publiq vzw
About the Developer Portal
The cultural sector is undergoing a significant digital transformation, and at publiq, our mission is to navigate these challenges alongside the cultural community.
Commissioned by the Flemish government, publiq lowers barriers to leisure participation in various ways:
- Information Barrier: We ensure events reach a wider audience through our extensive database, the "UiTdatabank," which collects over 200,000 events annually. These events are distributed via APIs to more than 1,000 online and offline partner channels.
- Financial Barriers: With UiTPAS, a loyalty card, individuals in poverty receive tickets at 20% of the regular price.
We offer several public APIs for partner integration:
- Entry API: Allows partners to add their event data to the UiTdatabank.
- Search API: Enables the retrieval of event data from the UiTdatabank for publication on websites or apps
- UiTPAS API: Automatically grants discounts to people in poverty.
In addition to our API products, we provide a low/no-code solution called Widgets for publishing event data on websites. Widgets are ideal for partners who prefer a plug-and-play solution or lack the financial or technical resources for API integration.
Anybody can integrate with the APIs of publiq but the main audience of the APIs are municipalities in Flanders and organization operating in the broad sector of leisure events (e.g. concert halls, media companies, music blogs, heritage organizations, etc.)
At publiq, we prioritize the developer experience. In 2019, the UiTdatabank API was recognized as "API of the Year," praised for its clear value to organizers and leisure seekers. The jury highlighted how publiq remains attuned to the developer community, continuously improving its products.
With our renewed API portal, we take this commitment even further. publiq platform is a self-service portal where partners and developers can access our APIs. It allows easy registration and free access to our API test environment, making the onboarding process seamless.
publiq platform is more than just a tool for requesting API credentials. It serves as a comprehensive one-stop shop, offering partners and developers extensive documentation and guides, quick and hands-on support through Slack or email, insights into our public roadmap, release notes, and more.
Why They Stand Out
Best Served Integration Solutions in a Developer Portal
publiq platform is a self-service platform on which integrators can get started quickly with our APIs, but is more than an API catalogue. On publiq platform we facilitate and support integrators in all aspects of their integration:
- Besides API products we also offer a Widget solution, a drag and drop tool which allows partners to quickly set up an agenda. The agenda can be configured using a wizard in which blocks can be moved around and settings can be enabled or disabled. No technical knowledge or coding skills are necessary for setting up a widget integration. The configured widget can be integrated in the partners’ website using an embed code. When integrated, the widget will inherit the partners’ website styling. More advanced users can add styling through CSS themselves.
- We provide detailed technical documentation for our APIs, including documentation about authentication, error handling, terminology pages and guides for common use cases.
- Additionally, we offer Open API specifications and a Postman collection, making it straightforward for users to get started. Documentation is provided in the format and language that suits the target group. The API documentation is targeted towards software developers and is therefore written in English, contains code snippets and a postman collection. The documentation for our no-code solutions (Widgets) is targeted towards less technical users (e.g. a communication officer) and is therefore in Dutch. This documentation also contains video tutorials.
- Besides technical guides we also provide a style guide with all icons, logos and colours partners can use when setting up an agenda with event data from our platform.
- We offer insights in the public roadmap for all our APIs and derived products. On this roadmap integrators can follow roadmap projects and launch new ideas. publiq commits itself to give feedback on all submitted ideas, regardless if we are planning development on the idea or decide not to continue with it.
- We publish release notes for our APIs so that integrators can track changes.
- We provide a status page that shows the real time availability of our APIs. Partners can subscribe to updates of the status page so that they are proactively warned if an API is down (scheduled or unscheduled)
- We welcome feedback through various channels. Integrators can join our technical support Slack channel for any API-related questions. Non-technical inquiries can be directed to our business developers via email or phone. Our partner team is always open to exploring custom solutions to meet specific partner needs. Feedback on projects or platform evolution can be submitted through our public roadmap.
- In a quarterly newsletter we give updates about new features, changes and best practices regarding our APIs.
New customers and users are attracted to our APIs and the portal online and offline. Online we attract new customers through our corporate website, on which the different API products are presented and customer stories which show the true value of our APIs are published. Offline, our team of account managers serves as evangelists, promoting the value of our APIs to both existing partners and potential leads.
Best Findability of Products in a Developer Portal
On publiq platform, we provide several API solutions with a clear distinction between different categories:
- Entry API: A JSON API to add event data to our central database.
- Search API: A JSON API to retrieve event data and publish it on your own website.
- Widgets: A no-code solution for publishing event data on your own website.
- UiTPAS API: An API to register discounts for people in poverty and exchange UiTPAS points for rewards.
For publiq platform, we have chosen a simple and clean user interface with minimal but clear copy to ensure frictionless integration.
Discoverability of Our APIs
New partners and integrators learn about our APIs through various channels:
- Active Promotion: our team of account managers and business developers actively promotes our APIs to municipalities, media companies, and other organizations that could benefit from integration (e.g., heritage organizations or music blogs).
- SEO Optimization: our corporate website, publiq.be, is optimized for SEO. The page publiq platform explains our APIs and their benefits for partners and customers.
- Customer Stories: On this page (Dutch), we publish customer stories that make the value of our APIs tangible and relatable.
Seamless Integration
We prioritize the discoverability of our APIs. On the publiq platform, integrators can instantly obtain client credentials or access our widget builder after completing an integration form, without any publiq intervention.
After filling out the form, integrators receive client credentials for the chosen API in our test environment, along with documentation links to the getting started guide. Access to the test environment is always free and unlimited in time. Transitioning to the production environment is straightforward:
- Entry API and UiTPAS API: Access to the production environment is free of charge. We only ask for test events or a demo to ensure high quality.
- Search API and Widgets: We charge a fair compensation for production access (annual subscription from €125 to €280). Partners like municipalities often have a coupon reducing the subscription price by €125.
Comprehensive Documentation
We reduce friction with extensive, clear documentation available on docs.publiq.be. For each API, we provide:
- Authentication Guide (e.g., Entry API Authentication)
- Terminology Page (e.g., UiTdatabank Terminology)
- Error Handling Page (e.g., UiTdatabank Errors)
- Postman Collection for quick start (e.g., Entry API Postman Collection)
- Guides for Common Use Cases (e.g., Cancelling or Postponing an Event)
- Integration Requirements (e.g., Requirements Before Going Live)
Collaboration and Support
We facilitate collaboration by allowing integrators to share credentials and work together. Users can add extra contacts to their integration, granting full management access (e.g., see API credentials, configure widgets).
Comprehensive Support
Our API portal acts as a one-stop shop for all the information needed for seamless integration with our APIs. On our support page (Support), we provide access to:
- Technical Documentation (including Postman collections)
- Icons and Logos for partners using the Search API or Widgets
- Roadmap and Release Notes for transparency on API product evolution and stakeholder feedback
- API Status Page for up-time transparency
Integrators can contact publiq via email or join our Slack channel for technical support, where we strive to respond accurately and quickly.
Best Onboarding Experience in a Developer Portal
The registration process on the publiq platform is seamless because:
- The user interface is simple and clean.
- The integration entry form is lightweight.
- No payment or sensitive business information is required for creating an integration
- Registration does not require validation by publiq.
- Documentation is concise where needed and extensive for those seeking detailed information.
- Our API pricing is very affordable.
- We provide full transparency in pricing and the process to access the production environment.
- We offer multiple ways for integrators to contact publiq, ensuring human interaction, not chatbots.
“Less is More”
Our developer portal, publiq platform, is designed to be lightweight and user-friendly, providing an easy and accessible entry point. In just a few clicks, integrators (partners or developers) can set up an integration and receive client credentials for the test environment of one of our APIs. The process requires only a simple form with essential information such as the desired API, a title, description, and contact details. No payment information is needed. Upon form submission, integrators immediately gain access to the API, along with documentation links to get started.
For example, upon registering for our "UiTPAS API," integrators receive the following documentation links:
“More is More”
While integrators can independently set up integrations without direct contact with publiq, we provide numerous options for those seeking more comprehensive support:
- Technical Support: Integrators can join our technical support Slack channel to connect with publiq’s technical support team, including software engineers, DevOps engineers, support engineers, and product owners.
- Platform Updates: Stay informed about platform evolution through our public roadmap, release notes, and quarterly newsletter.
- Real-Time Status: Subscribe to our status page for real-time information on API availability.
- Business Collaboration: Our business developers are available for requests regarding more intensive collaboration or tailored solutions.
Our documentation is concise where necessary but extensive for those who wish to explore the details. For common use cases, we provide detailed guides that explain the business context and logic behind an API endpoint. We also cover basic terminology ensuring that integrators unfamiliar with our platform or the cultural domain can understand and use our services effectively.
If an integrator has a question, we can always direct them to a relevant documentation page that addresses their specific query.
