| Metadata | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | Confluence - Planet Target Architecture |
| Status | Published |
| Last Synced | 2026-01-08 |
| Space | Architecture (ARCH) |
Planet's Target Architecture Model (TAM) defines 12 logical boundaries that organise business capabilities into coherent domains. Each boundary represents a distinct area of responsibility aligned with business outcomes, user needs, and technical autonomy.
By applying Domain-Driven Design principles, these boundaries help:
| # | Boundary | Mission Statement | Key Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interfaces | Provide standardised, secure, and scalable interfaces to expose Planet's capabilities to internal and external consumers. | Portals (Planet Portal), Public/Partner APIs |
| 2 | OLTP | Handle real-time transaction processing across all channels with high performance, reliability, and support for value-added services. | Pre-booking, process chargebacks, pay by link, accept card payments, offline card acceptance, accept gift cards, accept APMs/wallets, tax refunds, partial payments, fraud checks, authentication, authorise a transaction, DCC options, BRT data, capture transactions |
| 3 | Settlement | Ensure accurate and timely financial settlement with acquirers and merchants, including clearing, fund movement, and reconciliation. | Submit to acquirer (partner), clearing (card schemes), settlement (merchants), reconciliation |
| 4 | Billing | Calculate, apply, and manage all billing components, including fees, rebates, and invoices for merchants and partners. | Revenue share, DCC rebate, charge acquiring fees, charge processing fees, charge terminal renting, charge additional services fees, tax free merchant rebates, invoicing |
| 5 | Devices | Manage the full lifecycle of payment devices and kiosks, including provisioning, updates, and configuration. | Order new terminal, firmware updates, terminal whitelist, config updates, binding/unbinding, kiosks management |
| 6 | Tax Free | Support the end-to-end tax-free shopping experience, from voucher issuance to refund processing and rebates. | Issuing kiosk, refund lifecycle, rebates (tax-free), voucher lifecycle, refunding kiosk |
| 7 | Merchant | Enable onboarding, lifecycle, and service management for merchants, including terminals, locations, and payment options. | Merchant registration, APM registration, lifecycle management (service activation, add terminals, add payment methods, add location, add sales channels) |
| 8 | Rates | Define and manage dynamic and DCC rates to optimise transaction conditions and merchant offerings. | Dynamic rates management, DCC rates calculation |
| 9 | Cards | Support core payment logic, including tokenisation, BIN data management, and BRT configuration. | Tokenisation (own, 3rd party), BRT management, determining BIN data |
| 10 | Identity & Access Management | Provide secure user identity management and access control for all internal and external users and systems. | Create/change merchant accounts, create/change user accounts, create/change shopper accounts, APIs/apps authentication (M2M), Identity federation |
| 11 | Commercial | Manage the commercial relationship lifecycle, including contracts, KYC/AML, underwriting, and commercial terms. | Lead management, contract management, set up fees, change fees, KYC/AML, underwriting (risk assessment) |
| 12 | Data | Provide a unified, reliable, and governed data capability that connects operational systems, external partners, and stakeholders, enabling timely insights, historical analysis, and feedback loops into the operational platform. | Data ingestion & connectivity, data processing & transformation, data warehousing, data distribution & access, operational feedback loop, enablement for advanced analytics, partners and stakeholders reporting |
Business capabilities are grouped by their proximity to stages in the payment lifecycle, mirroring how a transaction flows through the business.
| Aspect | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Capability Ownership | Each capability belongs to exactly one boundary |
| Data Ownership | The boundary that owns a capability owns its data |
| API Exposure | Boundaries expose capabilities through APIs (Internal or Partner) |
| Event Publishing | Boundaries publish domain events for data subscribers |
| Cross-boundary Communication | Via APIs or Events only; prefer well-defined dependencies |
