Reusable Architectural Framework used by multiple Energy Trading Applications

A large initiative to provide common application infrastructure across the board for the multitude of applications running inside British Petroleum.

The challenge

• Too many disparate applications: With a company the size of British Petroleum, new applications were springing up on a monthly basis - with each application providing its own mechanism for security, logging, data access etc. A need for a cohesive standard framework was apparent.
• Each application handled large amounts of trading data: The largest application to run on the common framework would be - to put it mildly - LARGE. With several gigabytes of data - several data feeds, several screens displaying grid-upon-grid of data and an end-to-end energy trading mechanism (from deal capture to settlement).
• Complex User Interfaces: Several thousands of records (several MBs) of data would need to be displayed using advanced data grids providing real-time updates, insertions and deletions.

The Solution

Using the .NET framework and several open source components built around the framework (including spring.net, nHibernate, log4net...), Anuj helped design and implement a solution which included:

• A reusable UI framework consisting of CAB, SCSF and advanced Syncfusion UI controls.
• A pluggable architecture using spring.net, object persistence using nHibernate, common logging using log4net, automated builds using CruiseControl.
• Comprehensive unit tests written for both the business layer as well as the UI layer. Fully automated build process - encompassing entire framework with all its components.

The Result