With the kind of IT infrastructure (both technical and organizational) that has grown organically and disconnectedly over the preceding decades, the decision to adopt WSO2 wasn't about re-platforming an integration layer - it was about conceiving of one in the first place. Alongside new project management processes, operational practices, and infrastructural ideologies, integration was reviewed from the ground up. While the maxim was always if it ain't broke, for a given definition of broke, deploying WSO2 was a step on the road to getting the fix in.

1. The Journey To The
Start Of The Journey
A UCL API Story
7 November, 2019
INFORMATION SERVICES DIVISION

2. UCL APIs: What We Did
And how we pretty much got
away with it
• Getting to know us, getting to know all about
us
• Exhaustive project backstory
• Understanding the basic
• Getting there the long way
• Discovering a better way
• Where do we go from here

3. University College London
London’s Global University™
• Established 1826
• 8th
in the world by ranking (QAS)
• 3rd
largest in the UK by student enrolment (as of 2017..)
• 45,000 students
• 15,000 staff
• 3 schools, 11 faculties, 100 departments
INFORMATION SERVICES DIVISION

4. Humble beginnings
Beget convoluted support models
• Departmental mergers
• Technological redundancies
• Technical debt
• Legacy systems, ways of working,
organisational structure
By ARPANET - ARPANET, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54039329

5. How did we get here?
And where do we go next?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leeds_station_propose
d_HS2_platforms.png
1560’s 2009 2017

6. • Root and branch inventory
• Hidden complexities
• Brittle integrations
• Legacy practices
A new vision for a new home
Welcome to Slough

7. What we have
• Consuming applications
• Back-end data sources in RDBMSes
Simple problem,
easy solution
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_types
_-_en.svg

8. What’s already in progress
• Standard code repositories
• Automated deployment
Simple problem,
easy solution
https://www.pexels.com/photo/line-metal-pipeline-pipes-397
209/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_types
_-_en.svg

9. What we need
• API access point
• Data translation
• Database connector
• API authentication
• API marketplace
Simple problem,
easy solution
https://www.maxpixel.net/Network-Nerves-Line-Con
nections-Nervous-System-2728138
https://www.pexels.com/photo/line-metal-pipeline-pipes-397
209/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_types
_-_en.svg

10. What we need
• API access point
• Data translation
• Database connector
• API authentication
• API marketplace
Simple problem,
easy solution
https://www.maxpixel.net/Network-Nerves-Line-Con
nections-Nervous-System-2728138
https://www.pexels.com/photo/line-metal-pipeline-pipes-397
209/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_types
_-_en.svg

11. http://www.peakpx.com/529592/kermit-the-frog-facing-danger-deep-water-signage-at-daytime
Except!

12. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway

13. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1381066

14. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1381066

15. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zaizi/7302239878
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1381066

16. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zaizi/7302239878
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1381066
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1097905

17. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_first_prize_winner_wikipedian_receiving_prize_for_edit_contest.JPG
Delivered!

18. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_first_prize_winner_wikipedian_receiving_prize_for_edit_contest.JPG
Delivered!

19. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_first_prize_winner_wikipedian_receiving_prize_for_edit_contest.JPG
Delivered!

20. API Marketplace: Year One
Diary of a teenage runaway
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_first_prize_winner_wikipedian_receiving_prize_for_edit_contest.JPG
Delivered!

21. API Marketplace: Year Two
A walk in the park
https://www.maxpixel.net/Nature-Dog-Grass-Park-Walk-Animal-Outdoors-1638087

22. API Marketplace: Year Two
A walk in the park
API Manager
All-In-One
Enterprise
Integrator
https://www.maxpixel.net/Nature-Dog-Grass-Park-Walk-Animal-Outdoors-1638087

23. API Marketplace: Year Two
A walk in the park
Identity Server
API Gateway
Enterprise
Integrator
API Marketplace
https://www.maxpixel.net/Nature-Dog-Grass-Park-Walk-Animal-Outdoors-1638087

24. API Marketplace: Year Two
A walk in the park
Identity Server
API Gateway
Enterprise
Integrator
API Marketplace
Identity Server
API Gateway
Enterprise
Integrator
API Marketplace
https://www.maxpixel.net/Nature-Dog-Grass-Park-Walk-Animal-Outdoors-1638087

25. API Marketplace: Year Two
Apparently not
https://www.maxpixel.net/Nature-Dog-Grass-Park-Walk-Animal-Outdoors-1638087

26. API Marketplace: Year Two
When in doubt,
call in the big guns
https://www.pexels.com/photo/hero-1600751/

27. API Marketplace: Year Two
The hero we needed now
• Concrete understanding of the technology

28. API Marketplace: Year Two
The hero we needed now
• Concrete understanding of the technology
• Architectural and implementation confidence

29. API Marketplace: Year Two
The hero we needed now
• Concrete understanding of the technology
• Architectural and implementation confidence
• Troubleshooting, design, development
• Dedicated resources

30. API Marketplace: Year Two
A brand new hope
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4298544
Delivered!

31. The journey begins
The road to decouplement begins with..
• A single API…
• Apply, adapt and extend our principles and policies
• Pour resources into delivering the most value
• Adhere to a strategy and create a roadmap
• Update the roadmap as opportunities arise

32. And finally…