# Discovering landscape systems, protocols and boundaries

*Integration Architect Study Guide · Evaluate the Current System Landscape · Last updated October 16, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/integration-architect/evaluate-the-current-system-landscape/discovering-landscape-systems-protocols-and-boundaries*

How an integration architect documents the current landscape before designing anything: the system landscape diagram, the decision guide's discovery questions, which protocols Apex can call without middleware, edition API access, the shared responsibility boundary, vendor dependencies and Event Relay's single target.

- Certification: Salesforce Integration Architect
- Exam section: Evaluate the Current System Landscape
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/integration-architect

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a set of business requirements, identify the current system landscape and determine what standards, limitations, boundaries, and protocols exist.

## What the exam expects

- Choose the first step when an integration landscape is undocumented: build a current-state system landscape before picking any tool.
- Ask the decision guide's "Existing Tools and Landscape" questions (existing ESB or ETL, regulated data, cloud or on-premises) and reject questions that belong to later design steps.
- Classify each external system's protocol as callable directly from Apex (SOAP with WSDL, HTTP/REST) or needing middleware (SFTP files, message queues, JDBC).
- Flag edition limits on API access, such as Professional Edition needing the API add-on.
- Separate what Salesforce secures from what the customer secures for integrations, and record vendor dependencies and platform limits that bound the design.

Key terms: **system landscape** (a diagram of the systems, integration points and their relationships), **callout** (Apex calling an external SOAP or HTTP service), **Shared Responsibility Model** (Salesforce secures the platform, the customer secures what runs on it), **flex queue** (where extra Batch Apex jobs wait in Holding status), **Event Relay** (a managed stream from the Salesforce event bus to Amazon EventBridge).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| First discovery step | Diagram the current-state system landscape: systems, integration points, relationships | [System Landscape](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/reference-diagrams/guide/section-system-landscape.html) |
| Existing Tools and Landscape questions | Existing ESB/ETL? Regulatory data? Cloud or on-premises? | [Data Integration with Salesforce](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/decision-guides/guide/data-integration.html) |
| Apex callout protocols | SOAP/WSDL web services and HTTP (RESTful) services | [Invoking Callouts Using Apex](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_callouts.htm) |
| Professional Edition API | Add-on required; otherwise `API_DISABLED_FOR_ORG` | [Supported Editions and Required Permissions](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/intro_rest_compatible_editions.htm) |
| Bulk API 2.0 | Counts toward the same API allocation as REST and SOAP | [API Request Limits and Allocations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/salesforce-app-limits-cheatsheet/guide/salesforce-app-limits-platform-api.html) |
| Customer-owned security | Integration authentication, named credentials, least-privilege integration users | [Well-Architected: Trust](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/well-architected/guide/trust.html) |
| Vendor dependency map | Escalation path, contractual SLA, support hours per critical vendor | [Well-Architected: Reliability](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/well-architected/guide/reliability.html) |
| Batch Apex concurrency | 5 queued or active; 100 Holding in the flex queue | [Execution Governors and Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_gov_limits.htm) |
| Event Relay target | Amazon EventBridge only | [Data Integration with Salesforce](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/decision-guides/guide/data-integration.html) |

## Check yourself

- Why does the architect diagram the current landscape before choosing a tool?
- When does a system need middleware rather than an Apex callout?
- What error does an API request to an org without API access return?
- Why record which vendors offer only business-hours support?

## Sources

- [System Landscape](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/reference-diagrams/guide/section-system-landscape.html)
- [Data Integration with Salesforce](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/decision-guides/guide/data-integration.html)
- [Invoking Callouts Using Apex](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_callouts.htm)
- [SOAP Services: Defining a Class from a WSDL Document](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_callouts_wsdl2apex.htm)
- [Supported Editions and Required Permissions](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/intro_rest_compatible_editions.htm)
- [API Request Limits and Allocations](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/salesforce-app-limits-cheatsheet/guide/salesforce-app-limits-platform-api.html)
- [Well-Architected Framework](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/well-architected/guide/framework.html)
- [Well-Architected: Trust](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/well-architected/guide/trust.html)
- [Well-Architected: Reliability](https://architect.salesforce.com/docs/architect/well-architected/guide/reliability.html)
- [Execution Governors and Limits](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_gov_limits.htm)
- [Event Relay: Get Started](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/event-relay/guide/intro.html)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 8 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Integration Architect pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams