Creates a new department under an existing department.

Parameter Value
Required. 1-50 characters. Case-sensitive. Visit Settings | API:Security to change your API token (Berke login required). Your API token is a server-side authentication value. Do not embed it in client-side Javascript or submit it to Berke via an insecure connection.
Optional. Null or 1-50 characters. Your API Token is mapped to a default user. Use this field to change from the default API user to a specific user. The user must exist in your Berke account and is active. Null defaults to default API user. Visit Settings | API:Security to change your default API user (Berke login required).
Required, 1-50 characters. The ID of a current, active department under which to create a new department. ParentSourceDepartmentId is not case-sensitive. Use the GetDepartmentTree method to retrieve your SourceDepartmentId values if you do not know them. You can also find your SourceDepartmentId values in the Berke site. (Berke login required)
Optional, 1-50 characters if supplied. The ID of the new department. Must be unique. SourceDepartmentId is not case-sensitive. If not supplied, a default SourceDepartmentId will be generated.
Required, 1-100 characters. The name of the new department. Must be unique.
Optional. Null or 1-500 characters.
Optional. Defaults to first value in list if not supplied. This value sets format in which to return the results of the method. All formats return the same data and hierarchical layout.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<berkeResponse status="ok" responseCode="200">
  <department parentSourceDepartmentId="[parentSourceDepartmentId]" sourceDepartmentId="[sourceDepartmentId]" name="[name]" description="[optional description]" isEnabled="true" />
</berkeResponse>
{
  "department": {
    "parentSourceDepartmentId": "[parentSourceDepartmentId]",
    "sourceDepartmentId": "[sourceDepartmentId]",
    "name": "[name]",
    "description": "[optional description]",
    "isEnabled": true
  },
  "status": "ok",
  "response": null,
  "responseCode": "200"
}
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<berkeResponse status="[!=ok]" response="[Error Message], [Parameter]=[[ParameterValue]]" responseCode="[!=200]" />
{
  "status": "[!=ok]",
  "response": "[Error Message], [Parameter]=[[ParameterValue]]",
  "responseCode": "[!=200]"
}
Successful Example Response

            
  • If successful, the response will include a department node that contains the data you submitted.

Handing Errors

All API requests include two extended HTTP headers in the response:

  • X-Response-Code
    Contains the HTTP status code (400, 200, etc.) and a Berke status code.
    The format is [Http Status Code].[Berke Status Code].
  • X-Response-Message
    Contains a message describing the X-Response-Code header.

If your request was successful, X-Response-Code will be 200.0. If the Berke response code is 1000 or greater, then an error occurred. For example, 403.1003 tells you that there was a HTTP 403 error (Forbidden). The 1003 Berke status code tells you the API key is invalid.

When an error occurs, further information can be found in the X-Response-Message header. For example, X-Response-Message will return API key '[API.Key.Sent.To.Berke]' is invalid or inactive if the API key was not authenticated.

The most common errors returned for this method are listed below.

Status Code Failed Example Responses

                
Most API exceptions are due to invalid parameters. Review the notes below each parameter as well as the output and HTTP response code from the error message. If all values are appropriate, the failure is likely authentication-related. Authentication failure types include, but are not limited to,:
  • Too many failed calls
  • Maximum per minute or per day API calls reached
  • API call made via insecure connection
  • Invalid API key
  • API is not enabled for target company
  • API is disabled for all companies (typically during maintenance)
  • Company is inactive or expired
  • Invalid username
  • User is inactive or expired
)
ParentSourceDepartmentId is either missing or too long. Must be between 1 and 50 characters.
)
Department referenced by ParentSourceDepartmentId is inactive. You cannot add new departments under an inactive department.
)
SourceDepartmentId is too long. Must be between null or between 1 and 50 characters. If null, a default, unique ID will be assigned.
)
SourceDepartmentId is already in use on another department. SourceDepartmentId must be unique.
)
Name is either missing or too long. Must be between 1 and 100 characters.
)
Name is already in use on another department. Name must be unique.
Most API exceptions are due to invalid parameters. Review the notes below each parameter as well as the output and HTTP response code from the error message. If all values are appropriate, the failure is likely authentication-related. Authentication failure types include, but are not limited to,:
  • Too many failed calls
  • Maximum per minute or per day API calls reached
  • API call made via insecure connection
  • Invalid API key
  • API is not enabled for target company
  • API is disabled for all companies (typically during maintenance)
  • Company is inactive or expired
  • Invalid username
  • User is inactive or expired
  • Unknown sourceJobId - check your API job assignments in the primary Berke customer site
  • Invalid assessment complete action

        
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<berkeResponse status="[!=ok]" response="[API Method] API method requests exceeded burst limit of 120 occurrences within 60000 milliseconds. Excess requests occurred 3 times from [2024-12-01T18:10:58.6785928Z] to [2024-12-01T18:10:59.2785928Z]." responseCode="429" callDeniedDateTime="2024-12-01T18:10:59.3785928Z" callExpiresOnCompletion="true" countCallsExceeded="3" estimatedMillisecondsToNextAllowedCall="423" firstCallDeniedDateTime="2024-12-01T18:10:59.0785928Z" isDailyLimit="false" maximumCallsPerTimeFrame="120" timeFrameMilliseconds="60000" />
{
  "callDeniedDateTime": "2024-12-01T18:10:59.3785928Z",
  "callExpiresOnCompletion": true,
  "countCallsExceeded": 3,
  "estimatedMillisecondsToNextAllowedCall": 423,
  "firstCallDeniedDateTime": "2024-12-01T18:10:59.0785928Z",
  "isDailyLimit": false,
  "maximumCallsPerTimeFrame": 120,
  "timeFrameMilliseconds": 60000,
  "status": "[!=ok]",
  "response": "[API Method] API method requests exceeded burst limit of 120 occurrences within 60000 milliseconds. Excess requests occurred 3 times from [2024-12-01T18:10:58.6785928Z] to [2024-12-01T18:10:59.2785928Z].",
  "responseCode": "429"
}
API requests exceeded the maximum allowed per time-frame or the maximum allowed at any point in time.

API throttle limits are set per-company. Please login and return to this area to see your company's specific throttle configuration.

Your application can use the following API method response information to determine its course of action when HTTP status code 429 is returned by an API method call:

  • callDeniedDateTime: The date and time that the API method call was denied execution.
  • callExpiresUponCompletion: If this value is true then too many simultaneous calls occurred to a particular group of API methods. If this value is false then too many requests occurred for a particular time frame (daily or short-term).
  • countCallsExceeded: The count of calls that exceeded the maximum number of allowed API calls for the time frame.
  • estimatedMillisecondsToNextAllowedCall: The estimated number of milliseconds, from the callDeniedDateTime, before an API call will be allowed to execute. If callExpiresUponCompletion is true then this value will be zero as the time is dependent on numerous factors. If callExpiresUponCompletion is false then this value indicates the amount of time your application(s) should wait before attempting to make the same API method call. If a daily API call limit has been exceeded the this value indicates the amount of time your application(s) should wait before calling any API method.
  • firstCallDeniedDateTime: The date and time that the first call, of potentially many calls, was denied for the time frame. For example, if an application was denied ten calls within a time frame then firstCallDeniedDateTime indicates date and time that the first of the ten calls was denied.
  • isDailyLimit: If this value is true then the response indicates that the maximum number of API methods calls for the current day has been exceeded. If this value is false then the response indicates that the maximum number of API method calls for a time frame, other than daily, has been exceeded.
  • maximumCallsPerTimeFrame: Indicates the maximum number of times an API method can be called for daily, short-term or simultaneous call limits.
  • timeFrameMilliseconds: Indicates the number of milliseconds in which maximumCallsPerTimeFrame API method calls is allowed.