Triggering workflows externally

Hi,

At the moment there is the capability to trigger a workflow from an external system using the following endpoint -
https://xxxxx.ifs.cloud/main/ifsapplications/projection/engine-rest/process-definition/key/zTestonly/start

But the payload for such requests seems to have the need to follow the following standard -
{
    "variables": {
        "MyDate": {
            "value": "xxxxxx",
            "type": "String"
        },
        "MyTaskNum": {
            "value": "xxxxxxx",
            "type": "String"
        }
    }
}

My questions are as follows:

1. Do we have the flexibility to move away from this format; for example have the “variables:”. “type:” tags removed.
2. Can we pass in arrays in the payload?

Thanks,
Dananjaya Misso.