Recommendations of The Adhocracy on XML for Uncle Sam
To the CIO Council's EIEIT Committee
May 18, 2000 (May 4 DRAFT)

eXensible Markup Language (XML) is being widely implemented and holds great potential to enhance interoperability among information technology systems and speed implementation of e-Government services. One alternative would be simply to sit back and watch it wash over us. However, we believe the CIO Council can add value through leadership in pursuit of the following goals and objectives:

1. Education and Outreach - To CIOs, acquisition teams, and project managers. Potential task/deliverables include:

a. An index summarizing U.S. governmental involvement in industry initiatives, such as:

XForms http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/
Resource Description Framework (RDF) http://www.w3.org/RDF/FAQ
XML Schemas http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/XMLGuide/schema-overview.asp
Namespaces in XML http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/
E-Business XML (ebXML) http://www.ebxml.org/
Extensible Business Reporting Language (EBRL, formerly XFRML, Extensible Financial Reporting Markup Language) http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/xbrl.html
Directory Services Markup Language (DSML) http://www.dsml.org/
XML-Based Workflow (Wf-XML) http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/wf-xml.html
XML Portal http://www.xml.org/xmlorg_registry/index.shtml

b. Compilation of best-practices

c. Symposium on GPEA, XForms, and E-records management

d. Consolidated hyperlinked index of pertinent information/sites on EIEITC's Web site

2. Partnerships - With key Government and industry interest groups:

a. Designate a representative to the W3C's XForms subgroup
b. Consider formal membership in other standards organizations, such as OASIS http://www.xml.org/
c. Initiate strategic planning and pilot projects with the CFOs (financial accounting data), OPM (personnel data), NARA (E-records), NPR (President's E-Gov directives, especially the top 500 services/forms); and Federal Commons project (grants)
d. Join with FIRM to co-sponsor a symposium on the potential of XML to facilitate forms automation and E-records management

3. Data & Systems Architecture - Consider opportunities/partnerships to foster:

a. An ISO/IEC 11179 compliant registry and repositories of data elements and schemata that are common to all organizations, as well as those that represent justifiably unique information requirements of Federal agencies
b. An XML form that may be used by Federal agencies to classify logical collections of their records (records series) according to a standard set of indexing elements
c. A queriable index of such elements available on the Internet through WebGov
d. Identification of XML as a standard with which noncompliance must be expressly justified under OMB Circular A-11, Exhibit 300B, Part II, E.2. Work with the CIO Council's Capital Planning and IT Management Committee to incorporate this requirement into ITIPS. http://cio.gov/docs/committee_capital.html#capital http://www.itips.gov/
e. Development of Document Type Definitions (DTDs) for Standard and Optional Forms

4. Overview/Coordination - To facilitate broader, ongoing communications, in addition to any task teams that may be commissioned to pursue specific objectives, it may be appropriate to charter an XML overview working group through FY 2001. If the EIEITC or the Council decides to charter an XML overview team, the group should work closely with GSA's E-Commerce Program Office and with NIST. Mary Mitchell of GSA should be invited to chair or co-chair the team, which should also coordinate with the EIEIT's Standards and Architecture Working Groups.