Learning the AS-IS process of a system is the first and foremost thing a person has to do while designing a solution to automate it. Here are few pointers on how to go about understanding it. Learn the basic end to end flow Know what are the data entry points Understand what happens to the data that enters a system The places where data are presented to the user The points where communication is send to the customer/user Make a list of systems that interact with the concerned application The different protocols (like SOAP) used to communicate between applications If there is a communication, the acknowledgements being sent/received if any The various validations that happen at various places within and outside the system Check for duplicate validations Make a list of manual interactions that take place in the process Figure out error prone areas- Tip: manual interactions are error prone Thoroughly understand exception handling situations What happens when one of the in...
Most IT applications will involve some kind of integration with an external system. This external system can be a database or any other application. The communication between systems determines how well the overall system performs. Integrations are crucial links and help us leverage the capabilities of different systems effectively. But, these integration points are vulnerable and information can be lost if all possible scenarios are not addressed. There are basically 2 scenarios that happen when a request is placed to a system- Response (System responds) No response Response can be further broken down to- Positive Acknowledgement with Data Negative Acknowledgement with Data Data- Data can be send with any/both of the responses. Whenever, there is no response from a system, there is loss of data. To retrieve the data we may have to send another request. This is where exception scenarios come and they need to be defined. The following can help us defining the scen...
What is an API? An application program interface (API) is code that allows two software programs to communicate with each other. APIs expose features and services to developers. Advantages Re-usability- The same API can be used by multiple applications. The APIs require the input in the right format and they will give the output as per the API contract. Hence, existing functionalities can be shared. Data Abstraction-Only the relevant details are shared (request and response). Data Encapsulation- Collection of features are grouped together to make an API. Polymorphism- Depending on the request, the response can be varied. Maintenance – APIs are standalone entities and hence instead of enhancing or updating the individual applications that use the services, APIs can be updated and the necessary changes can be communicated to the consuming applications. Challenges APIs may undergo changes and update might be required. This will need ver...
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