Layers and specialization
With the customer onboarding solution taking shape at U+ Bank, the stakeholders begin to discuss variations in their other lines of business and new product offerings, and the importance of being able to efficiently scale their business.
The reuse challenge that stakeholders face
The Chief Digital Officer raises a strategic question: "We're designing this for our retail banking customers. However, we also offer business banking, mortgage, and business loan services. That creates a lot of complexity in a single app ... or do we build separate applications for each product line?"
The Branch Manager adds a practical concern: "And what happens when we add a new product? Do we start from scratch every time?"
These questions expose the fundamental challenge of enterprise applications: how to build once and reuse across variations, and how to accommodate product-specific differences without creating entirely separate applications for each line of business. Organizations that can not solve this problem end up trapped with overly complex or duplicative applications and expensive maintenance nightmares.
In the following image, click the + icon to see how details on the many areas of variation and the resulting challenges organizations face:
All of these factors can have a heavy impact on operations within an organization, as they cannot ignore the variations without facing business or regulatory risks. So how have organizations addressed this? The image shows the two ways many organizations have attempted to address variation when they do not have Pega.
These approaches both result in challenges. Addressing each change or addition by embedding custom code builds complexity into the system as the application logic gets ever more convoluted and difficult to maintain, test, and deploy. The second approach, which is to create copies of systems to accommodate variations brings its own set of challenges in keeping everything aligned and consistent across systems. Imagine a change in a regulation that must occur at a specific date across multiple systems. Incorporating changes, testing, and deploying all become a much larger effort as the number of copies grows.
Understanding layers: The foundation for specializations
Before demonstrating how the Solution Designer addresses U+ Bank's reuse challenge, it is essential to understand the strategic concept underlying Pega's approach.
Think of layers, like in a cake: an enterprise layer at the bottom that contains the common onboarding process that applies to all U+ Bank customers, then specialized layers on top that add or modify behavior for specific lines of business. Each layer builds on what's below while adding specializations.
For U+ Bank's customer onboarding, this looks like:
Enterprise Layer (applies to all U+ Bank customers):
- Intake: Collect customer information, including which account type
- Identity verification: Verify identity through Know Your Customer (KYC) standards
- Credit assessment: Run credit checks and risk assessment
- Documentation: Capture required documents and signature
Specialized Layers (business-specific applications):
- Business Banking Layer: Enhanced due diligence for business entities, business documentation (partnership or incorporation), business owner verification, additional compliance requirements
- Consumer banking Layer: Investment profile assessment, regulatory disclosures specific to investment products, relationship manager assignment, enhanced fraud requirements
This enterprise layer represents the 80% lift that the Branch Manager mentioned - the core process that does not change. The specialized layers add the 20% that makes each business line unique without recreating everything from scratch.
With Pega, you can create your application in layers. You organize the layers to reflect your business. You define Cases, workflows, business Rules, and other parts of the application in the base layer. The image illustrates how all these elements are automatically available to the layers above them.
Any change you make in an upper layer overrides the functionality of the lower layer. You can easily add Steps or custom logic without impacting other parts of your business. The image illustrates examples of the reuse of functionality available from lower layers in the upper layers.
If there is a need to make changes that span multiple layers, changes in lower layers are automatically available to the specialized layers, simplifying testing and deployment. The image shows an example of an update made in the Enterprise layer that is automatically available in the Consumer Banking and Business Banking layers.
Designing in Blueprint for layers and reuse
In this video, the Solution Designer walks the U+ Bank stakeholders through the layered approach in Blueprint. Together, they identify what is common across all the business lines versus what is specialized.
This design clarity means that when the Solution Builder later imports this Blueprint into Pega, they will know exactly which pieces belong in the enterprise layer and which pieces require specialization. The Blueprint shows the intent - the what and the why - while the Solution Builder handles the implementation - the how, using Pega's layering architecture (rulesets, application records, inheritance).
In the following image, click the + icons to see how the Solution Designer communicates what is specialized.
The power of inheritance and override
In this video, the Solution Designer explains a crucial concept that makes layers so powerful, inheritance. The inheritance model means that the foundation layer, or enterprise layer, is consistent across all lines of business. The variations are captured in specialized layers that can override and adjust necessary modifications without needing to reinvent the entire process.
Designing for conversations with Solution Builders
Understanding how layers work in Pega, even though Blueprint does not create the actual layer structure, means that Solution Builders have a high-fidelity blueprint that provides actionable implementation guidance. The Solution Designer can communicate: "This customer intake process is foundation-level - every business line uses it. These compliance rules? Personal Banking only. This fraud detection? Override it in Business Banking to use enhanced screening."
The Solution Builder reviews the Blueprint annotations and understands that the Foundation Blueprint is integrated into the U+ Bank Enterprise application layer. Personal Banking variations are integrated into the Consumer Banking application layer, utilizing rules that inherit from Enterprise. Business Banking gets its own layer with its specialized overrides. The Blueprint's design intent translates directly into Pega's layered implementation architecture.
The business impact at U+ Bank
As this topic concludes, we can see the strategic impact of layered architecture on U+ Bank's digital transformation. The Chief Digital Officer's concern about building and maintaining overly complex applications to support all product permutations or building separate applications for each product line has been addressed. The Branch Manager's worry about maintaining duplicate logic is resolved.
The Solution Designer has designed more than just reusable code, they have designed for organizational agility. When U+ Bank wants to expand into new markets, launch new products, or adapt to regulatory changes, the layered architecture enables this without requiring a complete redesign.
This is what makes Blueprint such a powerful tool in the hands of a Solution Designer who understands what Pega software can do. They are not just designing for today's requirements; they are designing for tomorrow's opportunities.
The next topic will explore how the Solution Designer designs for multiple channels, ensuring that U+ Bank's onboarding works seamlessly whether customers are on web, mobile, or visiting a branch.
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