Exploring API Insights

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Exploring API Insights

    API Insights is a centralized workspace designed for enterprise architects and CMDB administrators to manage and analyze an organization's API inventory effectively. It provides essential tools for tracking API activity, managing lifecycles, and ensuring proper integration with business contexts.

    Show full answer Show less

    API Insights users

    • Enterprise Architect: Users with the snapiinsightsws.apimgmtarchitect role can access API Insights to search, monitor, and manage APIs, as well as review access requests and lifecycle aspects.
    • Enterprise Architect Administrator: Users with the snapiinsightsws.apimgmtarchitectadmin role can evaluate API usage metrics, create APIs, and set ownership attributes.
    • CMDB Administrator: Users with the sncmdbadmin role configure API Service Graph Connectors, manage API data, and require additional roles for accessing certain features.

    API Insights example workflow

    A typical workflow involves a CMDB administrator configuring API Service Graph Connectors to import data while resolving connection errors. An enterprise architect administrator adjusts ownership settings, and an enterprise architect enriches API records by adding relationships and links to business context and product models. They can analyze details about each API, including usage and security incidents, within a centralized view.

    Key Features

    • System of Record: Provides a workspace for viewing and interacting with enterprise-wide API inventories.
    • Enterprise-Wide Visibility: Automates the discovery and ingestion of API data into the CMDB.
    • API Mapping: Enables mapping of APIs to application services and business contexts.
    • User-Friendly API Search: Offers straightforward search functionality for relevant APIs.
    • Workflow Configurations: Customizes workflows for API access requests.
    • Detailed API View: Displays usage, security data, and relationship mapping of APIs.

    Key Outcomes

    Implementing API Insights allows for improved API management, enhanced visibility, and streamlined workflows for API access requests. Users can expect efficient data organization and integration, resulting in a more effective API ecosystem within their organization.

    Learn about API Insights with a sample workflow and review the benefits it can provide for different users in your organization.

    API Insights overview

    API Insights is a centralized workspace for enterprise or software architects and Configuration Management Database (CMDB) administrators to analyze and take action on their organization's application programming interface (API) inventory.

    API Insights users

    Table 1. Users
    User Description
    Enterprise architect Users with the sn_api_insights_ws.api_mgmt_architect role can access the API Insights workspace to search APIs, monitor team APIs, view managed APIs, track API activity, review API access requests, and manage API life cycle aspects, including APIs without interfaces, business applications, ownership, or product models.
    Enterprise architect administrator Users with the sn_api_insights_ws.api_mgmt_architect_admin role can access the API Insights workspace to search APIs, evaluate metrics on API usage, set parameters for creating an API, connect APIs to a business context, specify the group attribute for ownership, and associate a workflow for granting access to APIs.
    CMDB administrator Users with the sn_cmdb_admin role can configure and manage the API-related Service Graph Connectors. They can accept or reject clustering recommendations, search for and compare APIs, and adjust settings related to API data management within the CMDB.
    Note:
    A CMDB administrator needs additional roles such as ml_report_user, platform_ml_read, and cmdb_inst_admin to access some of the features and data.

    Additionally, the CMDB administrator needs the following security roles to access specific widgets:

    • sn_si.basic or evt_mgmt_user – Required for Events and Critical alerts
    • sn_vul.vulnerability_read – Required for Active vulnerability items
    • sn_msi.msi_incident_read – Required for Security incidents
    • sn_si.read – Required for Incidents

    API Insights example workflow

    Figure 1. Example workflow for the API Insights users
    Workflow describing various tasks a user with the sn_api_insights_ws.api_mgmt_architect_admin, sn_api_insights_ws.api_mgmt_architect, or sn_cmdb_admin role can perform in API Insights.
    1. A CMDB administrator with the sn_cmdb_admin role logs in to API Insights and configures the API Service Graph Connectors to import API data from various sources. Also, reviews and resolves any connection errors to ensure a smooth data import process.
    2. An enterprise architect administrator with the sn_api_insights_ws.api_mgmt_architect_admin role accesses the settings page and adjusts the ownership settings according to their preferences.
    3. An enterprise architect with the sn_api_insights_ws.api_mgmt_architect role navigates to the APIs missing data section to enrich API records by adding relationships and references. This includes associating business context, assigning ownership groups, linking product models, and defining API designs.
    4. The enterprise architect explores the API page, which provides a centralized view of all APIs and views all APIs in one place. They drill down into specific APIs to analyze details such as ownership, deployment locations, consumer usage, security incidents, and alerts. Additionally, they assess how each API fits within the broader ecosystem, identifying key relationships and dependencies in the API relationship map.

    API Insights benefits

    Benefit Feature Users
    Implement a system of record for enterprise-wide APIs. Workspace to view and interact with API inventory API Insights administrator
    Achieve enterprise-wide visibility of APIs. Automated discovery and ingestion of API data from various sources into Configuration Management Database (CMDB) API Insights administrator
    Map APIs to application services and business context. Workflow for mapping APIs to relevant application services and business context API Insights administrator
    Integrate API data from a broad ecosystem of sources into the CMDB via Service Graph Connectors. API data ingestion using API Service Graph Connectors into CMDB CMDB administrator
    Search for relevant APIs. API search functionality with a user-friendly interface API Insights administrator
    Enable workflow configurations for API access requests. Customization of API access request workflows API Insights administrator
    View the usage, security, and service mapping of each API and its components. Detailed view of API inventory, requests according to minute, unique consumers, security data, IT Operations Management (ITOM) and IT Service Management (ITSM) data, and relationship mapping API Insights architect

    API Insights administrator

    CMDB administrator

    What to explore next

    To learn more about configuring and using API Insights, see: