Backstop SOAP API Overview

Backstop offers a full SOAP API, which is the industry-standard for integrating web services applications.The SOAP API allows one application to request the services of another. It goes beyond simply asking for a piece of data stored in a database; a program with a SOAP API can be asked to execute complex functions (e.g. searching for information, calculating numbers, etc.), the results of which will be returned to the requesting application.

Backstop SOAP API Deployed

The Backstop SOAP API provides an interface to key objects in Backstop, including contacts, notes/docs/meetings, funds/products, hedge funds, benchmarks, and peer groups. A software application that integrates with Backstop via the SOAP API can request a range of information about these objects, including return series, balances, qualitative information, and more.

The most common use of the Backstop SOAP API is to integrate Backstop with proprietary or custom external applications such as analysis and reporting tools.

Example Integration

One example of a tool built to utilize the Backstop SOAP API is the Excel Toolkit, which is provided to clients along with Backstop. The Backstop Excel Toolkit includes an Excel add-in that can request information from Backstop via the SOAP API. Backstop returns information about fund returns, investor accounts, and more to the Excel Toolkit, which can automatically update the information in reports and templates built with the toolkit. The result for the end users is a series of excellent custom reports, which are nearly effortless to update and maintain month-to-month.

Integrating Your Application

Your Backstop representative can supply you with technical documentation (i.e. Javadoc and WSDL) which you can share with your software developers. Members of the Backstop development team are available to answer your developer's questions.

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