Published Plans (Power BI) API

Note that this feature is available on Pro, Pro or Enterprise plans

Overview

This endpoint provides access to Published Plans for a project which can be a powerful way to establish a "cadence" based reporting routine (.e.g. comparing last week's performance against the prior week's) or the extraction and storage of historical plan data.

By accessing the Published Plans, you can ensure that any measurement of the data is based on reviewed and agreed plans by the project team.

The most common use cases of this endpoint are;

connection to Aphex-provided Power BI templates.
connection to Excel or Power BI to create custom-built reports across a project or series of projects.
consumption and storage via an ETL operation across one or many projects within a portfolio.

The Power BI API has three components.

Authentication
Query Parameters
Data Model

Setting Up Power BI

If you are looking for the quick guide to setting up Power BI for your project, check out this guide here

Authentication

You can access the API by querying the endpoint URL for your desired project and providing a valid Token.

Finding your API URL

As a Project Administrator, head to your project in the Aphex Planner app. From the Integrations page the API can be enabled.

This will uncover the API URL specific to that project. The URL structure will be;

https://app.aphex.co/power-bi/v1/<your_api_account_id>

Generating Tokens

From the same location you sourced the API URL, a new Token created. Create a new Token and name it i.e. Project Dashboard Token 1

Secret Token

You cannot retrieve the token later so you should save it in a secret manager. If you lose the token you can generate a new one.

Querying the API

To successfully authenticate your request to the API URL, set the Token in the Authorization header of the request.

This can be done three ways;

If you are using an Aphex Power BI Template, simply paste the URL and Token into the setup modal

If you are generating your own report in Power BI, set up a new "Web" source. From within the Advanced menu enter the URL and header request key of Authorization with Bearer followed by your Token as the value.

If you are consuming the data in any other service construct a valid cURL request (example below).

curl \
 -X GET \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer $<your_token>" \
 https://app.aphex.co/power-bi/v1/<your_API_account_id_here>

Query Parameters

Query parameters allow you to adjust what the response shall contain. To enable projects of varying size to get the most out of this API within the single response limit of 32Mb the following query parameters are supported;

Parameter Description

Parameter	Description
Limit `limit=number`	This parameter will determine how many of the historical published versions are returned. If not provided, the response will default to `5`
Status `status=boolean`	This parameter will determine whether status events are included in the response. If not provided, the response will default to `true`
Resource `resource=boolean`	This parameter will determine whether labour, plant and material assignments are included in the response. If not provided, the response will default to `true`
Blockers `blockers=boolean`	This parameter will determine whether blockers are included in the response. If not provided, the response will default to `true`

Limit

limit=number

This parameter will determine how many of the historical published versions are returned. If not provided, the response will default to 5

Status

status=boolean

This parameter will determine whether status events are included in the response. If not provided, the response will default to true

Resource

resource=boolean

This parameter will determine whether labour, plant and material assignments are included in the response. If not provided, the response will default to true

Blockers blockers=boolean

This parameter will determine whether blockers are included in the response. If not provided, the response will default to true

Note to enable responses greater than 32Mb please ask about an Enterprise plan.

Data Model

Valid requests to the API will return a JSON response consistent with the API data model.

The Power BI API Data Model contains the following objects;

Publications

The Publications are included within the response window. The API will, by default, return up to the five most recent Publications.

Response

Publication Name
Publication ID
Publication Date

Publication Summaries

The Owner breakdown for each Publication shows ready status and related data

Response

Owner Name
Owner Email
Ready Status
Ready Date
Missing Field
Clashes
Overdue Blockers

Tasks

The unique Tasks included in the response

Response

Task ID
Project Name
Project ID

Task Version

The Versions of the Tasks included in each of the Publications along with all Task properties.

Response

Task ID
Publication ID
Task Name
Start
End
Duration
Calendar
Shift
Owner Name
Owner Email
Subcontractor
Work Area ID
Location Name
Location Type
Folder Path
Folder Name
External ID
Package ID
Package Name
Parent ID
Milestone *
Status
Notes
Blockers

*Milestones will appear as Key Task [true / false] in the response

Status

All Status events on each of the Tasks at each of the Publications

Response

Task ID
Publication ID
Date
Amount
Status Type
Reason
Created At
Creator Name
Creator Email

Labour Resources

All Labour assigned on each of the Tasks at each of the Publications

Response

Task ID
Date
Publication ID
Resource ID
Resource Name
Resource Planned Quantity

Plant Resources

All Plant assigned on each of the Tasks at each of the Publications

Response

Task ID
Date
Publication ID
Resource ID
Resource Name
Resource Category
Resource Planned Quantity

Material Resources

All Materials assigned on each of the Tasks at each of the Publications

Response

Task ID
Date
Publication ID
Resource ID
Resource Name
Resource Planned Quantity
Resource Actual Quantity
Resource Unit

Blockers

All Blockers assigned on each of the Tasks at each of the Publications

Response

Task ID
Blocker Due Date
Publication ID
Blocker ID
Blocker Name
Blocker Category
Blocker Status

Limits and Restrictions

The Power BI API has a small number of restrictions and limits to ensure the availability of the system and the security of customer data.

Token Management Restrictions: As covered in Authentication section, requests to the API will only succeed if they follow the correct request structure and include both a valid URL and Token. Tokens are generated individually for a Project, by a user with Project Admin rights.
Token Validity Limits: Generated tokens have a maximum lifespan of 3 months to ensure that over time, project data is secure by default. On expiry, or at any time, new tokens can be generated for the project.
Limits: To stay within infrastructure limits and avoid paged responses on this end point, a response limit of 32Mb exists. If you experience a server error, please try reducing you data request by passing in query parameters. There is also a hard data history limit of 6 months.
Fair Use Policy: The API endpoint is designed to support periodic (usually weekly) requests from projects. Use of the service outside that threatens the availability of the service for other projects could result in a suspension of the service for the offending project.

Note to enable responses greater than 32Mb please ask about an Enterprise plan.

Last updated 5 months ago