For a wealth management client we were tasked to expose valuation data held within data mart to consumers via RESTful API with the path specified determining the shape and volume of the data returned.
The API should be extendable and should also follow best practices in regards to RESTful services i.e. appropriate naming conventions followed for urls and pagination to allow clients to consume data at a volume to suit.
Outline of the components used to construct
the solution include:
Data Mart: In this particular case our client needed to acquire data from various line of business systems which were scheduled to be replaced over time. Therefore, the decision was taken to utilise a data mart hosted within an Azure SQL Database and populated with a number of Azure Data Factory processes. The net result meant the API was decoupled from any future changes made to the sourcing of valuation data.
API App: Development of API was undertaken using .NET Core framework and utilised Clean Architecture principles. CQRS implemented to facilitate the separation of read and write operations and also allow the introduction of caching pipeline. Domain Data Model developed in conjunction with data architecture team. Automated deployment across multiple environments through the use of Azure DevOps processes.
Application Insights: API App utilises structured logging to ensure the service is fully instrumented and all access and errors are surfaced through a single consolidated dashboard. Logging levels are fully configurable to allow application support teams to filter out unnecessary noise from the dashboard. Alerting used to notify teams of issues with both the infrastructure and service.
API Management: Access to the API is controlled through API Management. Direct access to the API App is not permitted, IP restriction put in-place. All access is routed via APIM with specific endpoints made available for both external and internal access. External access is subject to APIM policy which makes use of the security service to validate client credentials.
Allows third party integrator products such as Sprint (Fastrak) and Iress (Xplan) access to our wealth management clients data. Meaning data can now be automatically populated into these third-party platforms instead of being manually upload by IFA’s using cumbersome spreadsheets. Initial uptake of the overall solution of which this API forms a major part, indicates this is now the preferred mechanism for IFA’s to source valuation data.
Future plans include a push mechanism to allow automated upload of valuation data into third party integrator products such as Intelliflo (Intelligent Office) and extending existing API to support transaction data. Thankfully, in this instance our client was happy to engage with ourselves to facilitate their further business needs.
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