API Governance is something I have talked about for a long time. Governance is a large topic but today we will cover standards and API Consistency. I have written a few times about API Consistency and its importance.

A consistent API estate allows

• Easier for consumers to start using APIs
• Easier to detect API Duplication
• Easier to ensure that the APIs hit a certain quantifiable quality threshold

The traditional way of solving this was to have Centre of Excellence meetings where changes were manually approved. This was great for keeping consistency but dramatically decreased the speed of velocity because of the amount of human effort. If the rules are not governed and policed they do not matter.

Automation is the solution.

In API connect 10.0.6.0 CD we have released the first step on their API Governance solution. I was involved in some of the discussions kicking this off and have kept an eye on it as it developed from afar.

The governance policies can be implemented inside API Connect as rule sets and applied over one or more APIs. These rulesets can be used to generate score cards providing real metrics of API quality, for your own standards.

Now we can run a series of rulesets against APIs in the draft view. These rulesets can be shared between provider orgs and customised to meet the needs. Out of the box we have several baked in rulesets.