TSAPI, a survey data interoperability standard

Standards 17th August 2026

ASC endorses TSAPI as an industry standard for survey data transfer and interoperability between different survey and data platforms. We continue to engage with the TSAPI group, which is independent of ASC, on an ongoing basis. We view our endorsement of TSAPI as a way to encourage adoption of this standard and to facilitate further discussion across the industry that may help to develop the standard and give it the attention we believe it deserves.

What are the reasons for ASC’s endorsement of the TSAPI Standard?

ASC exists to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices in an open and non-proprietary way across the professional survey technology community. We have a long tradition of encouraging vendor-neutral approaches to the transfer of data between platforms, providers and users, and of supporting the development of independent standards. 

The TSAPI standard is the latest in a series of open, collaborative initiatives that seek to simplify the exchange of survey data between different platforms or software tools. This time, in the case of TSAPI, by developing an application programming interface (API) that will allow different programs or platforms to communicate directly with one another without relying on any intermediate files to transfer the data.

We are supportive of the TSAPI Initiative for these reasons:

First, TSAPI’s objectives are focused on facilitating innovation and better practices to the benefit of our professional community by improving connectivity within the MR sector and acting as a bridge to enable the flow of MR insights to other sectors. 

Second, the initiative is open and the API is offered on an open source basis. All material is freely available for all to use, being licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

Third, it is independent. TSAPI has arisen out of consultation with, and subsequently cooperation between a diverse range of software providers and survey data users.  Its governing body, the TSAPI Steering Group, is made up of representatives from these different stakeholders.

Fourth, our sector needs an API. In an increasingly complex but also an increasingly connected world, ASC considers it essential that our industry should have an API that defines the unique challenges of working with survey data. TSAPI provides an API that will allow our community to continue to work across technical and commercial boundaries, within and beyond the research sector, and allow developers outside our sector to appreciate the problems they must address to serve the needs of our professional community.

For more information on the standard, visit the TSAPI website at www.tsapi.net/

The background to ASC’s endorsement

In 2022 was approached by the TSAPI group to consider making some kind of formal statement that ASC was supportive of the initiative as an emerging industry standard. ASC has followed the development of this standard for some years, with TSAPI the subject of several presentations at recent ASC conferences.

Many members of the ASC community, including committee members, were either directly involved with the TSAPI initiative or had enjoyed positive experiences with this new standard. The committee was receptive to the idea of making its support of the standard more explicit, and convened a TSAPI task force to explore the feasibility ASC endorsing TSAPI as a standard.

The task force appointed ASC committee member John McConnell in December 2022 as someone not previously exposed to TSAPI, but with the knowledge and experience carry out an independent technical appraisal into TSAPI.

John’s report was presented to the task force early in December, and on the basis of his findings, the task force concluded that ASC should acknowledge the standard by endorsing it. On 28 February 2023 the committee accepted the proposal and formally endorsed TSAPI as a standard for survey data interoperability.

ASC’s Due Diligence Report

Below is the report commissioned by the ASC’s TSAPI task force which made the case for ASC to endorse TSAPI.

Since our original discussion, I’ve had the chance to enact some due diligence. Based on that I conclude that the TSAPI Initiative is, from a technical perspective, worthy of ASC endorsement.
Specifically I:

  1. Reviewed the open-source way in which TSAPI is distributed; specifically via GitHub and Swagger
  2. Worked with TSAPI from an end-user perspective with Red Centre Software’s new Carbon/Diamond data processing and analysis suite (www.redcentresoftware.com)

Based on that review, and some pondering, my argument for the ASC to endorse TSAPI is based on it being:

  1. Complete. The TSAPI definition seems exhaustive to me. In no small part because it covers all the attributes in the TripleS (file-based) standard and builds from there. I believe the ASC endorsed TripleS and it feels like we should endorse TSAPI.
  2. Contemporary. We are in the “API economy” as we often hear. Survey Research has traditionally lagged behind the latest development in tech. TSAPI connects us to that economy.
  3. Connected. TSAPI integrates into contemporary data architectures to more efficiently solve business and research Use Cases. Linked to the last point the API enables integration (batch and real-time)  into:
    1. Cloud/Desktop software tools/platforms (like Red Centre’s Diamond).
    2. Data Pipelines (which are intrinsic to Enterprise Data Lakes). We’ve been working on a project with a global CPG company where research data is a key source to a Data Lake, blending survey, process and chemical analysis data, that supports new product testing and development. Our job would have been far easier if the survey vendors had TSAPI support.

As with all standards, adoption is key. To drive benefits TSAPI needs to be widely adopted.

Seeing is believing. When did you ever see a survey data connection without a filename?

John McConnell, December 2022

Examples appended to the report

Call from GUI

Call from C#

var imp = new ImportEngine();
imp.OpenJob("\RedCentre\Jobs\TSAPI_Import");
const string BaseAddress = "https://tsapi-demo.azurewebsites.net/";
var surveys = await imp.ListTSAPISurveys(BaseAddress);
await imp.ImportTSAPI(BaseAddress, surveys[0].Id);