e-gateway SOLUTION OVERVIEW In an effort to manage mission critical information better, perform their daily tasks more efficiently, share information to key stakeholders more effectively, and ensure that they become more competitive, private and public sector organizations move more and more towards the computerization and automation of their operations. As they increase the number of information systems that they introduce, they also run through the risk of experiencing higher overhead for managing, analyzing, and reporting on potentially duplicate information across various systems. HCM Financials ERP The e-gateway Solution unifies all corporate information systems ensuring that: Access to information and execution of corporate procedures is done through one single point Data updates are propagated automatically to other internal backend systems as needed (seamlessly to the users) e-gateway Secure Zone DMZ Zone User access is controlled through a centralized permissions scheme Mobile Devices Web Applications SharePoint Portal KEY FEATURES Unifies access to corporate systems information Can be extended to integrate with other business applications as new needs emerge Supports data entry through easily customizable SharePoint forms Automates execution of customizable business workflows May be extended to support a separate user interface for mobile devices. Grants access to users through a centralized authentication and authorization scheme Allows user activity monitoring through advanced logging and auditing mechanisms Can integrate with SMS Centers for sending SMS notifications to users Can integrate with Payment Service Providers for processing payment transactions directly through the SharePoint Portal
ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW e-gateway Solution is based on a multilayered Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The main layers of the solution are: Presentation Layer (Portal): This layer is accessed by the business users through a corporate portal, which includes controls for user input and display, in addition to components that organize and enable user interaction. Service Layer: This layer implements the majority of the business logic. Depending on the actions that users perform on the Presentation Layer, the Service Layer determines the list of data extractions or data updates that need to be performed at the level of the backend systems. Integration Layer: This layer is responsible for enabling communication between the Service Layer and the backend systems. s are customized as per the extensibility standards that the Backend Systems support. Backend Systems: This layer holds all corporate data. Data from those systems are retrieved/updated from the Integration Layer in order to ensure that there is no direct access from any Presentation application to the backend systems. Presentation Layer (Client Applications) ECM Workflows Communication via Open Standards (WS). TLS with Client Authentication (HTTPS) Service Layer Business Logic SMS & Notifications Windows Workflow Foundation Communication via WCF Framework. s & Integration Communication via Open Standards Backend Systems SharePoint Portal Collaboration Transformation Logging Internet / Intranet Windows Communication Foundation Microsoft.NET Framework System Workflows Authentication Windows Server - Windows Server AppFabric Web Applications Mobile Applications Other Clients Synchronization Operations State & Storage SQL Server Windows Communication Foundation Microsoft.NET Framework HCM Assets Financials Mail Server Other Backend Systems
KEY ADVANTAGES Pluggable Architecture: Functional modules can be plugged or pulled out of the scheme relatively easy. In our case the backend systems are a typical scenario for this. We can plug a backend system and expose new functionality in our platform or disconnect a system and switch off the counterpart endpoint. In our solution the s & Integration layer can connect to multiple backend systems. Hub and Spoke Architecture: Provides a flexible architectural pattern: The hub-and-spoke concept is easy to understand and work with, yet can be expressed in infinite variations. Fosters reuse: You typically develop an interface called a spoke from the hub to a given system and then reuse that interface as more systems need to communicate with the first one. Reduces the number of interfaces: The practice of spoke reuse fostered by hub-and-spoke architectures dramatically reduces the number of interfaces you need to build and maintain. Multi-layered architecture: A well-known principle, dictating that autonomous and clearly bounded layers should be introduced in an architecture scheme. Each layer defines its boundaries via well-defined and secured interfaces. Typically layers are functionally depended on lower levels for most of their services. However this does not prevent a function to be fully implemented in an upper layer. Layer can also scale autonomously. Scalability: Each layer can scale out autonomously. Service Orientation: Service orientation is a dominant trend in modern architecture designs. Service-orientation is a design paradigm intended for the creation of logic units that are individually shaped so that they can be collectively and repeatedly utilized. Such a logic designed in accordance with service-orientation can be qualified with the service-oriented prefix. Units of service-oriented solution logic are referred to as services. Modularity: This principle is a more fine grained layered principle. According to this principle, each layer is built on modular components. The sum of modules in a layer comprises the functional set of the layer. Modularity has a pivotal role during the design and implementation phase, modules are also autonomous and interact with other modules with code interfaces. In modern designs the term component is also frequent. Components are sets of modules that have specific functional roles in each layer. Location transparency: Backend system are hidden from the top layers. Client application use services without knowing where the backend systems are. Bottom line is that client application are not aware and should not care- about the backend systems. The only communication point that client applications are aware of is the set of endpoints. Multi-Level Security: There are strict security rules and mechanisms for the communications, message transmission and sensitive information storage. SMS / Notifications: Integration with Logicom Solution s SMS and Notification Engine for pull or push notifications over a wide range of protocols including SMS and emails. Electronic Payments: Integration with Logicom Solution s Payment Engine for electronic payments. Logicom Solution s Payment Engine integrates with payment service provides that supports multiple electronic payment protocols.
EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS SCENARIOS Below we present two examples of business scenarios that are supported by the e-gateway solution along with the corresponding UML diagram representation, based on the proposed solution and the architectural design described in the previous sections. Procedure Description Update of information of staff member Update of personal information of staff member Steps Login to Portal Click on link Information Update Fill-in mandatory fields Request submission Expected Results Update of personal information of logged in user within the system HR Diagram 1: UML Sequence Diagram Update Information of Staff Member
Procedure Description Display Seminars Display Seminars that staff member has attended Steps Login to Portal Click to link Display Seminars Present listing of seminars Expected Results Display listing of seminars of logged in user (as per data recorded in the system HR ) Diagram 2: UML Sequence Diagram Present Listing of Staff Member Seminars
NETWORK TOPOLOGY Firewall Perimeter (DMZ) Zone Network Load Balancing Web Servers Presentation Layer - Portal (SharePoint 2013) Firewall Secure Zone Secure Network Application Servers SOA Layer, s & Integration. (IIS,WCF, WF, AppFabric) Network Load Balancing Database Cluster Database Servers Common Storage & System Databases (SQL Server, SQL Agent) Firewall Backend Systems Zone Backend Systems Backend Systems Backend systems participating in solution Mail HCM Assets Financials Note: The diagram does not reflect the real sizing of the solution. It defines the different security zones where each layer should be placed. It should not be considered as a complete physical diagram as it only illustrates the minimum requirements. Technologies Microsoft.NET Framework 4.5 Windows Communication Foundation 4.5 Windows Workflow Foundation 4.5 Microsoft ASP.NET 4.5 Server Products Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Windows Server AppFabric