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Status Future consideration
Created by Jason Blackerby
Created on Jul 26, 2021

Support for outbound RESTful webservices

CMS is transitioning all of their webservices from SOAP/XML to either REST/XML or REST/JSON.[1]

However, Curam does not support outbound REST API calls. And, per support ticket WH00012171, IBM's view is "any customer can implement their own strategy for this, by either using 3rd party jars like Jersey and Jackson that are already provided with the SPM product or an RFE can be created to request for this outbound Curam REST APIs to be available in OOTB."

As it is highly irresponsible to ask each customer to come up with their own implementation for supporting outbound REST API calls in Curam, we are requesting IBM to provide a standard implementation to allow Curam to call external REST APIs.

[1]
Dear States,

Earlier this year CMS conducted a survey on state capabilities to support Representational state transfer (REST)/ JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). CMS is planning to upgrade/modernize our HUB services from Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)/Extensible Markup Language (XML) to either REST/XML or REST/JSON to take advantage of native AWS functions and features sometime in March 2024.

Please see the attached schedule for releasing services in REST/XML or REST/JSON. This schedule is subject to change and notifications/reminders will be sent out periodically. The BSD's will be available in zONE in the CMS FDSH Services Repository community. The HUB Service landscape ID will begin with RJ instead of H, e.g. The Social Security Administration (SSA) Composite HUB service's SOAP/XML landscape ID is H03, the REST/JSON version landscape ID is RJ3.

If you have any questions please reach out to your State IT PMS.

Regards,
Niki Lelis
Lead Information Technology Specialist
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Customer Name Missouri , Minnesota
  • Attach files
  • Jason Blackerby
    Reply
    |
    Feb 9, 2022

    Hi Shane,


    We have received additional guidance from CMS that the RESTful webservices they are planning to deploy will make use of OAuth. As such, I hope PD will take this into consideration with their design and develop of outbound RESTful webservices support in Curam.


    Best regards,

    Jason


    From CMS:

    "Additionally, the REST/JSON migration will involve utilizing OAuth. OAuth provides clients a "secure delegated access" to server resources on behalf of a resource owner. It specifies a process for resource owners to authorize third-party access to their server resources without providing credentials. Designed specifically to work with Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), OAuth essentially allows access tokens to be issued to third-party clients by an authorization server, with the approval of the resource owner."

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Sep 22, 2021

    Hi Jason,

    We have reviewed your enhancement suggestion. Based on the information provided, our understanding of your request is as follows:
    * For SPM to include basic support for outbound Rest APIs in the form of an intermediary API or service that makes it simpler to call external HTTP APIs, and provides functionality to convert JSON to Java/Curam data types.
    The benefit of providing this to customers would make it easier for them to make the external API calls from their code, and particularly the conversion of JSON, where we would use industry-standard 3rd party libraries under the hood. We already provide these libraries for the inbound REST APIs, and the bulk of the functionality needed to convert from Java to JSON, in the current REST infrastructure.

    The theme is aligned with our current multi-year strategy for our product and we have accepted your suggestion as a consideration for a future release. Not all items under consideration will make it into a release. As plans are confirmed, you will be notified when a specific release includes this enhancement.

    Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas with us. We are committed to involving our users in building our product roadmap and appreciate your suggestions.
    Regards,
    Shane McFadden, SPM Offering Management team
    You can find more information on the request process here.
    Note: we are currently in the process of improving your RFE experience and will soon transition to an Ideas Portal provided by our trusted business partner Aha!
    Further communications with additional details will be shared shortly.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Aug 25, 2021

    Hi Jason,
    Thank you for providing the additional information requested. Within the next 30 days, we will review the details you have provided and inform you of our analysis and decision.
    Regards,
    Shane McFadden, SPM Offering Management team
    You can find more information on the request process here.
    Note: we are currently in the process of improving your RFE experience and will soon transition to an Ideas Portal provided by our trusted business partner Aha!
    Further communications with additional details will be shared shortly.

  • Jason Blackerby
    Reply
    |
    Aug 24, 2021

    Hi Shane,

    Yes, you have understood the basic idea. However, please keep in mind, this request is not so much about making implementing outbound REST webservices simpler and easier but more about making the implementation of these webservices consistent, both within a project and across projects.

    Regards,
    Jason

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Aug 23, 2021

    Hi Jason,

    We have reviewed your enhancement suggestion and require more information to properly understand the issue and the business scenario you are trying to support.

    Based on the information provided, our understanding of your request is for SPM to include basic support for outbound Rest APIs in the form of an intermediary API or service that makes it simpler to call external http APIs, and provides functionality to convert JSON to Java/Curam data types.
    The benefit of providing this to customers would make it easier for them to make the external API calls from their code, and particularly the conversion of JSON, where we would use industry standard 3rd party libraries under the hood. We already provide these libraries for the inbound REST APIs, and the bulk of the functionality needed to convert from Java to JSON, in the current REST infrastructure.

    Please let us know if our understanding of your request is accurate within 30 days so we may proceed with our evaluation. If we do not hear from you within that timeframe we will have to close the request due to insufficient information.

    Thank you,
    Shane McFadden, SPM Offering Management team
    You can find more information on the request process here.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Aug 10, 2021

    Hi Jason,
    Thank you for providing the additional information requested. Within the next 30 days, we will review the details you have provided and inform you of our analysis and decision.
    Regards,
    Shane McFadden, SPM Offering Management team
    You can find more information on the request process here.

  • Linas Jakucionis
    Reply
    |
    Aug 1, 2021

    Hi, MSD in New Zealand have implemented 1 outbound REST service so far based on Jaxon libraries bundled with Curam.

  • Jason Blackerby
    Reply
    |
    Jul 26, 2021

    Attachment (Description): CMS timeline for transition to RESTful webservices.