Production Accounts and Go-Live Considerations
Production Account Defined
A "Production Account" is a full instance of The Predictive Index (PI) software platform account used by a client or partner to serve ongoing business processes and people. This instance is separate from a Sandbox account used for testing and development, though some testing may occur in a Production account. All PI instances run in the same server environment, whether Production or Sandbox accounts, but they use a completely separate data space. Production accounts are obtained by entering into a client or partner contractual relationship with PI.
Access Required to a Production Account
To set up and test an API integration with a PI Production instance may require not only access to the API but also the ability to log into the PI instance as an admin user and configure certain settings and/or test certain outcomes. Implementing an integration with a Production account involves three preparation actions:
- API Access activation
- API Key generation
- Admin user account creation
API Access Activation
API Key Creation
Integration with a production PI instance requires an API Key to be created for use by the integration. This API Key should belong to a new user created for this specific purpose using a name and email address that will become the default contact for assessment takers who have questions about the assessment.
The Account Owner or Account Admin users for a PI Client have the authority to create such a new user and grant the correct permissions.
Follow this article to understand the steps and decisions that go into generating a new API Key:
If a new email address must be created to serve the API Key Owner user, remember that the integration setup can proceed as soon as the user account is created and an API Key generated. It is not necessary to wait for the email address to be created before the API Key can be activated and installed. However, the new email address should be "real" before actual assessments are sent out using the integration.
User Account Creation
Only the PI instance account users with role Account Owner or Account Admin may grant additional users access to that account -- The Predictive Index does not manage users on behalf of clients except by account owner request through the PI Customer Service team.
A developer of an API integration may require some access to a PI instance as a logged-in user for the purpose of Production go-live configuration and testing. To obtain this access, a developer should contact an account owner or admin user and request that a new Organization User. If access is to be granted by creating a Third-Party User account, the PI Certified Partner must perform this action.
If a developer is an employee of the client organization, they should be given a user account that uses their own name and email address.
If a developer is not an employee of the client organization but belongs to an integration solution provider who will have an ongoing support relationship with the client, individual Third-Party User accounts can be created by the PI Certified Partner for each developer user. Or it may be useful to create a general user account to be used by the provider team that can be enabled and disabled as needed whenever a member of the provider team must do something. Such a user account might be given a name and email address that include the provider company name, using an email domain that is controlled by the client. For example, for a provider name XYZ Provider and a client name ABC Client, the email address might be xyzprovider.pi.admin@abcclient.com with the name "XYZ Provider Admin". The client should create a real email address to be used for this account that delivers mail to someone who manages the integration developer relationship.
Be aware, however, that Third-Party User accounts cannot perform administrative functions such as creating an API Key or a new API Key Owner user. These can only be performed by an Account Owner or Account Admin user.
Sending Sensitive Information
Upon creating an API Key or an Admin user account for use by a developer, it is important to avoid sending this information in plain text in an email message. Email messages have an extraordinary tendency of remaining "in the system" for a very long time and therefore potentially exposing sensitive credentials and powerful API Keys to persons who should not access them. Email is not secure.
To send these sensitive pieces of information, one can utilize a temporary encrypted storage service that is accessed by a link that is only useful for a fixed period of time. For example, these services claim to offer secure temporary encrypted message delivery:
Another strategy is to communicate credentials using a chat or messaging tool that supports the complete deletion of messages.Go-Live Considerations
When it is time to take the integration you have developed in a pre-production environment into a production environment, there are several considerations that may apply to you:
Production API Access
During the development of your integration, you may have obtained a PI Sandbox account with API Access turned on, but that does not automatically mean your Production PI account also had API Access turned on. Be sure to request that the PI Customer Service team ensures that API Access is active.
Production API Key
As you move your implementation to production, be sure to generate an API Key for your production environment and place it into the correct configuration location. Instructions appear at the start of this article regarding this.
Same Folders and Jobs
If the integration you have constructed includes the assignment of PI Jobs and/or PI Folders while ordering assessments for assessment takers, you must make sure the Production instance of PI has all the folders and jobs you need and that any matching values stored in the external system are correctly spelled/structured.
If you have a large number of Folders that were created in a PI Sandbox account which did not yet exist in the PI Production account, you may make a request of PI Customer Service to copy the Folder structure from your Sandbox account to your Production account. Only the folders will be copied and none of the contents or permissions. In your request, specify the source account name (e.g. ABC Company Sandbox) and the destination account name (e.g. ABC Company, Inc.). All folders from one account will be copied to the other. After the copy has been performed, you must go into the Administration area of the PI software and configure permissions for the users you expect to access assessment data.
System Status Notifications
When you rely on automated integration between PI and an external system, it becomes more important to be notified about any interruptions in the PI software system/service because your users may not be seeing them occur with their own eyes. Several members of your team should subscribe to the notification service available on our Status site: https://status.predictiveindex.com
