The Seed Framework

5 min readNov 3, 2023

Streamlining Master Data and Business Configurations

Introduction

In the world of software development, efficient management of master data and business configurations is crucial for the smooth functioning of any application. These data sets, which include information like cities, states, pin codes, and various business-related parameters, are often referred to as seed data. The absence of seed data can render your system nonfunctional, as it forms the foundation on which the application relies. In this blog, we will explore the significance of a Seed Framework, a tool designed to address the challenges of handling master data and business configurations. We’ll delve into why such a framework is necessary and how it can streamline the process of managing this critical information.

Why do we need a Seed Framework?

Master Data: The Backbone of Every Application

Imagine trying to sign up for a new account on a platform, and when you reach the address section, you find that there are no cities available to choose from. This might seem like a trivial issue, but it highlights a fundamental problem — the absence of master data. Master data includes predefined sets of values necessary for a system to function correctly. Cities, states, pincodes, and other similar data points fall into this category. Without this data, your system cannot start, and users cannot complete essential actions like creating an account or selecting their location. Master data is the foundation on which your application relies.

Business Configurations: Tailoring Your Application

Another critical need for a Seed Framework is the management of business configurations. These configurations determine how your application operates and are often stored in the database. For example, pricing rules — discount threshold value, coupon codes or seasonal pricing can be configured using seed framework.

The Challenges of Managing Seed Data

Ability to Change Without Downtime (CRUD): Your system should allow for the addition, modification, and removal of seed data without requiring downtime. If someone wants to add a new city to your system, it should be a seamless process that doesn’t disrupt the application’s availability.
Maker/Checker Process for Change: All changes to seed data should go through a validation process to ensure data integrity. This is particularly important when making changes to foundational data that could affect the entire system.
Audit History and Reversion: It’s crucial to keep a record of all changes made to seed data and provide the ability to revert to previous versions if needed. This history allows for better accountability and error correction.
Bulk Changes with Scheduled Ability: Managing seed data at scale is challenging. A Seed Framework should offer the ability to perform bulk updates and schedule changes, making it more efficient to maintain these datasets.

Option: UI-Based Admin Tool

A common solution for managing seed data is to build a user interface (UI)-based admin tool, allowing users to interact with and modify the data. However, this approach comes with its own set of challenges.

Challenges with UI-Based Admin Tools

Complexity: Over time, the UI-based admin tool can become a substantial project in itself, requiring continuous development effort to support evolving requirements.
Customization: Each data set may require a different UI for management, which can be time-consuming to develop and maintain.
Maker/Checker, Audit History, Reversion: Implementing features like the maker/checker process, audit history, and reversion capabilities within the UI tool can be time-consuming and complex.
Bulk Updates with scheduled ability: Handling bulk updates is really hard, and scheduled bulk updates is not easy. Because it involves manual data entry.
Initial Data Seed: Setting up the initial seed data via the UI can be challenging, as it often involves manual data entry. It can be achieved by using the migration scripts.
Data Source: The database is the ultimate source of truth for what’s in the system. Viewing data using pagination in the UI can be limiting in terms of insights and data management. Viewing the complete data is really hard.

What do we need?

To overcome these challenges, we need a lightweight seed framework, a lightweight Seed Framework emerges as a more efficient and practical solution. Let’s take a closer look at the key components and features of such a framework.

Seed Framework Overview

CSV: The Seed Framework stores seed data in CSV (Comma-Separated Values) format. This format simplifies data management, allowing for easy changes using tools like Excel. It also supports single and bulk changes, addressing the challenge of handling large datasets. Even business users can interact with the csv files.
Git Source Control: Storing seed data in a version control system like Git provides several advantages. It enables easy diffing and review of changes before committing them, making it a robust maker/checker process. Git also allows the creation of versions for each change, serving as an audit history and facilitating quick reversion if needed.
CI/CD Integration: Integrating the Seed Framework into your CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipelines ensures that validation tests are run as part of the process. This prevents erroneous data from progressing into downstream environments, reducing the likelihood of issues in production.
Docker and Kubernetes (K8S): The Seed Framework can be packaged as a container and run as a Kubernetes job, ensuring consistent data propagation across all environments. This approach eliminates surprises in production by making all environments identical in terms of datasets.

Benefits of the Seed Framework

Efficiency: The Seed Framework minimizes development efforts by simplifying the process of managing master data and business configurations. Using CSV files and Git for source control streamlines data management, making it more efficient.
Data Integrity: With built-in maker/checker processes and audit history, the Seed Framework ensures data integrity and provides a safety net against unintended changes.
Scalability: Bulk changes and scheduled updates become more manageable with the Seed Framework, addressing the challenges of handling seed data at scale.
Version Control: Git source control offers a clear history of all changes, enabling easy tracking, review, and reversion of seed data.
Consistency Across Environments: The Docker and Kubernetes integration ensures that all environments, including local development setups, are identical in terms of datasets. This eliminates the need to set up data in each environment manually.

Conclusion

In the world of software development, managing master data and business configurations efficiently is essential for the smooth operation of any application. The Seed Framework addresses the challenges of handling seed data by offering a lightweight and practical solution. By utilizing CSV, Git source control, CI/CD integration, and containerization with Kubernetes, this framework streamlines the process of managing master data and business configurations, ensuring data integrity, scalability, and consistency across environments.

With the Seed Framework in place, the development and maintenance of essential data become more straightforward, allowing your team to focus on building and improving the core functionality of your application. This, in turn, leads to a more robust and efficient software ecosystem, enhancing the user experience and reducing the risk of data-related issues in production.