Connecting ANU

What are the Connecting ANU Services?

The Connecting ANU Project has provided a set of universally accessible micro-services (task specific tools) in the form of API’s which enable the sharing of data between different ANU systems. In a typical integration scenario, a consuming system will request data through the selected API and that API would return the data from the source of truth to the consuming system.  Alternatively (depending on the data and usage of), the consuming system could subscribe to a particular data events so that when the data is changed in the source of truth system, the changed data would be pushed out to the consuming systems.

How does the service enable communication between provider and consumer systems?

The Connecting ANU Services enable communication of data between provider and consumer systems via the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). The core concept of the ESB is that it provides an abstract layer between systems and uses a common ANU definition of the data (canonical form). This decouples systems from each other, allowing them to communicate without dependency on, or knowledge of, the data source(s) or any other systems on the bus.

Services available

There are currently two key types of services available to consumers on the ESB, GET and Push. The selection of the services depends on the capabilities of the consumer and how the data will be stored and used.

GET Services

Get services simply read from the Source of Truth. A consuming system can request information through the API, and the API (via the ESB) will query the source system and return the requested information. Thus far, the following GET services are available:

Core

GET Parties

The Parties API is used to determine if an identifier has a relationship with the University.

GET Internal Org

Internal Organisation API identifies a college or a department at the University from a provided ID and provides basic information.

GET Persons

From a UID, this API provides data related to persons (such as staff or students information) including basic details and affiliations.

GET Students

Provides for a University ID the demographic (names, University affiliations, Identifiers) and High level academic plans being followed by the student.

GET Staff

Staff Member API identifies if a University ID provided for a person is a Staff member or not.

GET Delegations

The Delegations API identifies the delegations assigned to a person and their role(s) at the university.

GET Departments

Returns a list of matching departments that includes College, Budget Unit, Department names and the departments status.

GET Person Address

Returns to the consumer the active address on record for a Person (Staff or Student) based on the Person University ID.

GET Person Contacts

Provides data related to person’s contact details like addresses, emails and phone numbers.

GET Persons Search

The Person Search API enables to search and get a person’s details like person names, addresses, contact details, affiliations.

GET Finance Cost Centre

The Finance Cost Centres API provides the consumer with methods to confirm that a specific Cost Centre code combination at the University.

Locations

GET Campus

Returns information surrounding a Campus (name, location etc.)

GET Building

Returns information surrounding a Building (name, campus etc.)

GET Floor

Returns information about a floor within a building (floor level etc.)

GET Space

Returns information about a space on a floor. This could be desk, a meeting room or a corridor. 

GET Person Location

Returns the space a uID is assigned to.

Push Services

Push services work to automatically distribute data when changes are made in the source of truth system by “pushing” the changed data to downstream systems. This is structured in a subscription model, where the consuming system will subscribe to be informed of different data change events. The exact method that the information is passed to the consuming system can vary and is controlled through mediators, which the Connecting ANU Project will build in discussion with the System Owners.

The following Push Services are available:

Push Locations

Sends Location information to subscribing systems.

Campus

New/Change/Delete

Buildings

New/Change/Delete

Floors

New/Change/Delete

Room

New/Change/Delete

Push Staff

In Progress – Sends changes to Staff information to subscribing systems

How do I get access to these services?

Any system wanting to consume the Connecting ANU services needs to register to the service in order to be able to access it. For this purpose, the consuming system owner should raise a service request via Service Now requesting access which is assigned to the ITS, ANU ES Data Integration Services team. The Service Now request will be forwarded to the applicable ANU Data Custodian(s) for the particular service(s) who can approve of access being given access to the requesting system.

Once approved, a secure digital credential will be supplied to the consumer system to provide authorised access to the ESB in order to consume the service. For systems requiring use of the Push services, the Connecting ANU Project will be in touch to discuss the creation of the mediators required to provide the subscribed data.

Note: Separate service request for each service must be raised by the department, if it needs access to more than one connecting ANU service.

Where do I go when I have a problem with this API?

If the consuming system owner encounters a problem with the service/API they must log a service request via Service Now and ask that it is assigned to ANU ES Data Integration Services.

Can I trust these Services?

Yes. The ESB utilises industry standard protocols, secure architecture, with all data encrypted in transit through the APIs. The ESB does not store or cache any business data and only provides data from the Agreed Source of Truth.

Authorisation, Authentication and Auditing of the use of the services is managed by the ESB, services require the consumer to provide a valid/active University User ID, Password combination along with a unique token that is only provided to consumers once access is approved by the Data Custodian(s). All service requests are logged by the ESB for reporting and audit purposes

The ESB only provides data from the agreed University source of truth of that data, and will only provide the data to requesters that have been provided access, via approval from data custodians and the Connecting ANU Project.

I have more questions?

Feel free to email the Connecting ANU Project Manager at luke.maidens@anu.edu.au.