How will external systems interface to GNUe?
External systems may interface with GNUe in two ways. The simple and more standard way is to connect directly with the SQL backend relational database. The downside to this method is that it will bypass all business logic built into GNUe business objects. So some business logic will be duplicated in the external systems. Also database tables are considered very changeable for upgrades and extensions, therefore external systems using this method will require more maintenance than those using the GNUe API method. The other way for external systems to interface with GNUe is to connect directly to the Application Server using the GNUe API. This method is not as standard but will provide better data integrity as all data will be subject to the business rules defined in GNUe business objects. It will also be less prone to changes as we expect the GNUe API to change less than the SQL tables will change.
