Apptio Targetprocess will be disabling the support of non-standard JSON in incoming requests on August 1, 2023.

Historically, Targetprocess API supported non-standard JSON in incoming requests. The most prominent example is omitting quotes around field names. For example, the following API v1 request was allowed:

Invalid JSON:

POST /api/v1/UserStory
{
  Name: "Some test data",
  Project: {
    Id: 42
  }
}

However, since it is not part of the official JSON specification, different parsers may interpret it differently. This can result in unpredictable behavior and errors, making debugging and maintaining applications that use this format difficult. The correct JSON format is shown below:

Correct JSON format:

POST /api/v1/UserStory
{
  "Name": "Some test data",
  "Project": {
    "Id": 42
  }
}

As we evolve our platform, we want to consolidate our effort and focus on providing the best support for our customers' most important use cases. We will be deprecating data formats that do not follow JSON specifications.

Using the industry standard for data format ensures that the code is consistent and predictable, which can help reduce errors and improve performance.

While most API requests are made using dedicated REST API clients, which produce valid JSON, we expect this change to have a minimal impact on most customers. To ensure continued compatibility with Targetprocess API, customers should update their code to use valid JSON with quotes around field names.

Non-standard JSON will be gradually disabled for the customers that do not rely on this functionality, and completely disabled by August 1st, 2023. We are doing our best to directly reach all customers who need to take these steps, but if you have any questions or concerns please join the conversation here on the Apptio Community or reach out to the Apptio support team.