Session

1
Session T5

• FSA Gateway and Portal Strategies
• Balu Balasubramanyam
• Terry Woods
• U.S. Department of Education

2
Enterprise Service Bus and Federal Student Aid
Gateway Strategy

• Balu Balasubramanyam

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Objectives

• To review the vision and high-level requirements
  of Federal Student Aid's TSV Gateway solution
• Provide information on the TSV Gateway's role in
  the target state and how customers can leverage
  its capabilities

4
Agenda

• Gateway
• TSV Gateway Requirements Overview
• Interface Infrastructure
• TSV Gateway Integration
• TSV Application Architecture
• TSV Integration Points
• TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
• Open Discussion

5
What Is A Gateway?

• A gateway is part of an organization's technical
  architecture that facilitates the communication
  between internal applications and external
  systems
• A gateway provides separation and security
  between the outside world and an internal network
• A gateway acts as a proxy to broker requests
  between external partners and Federal Student Aid
  systems

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Relationship to TSV
Gateway (contd)

• Gateway provides a communication channel between
  Federal Student Aid and external partners

Gateway is an access point for external partners
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What is Gateways role in TSV?
Gateway (contd)

• TSV Gateway will be a key enabler for external
  partners doing business with Federal Student Aid
• TSV Gateway will provide Federal Student Aid TSV
  enterprise business applications with a secure
  and reliable solution to communicate with
  external partners

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What are the benefits and impacts?
Gateway (contd)

• Creates an enterprise view of all external
  interface information exchanged with Federal
  Student Aid
• Provides a layer of security between Federal
  Student Aid and external partners
• Creates well defined procedures for integrating
  with Federal Student Aid services
• External interfaces can be centrally managed

9
Agenda

• Gateway
• TSV Gateway Requirements Overview
• Interface Infrastructure
• TSV Gateway Integration
• TSV Application Architecture
• TSV Integration Points
• TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
• Open Discussion

10
High-level functional capabilities identified
Gateway Requirements Overview

• Support batch-file transfer
• External partner sends batch files to Gateway
• External partner receives batch files from
  Gateway
• Support right-time data transfer
• External partner sends right-time update to
  Gateway
• External partner receives right-time update from
  Gateway
• Support shared services use
• External partner invokes Federal Student Aid
  shared service via Gateway
• Internal application invokes external shared
  service via Gateway

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Agenda

• Gateway
• TSV Gateway Requirements Overview
• Interface Infrastructure
• TSV Gateway Integration
• TSV Application Architecture
• TSV Integration Points
• TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
• Open Discussion

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Interface Infrastructure
What problem needs to be solved?
The current Federal Student Aid external
interface concerns are
"What problem needs to be solved?"

• Multiple communication channels and entry points
  into Federal Student Aid are not centrally
  tracked or managed
• No right-time data interchanges
• Security architecture is not being leveraged

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TSV Gateway solution will be the single
communication channel between Federal Student
Aid, external partners, and external service
providers.
Interface Infrastructure (contd)
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Agenda

• Gateway
• TSV Gateway Requirements Overview
• Interface Infrastructure
• TSV Gateway Integration
• TSV Application Architecture
• TSV Integration Points
• TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
• Open Discussion

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Gateway, Portal, ESB and internal applications
are integrated within the enterprise target state
vision
TSV Technical Architecture
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TSV Integration Points

• TSV Gateway solution will integrate with
• Federal Student Aid's critical enablers
• TSV Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
• Security Architecture
• Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG)
• TSV Portal solution
• Federal Student Aid's business applications
  (e.g., COD, NSLDS, IPM, Information Framework,
  etc)
• Network Storage

Integrating with Network Storage is an
alternative technical architecture to support the
processing of batch files.
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Agenda

• Gateway
• TSV Gateway Requirements Overview
• Interface Infrastructure
• TSV Gateway Integration
• TSV Application Architecture
• TSV Integration Points
• TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
• Open Discussion

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TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
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TSV Gateway Conceptual Design (contd)

• TSV Gateway Component Descriptions
• Interfaces Interfaces provide a way to establish
  systems-to-system communication. Interfaces
  specify the appropriate method of communicating
  with a system, such as messaging and transport
  protocols.
• Messaging/Transport Protocols Support the actual
  system-to-system communication. The messaging
  protocol specifies the communication language
  understood by the receiving system or service,
  e.g. SOAP. The transport protocol specifies the
  type transmission protocol supported for the
  system-to-system communication, e.g. HTTP or JMS.
• Service Registry A directory that contains
  information about available services, including
  web services and batch file transfer interfaces.
  
• Network Storage Serves as a staging area to
  store all inbound and outbound batch files. Using
  Network Storage prevents the need to send batch
  files over the network and ESB, therefore
  reducing network overhead.

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TSV Gateway Component Descriptions The
following capabilities are used to support the
Gateways processing of batch files.
TSV Gateway Conceptual Designs (contd)
Data Validation Validates the schema and/or
file format is in a readable and correct
format. Note Data Validation does not validate
the actual data content, such as SSN has no
dashes. Data Transformation Transforms data
structure to necessary schema or file format
between systems with different data
structures. Note Data Transformation does not
change the data content. Data Transformation is
not business rule driven. XML Standardization
Validates and enforces the use of a standard data
schema between systems. Using a standard data
format with a common data definition enables data
consistency throughout data exchange process.
This service should leverage the use of Federal
Student Aid's XML repository.
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TSV Gateway Component Descriptions End User GUI
Components describe the functionality provided to
gatewayend users.
TSV Gateway Conceptual Design (contd)
Upload/Download Batch File Provide the
capability for an external partner to upload and
download a file to the TSV Gateway. Check Status
of Batch File Provide the capability to check
the status of sent and received batch
files. Mailbox Management Provide external
partners administrators with the capability to
manage the mailboxes for their organization. Admi
nistrator Management Console Provide gateway
administrators with administrative capabilities,
such as reporting and operating the TSV Gateway.
Reference Center Documentation FSA Download
Provide the capability to download any necessary
client software and supporting gateway
documentation.
TSV Gateway end users include external partners
end users and administrators, Federal Student Aid
employees, and TSV Gateway administrators.
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What are some key differences between a Gateway
and Portal?
Gateway Portal Comparison

• Portal
• Used by end users to access information
• Capable of real-time data transmission
• Customizable graphical user interface (GUI)

• Gateway vs.
• Used for system to system communication
• Capable of batch-file and right-time data
  transmission
• Acts as a proxy between external partners and
  Federal Student Aid

Both Gateway and Portal are applications to
communicate between external partners and Federal
Student Aid
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Agenda

• Gateway
• TSV Gateway Requirements Overview
• Interface Infrastructure
• TSV Gateway Integration
• TSV Application Architecture
• TSV Integration Points
• TSV Gateway Conceptual Design
• Open Discussion

24
Open Discussion

• What problems do you anticipate with this
  approach?
• What problems continue to be unresolved if
  Federal Student Aid implements this solution?
• How should Federal Student Aid solve them?
• Are any supplemental requirements necessary?
• Is Gateway the right place to solve them?
• How soon will this solution be useful?
• How are you benefited by using this solution?

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Questions?
26

• Balu Balasubramanyam
• Phone [phone]EmailBalu.balasubramanyam_at_e
  d.gov

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Federal Student AidEnterprise Portal
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Target State Vision (TSV)
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TSV Technical Architecture
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What is A Portal

• An Enterprise Portal is a Framework for
  Integrating Information, Applications, and
  Processes Across Organizational Boundaries
  Wikipedia

• Portals Provide
• Simplified sign-on to back office applications
  and systems
• Personalized information to deliver what users
  need when they need it
• Streamlined and seamless access to information
  through a single user experience reducing the
  need to go from website to website
• Continuous look and feel throughout allows for
  the appearance of integration before
  reengineering back end systems takes place

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Enterprise Portal Infrastructure
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Design Principles

• Zero impact to current Web site styles
• Fully support current FSA web design guidelines
• Maximize user flexibility and personalization
• Leverage built-in portal capabilities
• Formalize concepts of a view
• Support clear development contract boundaries

33
Enterprise Portal Layers
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What is a View?

• Delivery of services and content from the
  perspective of a targeted user population

• Views Provide
• A broad spectrum of services to address a user
  population not just a particular function
• Allows for seamless integration of information
  across functions
• Leverages common reusable functionality enabling
  project teams to focus on business function
  unique to the user population
• Provides one location to go to and one sign on

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How Views Relate to Each Other
Students and Parents
Employees and Contractors
Schools and Third Party Processors
FSA.ED.GOV
Students View
Employee View
Trading Partner View
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Views Are Fully Customizable
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View Style - Theme

• Themes Control the overall look and feel.

• Themes
• Include header, footer, menu bar, side navigation
• Define the page level items that repeat on all
  pages in the site
• Define the color palette for the site

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Page Content - Portlet

• Portlets are pluggable user interface component
  that represent a piece of functionality on a
  page.

• Portlets
• Pages are collections of portlets
• Reusable content area of page
• Support personalization
• Support customization

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Reusable Portlets

• Alerts portlet
• Survey
• Features portlet
• News portlet
• Featured links portlet
• Add a gadget portlet
• My book marks portlet
• My news
• Weather portlet
• Employee finder
• My to dos

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Questions?
41
Terry Woods Chief Application Architect Terry.Wood
s_at_ed.gov