A computing device, comprising: a processing unit; a system memory connected to the processing unit, the system memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to: create a business data catalog module that accesses and manipulates data residing on an internal data store and an external data store, wherein the business data catalog module receives a request for data, determines whether the data resides in the internal data store or the external data store, and accesses the data residing on the external data store; and create an external data provisioning module that provisions data accessed from the external data store, wherein the external data provisioning module maps external data from the external data store for presentation on a client computing device; wherein a user can access and manipulate the data from the external data store in a same manner as accessing and manipulating data from the internal data store; wherein the business data catalog module fetches data from the external data store using one or more application programming interface, API, calls specific to the external data store; wherein information about APIs associated with business systems that allow the external data to be fetched are contained in data stored in the internal data store; wherein the external data provisioning module further comprises a forms and views generation module that generates forms and views for presentation to the user of the client computing device via a graphical user interface; wherein the views and forms contain content that is consistent with permissible operations embodied in APIs of an external business system associated with the external data store; and wherein the APIs of respective external business systems define the permissible operations for otherwise rendering and operating on external data residing in respective external data stores. a processing unit; a system memory connected to the processing unit, the system memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to: create a business data catalog module that accesses and manipulates data residing on an internal data store and an external data store, wherein the business data catalog module receives a request for data, determines whether the data resides in the internal data store or the external data store, and accesses the data residing on the external data store; and create an external data provisioning module that provisions data accessed from the external data store, wherein the external data provisioning module maps external data from the external data store for presentation on a client computing device; create a business data catalog module that accesses and manipulates data residing on an internal data store and an external data store, wherein the business data catalog module receives a request for data, determines whether the data resides in the internal data store or the external data store, and accesses the data residing on the external data store; and create an external data provisioning module that provisions data accessed from the external data store, wherein the external data provisioning module maps external data from the external data store for presentation on a client computing device; wherein a user can access and manipulate the data from the external data store in a same manner as accessing and manipulating data from the internal data store; wherein the business data catalog module fetches data from the external data store using one or more application programming interface, API, calls specific to the external data store; wherein information about APIs associated with business systems that allow the external data to be fetched are contained in data stored in the internal data store; wherein the external data provisioning module further comprises a forms and views generation module that generates forms and views for presentation to the user of the client computing device via a graphical user interface; wherein the views and forms contain content that is consistent with permissible operations embodied in APIs of an external business system associated with the external data store; and wherein the APIs of respective external business systems define the permissible operations for otherwise rendering and operating on external data residing in respective external data stores.