Azure API Management Solution for Prescription Benefit Facilitator

Organization

Our client is a family-owned and pharmacist-led prescription benefit facilitator focused on improving healthcare benefits. Their mission is to provide a clinically driven approach with top-quality service. By using a fully transparent, pass-through model, they help customers reduce unnecessary drug use, improve health outcomes, and save money.

For over a decade, they have changed what people expect from prescription benefit facilitators by eliminating the hidden practices common with traditional Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). Their transparent approach puts customers’ needs first. They are dedicated to improving member health and safety while making processes smoother for customers and partners.

Challenge

As part of their digital transformation journey, the client sought to deploy a comprehensive API Management Solution. This solution required a resilient architecture capable of addressing their key priorities, including requirements gathering, legacy application migration, system design, and implementation. Lacking in-house Azure expertise, they also needed strategic technical guidance and best practice recommendations for long-term solution maintenance.

To meet these needs, the client collaborated with XTIVIA, leveraging their expertise as seasoned cloud strategists and API architects. Together, they successfully implemented a turnkey API Management Solution on the Azure platform.

Technical Solution

To advance their mission, the client aimed to foster innovation and quickly develop a cloud-based API Management solution that enables seamless, high-quality interactions with partners and customers. Leveraging Microsoft Azure API Management in collaboration with XTIVIA, the client brought their vision of streamlined partner and customer connectivity to life.

XTIVIA utilized Microsoft Azure API Management to accelerate critical processes, such as pricing, mail order operations, and delivery efficiency. The engagement was completed within a focused three-week implementation phase, following a top-down approach to define an actionable roadmap. Key tasks included API Implementation, Developer Portal Setup, Infrastructure Configuration, CI/CD Implementation, and rigorous Testing.

XTIVIA’s Solution Highlights:

1. Collaborating with Stakeholders to Define API Management Requirements:
   • API Environment Setup, Architecture Design, and Security Configuration.
2. Designing and Implementing the Azure-based API Management Solution:
   • Configuring application permissions and registration within Azure AD.
   • Securing APIs using OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC).
   • Implementing API policies to ensure optimized performance and security.
3. Customizing the Developer Portal:
   • Tailored client’s developer portal by adding relevant content.
   • Created client applications and managed developer portal identities.
   • Configured API access for seamless partner integration.
   • The portal setup was completed efficiently within a one-week timeframe.
4. Enabling Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD):
   • Developed Jenkins Pipelines for Dev, Test, and Production API Management.
   • Automated deployment of Azure AD roles, scopes, token configurations, and API permissions with CI/CD scripts.
5. Enabling Partner Connectivity and API Exposure:
   • Integrated Imperva Content Delivery Network (CDN) to expose APIs securely.
   • Whitelisted Imperva CDN partner IPs in the Azure API Management environment.
   • Configured partner requests to forward to API Gateways, including auto-scaling rules for production environments.
6. Ensuring Security and Scalability:
   • Secured APIs using OAuth 2.0 and OpenID standards.
   • Configured robust auto-scaling for production API gateways to maintain performance.
7. Providing Training and Documentation:
   • Delivered comprehensive training materials and solution documentation, including CI/CD processes, application registration, token management, and API ownership guidelines.

BUSINESS SOLUTION

XTIVIA identified innovative ways to enhance productivity and collaboration within the client’s information systems. Our team successfully implemented a scalable and extensible Azure API Management Solution with a robust API Gateway aligned with the client’s API strategy, ensuring it meets both current and future demands. Key highlights of the solution include:

• Environment-Specific API Management Instances: Configured for Development (Dev), Quality Assurance (QA), Staging, and Production environments.
• Auto-Scaling Capabilities: Defined flexible and configurable auto-scaling rules and limits for API Management instances to ensure performance and cost optimization.
• API Integration: Simplified processes for importing or adding existing APIs, and sample APIs across all environments.
• Configurable Policies and Products: Established policies and API products for enhanced governance, performance, and accessibility.
• Customized Developer Portal: Tailored portal design to meet specific branding and usability needs.
• Custom Domain Configuration: Enabled seamless domain customization for a professional user experience.
• Logging and Monitoring: Implemented configurable logging and monitoring for proactive issue detection and management.
• CI/CD Automation: Utilized Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Templates to enable streamlined Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) processes.

KEYWORDS
Azure, API Management, API, Microservices, Cloud, CICD

SOFTWARE
Azure Cloud, Jenkin

HARDWARE
Azure

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