Floriday's API link gets a stable update twice a year with new and/or improved features. This is called a 'main release'. Before this 'main release' is released, it is available to software suppliers for some time as an 'alpha/beta release'. In this phase, new functions are developed and increasingly optimised. Software vendors can then do developments in their software and also test it already with a small group of their users. In the development phase, we learn from the user experience and feedback from the software vendor. If the feature is sufficiently developed and workable for the user, we take that piece into the main phase.
Software suppliers can use a voting system to express their preferences in terms of developments in the API, regarding the functionalities to be included in the alpha/beta and in the main.
Before a stable version can be rolled out for growers and buyers who work with the API link, this version is tested extensively with 3 phases:
Alpha: The first phase is the Alpha version. In this phase, we design and develop features with a small group of users. In this (very) changeable first phase, changes occur continuously, which are learned from and carried over to the Beta version and eventually the Main version.
Beta: In the Beta version, features are further optimised so that it can be made ready for the Main release. In this phase, the software vendors again test with a small group of users.
Main: Twice a year, we create a stable Main version with new and/or improved functionalities. The software supplier involved rolls out this version to all users of the API link. At the same time, we then also deploy an earlier version of the API.
In the diagram below, we show the different development phases. The Alpha/Beta we are currently developing will be live in a Main version in 6 at the latest months. That version will then be usable for 6 months before it goes to "Deprecated". The Deprecated version has thus become an obsolete version. This version is then usable by the software supplier and its users for no more than 6 months before it goes out permanently.
By going through this process with software suppliers in floriculture in close coordination, we are able to introduce new features to the sector twice a year and thereby achieve the desired changes for our users.
