The Civic Platform allows clients such as mobile and web applications to access Automation data and extend Civic Platform solutions via the Accela API. Clients can directly call the Accela API via HTTP requests or use Accela SDK's to interact with the Accela API in their native environment.
On the Civic Platform, the Accela API authenticates user identity via CivicID using an OAuth2 process, which is used to generate API access tokens. The Civic Platform manages secure API traffic between the Accela API and Accela Automation through the Accela Gateway. The Gateway receives requests from Construct API calls and asynchronously sends the requests to the appropriate agency and Automation instance, whether Automation is On-Demand (Accela-hosted) or On-Premise (customer-hosted). The Gateway sends Automation data back to Accela API via HTTPS, and back to the client in an HTTP response body.
The following diagram illustrates the interactions and communication paths between clients and the Accela API and across the Civic Platform:
The Accela Platform and Accela API
User portals enable citizens, developers, and administrators to manage their activities with the Civic Platform. The CivicID portal gives citizens the ability to manage their CivicID account and view Automation data related to their account. A Developer Portal allows civic developers to register new apps and to administer existing apps that use the Accela API. The Administrator Portal is used for OpenData administration and management of developers and apps registered on the Developer Portal.
