OBAs Deliver SOA to the People

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The OBA RAP for Loan Origination Systems further solidifies Microsoft's thought leadership in both the SOA space but in Financial Services. By exposing OBAs and the MOSS services as atomonimous composite applications. OBA surface all the hard work that SOA architects have been striving to expose.

The OR-LOS solution shows core SOA principles of service orientation are all used here in this architecture.

These services are not just for Microsoft solutions but can be applied to many other platforms as well. Described below I break up how I seperated the services. We will explore the generic enterprise services that MOSS exposes. Then we will talk what business services we expose.

MOSS Enterprise Application Services

The OBA RAP for Loan Origination Systems (OR-LOS) is unique variation of an Office Business Application (OBA). This OBA uses many service oriented architecture concepts in the design.

We use the capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and we externalize some of them as services to the enterprise. Some of the services are only available through the Microsoft Platform. Those services will have limited reach into Java or legacy environments such as: COBOL, FORTRAN, etc.

OR-LOS Application Services.jpg

For those services we can expose, we use standard XML interfaces. These services include:

· Workflow – Web Services allow internal and external applications within the enterprise to orchestrate business workflows. The way in which the architecture utilizes the Windows Workflow (WF) Foundation is that the business processes are extended by XML Web Services and Document Libraries. This makes WF service to LOB systems of varying blends (i.e., languages). There are two types of workflows that are used for this solution

o Business User Created Workflows – Ad-hoc workflows that business users can create at will. For example, create an approval processes around information or a Word document.

o Pre-Defined Workflows – Workflows define the business process.

· Storage – By using standardized WebDav protocols for attaching to remote file stores these services can be used as another entry point into the MOSS environment. In turn this can be a service in which application and users can store documents with versioning, auditing and document retention policies attached

· Portal – This is a User Interface service that can expose both .Net applications and Web Parts but also WSRP complaint web parts.

· Excel Services – Excel Services provides 2 core services to the architecture.

o Calculation Services – These services can be used with standard XML and OpenDoc XML formats.

o Excel Web Views – Standard HTML views of Excel data.

· Integration with Line of Business systems – Using the Business Data Catalog data can be aggregated to the user interface using the metadata repository stored and managed by MOSS.

 

OR-LOS Business Services

These are the business services modeled on the business process of Consumer Loan Origination.

OR-LOS Business Process.jpg

Services used by the OR-LOS solution are as follows:

1. Lender Content Management – Using the web services proxies defined in the system custom messages can be displayed within the portal environment to the brokers and to the lender’s personnel.

2. Alerts and Messaging Services - With the WS integration points into workflows such as the Master Loan Flow (MLF) e-mail alerts and or statuses can be sent to both the lender personnel and the brokers

3. Loan Registrations – The MLF workflow is extended using XML Web Services using MISMO standards. With these end points exposed other Loan Origination Systems (LOS) and Servicing systems can attach to the Loan Registration Service and utilize its capabilities.

4. Decisioning Engine – The Decision Engine provides a way to consolidate LOS product and pricing (e.g., 30yr arm at 5.5 with 1 point paid) decisioning. It only accepts standard MISMO XML and provides the responses in the same manner.

5. Automated Underwriting Services (AUS) – Using the Business Rules Engine combined with the Orchestration Layer within BizTalk we expose AUS web services that consume MISMO XML to provide underwriting decisions to any system that can use XML.

6. Data Entry Form Services – InfoPath provides a mortgage industry standard way of collecting information in the process. By using InfoPath form service to host forms and surface them through:

1. MOSS

2. Office Clients

3. InfoPath

7. Information Rights Management (IRM) – This provides a way for Office and .Net Applications to utilize MOSS IRM capabilities through the MOSS API’s.

8. Security -

1. Authentication is achieved through the use of Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA). Many protocols can be used by IWA. For example, Kerberos can be used here to ensure compatibility with other environments.

2. Role-based authorization throughout the application. This is implemented through the use of Active Directory. However, externalizing this provider is also possible. For example, if LDAP is a requirement Microsoft ADAM can be used in Active Directories place.

9. Integration Services with Lending Message Bus- The lending message bus provides XML web services to both the solution and the enterprise. The message bus acts as centralized messaging layers that can provide integration services, extends application functionality to both this solution and external solutions, and provide KPI’s on the health of services. Additionally, the lending message bus exposes the rich Enterprise Loan Orchestrations (ELO) to all the systems within the enterprise.

10. Business Intelligence – KPI’s and dashboards can be surfaced through the portal environment.