth2 for authentication using Client Credentials. In this form of authentication, each API call to Paylocity API is accompanied by a HTTP Header named Authorization, along with a bearer token (with limited time validity), from the Paylocity Identity Provider. The token for authentication only has a life of 60 minutes and expires post that. Using an expired token will lead to a failed response. To receive the token, you must have client_id and secret. 

API filtering is quite an important attribute when it comes to ensuring that only relevant data is exchanged and also increases the speed of exchange. Paylocity API filtering works on the principle of request-response communication. Whenever an API request is made to the server, the filter criteria must be specified. Subsequently, once the server processes this request, the filter is applied and only relevant data, which meets the criteria is sent back.  

To prevent overuse or overconsumption of resources, Paylocity API has set rate limits, permitting up to 40,000 calls per hour. If more requests are made than the set limit, a 403 forbidden error message appears, indicating overuse. To prevent overuse of API calls and to stay within the rate limit, developers can optimize their code to minimize the API calls made per minute, by caching data, removing redundant requests and making API calls only when necessary. Implementing rate limiting logic, and retry mechanism can also help in error handling. 

Paylocity API Objects, Data Models & Endpoints

To integrate with Paylocity API, it is important to have an understanding of the objects, data models and endpoints you will be working with. Here’s a quick starting point:

  • Add / Update Deduction (sends new or updated employee deduction information directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

POST https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/deduction

  • Delete deduction for deduction code / start date

DELETE https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/deductions/{deductionCode}/{startDate}

  • Get All Deductions (returns all deductions for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/deductions

  • Get Deduction for Deduction Code (returns records for a specific deduction for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/deductions/{deductionCode}

  • Add Employee to Onboarding (sends employee data into Paylocity Onboarding to help ensure an easy and accurate hiring process)

POST https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/onboarding/employees

  • Get Local Tax for Tax Code (returns local tax information for the specific tax code for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/localTaxes/{taxCode}

  • Update Local Tax (sends updated local tax code information for the selected employee)

PUT https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/localTaxes/{taxCode}

  • Delete Local Tax for Tax Code (deletes the local tax code from Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

DELETE https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/localTaxes/{taxCode}

  • Get All Local Taxes (returns all local tax information for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/localTaxes

  • Add Local Tax (sends new local tax information directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

POST https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v1/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/localTaxes

  • Add/update additional rates (sends new or updated employee additional rates information directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

PUT https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/additionalRates

  • Get All Company Codes

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/codes/{codeResource}

  • Get All Custom Fields

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/customfields/{category}

  • Get All Direct Deposit (returns main direct deposit and all additional direct deposits for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/directDeposit

  • Get All Earnings (returns all earnings for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/earnings

  • Add/Update Earning (sends new or updated employee earnings information directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

PUT https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/earnings

  • Get Earning by Earning Code and Start Date (returns the single earning with the provided earning code and start date for the selected employee)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/earnings/{earningCode}/{startDate}

  • Delete Earning by Earning Code and Start Date

DELETE https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/earnings/{earningCode}/{startDate}

  • Get Earnings by Earning Code (returns all earnings with the provided earning code for the selected employee)

GET

https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/earnings/{earningCode}

  • Add/update emergency contacts (sends new or updated employee emergency contacts directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

PUT https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/emergencyContacts

  • Add/update employee's benefit setup (sends new or updated employee benefit setup information directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

PUT  https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/benefitSetup

  • Get all employees (returns employee data currently available in Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees

  • Add new employee (sends new employee data directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

POST https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees

  • Get employee (returns employee data currently available in Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}

  • Update employee (updates existing employee data in WebPay)

PATCH https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}

  • Get sensitive data

GET https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/sensitivedata

  • Add/update sensitive data (sends new or updated employee sensitive data information directly to Paylocity Payroll/HR solution)

PUT https://apisandbox.paylocity.com/api/v2/companies/{companyId}/employees/{employeeId}/sensitivedata

  • Gets Retirement Contributions (provides deferrals, loan payments, employer match)

GET https://dc1demogwext.paylocity.com/apiHub/benefits/v1/companies/{companyId}/retirementPlans/{planId}/checks/{checkDate}

Paylocity API Use Cases

  • Access real-time, visual representation of information through reports, analytics, and dashboards for tracking essential metrics, spotting trends, and making informed decisions based on data.
  • Simplify the gathering of information, documents, and task management across various users and environments.
  • Easily create tailored employee appreciation initiatives, oversee rewards and budgets, and monitor program performance instantly.
  • Measure employee engagement levels to gain insight into potential time and cost efficiencies.
  • Gather input from colleagues, supervisors, and team members for comprehensive 360-degree feedback. Utilize talent assessment frameworks like the 9-box grid.
  • Delegate training tasks using an extensive course library, upload custom materials, or empower employee experts to develop and distribute training through our online collaboration platform, Community.
  • Reduce manual input by automatically incorporating reimbursements into employee paychecks.
  • Access consolidated global payroll data in real-time for over 100 countries through our integrated payroll system.

Top customers

36,000+ customers use Paylocity for the HR and payroll needs, including:

  • Meyer Distributing, a leader in automotive specialty products marketing and distribution
  • Noble House, a curated collection of award-winning boutique hotels, luxury resorts
  • Crafton Tull, an engineering, design, and surveying firm 
  • HP Piping Solutions, manufacturers and suppliers of high-pressure mud piping, mud gas separators and other drilling-related products
  • BASIS.ed, a for-profit education management organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona
  • Momentus Technologies, a global provider of industry leading venue and event management solutions

Paylocity API FAQs

A quick glance on the common FAQs that developers have about Paylocity API can help you accelerate your integration journey:

  • How to get the REST API cURL Token for Paylocity? Answer
  • How to retrieve an employee's PTO from Paylocity API? Answer
  • How to get the Paylocity API Access Token? Answer
  • How to get the access token for Paylocity Web API in Node.js without getting an error "invalid_client"? Answer
  • How to use Paylocity API to get employee department? Answer
  • How to address the issue of pulling data from Paylocity API? Answer
  • How to get employee custom fields from Paylocity API? Answer
  • How to extract data from Paylocity API using cloud data fusion? Answer
  • How to get Paylocity API Access using Python? Answer
  • What are the requirements to get production credentials and launch Paylocity API integration? Answer
  • What authentication method do you use to access Paylocity APIs? Answer
  • How do I find Paylocity APIs that fit my use case? Answer
  • Is there a cost for using Paylocity’s APIs? Answer

Common Integrations with Paylocity API 

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of applications (categories), which can easily integrate with Paylocity API to facilitate easy exchange of employee relevant information and further their impact, without the need to duplicate information upload:

  • Benefits administration systems to ensure correct allocation and deduction in employee payrolls
  • Application tracking systems for seamless onboarding, payroll setup, etc. 
  • Payroll and accounting systems to facilitate compensation management 
  • Active employee directories, ensuring all employee data is updated for consumption 
  • Workforce planning tools to set hiring and retention strategy 

How to integrate with Paylocity API 

Paylocity offers several APIs for different use cases. Therefore, as the first step, you need to understand your integration needs and then identify the right API and endpoints to connect with. The next step is to get the access token to access the sandbox or the demo environment (oAuth credentials). Once you get the access, leverage guides like this one to build, test and go-live with your Paylocity API integration. 

Get started with Paylocity API 

As visible from the section above, integration with Paylocity API involves several steps and knowledge transfer across several documentation guides. Fortunately, unified API providers like Knit, make it very easy for developers to integrate with Paylocity and multiple other HRIS applications in a very short time. Adding an additional abstraction layer to the API infrastructure, Knit’s unified HRIS API ensures that customers only have to integrate once and they can then connect with all other HRIS applications from there. To understand more about how a unified HRIS API can help you significantly optimize your integration building and management process, book a discovery call today

API Directory
Mar 21, 2024

Gusto API Directory

11
mins

Gusto is an online payroll and HR solutions company. Backed by global expertise Gusto provides companies with one easy, integrated platform, to automate and simplify payroll, benefits, and HR processes. From time tracking, to performance management, analytics and even benefits administration, Gusto application enables businesses to make HR management seamless and streamlined, while saving hours and reducing human errors considerably. 

Gusto API Authentication, Pagination, Rate Limits

As a security first application, Gusto leverages OAuth2 for authentication. Gusto API integration uses two types of tokens for security and authentication. On the one side are organization level API tokens which can be accessed through the Developer Portal. Additionally, there are company level tokens (generally access tokens or refresh tokens), which are provided via the OAuth2 process. It is very important for developers building integrations with Gusto API to manage, store and maintain all tokens securely to prevent unauthorized authentication and access. 

Essentially, API tokens are used specifically for organization level endpoints, like creating a company, and cannot be used for company or employee level endpoints. For the latter, developers must focus on access tokens via OAuth2. To facilitate higher levels of security, Gusto API ensures that all endpoints which are authenticated via access tokens require a strict access token, which is reserved for access only to a single company. 

Gusto API endpoints support pagination. To use pagination, developers can add a page and a per parameter to their URL’s query string. The page can define the page number from where records are sought, and the per parameter dictates the number of records per page. In case the per parameter is left blank, by default 25 records will be returned. Each endpoint’s documentation reflects on whether or not it supports pagination. 

To ensure high performance throughput, Gusto API maintains an API rate limit of 200 requests per minute. This suggests that 200 API calls can be made within the 60 second time window, beyond which a violation will be evaluated. A 429 error, highlighting too many requests will be displayed if the rate limit is hit for an active integration and the request will be subsequently rejected. 

Gusto API Objects, Data Models & Endpoints

An understanding of the Gusto API objects, data models and endpoints is extremely important for developers seeking to build integrations with Gusto API. Some of the key endpoints include:

Companies

  • Create a company

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/provision

  • Get a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}

  • Get the custom fields of a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/custom_fields

Locations

  • Create a company location

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/locations

  • Get company locations

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/locations

  • Get a location

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/locations/{location_id}

  • Update a location

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/locations/{location_id}

  • Get minimum wages for a location

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/locations/{location_uuid}/minimum_wages

Pay Schedules

  • Get the pay schedules for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/pay_schedules

  • Get a pay schedule

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/pay_schedules/{pay_schedule_id}

  • Get pay periods for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/pay_periods

  • Get pay schedule assignments for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/pay_schedules/assignments

Departments

  • Create a department

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_uuid}/departments

  • Get all departments of a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_uuid}/departments

  • Get a department

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/departments/{department_uuid}

  • Update a department

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/departments/{department_uuid}

  • Delete a department

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/departments/{department_uuid}

  • Add people to a department

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/departments/{department_uuid}/add

  • Remove people from a department

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/departments/{department_uuid}/remove

Earning Types

  • Create a custom earning type

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/earning_types

  • Get all earning types for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/earning_types

  • Update an earning type

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/earning_types/{earning_type_uuid}

  • Deactivate an earning type

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/earning_types/{earning_type_uuid}

Payrolls

  • Get all payrolls for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/payrolls

  • Get a single payroll

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/payrolls/{payroll_id}

  • Update a payroll by ID

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/payrolls/{payroll_id}

  • Prepare a payroll for update

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/payrolls/{payroll_id}/prepare

Contractor Payments

  • Get contractor payments for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/contractor_payments

  • Get a single contractor payment

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/contractor_payments/{contractor_payment_id}

Company Benefits

  • Create a company benefit

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/company_benefits

  • Get benefits for a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/company_benefits

  • Get a company benefit

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/company_benefits/{company_benefit_id}

  • Update a company benefit

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/company_benefits/{company_benefit_id}

  • Delete a company benefit

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/company_benefits/{company_benefit_id}

  • Get all benefits supported by Gusto

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/benefits

  • Get a supported benefit by ID

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/benefits/{benefit_id}

  • Get company benefit summary by company benefit id.

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/company_benefits/{company_benefit_id}/summary

  • Get benefit fields requirements by ID

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/benefits/{benefit_id}/requirements

Employees

  • Create an employee

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/employees

  • Get employees of a company

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/companies/{company_id}/employees

  • Get an employee

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}

  • Update an employee

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}

  • Delete an onboarding employee

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}

  • Get an employee's custom fields

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/custom_fields

  • Get employee time off activities

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_uuid}/time_off_activities

Employee Employments

  • Get terminations for an employee

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/terminations

  • Get an employee rehire

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/rehire

  • Get employment history for an employee

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/employment_history

Employee Addresses

  • Get an employee's home addresses

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/home_addresses

  • Create an employee's home address

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/home_addresses

  • Get an employee's home address

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/home_addresses/{home_address_uuid}

  • Update an employee's home address

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/home_addresses/{home_address_uuid}

  • Delete an employee's home address

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/home_addresses/{home_address_uuid}

  • Get an employee's work addresses

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/work_addresses

  • Create an employee work address

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/work_addresses

  • Get an employee work address

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/work_addresses/{work_address_uuid}

  • Update an employee work address

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/work_addresses/{work_address_uuid}

  • Delete an employee's work address

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/work_addresses/{work_address_uuid}

Jobs and Compensations

  • Create a job

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/jobs

  • Get jobs for an employee

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/jobs

  • Get a job

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/jobs/{job_id}

  • Update a job

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/jobs/{job_id}

  • Delete an individual job

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/jobs/{job_id}

  • Get compensations for a job

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/jobs/{job_id}/compensations

  • Create a compensation

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/jobs/{job_id}/compensations

  • Get a compensation

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/compensations/{compensation_id}

  • Update a compensation

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/compensations/{compensation_id}

  • Delete a compensation

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/compensations/{compensation_id}

Employee Benefits

  • Create an employee benefit

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/employee_benefits

  • Get all benefits for an employee

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/employee_benefits

  • Get an employee benefit

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employee_benefits/{employee_benefit_id}

  • Update an employee benefit

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employee_benefits/{employee_benefit_id}

  • Delete an employee benefit

DELETE https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employee_benefits/{employee_benefit_id}

  • Create year-to-date benefit amounts from a different company

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/ytd_benefit_amounts_from_different_company

Garnishments

  • Create a garnishment

POST https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/garnishments

  • Get garnishments for an employee

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/employees/{employee_id}/garnishments

  • Get a garnishment

GET https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/garnishments/{garnishment_id}

  • Update a garnishment

PUT https://api.gusto-demo.com/v1/garnishments/{garnishment_id}

Gusto API Use Cases

  • Automate employee time tracking (with flexible scheduling and remote work options), approval and accurate payroll creation
  • Rely on robust and customizable checklists for employee onboarding and ensure software provisioning with a few clicks
  • Automate workflow for performance management including self evaluation, manager review and career development sources with custom performance software
  • Leverage customizable reports, anonymous team surveys, automatic compliance alerts for holistic team insights
  • Create a payroll which runs on autopilot with automated calculations, compliances and much more

Top customers

Serving 300,000+ businesses, Gusto API is the preferred HR and payroll solutions provider for many global names, including:

  • Little Fish Accounting, a boutique CPA firm providing small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers with accounting + tax support
  • ApproveMe.com, a document signing experience™ that helps businesses build better relationships with their signers
  • Snapbar, a company that develops intuitive, web-based products leveraging the power of photo and video
  • Heckler Design, a firm that creates beautifully simple, commercial-grade hardware and furniture for design-conscious consumers and businesses
  • Floyd Lee Locums, a company that provides an elite concierge experience to physicians, CRNAs, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other healthcare providers

Gusto API FAQs

Following is a list of FAQs that can help guide your Gusto API integration journey:

  • How do I get access to a sandbox environment to build Gusto API integration? Answer
  • How do I get API keys for Gusto API? Answer
  • Can I change the redirect URI for the API Keys? Answer
  • How long does it usually take to build an integration with Gusto API? Answer
  • Once an employee is created in Gusto via the API, what happens next? Answer
  • What’s required to obtain API Keys for Production? Answer
  • What debits can I expect to see via the Gusto API? Answer
  • Can I make test calls in production after my Gusto API integration has passed QA and launched? Answer
  • What are the error codes associated with Gusto API? Answer
  • How can I create a job ID and compensation for an employee in Gusto API? Answer
  • Does Gusto API have any sample codes I can use to get started on? Answer
  • What kind of support will I get when building my integration? Answer

Common Integrations with Gusto API 

Undoubtedly, there are several categories of applications which can benefit from integrating with Gusto API. Listing a few for developers to get an idea:

  • ATS applications to push newly hired candidate data
  • Performance management systems to get access to employee rosters and information
  • HR analytics platforms to get access to employee data, including payroll, compensation, etc. 
  • Benefits applications to facilitate accurate deductions and benefits administration

How to integrate with Gusto API 

To commence your integration journey with Gusto API, it is important to create a developer account. You can sign up for an account here. Once you sign up for a developer account, the next steps are quite streamlined. It involves accepting the terms of service, setting up the account, creating the application to get access to your unique Gusto API keys. As a best practice, it is ideal to go through the detailed documentation and guides offered by Gusto API to understand the diverse aspects of integration. You can check out the documentation resource to answer all questions you may have, here. Gusto API also offers a sandbox functionality to test and demo your work, before making a firm commitment.  

Get started with Gusto API 

Developers can build Gusto API integration for their applications following the steps mentioned in the section above and by leveraging the documentation shared. However, building one integration can take up to 4-6 weeks on an average, utilizing a lot of developer bandwidth, becoming a cost intensive project. In case you need to build more than one HRMS integration, leveraging a unified API like Knit is ideal. A unified API adds an additional layer of abstraction on top of the API, ensuring that developers only have to integrate with one unified API to connect with several HRMS applications supported by the unified API. To understand how a unified API like Knit can help your integration journey, book a demo today. 

Start building with Knit, today

Talk to our sales team for a free tour of Knit!

Book Demo!