Automated API Filing

Implementation of the API is not for non-IT users, but rather solely for IT staff and programmers who are familiar with the requirements and web standards for Representational State Transfer Application Program Interfaces (RESTful APIs), HTTP protocol and the JSON data format.

The SLAI’s API allows your computers to automatically send postings of your Illinois surplus line policies and endorsements to our system for filing, and to receive a response back that includes the SLAI confirmation number and all calculated taxes and stamping fees. Once your system captures this response, it can then print the appropriate information on the policy or generate an SLAI confirmation page that can be attached to the policy or endorsement before delivery to the insured as required by law.

When your membership was established, the licensee designated an EFS Administrator in the membership forms. If you don’t know who your EFS Administrator is, contact the EFS Help Desk. That EFS Administrator can set up user accounts and grant API key-generation permission for any programmers that will be working on developing your API capabilities by following the instructions on our User Administration help page, however, they will need to set the accounts up on the sandbox system instead of the production system (see below for a link to the sandbox system). For security purposes, each user should always have their own login.

When setting up logins for the programmers, the EFS Administrator should remember to grant them permission to generate an API key, as well as data entry, bulk entry and reporting. For security purposes, each user should always have their own login.

Trouble Logging in to Sandbox for EFS Admin

The data on the sandbox, including login data, is only updated with production data periodically (every year or two). So your login on the sandbox could be out of date if your password has changed since the sandbox was refreshed. If this is the case, you just click the “Forgot Password” link on the sandbox login page to reset your sandbox password (this will not affect your production system login).

It is also possible that the EFS Admin for your membership has changed since the last time the sandbox was refreshed. If this is the case, contact David Ocasek to update your EFS Admin on the sandbox system.

Once your programmer has an account on the sandbox system, they can access the swagger data page (login is required). This is the link to the swagger data page on the sandbox system. There is an identical page on the production system, but let’s stay in the sandbox for now.

There are also additional important details regarding general specifications for the data fields (available without a login) that can be found in an excel spreadsheet located here.

Once a programmer has access to the test/sandbox system, they should generate an API key for use in their testing. The key is generated in the “GENERATE API TOKEN” panel of the Edit Profile section (accessed by clicking on your name in the upper-right corner of the screen). The API key is used for authentication of POSTs as described on the swagger data page. An API key is tied to the member number and login from which is generated. So if you are user jdoe@abc.com with SLAI member number 9876, any POSTs made using the API key you generate will post to member number 9876 and will show as posted by jdoe@abc.com.

Now that you have access to the test system and have reviewed the API/swagger information, you can begin working on your end, creating the code that will interface with the SLAI sandbox API, sending posts and receiving response data. You should test to see that your code creates only valid posts. During this process, you are welcome to reach out to David Ocasek with any questions and he will happily answer them or refer you to other staff that can assist you.

Never do any testing on the production system. Once you are ready to go live with your API, we’ve found that a good practice is to create an alias email account for the API filings. So if your name is Betty Smith and your email is betty@abcinsurance.com, you might create an alias email account called betty_api@abcinsurance.com. Have your EFS Administrator set up a login for that email on the production system (with appropriate permissions) and generate the production API key from that account. That way, all API filings will be identified with this unique email account and will be distinguishable from filings made by other users using other methods.

Sandbox System:Click Here for Sandbox System
Swagger Data on Sandbox:Click Here for Swagger Data
Production System:Click Here for Production System

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API Filing, Bulk Filing, EFS, EFS Admin, EFS Help, Policy Reporting