Government urges slow road to XML

[email protected] Mon, 8 Apr 2002 12:18:13 EDT

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http://news.com.com/2100-1001-877795.html?legacy=cnet&
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http://www.gao.gov/
http://news.com.com/2009-1017-275448.html

Government urges slow road to XML

By Margaret Kane
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 8, 2002, 8:50 AM PT

A new report is cautioning federal agencies to go slowly in adopting XML.
The General Accounting Office found that, in the absence of any formal
governmental policy or standard on XML, federal agencies might want to hold
back before adopting the Web standard. But the GAO, Congress' investigative
arm, did recommend that the government develop an overarching policy so
agencies could take advantage of the new technology.

XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a set of data definitions that has
come into vogue because it promises to make information available across a
number of computing systems that otherwise might not be compatible. A sort of
a dictionary of dictionaries, it helps define various elements of a Web
document and the relationships between them.

XML would seem to be an ideal technology for the government because it could
help various and diverse branches quickly exchange data. For instance, crime
data could be easily transferred and accessed by multiple law enforcement
agencies.

But the technology's wide-open nature may be a reason why the government may
not be ready to take advantage of it just yet, the GAO report said.

"Although agencies need flexibility to tailor XML-based systems to meet their
unique needs, they risk building and buying systems that will not work with
each other in the future if their efforts do not take place within the
context of a well-defined strategy," the report states.

The problem, the GAO found, is that while technical definitions of XML have
been ironed out, the business definitions are, for the most part, still
lagging. Some agencies have been trying to help create the definitions that
they need; for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency has been working
with state environmental agencies to develop standards for environmental
information.

But in most cases, the specialized definitions needed are either not yet
ready, or not sufficient, for government use, the GAO report said. As an
example, it pointed to a workgroup that's been trying to develop a set of
human resources standards for the Office of Personnel Management. While a
version of HR-related XML is being worked on by a nonprofit consortium, the
standard has only two approved data definitions, the GAO said. Meanwhile, the
government workgroup has created its own list of 984 data elements, some of
which will likely not be included in the public standard because they are
specific to government use.

Another potential problem the GAO pointed out was that, in the absence of
overriding government policy on XML, different agencies could come up with
different standards, defeating the whole point of XML.

The GAO report recommends that the director of the Office of Management and
Budget work with the federal CIO Council--an interagency forum for federal
chief information officers--and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology to figure out a governmentwide strategy for XML adoption.

The CIO Council has already been working on a pilot for a registry program,
but it isn't ready yet. The report suggests that the pilot be worked into the
broader program developed.

The report also advocates that the government create a registry for XML data
elements and structures, and encourage agencies to use it. "As elements of a
government XML vocabulary became standardized through this registry on a de
facto basis, the government would be in a better position at a later date to
revisit the question of what commercial standards and vocabularies to
officially endorse," the report said.

My best,

Dr. David Feeney
[email protected]
Director of Digital Education, http://foxonline.temple.edu
FOX School of Business & Management, http://sbm.temple.edu
Temple University, http://www.temple.edu
300 Speakman Hall
215-204-2727 office
215-204-5698 fax

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<HTML>http://news.com.com/2100-1001-877795.html?legacy=cnet&amp;tag=pt.msnbc.feed..ne_9649915 
 
http://www.gao.gov/ 
http://news.com.com/2009-1017-275448.html 
 
Government urges slow road to XML 
 
By Margaret Kane 
Staff Writer, CNET News.com 
April 8, 2002, 8:50 AM PT 
 
A new report is cautioning federal agencies to go slowly in adopting XML. 
The General Accounting Office found that, in the absence of any formal governmental policy or standard on XML, federal agencies might want to hold back before adopting the Web standard. But the GAO, Congress' investigative arm, did recommend that the government develop an overarching policy so agencies could take advantage of the new technology. 
 
XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a set of data definitions that has come into vogue because it promises to make information available across a number of computing systems that otherwise might not be compatible. A sort of a dictionary of dictionaries, it helps define various elements of a Web document and the relationships between them. 
 
 
 
XML would seem to be an ideal technology for the government because it could help various and diverse branches quickly exchange data. For instance, crime data could be easily transferred and accessed by multiple law enforcement agencies. 
 
But the technology's wide-open nature may be a reason why the government may not be ready to take advantage of it just yet, the GAO report said. 
 
"Although agencies need flexibility to tailor XML-based systems to meet their unique needs, they risk building and buying systems that will not work with each other in the future if their efforts do not take place within the context of a well-defined strategy," the report states. 
 
The problem, the GAO found, is that while technical definitions of XML have been ironed out, the business definitions are, for the most part, still lagging. Some agencies have been trying to help create the definitions that they need; for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency has been working with state environmental agencies to develop standards for environmental information. 
 
But in most cases, the specialized definitions needed are either not yet ready, or not sufficient, for government use, the GAO report said. As an example, it pointed to a workgroup that's been trying to develop a set of human resources standards for the Office of Personnel Management. While a version of HR-related XML is being worked on by a nonprofit consortium, the standard has only two approved data definitions, the GAO said. Meanwhile, the government workgroup has created its own list of 984 data elements, some of which will likely not be included in the public standard because they are specific to government use. 
 
Another potential problem the GAO pointed out was that, in the absence of overriding government policy on XML, different agencies could come up with different standards, defeating the whole point of XML. 
 
The GAO report recommends that the director of the Office of Management and Budget work with the federal CIO Council--an interagency forum for federal chief information officers--and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to figure out a governmentwide strategy for XML adoption. 
 
The CIO Council has already been working on a pilot for a registry program, but it isn't ready yet. The report suggests that the pilot be worked into the broader program developed. 
 
The report also advocates that the government create a registry for XML data elements and structures, and encourage agencies to use it. "As elements of a government XML vocabulary became standardized through this registry on a de facto basis, the government would be in a better position at a later date to revisit the question of what commercial standards and vocabularies to officially endorse," the report said. 
 
My best, 
 
Dr. David Feeney 
[email protected] 
Director of Digital Education, http://foxonline.temple.edu 
FOX School of Business &amp; Management, http://sbm.temple.edu 
Temple University, http://www.temple.edu 
300 Speakman Hall 
215-204-2727 office 
215-204-5698 fax</HTML>

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