1. SIF 3.0 Concepts
Workshop Idea13
Joerg Huber

2. Overview Terms and Concepts of SIF 3.0
REST (what about SOAP), XML, JSON
Direct and Brokered Zones
Immediate and Delayed Responses
Event Processing (Single Source of Truth)
Bulk Create, Update & Delete Operations
Reduced ‘Chatiness’
SIF 3.0 Infrastructure Documentation
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

3. REST, SOAP, XML, JSON Current SIF 3.0 Release uses
REST as transport and
XML representation of Data Model (infrastructure and data dictionary)
SOAP is planned. SIF Association is looking for volunteers to help on this part.
JSON is planned but not officially supported, yet.
Mapping between XML and JSON required
JSON has ambiguities (i.e. Array or not Array)
JSON is less bound by standards which causes some issues: i.e. Encryption of payload
There is a separate session in the workshops that addresses the JSON issues. See Confluence on this topic:
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

4. Direct Zone NEW Concept in SIF 3.0
Peer-To-Peer connection not involving middleware.
Can be used from web-applications to retrieve and persist data directly from/to a given application.
Can be used by mobile applications (most likely using REST) to connect directly to an application.
Sub-Set of SIF 3.0 Interfaces need to be implemented
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

5. Direct Zone cont. SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

6. Brokered Zone What was known as a ZONE involving a ZIS in SIF Classic.
The Brokered Zone securely connects N clients to a dynamically changing list of M Data Entity and / or Functional Services through a centrally secure, separate and discrete Message Broker.
Clients of a brokered Zone can implement SOAP and/or REST, depending what the broker supports.
Broker may implement SOAP and/or REST
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

7. Brokered Zone cont. SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

8. Immediate & Delayed Response
Delayed Response is what is known in SIF 2.x as asynchronous response.
This concept remains in SIF 3.0
Immediate Response (synchronous) is where the requestor of the data keeps the connection open until a response is available.
Immediate Response is largely a NEW concept in SIF 3.0
Direct Zone: Commonly used
Brokered Zone: Less common when it comes to requesting data through a query
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

9. Service Types Infrastructure Services Queues Alerts
Namespace Registry etc.
Data Entity Service is a service for a given SIF Object (i.e. StudentPersonal, SchoolInfo) => CRUD
Create
Read (Query)
Update
Delete
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

10. Service Types cont. Functional Services Composite Object Services
Execute Style (Jobs):
i.e. End-of-Year Rollover.
Student Locator
Report Style: Provide a ‘View’ of multiple Entities in one Object.
Composite Object Services
Object made of part of other object
Relationship Services?
Next release?
…/StudentPersonals/{id}/TeachingGroups
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

11. Event Processing Event Processing changes considerably in SIF 3.0
Publishing Events is only allowed for the ‘Source of Truth’
Non-Sources of Truth can only request CRUD operations on the Source of Truth and if accepted the Source of Truth will publish the event to the Zone.
Impacts ‘RefId’ allocation
Only Source of Truth will allocate RefIds
Non-Source of Truth must maintain a link between the Create Request until Source of Truth response with the new RefId.
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

12. Attendance Tracking App
Event Processing cont.
Save new
Student
Attendance Tracking App
(Subscriber Service)
Request
Create
Broker
“Source of Truth”
Request
Create
Accepted
AB12FF5FE20945F12FFE2FF02211FF02
SIS App
(Provider Service)
LMS
(Subscriber Service)
Accepted
AB12FF5FE20945F12FFE2FF02211FF02
Publish Create
Event
Time Table App
(Subscriber Service)
Publish Create
Event
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

13. SIF 3.0 infrastructure enables bulk operations!
Creation of multiple objects in one request
Update of multiple objects in one request
Deletion of multiple objects in one request
=> Improves performance
=> Scales better
‘Requestor’ of bulk operation always knows success status of each object in the request.
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

14. Reduced ‘Chatiness’ Bulk Operations
Usage of standard HTTP Status codes rather than ACK/NAK Messages.
Queues: ‘Get Next Message and Delete Previous’ in one message rather then spread over 4 messages!
=> Improves performance
=> Scales better
=> Easier to implement!
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

15. SIF 3.0 Infrastructure Documentation
Confluence
SIF Association Website
SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013

16. Questions Any Questions? SIF3 Workshop Idea2013: SIF 3.0 Concepts
12 November 2013