1. A method for providing federated functionality within a data processing system, the method comprising: receiving an incoming request at point-of-contact functionality within a domain, wherein the domain is associated with a plurality of domains within a federated computing environment; analyzing an incoming request with the point-of-contact functionality; in response to a determination that the received request is directed to accessing a resource that is controlled by resource accessing functionality without the request requiring processing by federated user lifecycle management functionality, sending the received request from the point-of-contact functionality to the resource accessing functionality; and in response to a determination that the received request requires processing by federated user lifecycle management functionality, sending the received request from the point-of-contact functionality to the federated user lifecycle management functionality, wherein the federated user lifecycle management functionality invokes one or more pluggable modules that interface with the federated user lifecycle management functionality in order to provide one or more federated user lifecycle management functions.