C4 Component Diagrams

Internal component view of the GIAS Web Front End container (Web/Edubase.Web.UI), based on the code under /Web.

To keep the component view readable, the front-end subcomponents are grouped into two categories:

User-facing workflow and content components
Supporting platform and integration components

User-facing workflow and content components

This category groups the journeys that users and administrators interact with directly.

C4Component UpdateLayoutConfig($c4ShapeInRow="4", $c4BoundaryInRow="1") title User-facing workflow and content components in the GIAS Web Front End Container_Boundary(workflows, "GIAS Web Front End - User-facing workflow and content components") { Component(history, "Change History", "MVC browse/download flows", "Shows and exports establishment and group change history") Component(search, "Search and Filtering", "MVC + JavaScript filters", "Searches establishments, groups and governors and manages tokenised filter state") Component(downloads, "Downloads", "MVC + API-backed workflows", "Lets users request search-result and dataset downloads") Component(approvals, "Change Requests and Approvals", "MVC review and approval flows", "Creates approval-controlled changes and, manages pending approvals") Component(apiClients, "Back-end API Client Layer", "Typed service clients + HttpClientWrapper", "Shared back-end client layer used by search, downloads, bulk operations, approvals and change history") Component(bulk, "Bulk Updates", "MVC upload workflows", "Runs spreadsheet-driven bulk update and bulk association journeys") Component(establishmentLifecycle, "Establishment Creation and Lifecycle", "MVC creation and lifecycle workflows", "Creates establishment records and supports amalgamation and merger journeys") Component(groupLifecycle, "Group Creation and Conversion", "MVC group workflows", "Creates groups and converts single-academy trusts to multi-academy trusts") Component(academyOpenings, "Academy Openings Management", "MVC management workflow", "Searches, reviews and updates academy opening records") Component(editorialContent, "Editorial Content Management", "MVC content pages + admin screens", "Serves news, notification banners, FAQ content and glossary terms, and provides admin maintenance") Component(guidance, "Guidance Pages and Blob-backed Resources", "MVC pages + blob-backed file delivery", "Serves guidance pages, PDFs, CSVs and packaged guidance downloads") } Container_Boundary(infra, "","") { System_Ext(backendApi, "GIAS Back-end APIs", "Primary back-end APIs for search, downloads, approvals, batch operations and change history") ContainerDb_Ext(tableStorage, "Azure Table Storage", "Azure Storage Tables", "Stores front-end-owned content and data quality records") System_Ext(blob, "Azure Blob Storage", "Guidance and support files served by the web front end") } Rel(search, downloads, "Provides selected filters and result context for") Rel(search, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(downloads, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(bulk, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(establishmentLifecycle, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(groupLifecycle, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(academyOpenings, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(approvals, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(history, apiClients, "Uses") Rel(apiClients, backendApi, "Calls", "HTTPS/JSON") Rel(editorialContent, tableStorage, "Reads and writes", "Azure Storage Tables") Rel(guidance, blob, "Reads and serves files", "Azure Blob Storage") UpdateRelStyle(search, downloads, $offsetX="-80", $offsetY="-100") UpdateRelStyle(guidance, blob, $offsetX="10", $offsetY="-120") UpdateRelStyle(editorialContent, tableStorage, $offsetX="-20", $offsetY="-140") UpdateRelStyle(apiClients, backendApi, $offsetX="10", $offsetY="80")

Included subcomponents:

Notes for this diagram:

This view shows what anonymous users, authenticated users and administrators experience directly.
Back-end API-facing workflows are shown as going through a shared Back-end API Client Layer, reflecting the typed service clients and common HttpClientWrapper used across the web app.
The main runtime centre of gravity is still the MVC controller layer, especially the Areas/Establishments, Areas/Groups and Areas/Governors flows.
Establishment Creation and Lifecycle groups front-end journeys implemented through EstablishmentController and AmalgamateMergeController. It includes:
- Create a new establishment.
- Amalgamate establishments: close two or more establishments and create a new establishment as a new legal entity.
- Merge establishments: close one or more establishments into a lead establishment that remains open and is altered.
Group Creation and Conversion groups front-end journeys implemented through GroupController. It includes:
- Create a new academy trust.
- Create a new children’s centre group or collaboration.
- Create a new federation.
- Create a new foundation trust, represented internally by the group type Trust and exposed in tools permissions as CreateSchoolTrustGroup.
- Create a new academy sponsor.
- Convert a single-academy trust to a multi-academy trust.
Academy Openings Management represents the dedicated AcademyOpeningsController journey for searching, reviewing and updating academy opening records.
These front-end workflows own the MVC routes, views, input handling, validation and permission-aware journeys. They call the shared back-end API client layer; the GIAS back-end APIs execute the underlying domain writes.
Editorial Content Management is user-facing as well as admin-facing: users read content through it, while administrators maintain that content in Azure Table Storage-backed repositories. Content types include:
- News
- Notification banners/templates
- FAQ items/groups
- Glossary entries
Guidance Pages and Blob-backed Resources is a separate component because it serves help/guidance pages and blob-hosted supporting files. Examples of guidance pages include:
- Guidance/General
- Guidance/EstablishmentBulkUpdate
- Guidance/ChildrensCentre
- Guidance/Federation
- Guidance/Governance

Blob-backed resources include: - PDFs - CSVs packaged guidance downloads such as the local authority name/code files - The front-end does not have an administrator upload interface for PDF or guidance-file authoring, so the guidance/blob component behaves as a read/serve mechanism rather than an in-app authoring tool.

Supporting platform and integration components

This component diagram groups the services that support the visible workflows by handling authentication, state, caching, storage, diagnostics and external integrations.

C4Component UpdateLayoutConfig($c4ShapeInRow="6", $c4BoundaryInRow="1") title Supporting platform and integration components in the GIAS Web Front End System_Ext(dsi, "DfE Sign-in", "External identity provider used via SAML") System_Ext(backendApi, "GIAS Back-end APIs", "Provides security, lookup and core business APIs") Container_Boundary(platform, "GIAS Web Front End - Supporting platform and integration components") { Component(security, "Security and Permissions", "OWIN + Sustainsys.Saml2 + ISecurityService", "Authenticates users, builds claims and resolves authorisation data") Component(apiClients, "Back-end API Client Layer", "Typed service clients + HttpClientWrapper", "Shared client layer for security, lookups, downloads, approvals, change history and write/read workflows") Component(lookup, "Lookup and Caching", "Lookup services + cache layer", "Caches reference data and supports lookup-backed filters and forms") Component(storage, "Azure Table Storage-backed Web State", "Table repositories", "Persists user preferences, content, data quality and other front-end-owned records") Component(externalLinks, "External Lookup Links", "ExternalLookupService", "Builds and checks outbound links to Ofsted, benchmarking and performance services") Component(addresses, "Address Lookups", "Places lookup services", "Performs place and postcode address lookup journeys") Component(logging, "API Session Recorder and Logging", "HttpClientWrapper + Azure Table Logger", "Captures API diagnostics and web/exception logs for support use") Component(tokens, "Tokens", "Token repository + token value provider", "Stores tokenised search/filter state for later reuse") Component(companiesHouse, "Companies House Number Integration", "Companies House service", "Searches Companies House and persists company-number based trust identifiers") } Container_Boundary(infra, "","") { ContainerDb_Ext(tableStorage, "Azure Table Storage", "Azure Storage Tables", "Stores tokens, preferences, front-end content, data quality records and diagnostic logs") System_Ext(extData, "External Data Services", "Azure Maps, OS Places, Companies House, Ofsted, Financial Benchmarking and FSCPD") } Rel(security, dsi, "Authenticates with", "SAML2") Rel(security, apiClients, "Uses for role and permission resolution") Rel(apiClients, backendApi, "Calls", "HTTPS/JSON") Rel(tokens, tableStorage, "Reads and writes token records", "Azure Storage Tables") Rel(lookup, apiClients, "Uses for internal reference data") Rel(addresses, extData, "Queries Azure Maps and OS Places", "HTTPS") Rel(companiesHouse, extData, "Queries Companies House", "HTTPS") Rel(externalLinks, extData, "Builds and checks external links", "HTTPS") Rel(storage, tableStorage, "Reads and writes front-end-owned data", "Azure Storage Tables") Rel(logging, tableStorage, "Writes API traces and web logs", "Azure Storage Tables") UpdateRelStyle(apiClients, backendApi, $offsetX="-10", $offsetY="-70") UpdateRelStyle(security, dsi, $offsetX="-20", $offsetY="-50") UpdateRelStyle(security, apiClients, $offsetX="-70", $offsetY="50") UpdateRelStyle(lookup, apiClients, $offsetX="-30", $offsetY="40") UpdateRelStyle(tokens, tableStorage, $offsetX="130", $offsetY="-110") UpdateRelStyle(storage, tableStorage, $offsetX="0", $offsetY="-200") UpdateRelStyle(logging, tableStorage, $offsetX="-190", $offsetY="-40") UpdateRelStyle(companiesHouse, extData, $offsetX="-60", $offsetY="-100") UpdateRelStyle(addresses, extData, $offsetX="150", $offsetY="-200") UpdateRelStyle(externalLinks, extData,, $offsetX="-30", $offsetY="-200")

Included subcomponents:

Notes for this diagram:

This view shows the internal services that support the visible workflows by handling authentication, state, caching, storage, diagnostics and external integrations.
App_Start/IocConfig.cs wires the web app to typed service clients for the main GIAS back-end APIs and also registers direct repositories used by the web tier.
Those direct repositories are Azure Table Storage-based via Edubase.Data.Repositories.TableStorage.TableStorageBase<T>, rather than direct SQL Server access from the web app.
Controllers/Api provides lightweight endpoints used by the client-side bundles for AJAX and long-running workflow support.