The configuration files are exposed within the GLU.Engine system, which can be readily accessed and modified by system administrators and developers. These configuration files can be located in the “../engine/config/” directory and include the following:

• application.yml
• camel-context.xml
• flows.json
• iso8583
• loggingSetting.xml
• menu.json

Benefits
By exposing these configuration files, users gain direct control over the engine’s core settings. This empowers them to make necessary adjustments as required, without the need for a time-consuming rebuild. This approach significantly mitigates the risk associated with introducing untested changes during production.

Important Considerations
It is imperative to note that any modifications made to these configuration files should undergo thorough testing and review before deployment in a production environment.

Guidance on Access and Download

To access and download the configuration files, please follow these steps:

1. While creating a new configuration or making changes to an existing one, save your modifications
2. Navigate to “Build Manager” in the system.
3. From the “Action” dropdown menu, select “Build/Build…”
4. In the resulting pop-up window, click on “Download Configuration.”

All GLU.Ware transactions adhere to this consistent and repeating ‘Pattern.’ Each transaction is structured or ‘anchored’ by the API definition, encompassing the Inbound API Request received from an Initiating System, followed by the API Response that the GLU.Engine sends back to that Initiating System.

The next step involves the use of the Orchestration Manager to specify the actions that the GLU.Engine should perform with the API Request payload upon reception. To enhance the orchestration configuration, the ‘Add Endpoint’ button can be utilized to incorporate different ‘legs’ into the configuration.

Note: This orchestrates the outgoing request in the applicable format expected by the third party being integrated to.

When you click the ‘Add Endpoint’, the configuration pattern for Outbound Connectors is automatically pre-populated. This approach guides users through the orchestration configuration by streamlining the input of necessary configurations for each Outbound Request and Response to the Endpoints that are included in the configuration.

Orchestration rules can be attached to any received payload (Inbound API Requests or Receiving System API Responses). There is no limit to the number or Handlers that can be attached to any flow, this enables the GLU.Engine to perform riche transaction flow Orchestrations by running these in-flight rules to determine the routes that individual messages follow based on their respective parameter payloads.

Enrichment of message parameter sets is achieved by adding static or derived parameters within the GLU.Engine or from data received from any step in the flow.

Each GLU.Engine is SDLC Aware meaning that the SDLC stage (e.g. Test, Pre-Prod, Production) for which it has been built has embedded within it the network connection configurations necessary to seamlessly exchange messages between the correct end-point systems. Monitoring hooks enable monitoring data to be presented on the GLU.Console and a detailed Audit History of every GLU.Engine build process is retained on record in the GLU.Console. The GLU.Engine supports the transfer of messages securely using SSL and various End-Point Validation methods (e.g. Basic, OAuth, OAuth2) are supported. Additionally, anti-tamper hash value validations are supported.

The most recently worked on Integrations in your Organisation will show in the central table providing quick links to your most recent configurations. Other elements of the central pane likewise provide easier routes to start working in your desired tool. To return to the ‘landing page’ and quick link navigation, click on the GLU.Global icon at top left of your GLU.Console window. The screenshot below provides an example of the Integration Builder where GLU Analysts typically spend most of their configuration time.

The Integration Builder is used via the GLU.Console to configure Integration flows. Each integration has one or more transactions, each transaction has one or more transaction flows, each transaction flow has a number of tasks, and each task has parameters.

Acceptable Use Policy

Prior to gaining access to the GLU.Console we ask our user to confirm the Acceptable Use Policy.

Change Password

It is possible to change the password at any time through the My Profile update page.

Password criteria

1. Minimum 5 characters.
2. Must have at least one uppercase letter.
3. Must have at least one lowercase letter.
4. Must have at least one number.
5. Must have at least one special character.

GLU.Ware™ comprises two essential constructs as illustrated below.

The GLU.Console™ is the ‘brain’ of GLU.Ware™. It provides the ability for a Systems Analyst to rapidly define / configure integrations via a GUI. Tight version control of configurations and builds is built into the SDLC Process Management capabilities of the GLU.Console. APIs and Connectors (connections to various end systems) are configured as re-usable ‘building blocks’. These are SDLC Environment context aware. The GLU.Console™ offers an expanding library of supported API protocols and Connectors, scaling GLU.Ware’s ability to drive agility for our customers. It has configurable user management and SDLC Process Management and provides built-in monitoring of the deployed GLU.Engines™. The GLU.Console™ offers seamless access to a number of supplementary ‘Value added Services or Products’ (VAS) such as Consumer Channel Server, Channel Configuration Tool, Fraud Detection, Big Data, BI and Consumer Experience Monitoring amongst others.

The GLU.Engine™ produced by the GLU.Console is lightweight and fit for purpose. It only contains the libraries, protocols and code necessary for its targeted purpose. It is deployed behind the Customer’s firewall and within the Customer’s security policies and controls. The Customer’s team manage it and GLU.Console™ only has visibility of the system and environmental ‘health’ status. The handling of the GLU.Engine™ as the integration component in the Customer’s ecosystem is entirely the responsibility of the Customer. This implies that GLU does not have responsibility for how the GLU.Engine™ is deployed or run within the Customer domain. This segregation of duties between GLU and the Customer is implemented by design. GLU.Engines are Stateless in that each session is carried out as a unique event and responses are handled independently of data from any previous session.

GLU.Engines as Microservice Orchestrators Configuration of GLU.Engines in the GLU.Console allows for multiple GLU.Engines to be built. This may be for different end Clients or within an integration layer where one implements a ‘micro-service’ based integration architecture. Using a series of micro-service specific GLU.Engines with REST connectors interlinking them to each other and to the micro-services they service makes it easy to maintain, manage and roll-forward / back your evolving Micro-service based Applications.

The level of separation is as follows: at the Application Level, GLU.Engines are completely separate from each other but at the Connector level, it’s possible that one Connector can be used by multiple Applications, so the selection of which Connectors are available to be used by which Applications is dealt with within the Connector configuration space. Similarly Environments per Application are managed within the ‘Manage Application Environment’ tool. Further it is possible to also restrict users to only specific Applications.

GLU.Control is GLU’s API Management / API Gateway offering. Access to GLU.Engine API’s and any other API’s can be controlled through GLU.Control.

GLU.Ware is a No Code, Industry Agnostic, Enterprise Integration Platform. It brings systems together to create value faster, cutting cost by simplifying, and accelerating innovation projects. Integration is the catalyst of Innovation – GLU.Ware enables ‘Innovation at Speed’. It empowers Enterprises with an ability to innovate and to be more digitally agile than the competition.

Why ‘Innovation at Speed’?

Integration is the catalyst of Innovation. Traditional approaches to Integration are complex, slow and expensive. This is a reality facing businesses across geographies and industries. To continuously innovate, companies are compelled to bring an increasing combination of disparate systems and data sources together quickly and securely. Achieving this with legacy integration methodologies causes unnecessary business distraction, downtime, expense, erosion of competitive position, and risk. To address these challenges, companies need to establish an agile approach to innovation and a flexible and scalable integration architecture so they are able to integrate anything, anywhere, at any time. Central to companies being able to survive and harness this technology onslaught is to implement an agile Integration Framework within their architecture that enables Innovation at Speed.

Integration in the context of digital business systems is the process of combining two or more systems to create new business value propositions. Integrated systems (‘ecosystems’) enable information to be shared between the various connected systems. This exchange of data enables connected systems, applications and datasets to interact in a myriad of different ways enabling a limitless number of different Use Cases. These Use Cases can target the delivery of value to end Customers, to business partners, to internal staff, and to any stakeholder that is connected to the ecosystem.

Speed to Market

GLU.Ware’s ‘Configuration over Code’ design underpins are objective of at least halving the time to market of traditional system integrations. Providing the Initiating and Receiving System APIs are in place and the Use Cases to be implemented are well defined, the actual configuration of an integration for example for a DTSV bill payment between a USSD channel, the core Huawei MM system and the DSTV system can comfortably be completed within a 2 week window. A testable integration of this nature is producible within days rather than weeks. It is worth noting how impact of the ‘Configuration over Code’ principle of GLU.Ware enables such time efficiency. The diagram below represents the traditional V-model of testing or system development.

With GLU.Ware, Systems Analysts upon completion of the System Specification are able to immediately commence with configuration of the integration component. This configuration can commence incrementally even before the full System Specification is completed (as a result enabling a test driven design capability too). A simple test configuration could take as little as 1 hour to complete such that the QA team can commence testing within the same day. While that incremental testing is taking place the Analyst can build out further configurations, incorporate fixes to failed tests from the QA team and then produce another build to be tested. This tight coupling between the System Analyst and the QA team provides as highly efficient, rapid turn-around iterative mechanism that results in the productionisation of an integration much faster than previously possible. Importantly too the ‘expensive pointy bit’ of the V-Model where software developers would normally be involved is truncated, thus also radically cutting the cost of integrations using GLU.Ware.

Self-Sufficiency

With GLU.Ware clients can regain control and ownership of the Intellectual Property (IP) residing in their integration layer. Being NO CODE makes GLU.Ware accessible for rapid adoption and proficiency by non-developers such as Systems Analysts. New users are able to configure and build their first integration components within hours – GLU.Ware is intuitive, and quick to learn. The configuration is ‘human readable’ meaning the business / product owners can engage in the orchestration logic enabling true Agile team collaboration. Business stakeholders can now play a role in the quality assurance and optimisation of the orchestration logic. Client Configuration Analysts are able to service and maintain the integration, cutting time and cost from all IT projects.