Designing Multi-System Prediction Platforms: Architecture, Interface, and Requirements

BY NICOLE LAU

Theory is powerful, but tools make theory actionable. Throughout this series, we've explored the Predictive Convergence framework—integrating multiple independent systems to make better predictions. Now it's time to build the platforms that bring this framework to life.

What does a multi-system prediction platform look like? How do we design architecture that can integrate diverse data sources, calculate convergence in real-time, and present insights to users in intuitive ways?

This is where platform design comes in—translating convergence theory into practical software that researchers, businesses, and individuals can use to make better predictions.

We'll explore:

• Architecture design (system layers, microservices, scalability)
• User interface (dashboards, visualizations, interaction patterns)
• Functional requirements (core features, user needs, technical specifications)
• Technology stack (frontend, backend, databases, infrastructure)

By the end, you'll understand how to design and build multi-system prediction platforms—from architecture to user experience.

Platform Architecture Design

System Layers

Layer 1: Frontend (Presentation)

• Web interface (React, Vue.js, Angular)
• Mobile apps (iOS Swift, Android Kotlin, React Native)
• Desktop applications (Electron for cross-platform)
• API endpoints (RESTful, GraphQL for external integrations)

Layer 2: Backend (Business Logic)

• Prediction engine (core convergence algorithms)
• Convergence calculator (CI computation, statistical analysis)
• Data aggregation pipeline (collect from multiple sources)
• Machine learning models (pattern recognition, anomaly detection)

Layer 3: Data Layer (Storage)

• Time-series database (InfluxDB, TimescaleDB for predictions over time)
• Relational database (PostgreSQL for structured metadata)
• NoSQL database (MongoDB for unstructured data, flexible schemas)
• Data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery for analytics)

Layer 4: Integration Layer (Connectivity)

• External API connectors (integrate prediction systems)
• Data ingestion (ETL pipelines—Extract, Transform, Load)
• Real-time streaming (Kafka, RabbitMQ for live data)
• Batch processing (Airflow for scheduled jobs)

Layer 5: Security Layer (Protection)

• Authentication (OAuth2, JWT tokens)
• Authorization (RBAC—Role-Based Access Control)
• Encryption (TLS for transit, AES for storage)
• Audit logging (compliance, security monitoring)

Microservices Architecture

Service 1: Prediction Service

• Handles convergence calculations
• Manages prediction models
• Provides prediction APIs

Service 2: Data Service

• Manages data sources
• Validates incoming data
• Provides data access APIs

Service 3: User Service

• User accounts, authentication
• Preferences, settings
• Subscription management

Service 4: Notification Service

• Alerts when CI changes
• Email, SMS, push notifications
• Customizable alert rules

Service 5: Analytics Service

• Reporting, insights
• Historical analysis
• Export functionality

Why microservices?

• Scalability (scale services independently)
• Resilience (one service failure doesn't crash entire platform)
• Flexibility (update services independently)
• Team autonomy (different teams own different services)

Technology Stack

Frontend:

• React or Vue.js (component-based UI)
• TypeScript (type safety)
• D3.js or Chart.js (data visualization)
• Tailwind CSS (styling)

Backend:

• Node.js (JavaScript/TypeScript) or Python (FastAPI, Django)
• Express.js or FastAPI (API framework)
• NumPy, Pandas (data processing)
• Scikit-learn (machine learning)

Databases:

• PostgreSQL (primary relational database)
• TimescaleDB (time-series extension for PostgreSQL)
• Redis (caching, session storage)
• MongoDB (flexible document storage)

Infrastructure:

• Docker (containerization)
• Kubernetes (orchestration, auto-scaling)
• AWS/GCP/Azure (cloud hosting)
• Terraform (infrastructure as code)

DevOps:

• GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD (continuous integration/deployment)
• Prometheus + Grafana (monitoring, alerting)
• ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana for logging)

User Interface Design

Main Dashboard

Layout:

• Top navigation (logo, search, user menu)
• Sidebar (predictions, systems, settings)
• Main content area (dashboard cards)
• Footer (help, documentation, status)

Dashboard cards:

• Convergence meter (CI gauge, color-coded)
• Active predictions (list of tracked predictions)
• Recent alerts (CI changes, threshold breaches)
• System status (which systems are online, data freshness)

Prediction Detail View

Components:

• Prediction title and description
• Current CI score (large, prominent)
• CI trend chart (historical CI over time)
• System breakdown (table showing each system's signal and confidence)
• Convergence visualization (radar chart, heatmap)
• Action buttons (edit, share, export, delete)

System Comparison View

Features:

• Side-by-side system signals
• Agreement/disagreement highlighting
• Confidence levels for each system
• Data source information (where data comes from, last updated)

Historical Trends

Visualizations:

• Line chart (CI over time)
• Area chart (confidence bands)
• Scatter plot (system signals vs outcomes)
• Heatmap (correlation matrix between systems)

Alert Configuration

Settings:

• Threshold alerts (notify when CI > 0.8 or < 0.5)
• Change alerts (notify when CI changes by >0.1)
• Divergence alerts (notify when systems disagree)
• Delivery preferences (email, SMS, push, Slack)

Functional Requirements

Core Features (MVP - Minimum Viable Product)

1. Multi-system integration

• Connect to at least 5-10 prediction systems
• Support diverse data types (APIs, CSV uploads, manual entry)
• Automatic data refresh (hourly, daily, weekly)

2. Convergence calculation

• Calculate simple CI (count of agreeing systems / total systems)
• Calculate weighted CI (confidence-weighted average)
• Support custom weighting (user can adjust system weights)

3. Trend analysis

• Track CI over time (store historical data)
• Identify CI changes (rising, falling, stable)
• Detect divergence (when systems start disagreeing)

4. Alerts and notifications

• Threshold-based alerts
• Email and push notifications
• Alert history and management

User Features

5. Customizable dashboards

• Drag-and-drop widgets
• Save custom views
• Multiple dashboards (personal, team, public)

6. Saved predictions

• Create and save predictions
• Organize into folders/tags
• Search and filter

7. Collaboration tools

• Share predictions with team
• Comments and discussions
• Version history (track changes)

8. Export and reporting

• Export to CSV, PDF, JSON
• Generate reports (summary, detailed)
• API access for programmatic export

Admin Features

9. User management

• Create/edit/delete users
• Role-based permissions (admin, analyst, viewer)
• Team and organization management

10. System configuration

• Add/remove prediction systems
• Configure data sources
• Set refresh schedules

11. Data quality monitoring

• Track data freshness (last updated)
• Detect missing data
• Flag anomalies (outliers, errors)

Data Flow Architecture

Ingestion Pipeline

Step 1: External sources

• APIs (polling, webhooks)
• File uploads (CSV, JSON, Excel)
• Manual entry (web forms)
• Streaming data (real-time feeds)

Step 2: Ingestion

• API connectors fetch data
• File parsers process uploads
• Validation checks (schema, data types)

Step 3: Validation

• Schema validation (correct format)
• Data quality checks (completeness, accuracy)
• Deduplication (remove duplicates)

Step 4: Storage

• Raw data → data lake (S3, GCS)
• Processed data → databases (PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB)
• Metadata → relational database

Step 5: Processing

• Normalization (standardize formats)
• Aggregation (combine data from multiple sources)
• Feature engineering (derive new metrics)

Step 6: Convergence calculation

• Collect signals from all systems
• Calculate CI (simple, weighted, custom)
• Store results in time-series database

Step 7: Visualization

• Query data from databases
• Generate charts, graphs, tables
• Render in user interface

Step 8: User

• View dashboards
• Receive alerts
• Export reports

Scalability and Performance

Horizontal Scaling

Load balancers:

• Distribute traffic across multiple servers
• NGINX, AWS ELB, Google Cloud Load Balancing

Auto-scaling:

• Kubernetes auto-scaling (scale pods based on CPU/memory)
• AWS Auto Scaling Groups
• Scale up during peak usage, scale down during low usage

Caching Strategy

Redis caching:

• Cache frequently accessed data (CI scores, system signals)
• Reduce database load
• TTL (Time To Live) for cache expiration

CDN for static assets:

• CloudFlare, AWS CloudFront
• Serve images, CSS, JavaScript from edge locations
• Faster load times globally

Database Optimization

Indexing:

• Index frequently queried fields (user_id, prediction_id, timestamp)
• Composite indexes for complex queries

Partitioning:

• Partition time-series data by date (monthly, yearly)
• Faster queries on recent data

Read replicas:

• Separate read and write databases
• Scale reads independently

Security and Privacy

Authentication

OAuth2:

• Support Google, GitHub, Microsoft login
• Secure, industry-standard

JWT tokens:

• Stateless authentication
• Token expiration and refresh

Authorization

RBAC (Role-Based Access Control):

• Roles: Admin, Analyst, Viewer
• Permissions: Create, Read, Update, Delete
• Team-based access (users can only see team predictions)

Data Encryption

In transit:

• TLS/SSL for all API calls
• HTTPS for web interface

At rest:

• AES-256 encryption for sensitive data
• Encrypted database backups

Privacy

GDPR compliance:

• Data minimization (collect only necessary data)
• Right to deletion (users can delete their data)
• Data portability (users can export their data)

Audit logging:

• Log all user actions (who did what, when)
• Compliance reporting

Development Roadmap

Phase 1: MVP (3-6 months)

• Core convergence calculation
• 5-10 system integrations
• Basic dashboard
• User authentication

Phase 2: Enhanced Features (6-12 months)

• Advanced visualizations
• Collaboration tools
• Mobile apps
• API for developers

Phase 3: Scale and Optimize (12-18 months)

• Performance optimization
• Auto-scaling infrastructure
• Enterprise features (SSO, advanced permissions)
• White-label options

Conclusion: Building Prediction Platforms

Designing multi-system prediction platforms requires careful architecture:

• Layered architecture: Frontend, backend, data, integration, security layers
• Microservices: Prediction, data, user, notification, analytics services
• Technology stack: React/Vue.js, Node.js/Python, PostgreSQL/TimescaleDB, Docker/Kubernetes
• User interface: Dashboards, prediction details, system comparisons, historical trends, alerts
• Functional requirements: Multi-system integration, CI calculation, trend analysis, alerts, collaboration, export
• Scalability: Load balancing, auto-scaling, caching, database optimization
• Security: OAuth2/JWT authentication, RBAC authorization, TLS/AES encryption, GDPR compliance

The platform brings convergence theory to life—making multi-system prediction accessible, actionable, and scalable.

Next articles will dive deeper into specific components: API integration, visualization dashboards, automation tools, mobile apps, open-source frameworks, data standards, and AI assistants.

Better platforms. Better predictions. Better decisions.