How-toInfor BirstWeb Services API

Infor Birst API: Web Services for Data Loading and Automation

Question
infor birst api

Also searched as

  • birst web services api
  • birst api data upload
  • birst automate reporting

Short answer

Birst exposes web services that let a script log in, upload data to a space, publish it and run queries. Use them to automate loads and extracts, with a service account, polling for completion, and logging each step.

Applies to: Birst web services. Method names and the REST or SOAP surface vary by version, so confirm against the API documentation for your tenant.

Automate a data load through the API

  1. 1Create a dedicated service user in Birst with access to the target space only.
  2. 2Authenticate through the login operation and keep the returned token for the session.
  3. 3Begin a data upload for the target source and set its options such as the format and whether it replaces or appends.
  4. 4Upload the file in parts if it is large, then finish the upload.
  5. 5Poll the completion status until the upload is finished, and fail loudly on error.
  6. 6Trigger the publish of the space and poll again until it completes.
  7. 7Log out and write the outcome, row counts and duration to your job log.

Typical operations

The common calls are login and logout, listing spaces, beginning and finishing a data upload, uploading data, publishing, and executing a query. Together they cover load, refresh and extract.

Always treat load and publish as asynchronous. Calling publish before the upload completes is a common cause of partial data.

1. login(user, password) -> token
2. beginDataUpload(token, spaceId, sourceName)
3. uploadData(token, uploadId, bytes)
4. finishDataUpload(token, uploadId)
5. poll isDataUploadComplete
6. publishData(token, spaceId) then poll isPublishComplete
7. logout(token)

Error handling and scheduling

Wrap each step with retries for transient failures, but stop on validation errors. Send an alert when a load fails so reports do not silently show yesterday's data.

Run the job from a scheduler you already trust, and keep credentials in a secret store, not in the script.

Governance

A service account that can publish can also overwrite data, so scope it tightly, log its activity and review who can read the scripts.

Try it here, free

SAP Routing Upload Worksheet (Excel)

Open full tool

An editable worksheet to stage routing operations before upload, with computed lot time per operation and an export to Excel or CSV.

Common pitfalls

  • !Publishing before the upload is complete.
  • !Storing passwords in scripts.
  • !No alerting, so failed loads go unnoticed.
  • !Using a personal account that breaks when the person leaves.

How an ERP-grounded AI assistant handles this

Scripts handle scheduled loads, while an assistant grounded in the same data handles the ad hoc questions afterwards, showing the query behind each answer. For on-prem sensitive data the model can run inside your network.

Frequently asked questions

Does Birst have a REST API?

Birst provides web services, and the exact protocol options depend on version. Check the documentation for your tenant before choosing a client library.

How do I know when an upload is complete?

Poll the status operation until it reports completion, and treat any error state as a failure.

Can I run queries through the API?

Yes, there is a query operation that returns results for use in other systems, subject to the user's data access.

What account should the script use?

A dedicated service user limited to the target space, with credentials stored securely.

Related

How-to

Infor Birst Dynamic Groups for Row-Level Data Access

In Birst you control which rows a user sees by tying a data filter to user or group membership. A dynamic group is the pattern where membership comes from data, for example a security table mapping users to plants, rather than from groups you maintain by hand.

How-to

Connect a Birst Space to Infor Data Lake and build a report

Birst is Infor's embedded BI layer, and the recommended way to report on live Data Lake data is a Live Access source inside a Birst Space rather than a static upload. Build the logical model over a filtered set of tables, apply row-level security, and publish the dashboard to a Ming.le homepage so users reach it without leaving Infor OS.

Error fix

Fix a 401 Unauthorized error from Infor ION API

A 401 from ION API almost always means the credentials in the .ionapi file no longer match what ION API Gateway expects - not that the password is simply wrong. Check whether the Authorized App or service account behind the file was revoked, regenerated, expired, or issued for a different tenant, then re-test with a direct OAuth2 client_credentials call before touching any calling code.

Error fix

Diagnose and fix a failed BOD document flow in ION Desk

A Document Flow showing Failed in ION Desk means a BOD (Business Object Document) stopped either at schema validation, at the mapping step, or at the target application. Open the failed instance's detail to see the exact failing element, fix the source data or mapping, then use Resubmit rather than re-triggering the original transaction to avoid duplicates.

How-to

How to query Infor Data Lake with Compass SQL

Compass is the SQL query layer in Infor OS for querying Infor Data Lake, where flattened copies of BODs published over ION are stored by Noun and Verb. Open a Compass SQL Workbench tab, browse the schema for the correct table, and run a filtered SELECT rather than pulling the full history, since Data Lake tables can hold years of append-only data.

Error fix

Fix a Ming.le homepage widget that will not load

A blank or endlessly spinning Ming.le widget is usually a permissions, session, or backend availability problem, not a broken widget itself. Confirm the issue is widget-specific, check the user's Security Group access to the underlying app, and look at the widget's network calls in browser dev tools to see whether it is failing with 401/403 or simply timing out against a down service.

AI for ERP

AI Agents Over Infor ION API, BODs, and the Infor Data Lake

Build AI agents on Infor ION API Gateway, BODs, and Data Lake, alongside or instead of Infor's own GenAI features, with your choice of model and hosting.

AI for ERP

AI for Power BI on ERP Data: Answers Beyond the Dashboard You Already Built

Add grounded natural-language answers on top of Power BI semantic models and live ERP tables, with row-level security respected and models served on-prem.

Stuck on Infor Birst?

Talk to engineers who work inside Infor Birst every week, and who build private AI that answers these questions from your own ERP data.

Keep exploring

Free tools

ERP fixes and how-tos

Runs with your ERP

Guides

Integrations