Backstop SOAP API
Backstop offers a full SOAP API, which is the industry-standard for integrating web services applications. The Backstop SOAP API provides an interface to key objects in Backstop, including contacts, notes/docs/meetings, funds/products, hedge funds/private equity funds, benchmarks, and peer groups.
The SOAP API allows one application to request the services of another. It goes beyond simply asking for a piece of data stored in a database; a program with a SOAP API can be asked to execute complex functions (e.g. searching for information, calculating numbers, etc.), the results of which will be returned to the requesting application.
A software application that integrates with Backstop via the SOAP API can request a range of information about these objects, including return series, balances, qualitative information and more. The most common use of the Backstop SOAP API is to integrate Backstop with proprietary or custom external applications such as analysis and reporting tools. Examples of typical use cases include:
Integrating Backstop Data with Microsoft Excel Reports
One example of a tool built to utilize the Backstop SOAP API is the Excel Toolkit, which is provided to clients along with Backstop. The Backstop Excel Toolkit includes an Excel add-in that can request information from Backstop via the SOAP API. Backstop returns information about fund returns, investor accounts, and more to the Excel Toolkit, which can automatically update the information in reports and templates built with the toolkit. The result for the end users is a series of excellent custom reports, which are nearly effortless to update and maintain month-to-month.
Saving Backstop Data Locally
The SOAP API can be used to get a backup of your Backstop data. The data will be saved as XML documents, which your programmers can load to Access, save to your network, or integrate with your existing applications.
A Backstop representative can supply you with technical documentation (i.e. Javadoc and WSDL) which you can share with your software developers. Additionally, members of the Backstop development team are always available to answer your developer's questions.
