Introduction to Federated Architecture
Federated Architecture refers to patterns that allow information sharing and interoperability between decentralized and semi-autonomous business lines, applications, and software systems in enterprise architectures.
Initially, organizations developed monolithic and integrated architectures which would get complex and difficult to modify with changing user needs. This has so far been resolved by federated architectures which have provided a framework for development, usage, and maintenance.
This architecture locates, aligns, and links different and related architectures and their information to make sure that users have a seamless appearance of the different architectures that they use. Federated architectures allow organizations to understand the purpose of each architecture that they implement, as well as its uniqueness. This has encouraged local governance and the autonomy of their applications.
For instance, a company called OKO has been able to use new technologies in federated architectures to automate insurance processes that were previously very labor-intensive. They have been able to come up with systems that eliminate the need for site experts and agencies for premium collections.
With federated architectures, organizations are able to organize their architectures depending on their activities, people, and partners within a context that is easy to understand and use for them. They are also able to link architectures across the organization making sure that things such as identification, interoperability, and duplication can be assessed easily.
For this to work, organizations need to observe three patterns of federated architectures. These patterns include;
1. The Federation
Most organizations are finding it easy to function when they have implemented integration and information sharing through distributed computing. This has been enhanced by employing a systems architecture that encourages a reliable and consistent flow of information between their application systems.
For organizations to adopt the use of such architectures, they need to first understand how information in the organization is produced, who produces the information, and how their system applications can use such information to promote organizational work.
With such a setup, the federated architecture requires that if an organization is grouped into different departments with each department having different powers in decision making, and each one of them using their own systems that are independent of those of other departments, the departments and the systems they use should expose all their information for sharing.
The aim of this pattern is to encourage sharing of information and data while at the same time preserving the independence of applications and the integrity of the data that they use.
2. Dependency Separation
This pattern is mandated with enabling the pattern above by making sure that application dependencies within domains are resolved. When organizations group their applications into domains or clusters, they can limit the number of connections required between the applications.
Within a single domain, connections and dependencies within the applications in that domain are allowed. Different domains will then communicate with each other through messages. This pattern requires organizations to identify informational and processing dependencies depending on the policies, rules, and business operations.
They are required to get informational dependencies from processing dependencies to make sure that they eliminate any applications’ processing dependencies within the same domain. This means that applications within the same domain should not have any processing dependencies.
3. Interface Connection
While the dependency separation and the federation patterns offer solutions for application and domain dependencies, the interface connection pattern connects the domains to ensure that integration and the exchange of information works throughout the organization.
For a successful exchange of information throughout the organization, one is required to ensure that there is interoperability between all of their domains. To make sure that a single domain is not overloaded, organizations are required to come up with a communication mechanism that eases the flow of information between different domains.
The interface connection is mandated with the role of bringing all the domains together and making sure that they cooperate as required.
Conclusion
Organizations need to federate their architectures to make sure that they address different issues arising from different domains. With federation, different groups are able to build architectures while focusing on the functionalities that they need urgently. This is an important part of running modern organizations successfully.
