Federal Student Aid Technical Architecture Initiatives Sandy England Session # 46 Federal Student Aid Technical Architecture Initiatives Sandy England

Objective - Key Target State Vision Enablers Integrated Technical Architecture Federal Student Aid Enterprise Portal Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Security Architecture (SA) Federal Student Aid Gateway

Target State Vision

TSV Architecture Overview Integrated Technical Architecture, Portal, ESB, Security Architecture, Gateway and internal applications are integrated within the enterprise target state vision

Key Target State Vision Enablers Integrated Technical Architecture Federal Student Aid Enterprise Portal Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Security Architecture (SA) Federal Student Aid Gateway

What is Integrated Technical Architecture? Common, shared, proven architecture using standardized tools, technology, and technical support services An effective technical architecture supports a business’ ability to deliver sufficient resources to users Provides strategic and economic benefits Standardized Methods Product Specialist Support Standardized Technology Standardized configuration of hardware and software platforms Standardized messaging technology to support communications across varying hardware platforms, projects and locations Methods, standards, policies, and directives for maintaining an integrated environment Structured approach to evaluate/implement changes into the environment and support problem resolution Highly trained staff to manage resources and provide services Manage daily operations, controlled development environment, maintain software, and plan for future requirements Improved Access

Integrated Technical Architecture Benefits Leverage current investments and assets - Provides simplified, secure, and integrated access to Federal Student Aid services and resources Facilitates an enterprise-wide perspective to planning, developing, and delivering IT application systems and services Significant cost savings - Reduces hardware, software licensing, and support costs Ability to share highly skilled product specialists among multiple teams Improved application performance - Architecture can be easily scaled to meet capacity and performance requirements Increase productivity and efficiency - Applications get “faster and smarter” by implementing best practices, common services, and lessons learned from previous projects

Integrated Technical Architecture

Product Selection Approach Investigate high-level functional and technical capabilities of each product to create a short list of vendors to evaluate Determine business and technical architecture requirements Research best practices and market research to determine industry leaders of products Create extensive set of criteria to evaluate the short list Schedule technical briefings with each shortlist vendor Evaluate technical capabilities of the products and ability to meet the evaluation criteria Interview/talk with current customers that are using products to assess support quality, etc. Conduct Technical Proofs of Concept to determine if products are technically compatible with existing architecture and meet requirements Determine which products best fit by evaluating their ability to meet the detailed evaluation criteria and understanding their key differentiators Provide product recommendation based on product’s ability to meet the key selection criteria.

Key Target State Vision Enablers Integrated Technical Architecture Federal Student Aid Enterprise Portal Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Security Architecture (SA) Federal Student Aid Gateway

What is a Portal? An integrated and personalized access point to information, applications, and services Provides a single, secure, simplified, and personalized access point to business information Delivers integrated content and applications, within a unified, collaborative workplace Improved Access Integration Interaction Improved internal use of information Secure data sharing with external organizations. Simplified and standardized look and feel Customized information & services to meet users needs Access content from multiple sources Secure Information Expand portfolio of online transactions Increase self-services & user self-sufficiency Analyze "merged" information Improved Access

Portal Benefits Leverage current investments and assets Increase productivity and efficiency Improve decision-making Strengthen constituent goodwill and trust Improved customer service and cost savings Standard look and feel

Portal Framework Framework provides a taxonomy for describing portal capabilities

Key Target State Vision Enable Integrated Technical Architecture Federal Student Aid Enterprise Portal Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Security Architecture (SA) Federal Student Aid Gateway

What is a Enterprise Service Bus? Architecture and an infrastructure that unifies and connects services, applications, and resources within a business Provides the open, standards-based connectivity infrastructure for a service oriented architecture (SOA) Provides communication between systems through shared services IT Benefits SOA Enabler Integration Quickly respond to changing business needs Leverage existing assets in new ways Reduce software development and maintenance cost Improve system security, scalability, availability and robustness Standardize interfaces Integrate with all new and existing applications Leverages existing Security Architecture Improved Access Promotes reuse Foster interoperability Supports incremental implementation

Enterprise Service Bus Benefits Provides the following Web services mediation capabilities - Centrally apply security (encryption, authentication, & authorization) by leveraging Security Architecture Audit service requests/replies Data transformation Dynamic routing Invoke and reuse shared services across the enterprise - Business logic is accessible at an enterprise level, rather than just the application level Choreograph business flows across the enterprise Standards-based - vendor neutral

Current State EAI EAI Core Capabilities - Assured Message Delivery Location Transparency Platform Independence Protocol Independence Single Multi-platform API Data Transformation Context-based Routing Publish-Subscribe High-speed Bulk Transfers (> 100 MB)

Transition State ESB

Target State ESB ESB Technologies

Key Target State Vision Enablers Integrated Technical Architecture Federal Student Aid Enterprise Portal Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Security Architecture (SA) Federal Student Aid Gateway

What is Security Architecture? Provides a single, integrated authentication, and authorization framework Enables consistent Authentication, Authorization, and Accountability Authentication: Who are you? Authorization: What are you allowed to do? Accountability: What did you do? Enterprise Security Management Consistent Security Services Single sign-on for web applications Simplified registration/approval processing Delegated administration Decrease security risks Improves maintainability of systems Offloads “ADHOC” application security from application teams Improved Access Consolidated security views and reporting Flexibility to accommodate new or redeployed systems Lowers security development and operational costs

Security Architecture Benefits Provides consistent security services & configurations across Federal Student Aid systems - Decrease security risks Improves maintainability of systems Offloads ad-hoc application security from application teams Gives better service to our customers/partners - Simplified sign-on for web applications Simplified registration/approval processing Delegated administration Promote enterprise security management - Consolidated security views and reporting Flexibility to accommodate new or redeployed systems Lowers security development and operational costs

Security Architecture

Target State Security Architecture

Key Target State Vision Enablers Integrated Technical Architecture Federal Student Aid Enterprise Portal Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Security Architecture (SA) Federal Student Aid Gateway

What is Gateway? Business Objectives Customer Benefits It is part of an organization's technical architecture that facilitates the communication between internal applications and external systems Provides separation and security between the outside world and an internal network Acts as a proxy to broker requests between external partners and Federal Student Aid systems Business Objectives Customer Benefits IT Considerations Standardizes external exchange of data through a single, virtual, secure gateway Enables access to key business services for the external community Right-time exchange of data with trading partners Simplifies trading partner data exchange Enables right-time data exchange Reduces the number of different data exchange formats Reduces effort required for integration within FSA Supports a wide range of transport protocols and industry data formats Improves visibility of transaction workflows with external partners Web services will be used to facilitate data exchange Improved Access

Gateway Benefits Creates an enterprise view of external interface information exchanged with Federal Student Aid Enables centralized management of external interfaces Provides the capability for an external partner to upload and download files Provides a layer of security between Federal Student Aid and external partners Creates well defined procedures for integrating with Federal Student Aid services Validates and enforces the use of a standard data schema between systems and enables data consistency throughout data exchange process

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

Target State Gateway Solution TSV Gateway solution will be a single communication channel between Federal Student Aid, external partners and external service providers

Gateway Framework

Contact Information I appreciate your feedback and comments. I can be reached at: Name:Sandy England Phone:202-377-3537 Email:Sandy.England@ed.gov

Questions?