Redesigning the API Marketplace Experience

Currently, the platform is accessed most widely by developers, for whom a mental model of searching testing a particular type of content on a regular basis is built in. However SAP wanted to expand it’s user base on this platform, to allow business users or architects to visit the platform, understand what kind of content was available to them and then consume what was relevant to them.

While the existing platform has a search section for developers who know what they want to find, the goal was to make the new search and filter mechanism more intuitive and contextual for the user. The user should be suggested content based on their needs, find their previously searched content easily and should also be able to get into a deep search mechanism to find specific results.

The user should be able to easily set their preferences based on their role, industry, line of business and products they are working on. Based on theis the platform should be to able remember this and curate their content and only provide what their are interested in. The user should also be able to switch back to see all the general content in case they want.

We studied some of the leading market competitors of the client and gathered their best attributes. We analyzed the salient features, pain points and opportunities for improvement/innovation to understand the user and the existing user-flows better. As a result we were able to study their processes and filtered out the best practices which we wanted to adopt/ innovate upon.

UX Metrics

• API Hub has evolved as an important platform providing content for stakeholders like developers, business users, solution architects etc., to discover the content. They are now looking forward for more enhancements for better usage.
• Users found overall experience pleasant, simple and easy to use.
• Users are happy to find all types of content easily on a single platform

• Users need personalised search experience based on persona.
• Users are looking for a way to consume artefacts directly from API Hub
• Users are looking for suggestive guidance to easily find the content they are looking for

When users visited a Product page, they needed to get an Overview of what that product was about, some important specifications,guides for where and how that product/ package can be used and other important documentation.

To make all these easily accessible to users while they were viewing Artefacts, we followed a tab mechanism. At the package level, we designed a double tab structure for the user to easily drill down into the next section as well.

The users would be able to see the list of artefacts related to the product or package. They would also be able to filter, sort and contextually search by name with the package.

Users who are developers come to API Hub to extract content od a certain type and use it in the SAP or SAP related products they are working on. In order to facilitate this, we designed a structure to make this content easily consumable by both new and regular users.

We provided an Overview Section upfront that would give users a basic idea about API Hub. It also includes details like specifications and documentation.

Another challenge was that certain content like Integration flows and Business Processes had a long loading time. In cases like that, users would first see a preview of the content which on clicking would lead the to the full screen view.

On viewing an API, the user first gets an understanding of the API, it’s documentation, features and Use Cases etc. before diving deep into testing or reading about it

Here, a user can view all the endpoints and operations associated with an API and understand their capabilities. The user can also view example values and responses for diffeent parameters.

The Test View is where developers would actually test out the API. If it is an API that has been previously tested, they can view those responses. For a new API, they can also add sample data and get results as well.