1. A method for providing federated functionality within a data processing system, the method comprising: configuring one or more pluggable modules into a federated user lifecycle management functionality with a federated computing environment, each of the pluggable modules having associated therewith a set of one or more runtime parameters to be used during federation transactions; receiving an incoming request at point-of-contact functionality within a domain, wherein the domain is associated with a plurality of domains within the 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 of the pluggable modules and its associated runtime parameters to provide a federated user lifecycle management function during a federation transaction; wherein the pluggable modules enable the federated user lifecycle management functionality to support multiple, simultaneous, federated user lifecycle management functions on an as-needed basis without requiring changes to an existing infrastructure.