Requirements for System Integration

Understand what system integration means and the learning objectives, including how systems talk to each other, the role of the business analyst, and assessing suitability for integration.

Systems talk to each other through interfaces or APIs, exchanging data like customer names, order IDs, payment statuses, and stock levels to coordinate orders, shipping, and bookkeeping.

Assess how a business analyst plans system integration by evaluating api data transfer, identifying field gaps, and preparing sequence diagrams to validate processing logic and data consistency.

Discover what an API is, its elements and the actions and parameters exchanged between systems, and learn JSON and XML formats to represent exchanged objects for business analysts' requirements.

Explore how application programming interfaces enable two systems to talk via client and server interactions, with specialized APIs for customer, payment, and shipping.

Explore how an api is structured with a name and verbs-driven methods that accept input parameters in requests and return outputs to the client, with examples like get client payment.

Explain how API methods specify input and output parameters, classify simple data types and complex objects, and describe properties and data fields exchanged between client and server.

Represent arrays as collections of the same data type, embed arrays within objects, and pass them as input or output parameters between client and server.

Describe how objects obtain unique identifiers, like parcel IDs and shipment IDs, generated on the server as references, enabling status queries and globally unique identifiers (GUID) using 32 hex symbols.

Learn how to pass parameters in HTTP requests, using URL get parameters for simple data and HTTP body post parameters for objects, and examine request and response structure.

Learn to interpret architectural diagrams, their elements, and how to build them to visualize the main systems in the requirements, and understand why this is important for the Bas.

Explore what an architectural diagram does by providing a high-level overview of multiple systems and their interactions, including how interfaces and APIs change when adding new shipping functionality.

Explore the types of architectural diagrams and how each provides an overview from different perspectives, including high level software architecture diagrams, integration diagrams with protocols, and application architecture diagrams.

Explore high level software architecture diagrams that show main systems as boxes connected by lines, illustrating interactions, and vary detail from big picture to detailed APIs and components like firewalls.

Explore an integration architecture diagram that shows components, data, and technology in an online shop and shipping system, including APIs, services, interfaces, and boundaries.

Explore an application architecture diagram for a middleware shipping system, outlining user interfaces for customers and admins, and services such as delivery notification and shipping API, plus connectors to providers.

The business analyst coordinates integration by using architectural diagrams to visualize systems, align APIs with third-party vendors, and assess dependencies to ensure transparency for stakeholders.

Review the existing architectural diagram with the system architect or team lead. Update or create a detailed diagram with the main system at the center and surrounding interfaces.

Learn to represent api methods on a sequence diagram, distinguish synchronous and asynchronous communication, and outline the order of method calls and processing logic for stakeholder clarity.

Explore how a sequence diagram models interactions among systems via APIs, using objects and lifelines to show messages in chronological order, with solid requests and dotted responses.

Explore how to model alternatives in sequence diagrams by using opt and out frames, showing optional steps and multiple alternatives for conditions like free shipping thresholds and country support.

Master loops to repeat actions, check payment status, and call APIs until a condition is met, with parcel creation and oversize shipping considerations in sequence diagrams.

Compare synchronous and asynchronous API calls and learn how to represent them on a sequence diagram. See how immediate responses differ from status-check flows in online shopping scenarios.

Discover how sequence diagrams map method calls to visualize the process, expose API gaps, and refine call order, while enabling QA to design automated API tests.

Order parties by interaction and place directly communicating pairs together to keep sequence diagrams readable; document each case on separate diagrams, outlining its name and main flow differences.

Define client side learning objectives by describing input fields, mapping required information, and detailing the processing logic for responses to enable using the API and implement a new system feature.

Explore the client side of an api by detailing how to specify input parameters and handle server responses for creating parcels and shipments.

Create a per-method mapping table to map input fields to API parameters, deriving values from the client system and validating data against the API specification.

Understand how to process responses by checking status, handling errors with user-friendly messages, and updating client data with server identifiers for subsequent actions.

Describe the logic for quality assurance acceptance criteria using given-when-then or free-form text and wireframes, detailing processing steps, database storage, and how user interface data is sourced.

Learn to break system integration requirements into clear user stories, mapping input parameters and processing steps, and create actionable tasks for developers and QA with scalable splitting guidelines.

Organize api input fields in the specified order and add a comments column to track open questions, clarifying mappings for individual vs business users or separate mapping tables.

Describe the server side by detailing input fields, processing logic, and output fields. Define how the system handles requests, returns information, and provides error indications, delivering value to other parties.

Explore how the server side of an api processes client requests, validates inputs, creates parcel objects, and returns response parameters within shipping services.

Specify the service technologies, data formats, and connection details so developers can implement and test the API, covering REST or SOAP and JSON or XML.

Specify the methods as actions with input, processing, and output returned to the client, and draft API signatures with parameter standards in collaboration with the system architect.

Define input parameters for a method by listing name, data type, and allowed values. Specify optional defaults, validations, and cross-parameter rules to ensure consistent server requests.

Explore how to define input parameters as objects and arrays, including object properties, nested objects, and array constraints such as data types, allowed values, and maximum length for parcel shipping.

Define the processing logic by validating input parameters, calculating results, creating or modifying objects, and calling external methods to ensure valid data and correct outcomes.

Discover how response parameters convey the processing results to the client, detailing parameter names, data types, allowed values, mandatory status, and cases when parameters may be missing.

Study error handling by using http status codes or custom error codes with precise descriptions, and predefine codes by issue area, e.g., too many parcels.

This lecture covers formats for requirements, targeting server-side and client-side audiences, detailing input parameters, validations, processing logic, and output parameters, and explains given-when-then or free-form documentation approaches.

Break down requirements into user stories for each server-side method, detailing input parameters, processing logic, response parameters, and error handling. Reuse this approach by dividing complex methods into smaller stories.

Leverage sequence diagrams to ensure correct method invocation order and flow, align server and client design, include sample requests and responses, and provide email-based support with timestamps for efficient integration.

Protect data at every step of the API invocation by securing exchanges between systems and safeguarding processing and storage on both client and server to prevent unauthorized access.

Explore how system security defends against malicious users seeking unauthorized access, data theft, and harmful actions, including sniffing credentials and unauthorized money transfers.

Define security measures in requirements to protect stored data and database access, enforce only authorized actions and users, and encrypt data in transit.

Store data securely on both client and server databases with encryption, access controls, and regular backups; apply field‑level rules, avoid storing sensitive data like cvv, and hash passwords.

Learn to process data securely by distinguishing personal and system accounts, implementing authentication with passwords and two-factor authentication, and authorization with role checks and API security.

Learn how to exchange data securely by encrypting connections via VPN and HTTPS, using certificates and keys for authentication, and securing traffic with firewalls and message signing.

Define robust security requirements for system integration by coordinating with the architect, specifying credentials and authentication methods, and ensuring encryption in transit and at rest while addressing the weakest link.

Explore restful apis and representational state transfer principles; learn stateless request models, resource identifiers, http methods for create, read, modify, delete, and json as the exchange format.

Explore the advantages and disadvantages of RESTful APIs, highlighting interoperability and scalability through a stateless design and caching. Recognize the lack of state and security concerns.

Explore how RESTful APIs manage resources with HTTP methods: POST creates, GET reads, PUT replaces, PATCH updates, and DELETE removes by id. Deletion may be soft to preserve history.

Set appropriate http status codes for each rest request and map them to scenarios, including 200 ok, 400 client errors, and 500 server errors. Discuss these with the dev team.

Explore REST API authentication methods, including basic authentication with base64 encoded credentials, API keys, OAuth 2.0 flows, and JWT bearer tokens, with secure HTTPS usage.

Filter and paginate data using query parameters to limit results. Retrieve each page with a page number and per-page limit to prevent denial of service attacks.

Explore the design principles and trade-offs of rpc apis, including stateful design, synchronous versus asynchronous calls, and criteria to determine whether rpc fits your project.

Describe how an rpc api lets a program execute a procedure on a remote server as if it were local. Note stateful interactions and json over http.

RPC APIs offer low latency and real-time data processing for speed-critical applications, including streaming. They enable simplicity and modularity, but introduce complex error handling and lack standardization across distributed systems.

Explain stateful design for RPC APIs, where servers remember client state across requests via session context, enabling interactions, personalized experiences, and support for complex workflows, while noting load balancing implications.

Compare synchronous and asynchronous communication, explaining blocking behavior, final status, and callbacks, and identify suitable scenarios such as bank transactions needing immediate results and online purchases.