Hundreds of public institutions use government IT services. To be able to process up to thousands of requests per second, a new API management system was created. Smals tells our editors how he achieved this technical masterpiece.

The Belgian government has been strongly committed to the digitalization of its services for citizens and private companies for years. Many useful applications have already emerged from this. For example, the eBox allows both citizens and companies to receive government documents digitally and the eHealth platform enables the rapid exchange of medical information between different medical institutions in a secure and privacy-conscious manner.

The average citizen is unaware of the complexity of government IT platforms. “Everyone wants government to function well, but government is a complex ecosystem made up of hundreds of institutions, each with its own mission and responsibilities in the system.” The challenge is to develop a platform that does it “allows all these different organizations to communicate with each other in a standardized way,” says Willem Salembier of Smals, the social security IT provider.

APIs are a crucial link here. This term detailed Programming interfacestands for invisible connectors that enable IT systems from different parties to connect with each other and exchange data. Smals, with the help of Axway, has established a more robust and flexible API management system to enable smoother data transfer across G-Cloud. Salembier explained the project during a recent Gartner conference in London, but repeats his talk specifically for us.

Citizens want government to function well, but government is a complex ecosystem. The challenge was to set up a platform where all these different institutions could communicate with each other in a standardized way.

Willem Salembier, solution architect for integration platforms Smals

Better than the REST

Salembier uses a few figures to illustrate why the renovation work behind the scenes was necessary. “On the eHealth platform alone, the number of requests can be up to three thousand per second during peak times. That’s more than two billion requests every month. So you need a backend that is robust and, above all, scalable to handle these high numbers and keep the platform available 24/7 with the lowest possible tolerance failure.”

It was a delicate procedure, says Salembier. “With tens of thousands of users relying on our platforms to deliver essential services, the transition to a new platform should have minimal impact on user experience. That’s why we first met with architects from different industries to discuss which technical standards we will use.”

“Standardization is important for the operation of the platform, but also for the security and business side. There used to be hundreds of different websites, now there is a common backend solution. This requires less maintenance and therefore lower costs. “As IT architects, we hope to be able to contribute to lower taxes,” says Salembier with a wink.

The choice fell on REST, which was ultimately an obvious option since REST is the de facto standard for API communication. Salembier: “Standards are not just there, you have to respect them. My job is sometimes to evangelize this too. Sometimes I get the answer “We have our own API that will work too”, but that’s not how it works. There are so many dependent parties that good management is necessary. We choose a pragmatic approach. There is still a lot of uncertainty around REST, which is why we offer a style guide to which users from the public and private sectors can also actively contribute.”

No fault tolerance

After receiving a government contract, Smals took over Axway. The new platform is based on Amplify, an API management system. Salembier shows us a schematic representation of the new architecture and provides text and explanations. “A gateway was placed between the customer’s system and the backend. It checks every request before it goes to the backend.”

This benefits both the security and the capacity of the platform, Salembier continued. “The backend should only process validated requests. Every request follows the same schedule. We can get through during peak hours throttling And Quota management Distribute requests to less busy times. If there is overload or other problems, we will notify the customer. It’s important that customers know what’s going wrong, especially if the problem is with their system. Zero tolerance for failure means you have to pay special attention to what can go wrong.”

In this way, Smals also wants to promote the reuse of software. Salembier: “Our goal is to contribute to building a decentralized, open network between experts from the public sector. This workflow is industry-agnostic and can be reused on any API without the need for additional development work.” Through a public catalog, developers can find software components for (re)use or showcase their own work.

Zero tolerance for mistakes means paying special attention to what can go wrong.

Willem Salembier, solution architect for integration platforms Smals

Government as a platform

Salembier and his colleagues’ homework is far from over. To further improve digital services for society, the government must continue to drive innovation. Salembier is convinced that the foundation that has now been laid offers enough flexibility on which to build.

“Be the next step event-driven APIs that process data asynchronously and send notifications when processing is complete. This is more efficient than having to process all requests in real time. The systems for this already exist, but have not yet been standardized between the institutions. And of course we also look at developments in AI and machine learning,” he adds.

His cooperative IT philosophy has also earned Smals recognition at a European level. “By collaborating, sharing and reusing proven evidence, we aim to enable government to better serve society. We bring the government as a platform to the citizens,” concludes Salembier.

This editorial article was created in collaboration with Smals. Are you interested in helping build a digital government? Then take a look current job offer at Smals.