A company has created a successful enterprise data model (EDM). The company is committed to building an application network by adopting modern APIs…

The Enterprise Data Model (EDM) establishes a canonical, standardized representation of core business entities. In an API-led architecture, System APIs are responsible for unlocking data from systems of record, and Process APIs orchestrate this data into reusable business capabilities. Both these tiers should strictly adhere to the EDM to ensure data consistency, create a single source of truth, and maximize reusability across the application network.

Conversely, Experience APIs are purpose-built for specific client applications or channels. Their primary function is to reconfigure and simplify data from lower-tier APIs to optimize for a particular user experience. Forcing the EDM on this tier would be counterproductive, as it would prevent the creation of tailored, efficient data contracts for specific consumers.

A. At the experience and process tiers: Incorrect. Experience APIs should have purpose-built data models, while System APIs, which are excluded here, are fundamental for exposing data in a canonical format.

B. At the experience and system tiers: Incorrect. Experience APIs are designed to transform canonical models into context-specific formats, so they should not be required to reuse the EDM.

D. At the experience, process, and system tiers: Incorrect. Requiring the EDM at the Experience tier negates its core purpose of providing a tailored, optimized data contract for a specific end-user or channel.

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1. MuleSoft Catalyst Knowledge Hub, "Defining your API data model strategy":

Reference Section: "Which API layers should use a canonical model?"

Content: "Canonical models are most applicable to Process APIs and System APIs... Experience APIs, on the other hand, are designed to be specific to a given context... and therefore should not be constrained to a canonical model. The purpose of an Experience API is to provide a view of data that is easy to consume for its target audience." This directly supports that the EDM should be used at the Process and System tiers but not the Experience tier.

2. MuleSoft Whitepaper, "API-led connectivity":

Reference Section: Page 5, "The Three Layers of APIs"

Content: The document describes Experience APIs as being for "reconfiguring this data for a different audience," which implies a transformation away from a standard model. It describes Process APIs as composing data into processes like a "360-degree view of the customer," which aligns with a canonical, enterprise-wide view (the EDM). System APIs provide a "consistent and easily consumable interface" to backend systems, which is the primary role of a canonical model.