1. SIF 3.0 Concepts
SIF 3.x Concepts & Terms
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 Infrastructure Documentation
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

3. REST, SOAP, XML, JSON Current SIF 3.0.1 Release uses
REST as transport and
XML representation of Data Model (infrastructure and data dictionary)
SOAP may come in future if the need arises.
JSON is part of SIF 3.1 release.
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, validation etc.
Java framework already supports JSON (Goessner notation).
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

4. Direct Zone NEW Concept in SIF 3.x
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.x Interfaces need to be implemented
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

5. Direct Zone cont. Direct Zone (Simple) Environment Provider Object
ACLs, URIs
(Infrastructure)
Service Consumer
Object
Providers
(Services)
Data
(SIF AU 1.3)
StudentPersonal
SchoolInfo
etc.
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

6. Brokered Zone
What was known as a ZONE involving a ZIS in SIF Classic (SIF 2.x).
The Brokered Zone securely connects N clients to a dynamically changing list of M Data Entity, Service Paths and/or Functional Services through a centrally secure, separate and discrete Message Broker.
Broker may implement automated translation between XML & JSON (SIF 3.1 will specify this functionality)
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

7. Brokered Zone cont. Brokered Zone Middleware Object Provider Services
ACLs, URIs
(Infrastructure)
ACLs, URIs
(Infrastructure)
Environment Provider
Zone Registry
Object Provider Services
Service
Consumer
Provider Registry
Data
(SIF AU 1.3)
Data
(SIF AU 1.3)
Connectors
(Request, Event, Provision, Subscribe etc)
StudentPersonal
SchoolInfo
etc.
Queue Manager
Note:
Not all registries are shown
Middleware
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

8. Immediate & Delayed Response
Delayed Response is what is known in SIF 2.x as asynchronous response.
This concept remains in SIF 3.x
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.x
Direct Zone: Commonly used
Brokered Zone: Less common when it comes to requesting data through a query
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

9. Service Types Infrastructure Services Environment Provider Queues
Alerts
Namespace Registry etc.
Data Entity/Object Service is a service for a given SIF Object (i.e. StudentPersonal, SchoolInfo) => CRUD
Create
Read (Query)
Update
Delete
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

10. Service Types cont. Relationship Services: ServicePath
…/StudentPersonals/{id}/TeachingGroups
Not yet supported by .Net Framework
Composite Object Services
Object made of parts of other object
Considered standard Object Service.
Functional Services
Execute Style (Jobs):
i.e. End-of-Year Rollover.
Student Locator
Report Style: Provide a ‘View’ of multiple Entities in one Object.
Not yet supported by any Framework
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

11. Event Processing Event Processing changes considerably in SIF 3.0
Publishing Events is only allowed for the ‘Source of Truth’ which is the Object Provider!
Non-Sources of Truth (Consumer) can only request CRUD operations on the Source of Truth and if accepted the Source of Truth will publish the event to the Zone.
‘RefID’ allocation
Responsibility of “Source of Truth”
Consumer can request that its RefID is used (mustUseAdvidory HTTP Header field).
Source of Truth can accept this or reject it
Non-Source of Truth must maintain a link between the “Create” Request until Source of Truth response with the new RefID where consumer does not provide RefID.
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

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
Receive Create
Event
Time Table App
(Subscriber Service)
Publish Create
Event
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

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.
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

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!
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

15. SIF 3.0.1 Infrastructure Documentation
SIF Association Website
Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19

16. Questions Any Questions? Training Course SIF3: SIF 3.x Concepts
June 19