Source Data for the Focus Area Maturity Model for API Management

TL;DR

This paper introduces the API Management Focus Area Maturity Model (API-m-FAMM), a structured framework derived from extensive literature and practical sources to help organizations assess and improve their API management maturity.

Contribution

It presents a validated, comprehensive set of practices and capabilities for API management, categorized into focus areas, enabling organizations to evaluate and enhance their API processes.

Findings

114 practices and 39 capabilities identified

Practices narrowed down to 87 practices and 23 capabilities

Validated through literature, expert agreement, and real-world sources

Abstract

We define API Management as an activity that enables organizations to design, publish and deploy their APIs for (external) developers to consume. API Management capabilities such as controlling API lifecycles, access and authentication to APIs, monitoring, throttling and analyzing API usage, as well as providing security and documentation. These capabilities are often implemented through an integrated platform. This data set describes the API Management Focus Area Maturity Model (API-m-FAMM). In a structured manner, this model aims to support organizations that expose their API(s) to third-party developers in their API management activities. Through a thorough Systematic Literature Review (SLR), 114 practices and 39 capabilities were collected. Subsequently, these practices and capabilities were categorized into 6 focus areas. Next, the practices and capabilities were analyzed and verified through inter-rater agreement and four validation sessions with all involved researchers. Then, the collection of practices and capabilities was verified by using information gathered from supplemental literature, online blog posts, websites, commercial API management platform documentation and third-party tooling. As a result, the initial body of practices and capabilities was narrowed down to 87 practices and 23 capabilities. These practices are described by a practice code, name, description, conditions for implementation, the role responsible for the practice, and the associated literature in which the practice was originally identified. Capabilities and focus areas are described by a code, description and, optionally, the associated literature in which it was originally identified. Using the API-m-FAMM, organizations may evaluate, improve upon and assess the degree of maturity their business processes regarding the topic of API management have.