The KCES architecture follows the standard J2EE multi-tiered approach to application architecture. Where a tier is a logical partition with a unique responsibility in the system.

Client Tier
Represents all client devices and systems accessing the KCES. A client can be a web browser, an application, a Java applet, a WAP phone, etc.

Presentation Tier
Encapsulates the presentation logic required to service the clients that access the KCES. The presentation tier intercepts the client requests, provides single sign-on, session management and accesses business services, constructs the response, and delivers the response to the client.

Business Tier
Provides the business services and features required by the KCES clients. The tier contains the business data and business logic. All business processing for the KCES is centralized into this tier. The KCES uses enterprise java bean (EJB) components for implementing the business objects in the business tier. The EJBs adhere to the latest EJB 2.0 specifications and as such are highly available, scalable, transactional, and secure. In addition, the EJBs support Container Managed Persistence (CMP) to isolate the application developer from the physical database schema and ensure that applications are portable in the event of database vendor or schema changes.

Integration Tier
Provides communication with external resources and systems, such as data stores and legacy applications. The business tier is coupled with the integration tier whenever the business objects require data or services that reside in the resource tier.

Resource Tier
Contains the business data and external resources such as databases, legacy systems, other business-to-business (B2B) systems, and external services such as credit card payment processors.

Workflow Management
The KCES employs a workflow manager to streamline the interaction and integration between the client, presentation and business tiers. The workflow manager controls, automates and executes the business processes of the KCES. The workflow manager executes the appropriate business process based on the incoming client's request.

Each business process is described in XML as a workflow that consists of distinct steps of tasks and decisions to facilitate the understanding and customization of the system by developers. As such, the workflow maintains these steps as transitions instead of hard coded links.

Each workflow task is responsible for providing a business feature of measured result and value. This is achieved by utilizing the appropriate components that provide the required business logic such as payment processing, account management, order processing, order management, etc.

The components communicate with a multitude of JDBC 2.0 compliant databases for data storage and retrieval. In addition, the components achieve connectivity to external systems such as payment processors, legacy and ERP systems through J2EE Connectors that might be built-in, custom-built or provided by a third party.