Background

APT is a SaaS product that offers a robust and secure platform for Parking Management. Its data transfer process has recently been optimised by a new API integration delivered by APT’s software development partner I-Finity.  

 

As APT’s software development partner, one of our prime focuses for this product was for its suite of applications to have a seamless integration with other systems, platforms and hardware equipment like cameras and pay and display machines, to enable operational efficiency.

 

Private landowners and owners of parking facilities often rely on Parking software to manage operations of their car park. These include managing paid sessions, ticket purchasing processes, and vehicle monitoring via ANPR cameras.

 

This system is used to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) for the relevant vehicles, for example, if, for example, a driver doesn’t pay or pay enough for the duration of their parking visit.

 

Challenge

The parking industry is governed by strict compliance rules. These rules ensure adherence to parking processes including the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs).

 

Part of the compliance rules monitor access by authorised Parking Operators to DVLA's Vehicle Keeper data. This KADOE connection allows the Parking Operator to retrieve vehicle keeper information to support the parking process.

 

Previously, the only way to connect to data held by the DVLA was through an authorised 3rd party.

 

Technology-wise, this solution didn’t utilise modern connection methods, and was slow – sending and retrieving data was a two-day process:

 

  1. APT generated an XML file
  2. XML file was copied over to a 3 party VM with synch data.
  3. 3rd party VM submits the XML to the main server via FTP (this main server talks to DVLA on a dedicated connection).

 

For the data to be sent back to APT the above process would happen again in reverse. This approach wasn’t cost efficient timewise and was inflexible.

 

The Solution

DVLA has recently provided a RESTful API along with technical documentation to allow for authorised direct integration. This approach provides key benefits:

  1. Scalability: It allows developers to scale operations efficiently by optimising client-server interactions.
  2. Flexibility: It enables better integration with other platforms, apps, and tools, while allowing automation.
  3. Security: It offers greater security for the exchange of data while enabling encryption support.

 

Partnering with APT

I-Finity, we were one of the first to implement this direct API approach with DVLA’s KADOE API. We worked closely with APT and DVLA IT teams during the development, testing, pre-deploy readiness and post deployment quality assurance of the API integration.

The technical documentation provided was comprehensive and we had a positive experience of working on this integration. This collaborative approach led to I‑Finity having the integration ready within APT for testing within just a couple of weeks.

 

Results

APT’s customers who are authorised by the DVLA to access their data are benefiting from this direct integration as it provides immediate access to vehicle keeper information.  

 

Tangible benefits:

  • Immediate and real time access to DVLA vehicle keeper data.
  • Improved operational efficiency for data verification
  • Optimised resilience and removed reliance on 3rd party infrastructure
  • Secure, performant, scalable and reliable way of requesting and received data between two systems.

I‑Finity has been one of the first software development companies to complete a successful integration with the DVLA KADOE API which is in use with authorised end customers within the parking industry.

Get in touch with I‑Finity today for API integrations and cloud-based solutions for your product or website.

Real time data access