Federated Service Connectivity (FSC)

Data exchanges within the public sector has changed radically in recent years. Where organisations previously mainly dispatched data in large, periodic batches, this is now increasingly carried out in real time via REST APIs. This allows for up-to-date information to be retrieved directly from the source. However, this switch comes with a number of challenges. Each organisation develops its own APIs and makes its own choices regarding security, monitoring and logging. For every new link-up, parties need to put in place new arrangements, a time-consuming process that is costly and error-sensitive.

Federated Service Connectivity is a government-wide standard that resolves these challenges. The standard was developed by the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) with RINIS now supporting its onward development. FSC forms part of the Digikoppeling API standard and delivers uniform security, logging and monitoring. At the heart of FSC is a directory in which APIs are easy to find and safe to use. Another unique feature of FSC are the automated contractual agreements and the delegation of authorisations, which enable organisations to better safeguard real-time collaboration on the legal and operational front. This federated approach prevents fragmentation, reduces the administrative burden and ensures that the exchange of data complies with government standards.

To organisations, FSC primarily means peace of mind and certainty: it makes API-based collaboration scalable, secure and transparent. RINIS supports organisations with the effective implementation of FSC whilst ensuring they are able to connect to the growing government-wide API network in a duly compliant manner.

Architecture

FSC focuses on interoperability and is organised on a federated basis. This means that each party retains control over its own data and services, whilst going by joint agreements and components to ensure secure and reliable connections.

Technology

In amongst other things, FSC’s technical components include:

• Directory - an overview of participating parties and the APIs they offer.
• Inway and Outway - secure proxies used to receive and send data flows.
• Manager - handles access management by way of tokens and contracts.
• Transaction logging - records data requests and responses for transparency and accountability.

RINIS administers the directory and provides the open-source components (OpenFSC) which you can use to implement FSC.