Inventorying interfaces with the integration pattern catalog
How to turn a landscape diagram into an integration inventory: classify each interface against the six Salesforce integration patterns by direction, timing and storage, record its type, layer and key-tracking approach, and flag legacy mechanisms for modernization.
Given an existing system landscape diagram, create an inventory of the systems and integration patterns.
~8 min read · 16 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Read a system landscape diagram and list each connection as an interface with its direction, timing and volume.
- Classify every data or process interface against the six patterns in Salesforce's integration pattern catalog, including flows that combine two patterns; UI mashups fall outside the catalog's scope.
- Record the integration type (data, process, virtual), the coordination style (orchestration or choreography) and the architectural layer (UI, business process, data).
- Specify how each interface tracks state between systems through stored keys.
- Flag legacy mechanisms (CometD Streaming API and PushTopic, workflow outbound messages, Salesforce to Salesforce, scripted Data Loader jobs) and name their replacements.
Key terms: interface (one connection on the diagram); integration pattern (a design approach for an archetype scenario, not an implementation); orchestration (one central controller directs each step); choreography (participants act autonomously); surrogate key (the other system's unique identifier, stored for later updates).
Key facts
- Detail
- Six: Request and Reply, Fire and Forget, Batch Data Synchronization, Remote Call-In, UI Update Based on Data Changes, Data Virtualization
- Detail
- Always synchronous request-reply; the caller may discard the response
- Detail
- Third-party ETL tool with change data capture calling Bulk API; control tables track last run
- Detail
- Salesforce Connect external objects, no copy in Salesforce
- Detail
- Platform events consumed by a Lightning component; delivery and order not guaranteed
- Detail
- User interface layer
- Detail
- End of life; retiring Spring '27
- Detail
- View, and edit with CRUD enabled, records in another org without replication
- Why is an Apex REST service that the caller treats as "fire and forget" still classified as Remote Call-In?
- When does Salesforce store the remote system's key in an External ID field?
- When is a middleware-run multi-step process orchestration rather than choreography?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Integration Architect pack
- Core concepts
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The pack includes:
- All 25 lessons of the Integration Architect guide, with reading progress
- Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
- Inline practice questions and one-click topic practice (16 questions for this lesson)
- An official source cited for every claim
- An AI tutor that answers from the guide
- Unlimited timed practice exams