The document discusses digital decoupling, a strategy for creating systems with interchangeable integration points while reducing dependency on legacy systems. It emphasizes designing new architectures that support real-time data access, allowing modern and legacy systems to coexist and evolve at their own pace. The approach encourages freeing data from legacy constraints to enable the development of new capabilities with modern tools and frameworks.

1. THE
DIGITAL
DECOUPLING
JOURNEY
JOHN KRITER
ACCENTURE TECHNOLOGY

2. Digital Decoupling is the principle of creating systems so that integration points become
interchangeable independent of source or destination
WHAT IS
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 2
Design new systems with real-time interaction
in mind. Expose data in real-time or near
real-time valuable data from legacy systems
with the smallest possible impact.
Enable change to focus on manageable
amounts of business logic, integration code or
other code in the legacy that is complex, high
risk, and hard/ slow to change
DIGITAL DECOUPLING
Reduce complexity of the legacy or eliminate
the legacy all together, while focusing on
patterns that reduce the burden of data
sources as consumers grow
Create stable co-existence between modern
architectures and legacy systems while
allowing both to evolve at their respective pace
avoiding hard dependencies.

3. WHY CONSIDER DIGITAL DECOUPLING
CLOUD
THE REST
NEW
SERVICE PLATFORM
DATA
EVENTS
INTELLIGENCE
BI/ANALYTICS
ONLINE
AUTOMATION
B2B
REALTIME
INTERACTIONS
ALL CLOUD
CORPORATE FUNCTIONS
BACKBONE
SPECIFIC
”LEGACY”
SPECIFIC
”NEW”
DIFFERENTIATION
SERVICE PLATFORM
DATA
EVENTS
INTELLIGENCE
BI/ANALYTICS
ECO-SYST
EM
ONLINE
AUTOMATION
REALTIME
INTERACTIONS
THE REST
ONLINE FUNCTIONALITY
BI/ANALYTICS
B2B
Analyze
Identify data sources needed
to
support transformed functional
capabilities
for target state
increment
Decouple & Modernize
Free needed data from legacy and unlock ability to
build new capabilities using modern architectures,
tools, and frameworks. Strangle functionality in
legacy over time as appropriate to shrink or
eliminate.
Evolve to Target
Evolve gradually towards new architecture gaining
enterprise agility while being able to leverage the
legacy for specific purpose. This focuses work on
value of change rather than technical purity.
Iterate use
cases

4. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 4
HOW EVENT PLATFORMS
IMPACT DIGITAL DECOUPLING
Streaming / Async
Https
Implementation specific or proprietary
(e.g. https, MQ, socket)
Legacy Proxy
Legacy System
CDC
Relational Database
Subsystem
μS
μS
μS
μS
λ
f(x
)
λ
f(x
)
λ
f(x
)
λ
f(x
)
BUSINESS
DOMAIN
μS
μS
μS
μS
λ
f(x
)
λ
f(x
)
λ
f(x
)
λ
f(x
)
API & Streaming Gateways
Event Stream
BUSINESS
DOMAIN
CDC tool reads the database system journal and extracts the transactional change
(from START TRANSACTION to END TRANSACTION) from the journal as it is
being sequenced to be committed to the database (i.e. realtime) with a predictable
performance impact
A Legacy proxy subscribes to relevant topics
and contains logic to identify events relevant
to the legacy system.
It interacts with the legacy system through
the most appropriate (simple) way possible
to update the system of the change in the
”new”. (see system proxy slide for more
details)
The change data capture tool publishes
the captured changes to the appropriate
topics in the event stream as-is.
Services in the “new”
architecture consume
events in near real-time,
allowing for service scaling
without direct impact to the
data producer
Consumers using new services access the
information through the new architecture.
However, consumers may continue to interact with
the legacy through traditional methods during
coexistence.
Updates to data that is not yet owned by the new,
can be be directed to the legacy (as per CQRS
pattern) through a Legacy Proxy to allow channel
modernization without immediate Legacy System
transformation.