value Enterprise XML value

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ltvaluegt Enterprise XML lt/valuegt

• A new way of thinking about information
  management in State Government
• October 19, 2004

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Agenda

• Who are we? What are we doing here?
• Overview of XML -- what is it? Why is it
  important?
• Where is XML currently in the enterprise?
• XML on the desktop
• XML integration / data sharing
• XML content publishing
• XML DEMONSTRATION Alert Notification System
• XML in the future
• What can you do now to get ready?
• Helpful Resources

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Introductions

• DIAMOND TECHNOLOGIES
• Privately held, Delaware based, incorporated in
  1996
• Full Service Technology Consulting Firm
• Website Design and Hosting
• Custom Application Development
• Systems Integration
• Currently about 75 employees
• Mark Headd Director of Business Development
• Ted Kinsler Chief Technology Officer

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XML 101

• XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language
• Flexible, non-proprietary set of standards for
  tagging information so that it can be
  transmitted over a network such as the Internet
  and readily interpreted by disparate computer
  systems.
• XML is license-free, platform-independent and
  well-supported.
• Core specifications are maintained by standards
  bodies the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and
  the Organization for the Advancement of
  Structured Information Standards (OASIS).
• XML is increasingly found throughout the
  Government enterprise.

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The BIG Picture

• XML Family Portrait
• To eliminate name confusion when combining
  formats, XML provides an XML namespace mechanism.
  
• XML Schemas are used for defining XML document
  structures.
• XSL is the advanced language for expressing style
  sheets. It is based on XSLT, a transformation
  language used for rearranging, adding and
  deleting tags and attributes.
• XPath is a language for addressing parts of an
  XML document, designed to be used by both XSLT
  and XPointer (and, in the future, XQuery).

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Vocabularies abound

• Data Center Markup Language (http//www.dcml.org/)
  
• LandXML (http//www.landxml.org/)
• Recipe Markup Language (http//www.formatdata.com
  /recipeml/)
• Theological Markup Language (http//www.ccel.org/
  ThML/)
• Human Markup Language (http//www.humanmarkup.org/
  )
• Mind Reading Markup Language(http//xml.coverpage
  s.org/mrml.html)
• Hype aside, XML can provide real value for
  Governments.

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XML in perspective
XML's...universal embrace has not always been
accompanied by a clear understanding of what XML
can and cannot do. What XML cannot do is to
magically solve the problem of data
interoperability. XML just provides a framework
within which interested groups can work out
agreements about the vocabularies and data
structures to be used in a given domain. Jon
Bosak, Sun MicrosystemsLed the W3C working group
that created XML
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Looking for XML

• XML can be found in almost every area of the
  enterprise.
• Incredible value can be realized by properly
  leveraging XML where it exists.
• If implemented broadly with consistent data
  definitions and structures, XML offers the
  promise of making it significantly easier for
  organizations to identify, integrate, and
  process information that may be widely dispersed
  among systems.
• Failure to recognize this may represent a
  significant lost opportunity for Governments.

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XML on the Desktop

• Latest versions of desktop productivity
  applications are all XML enabled.
• Microsoft Word 2003 Corel WordPerfect (ver.
  9.0) OpenOffice.org (ver. 1.0)
• Change brings powerful XML editing and document
  management capabilities to the desktop.
• End users do not need to understand the nuances
  of XML, or the real power of the software that
  they are using.
• All documents are XML documents.
• No more archiving of information on old formats.

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XML Data Exchange

• XML is an ideal format for data exchange because
  its widely supported and can be consumed by
  vastly different systems.
• Concept of XML as a data exchange format is
  broader than most people think
• WDDX
• RSS
• ebXML / Tax XML / Financial XML
• Web Services
• Intermediate format for Service Bus
• Common language for SOA

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XML Info. Management

• XHTML the next generation of HTML.
• Use of XHTML helps encourage good web design
  principles rigid separation of content and
  presentation.
• Other publishing formats RSS, WML are just an
  XSLT stylesheet away.
• XML is the basis for a new generation of
  standards being developed by standards bodies.
• XForms separation of purpose and presentation.
• XHTML Voice and VoiceXML 2.1 (ltdatagt element).
• XQuery querying of XML data

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Why should you care?

• Governments are huge collectors of information.
• A considerable amount of this information is
  available on the web in legacy HTML formats.
• Much of the information available from
  governments can not be obtained from any other
  source.
• Quality of existing markup still an issue for
  many governments. HTML clients are very
  forgiving.
• Because this information is not in XML format it
  is stranded, unable to be retooled for
  different uses or devices or consumed by
  applications.

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Enterprise XML

• Alert notification demo.
• Takes information from the desktop, through
  various integration components, and out to
  recipients.
• Three categories of alerts weather, traffic,
  homeland security.
• Hypothetical example that shows the power of XML,
  and leverages its ubiquity.
• Same principals can be applied to other
  notification scenarios agriculture/farm
  notifications, food/health inspections, etc.
• Most of the pieces that make up this framework
  exist today within the State's IT environment.

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Enterprise XML

• EDEE Enterprise Data Exchange Engine
• DISS Delaware Information Subscription Service

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XML in the Future

• Increaseing trend toward Multi-modality
• VoiceXML 2.1 / 3.0
• XForms
• XHTML Voice
• Increasing importance of XML APIs
• DOM
• SAX
• Web will increasingly become an application
  environment.
• Applications communicating with each other using
  different protocols, with XML as the payload
  format.

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Getting ready...

• Be aware of the role XML plays in data sharing,
  data management.
• Leverage existing opportunities to use XML
  upgrade from HTML to XHTML.
• Recognize the value of information (documents)
  beyond their current context.
• Sharpen skills in core XML technologies
  Schemas, Name Spaces, XSLT, XPath.
• Catalogue components within IT architecture that
  are able to process XML long term strategy for
  utilizing XML in the enterprise.
• Make use of those components already in place.

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Questions
?
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Helpful Resources

• General XML Information http//www.xml.com/
• XSL / XSLT http//www.w3.org/Style/XSL/
• Namespaces http//www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/
• XPath http//www.w3.org/TR/xpath
• XHTML http//www.alistapart.com/articles/betterli
  ving/
• Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
  http//blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
• Document Object Model (DOM) http//www.w3.org/DOM
  /
• Simple API for XML (SAX) http//sax.sourceforge.n
  et/
• VoiceXML http//www.voicexml.org/
• XHTML Voice http//www.voiceingov.org/x_plus_v.
  htm
• XForms http//www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/
• XQuery http//www.xquery.com/
• Web Services http//webservices.xml.com/