Joe Gollner

Gnostyx Research Inc.

jag@gnostyx.com

www.gollner.ca

@joegollner

An Implementer’s Guide

to XML Standards

An Implementer’s Guide to XML Standards

• Some Initial Case Studies

• Thinking about Standards • Fundamentals

• Evaluating Standards

• Implementing Standards

• Hazards

• The XML Firmament • The Expanding Universe

• A Tale of Two Standards • S1000D

• DITA

• FUSION

Case 1: Faux Standardization

• Legal Sector (1999 – 2001)

• Requirement:

Digital Evidence Interchange

amongst courts and case

participants

• Potential References:

LegalXML initiative

• Discovery:

• Standards barely emergent

• Focused on small problems

• Untested in implementations

• Heavily influenced by a

small group of tool vendors

Case 2: Standardization by Edict

• Energy Sector (1993 – 2003)

• Requirement:

Interchange protocol for

proposals, interventions & cases

• Regulatory Agencies

Developed & mandated an

interchange standard together

with associated process &

applications

• Result:

Unusable protocol, unintelligible

process & unstable applications Complete failure of initiative

Case 3: Standards in Action: A Success Story

Standardization enabling

efficient global trade

Thinking about Standards

• The Truth about Standards

“The wonderful thing about standards

is that there are so many of them to choose from”

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

(Amazing Grace) US Navy

• She was one of the first Programmers (Harvard Mark I)

• She is credited with writing the first program compiler

• She found a moth in a relay in the Mark II calculator and hence

passed the term “bug” into computing terminology

• Important Point

• Grace Hopper was focused on accomplishing things

• Standards were something chosen – as a means to an end

What do we mean by “Standard”?

• The word “Standard”

• Descends from Middle English for

“a flag raised on a pole as a rallying point”

• Shortening of “estendart” from

Old French for “extend”

• Common Uses

• an agreed level of quality or attainment

• something used as a measure, norm or

model in comparative evaluations

• principles of conduct informed by notions of

honor and decency

• accepted as normal or average

• not special or exceptional Source: OED

The Objective of Standards

• Interoperability enabling • Opportunity Realization

• Risk Minimization

• Cost Reduction

• Relevant Domains • Information Interchange

• Process Coordination

• Application Alignment

• Standards Lifecycle • Emergence

• Maturity

• Retirement

Evaluating Standards

• Independence • From parochial interests, proprietary claims, external influences

• Formality • Of creation, validation, approval & modification process

• Stability • Of standard over time & the backward compatibility of changes

• Completeness • Sufficiency for declared scope as well as availability of

useful documentation & reference implementations

• Adoption • Extent of support amongst tool vendors, authorities & users

• Practicality • The extent to which all, or parts, of the standard can be deployed

Evaluating Standards: Case 1

• Scenario • International

standard

• Esoteric

• Small stakeholder

community

• Mature

• Disuse

leading to

retirement

• Strategy • Harvest knowledge

& tools to reuse with

newer standards

SGML

Evaluating Standards: Case 2

• Scenario • Web

recommendation

• Enabling capability

• Solid stakeholder

community

• Emergent

• Adoption

leading to

maturity

• Strategy • Participate

• Plan for adoption

XML

Evaluating Standards: Case 3

• Scenario • Industry

specification

• Broad scope

• Specialized

stakeholder

community

• Continuously

emergent

• Strategy • Implement where

necessary

• Address risk areas

S1000D

Evaluating Standards: Case 4

• Scenario • Cross-industry

standard

• Addressing

widespread issues

• Broad stakeholder

community

• Mature

• Further capabilities

emerging

• Strategy • Plan for adoption

• Consider for use in

variety of areas

DITA

Selecting Standards

• Considerations

• Suitability

• Feasibility

• Criticality

• Adaptability

• Malleability

• Intended Benefits

• Knowledge Acquisition

• Project Acceleration

• Uniqueness Avoidance

• Industry Alignment

• Stakeholder Diversification

Implementing Standards

• Standards

• Incorporated into solutions

• Deliberately

• Methodically

• Included under

configuration management

• Version changes handled

in the same way as

product version changes

• Evaluation & testing

• Dependency monitoring

• Assessment of

alternatives

Hazards: The Standards Wars

• Standards are like sausages

• If you love them, don’t watch

them being made…

• One reason formality

is important

• Standardization is a key

competitive battleground

• Why adoption is important

• Broad adoption is a sign

• The competition is over

• The focus of competitive forces

has moved elsewhere

Hazards: Mistakes & Warning Signs

• Common Mistake: Confusing Standards for Solutions • Believing standards alone will solve problems

• Stretching standards to address all solution requirements

• Fixating on the reference implementations

• Focusing more on standards than on actual solutions

• Hoping that standardization will eliminate change

• Hoping standards will erase responsibility

• Warning Signs: Excessive complexity & change • Sprawling scope covering several domains

• Continual emergence of changes especially

• Non-backwards compatible changes

• Changes driven by narrow application demands

• Appearance of hyper-specialized products

The Amazing & Expanding XML Universe

Still an area of

activity although

commercial focus

has moved on

A Tale of Two Standards

• Projects will often

implement an array of

standards • Different technology venues

• Different functional requirements

• Different stakeholder communities

• Sometimes standards

supplement each other • S1000D

• DITA

• Others…

A Tale of Two Cities

as illustrated by Ralph Bruce

S1000D – Modernizing Equipment Information

• Purpose • S1000D is an international specification for

the procurement and production of

technical publications

• Key Goals • Cost saving on information generation

• Avoidance of duplications

• Cheaper deliverable publications

• Standard format for data exchange

to exploit future developments

• Enhanced inter-operability

2.3

1.7

3.0

1.8

2.1 2.0

1.9

2.2

…4.0

The Context of S1000D

• Technical Scope • Provide a global standard for the encoding, storage, exchange and

delivery of the technical information required to produce, operate and

support complex equipment systems

• Business Scope • Facilitate the effective digitization and streamlining of the information

supply chains associated with equipment systems that are being

increasingly developed through multi-lateral efforts

• Both the benefits and the challenges are great • The breadth of scope alone poses the substantial challenge of

incorporating an almost infinite array of specialized demands

Implementation Challenges with S1000D

• Challenges include • Tailoring specification to reflect project requirements

• Establishing & maintaining the required application suite

• Managing the impact on people & processes

• Adapting to change

• Reflecting project requirements

• Reflecting the evolution of the standard

• The question is whether there are techniques that

can be leveraged to address these challenges?

• More specifically, is there a standard that has made

addressing these challenges its overriding purpose?

• The answer to both these questions is “Yes”

The Tao of DITA: Specialization

Topic

Task ReferenceConcept

Specialization

Base

Elements

highlight programming software UI

new semantics specialization

Do

ma

ins

Ap

plic

atio

ns

Type Hierarchy

Default

Behaviour

Core Behaviour

Specializations

Specific

Overrides

Maps

Emerged within IBM as a means to manage application costs in the face of continually

evolving requirements. Experiences in other industries corroborated the value of

specialization as an essential response to these pressures.

Darwin Information

Typing Architecture

Using DITA to Implement S1000D?

• DITA can be leveraged as a tool

• To define and tailor precisely specialized information types that help authors produce the required content

• Adaptations can be made to handle unique equipment requirements

• Adaptations can be made to handle legacy or parallel requirements that are not addressed in S1000D (nor should be)

• Application architecture can be streamlined while also improving the precision & value of the content

The Solution Takes Precedence

• One suggestion has been to

integrate S1000D and DITA

One standard to rule them all

• This would be a

dubious undertaking

• The two standards embody two different,

but complementary, bodies of knowledge

• In any one solution, many standards will play a role:

• S1000D, DITA, ATA, XML, XSLT, XSL FO, WSDL,…

Top Ten Secrets for Implementation Success

• Don’t underestimate your content or your business

• Don’t underestimate the power of good automation

• Chose an appropriate tool set and validate your choices

• Don’t invest in expensive technology too early

• Carefully plan and execute migration activities

• Take a “customer service” focus in delivering tangible

benefits (new products / services) from your investments

• Be demanding of your suppliers (expect quality)

• Engage your stakeholders and “take control” of the solution

• Leverage standards, don’t be enslaved by them

• Be an active part of the community as a way to learn and as

a way to share what you have learned

Conclusions about Standards

• What do we take away from all this?

• Standards • are agreements formed by communities

• are intended to facilitate interoperability

• can be applied to information, technology and practices

• should result in improved quality and cost-effectiveness

• What does this really mean? • standards are primarily important to collaborating enterprises

• standards help avoid unnecessary effort and expense

• standards enable constructive competition

• standards must enable & not obstruct improvement & innovation

An Implementer’s Guide to XML Standards

• FUSION (1993) • Focused

• Use of

• Standards for

• Integrating

• Organizations and

• Networks

• A sensible posture • Places the Solution on top

• Deploys standards

• To achieve solution goals

• To realize the intrinsic potential manifest in good standards