API Access

API Key: OEM Vendors will make API calls on behalf of their customers to consume governance data supplied by Unified Compliance. Each customer added by an OEM Vendor will be assigned their own unique API Key and that API Key must be used for authorization when making API calls on behalf of that customer. You can retrieve the API Key for a customer on the Customers page of the Partner Portal.

Full API Documentation

For a complete list of available APIs, the production URL endpoints, and example API responses, refer to the Postman Documentation here: https://uc4apidocs.unifiedcompliance.com

Use Cases

The following are some typical use cases for acquiring content via the APIs.

Use Case #1: Retrieve Account information

To retrieve account information, call the following API:

• GET /my-account → The API Key passed in the header will be used to retrieve the account it belongs to.

Use Case #2: Retrieve an Authority Document and all associated Citations

Call the following 4 APIs to retrieve an authority document and its associated citations

• GET /authority-document?page=1&perPage=100&search=NIST → Start by searching for the authority document you are looking for. Alternatively, if you already know the unique elementID of the authority document, then skip to step #2. This endpoint will return all of the authority documents that contain the text “NIST”. The response will be a paginated list, so utilize the “perPage” and “page” parameters to retrieve more pages of data. Once you have located the desired document, note down the elementID and proceed to step #2.

• GET /authority-document/:id → Replace the “:id” parameter with the actual elementID of the document retrieved in step #1. Use this API call to retrieve all of the metadata for the authority document.

• GET /authority-document/:id/citation?page=1&perPage=100&search → Replace the “:id” parameter with the actual elementID of the document retrieved in step #1. Use this API call to retrieve a paginated list of citations for that authority document. Utilize the “perPage” and “page” parameters to retrieve more pages of data, and, utilize the search parameter to find specific citations that contain the search value in their “guidance” and/or “reference” properties. Note down the elementID value(s) for specific citations to retrieve.

• GET /authority-document/:id/citation/:citationId → Replace the “:id” parameter with the actual elementID of the authority document retrieved in step #1 and replace “:citationId” with the actual elementID of the citation retrieved in step #3. Use this API call to retrieve a specific citation of an authority document.

Use Case #3: Retrieve an Authority Document and all associated Mandates

Call the following 4 APIs to retrieve an authority document and its associated mandates.

• GET /authority-document?page=1&perPage=100&search=NIST → Start by searching for the authority document you are looking for. Alternatively, if you already know the unique elementID of the authority document, then skip to step #2. This endpoint will return all of the authority documents that contain the text “NIST”. The response will be a paginated list, so utilize the “perPage” and “page” parameters to retrieve more pages of data. Once you have located the desired document, note down the elementID and proceed to step #2.

• GET /authority-document/:id → Replace the “:id” parameter with the actual elementID of the document retrieved in step #1. Use this API call to retrieve all of the metadata for the authority document.

• GET /authority-document/:id/mandate?page=1&perPage=100&search → Replace the “:id” parameter with the actual elementID of the document retrieved in step #1. Use this API call to retrieve a paginated list of mandates for that authority document. Utilize the “perPage” and “page” parameters to retrieve more pages of data, and, utilize the search parameter to find specific mandates that contain the search value. Note down the elementID value(s) for specific mandates to retrieve.

• GET /authority-document/:id/mandate/:mandateId → Use this API call to retrieve specific mandates of an authority document. Replace the “:id” parameter with the actual elementId of the authority document retrieved in step #1 and replace “:mandateId” with the actual elementId of the mandate retrieved in step #3. Repeat the API call for each distinct mandate you intend to retrieve.

Use Case #4: Retrieve an Authority Document and all associated Common Controls

Call the following 4 APIs to retrieve an authority document and its associated common controls.

• GET /authority-document?page=1&perPage=100&search=NIST → Start by searching for the authority document you are looking for. Alternatively, if you already know the unique elementID of the authority document, then skip to step #2. This endpoint will return all of the authority documents that contain the text “NIST”. The response will be a paginated list, so utilize the perPage and page parameters to retrieve more pages of data. Once you have located the desired document, note down the elementID and proceed to step #2.

• GET /authority-document/:id → Replace the :id parameter with the actual elementID of the document retrieved in step #1. Use this API call to retrieve all of the metadata for the authority document.

• GET /authority-document/:id/common-control?page=1&perPage=100&search → Replace the :id parameter with the actual elementID of the document retrieved in step #1. Use this API call to retrieve a paginated list of common controls for that authority document. Utilize the “perPage” and “page” parameters to retrieve more pages of data, and, utilize the search parameter to find specific common controls that contain the search value. Note down the elementId value(s) for specific common controls to retrieve.

• GET /authority-document/:id/common-control/:controlId → Use this API call to retrieve specific common controls of an authority document. Replace the :id parameter with the actual elementID of the authority document retrieved in step #1 and replace :controlId with the actual elementId of the common control to retrieve. Repeat the API call for each distinct common control you intend to retrieve.

Data Hierarchies

Certain data elements within an Authority Document, such as Citations or Common Controls, are organized hierarchically. These hierarchies are presented in the API using th hierarchyItems object. The structure includes:

• hierarchicalParent Object: Contains the elementId of the parent data element

• hierarchicalChildren Array: Includes one or more child elements, each represented by their elementID

• sortValue Property: Defines the relative order of the data element within its parent.

Here is an example hierachyItems structure in the API response:

"hierarchyItems": [
                {
                    "@id": "URL",
                    "@type": "string",
                    "elementId": "string",
                    "hierarchicalChildren": [
                       {
                            "@id": "URL",
                            "@type": "string",
                            "elementId": "string"
                        }
                    ],
                    "hierarchicalParent": {
                        "@id": "URL",
                        "@type": "string",
                        "elementId": "string"
                    },
                "sortValue": "string"
              }
 ]

Here is an illustration of the hierarchy using Citations as an example:

Converting from Legacy Services APIs to NextGen APIs

The legacy Services APIs all require you create a Shared Authority Document List and then invoke the APIs using the unique List ID or Authority Document ID. The response included the Authority Document’s metadata and all its Citations, Mandates, and Common Controls in a single payload.

In Nextgen APIs, there is no need to create a Shared Authority Document List. Instead, Authority Document metadata, Citations, Mandates, and Common Controls are accessed through separate, dedicated endpoints.

The following is a mapping of the Legacy Services APIs to the NextGen APIs:

Legacy Authority Document IDs

In the NextGen system, all Authority Documents are assigned a new elementId. However, you can still retrieve an Authority Document in NextGen using legacy IDs, for backward compatibility using the GET /authority-document/legacy/:idendpoint.

• Retrieve Authority Document by Legacy ID

  • GET /authority-document/legacy/:id

    • Path Variables:

      • :id : The legacy CCH elementId

  • This endpoint returns the NextGen Authority Document ID and and legacy ID.

  • The NextGen AD ID is required for all subsequent API requests (to retrieve metadata, citations, mandates & controls)

Furthermore, when retrieving the metadata of an authority document from NextGen, the legacy CCH elementId will be returned as a property.

• MetaData Example: For example:

{
    "@context": "URL",
    "@id": "URL",
    "@type": "string",
    "elementId": "string",
    "schemaVersion": "string",
    "authorityDocumentType": "string",
    "officialName": "string",
    "legacyId": "string",
    .........
}