Strategy Markup Language (StratML)

Definition & Purposes | History | Current Work & Results - Schema, Forms & Documents | Search Services

Strategy Markup Language (StratML) is an XML vocabulary and schema for strategic plans. Its purposes include but may not be limited to the following:

Facilitate the sharing, referencing, indexing, discovery, linking, reuse, and analyses of the elements of strategic plans, including goal and objective statements as well as the names and descriptions of stakeholder groups and any other content commonly included in strategic plans.
Enable the concept of "strategic alignment" to be realized in literal linkages among goal and objective statements and all other records created by organizations in the routine course of their business processes.
Facilitate the discovery of potential performance partners who share common goals and objectives and/or either produce inputs needed or require outputs produced by the organization compiling the strategic plan.
Facilitate stakeholder feedback on strategic goals and objectives.
Facilitate updating and maintenance of discrete elements of strategic plans without requiring review and approval of the entire plan through bureaucratic channels, thereby helping to make the strategic planning process more agile and responsive to stakeholder feedback and changing circumstances, thus helping to overcome the tendency of strategic plans to become outdated "shelfware".
Reduce the needless time, effort, inconsistencies, and delays associated with maintaining data redundantly in myriad "stovepipe" systems rather than referencing the authoritative sources.
Enable agencies to comply with the provisions of subsections 202(b)(4) & (5) and 207(d) of the eGov Act, which respectively require agencies to:
- Work together to link their performance goals to key groups, including citizens, businesses, and other governments, as well as internal Federal Government operations; and
- Adopt open standards (e.g., StratML) enabling the organization and categorization of Government information in a way that is searchable electronically and interoperably across agencies.

History of StratML:

The original project proposal submitted to AIIM, December 19, 2003
HyperVision's draft (obsolete) XSD for Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) strategic plans
The description identifying StratML in the ET.gov process
Strategic plan elements draft glossary (obsolete)

Implementing a Government-wide Semantic Solution to Thesauri - Paper by Ken Sall and Ronald Reck, XML 2005 Conference, November 15, 2005

Documentation provided at CORE.gov, including:

StratML Value Proposition White Paper, April 18, 2006
A white paper, dated September 6, 2007, reporting progress and potential next steps to the CIOC/AIC leadership
Presentation to the xmlCoP, September 20, 2006

Presentation to the CIO Council's (CIOC) Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC), September 20, 2007
AIIM Standards Board agrees to pursue establishment of StratML as an ISO standard, September 2007
- You can see the archives and, if you wish, subscribe to AIIM's listserv to receive notices of StratML Committee meetings.
Federal Computer Week article on the appointment of Performance Improvement Officers, December 10, 2007
Government Computer News article on AIIM's adoption of StratML into its standards program, December 11, 2007
OMB Circular A-119 directs agencies to particpate in the development and use of voluntary consensus standards.
The first meeting/telecon of AIIM's StratML Standard Committee, January 10, 2008.

Presentation given by Adam Schwartz
Meeting Minutes

Adam Schwartz's February 8, 2008, graphical depiction of the Performance Plan/Report task group's proposed extensions to core schema (See page 2. Task group members included Adam, Owen, John Chickering & Jim St. Clair.)
Collaboration Expedition Workshop Session on StratML, February 19
Comments requested on the names and definitions of elements in the StratML core schema and white paper. Comments posted on the listserv.

Oliver Recklies' Comments, March 12, 2008
Compilation of comments on proposed additions and changes to the initially deliverable StratML core vocabulary and schema during the first phase of the project

Strategic, Interoperable CM, Article in eDoc Magazine, March/April 2008
Carl Frappaolo's response to comment on the potential use of StratML to aid findability and relevancy ranking of content, May 8, 2008
Christopher Dorobek's Federal Computer Week (FCW) blog on organizational design flaws, May 27, 2008
June 5 meeting Agenda & Minutes from May 8 meeting
List of action items compiled by Betsy Fanning as of June 4, 2008
Candidate standards for potential reuse as the organizational identification elements in StratML proposed by Betty Harvey on June 5.
Minutes & action items from June 5, 2008, meeting.
Federal Computer Week (FCW)/Government Computer News (GCN) webinar, sponsored by Mark Logic, presentation on XML in the Federal Government, July 29, 2008
August 21, 2008, Teleconference Agenda | June 26 Meeting Minutes | Action Items
See also:
- AIIM's StratML Standard Committee Page & Listserv Archives
- Wikipedia articles on: Strategic Planning | Strategy | Stakeholder | Theory of Value | Value Theory - Personal/Culural, Economics & Marketing | Utility - Utility Theory of Value | Management | Strategic Management | SMART | SWOT & PEST Analyses | Critical Success Factor (CSF) | Business Plan | Integrated Business Planning | Group Development | Coaching | Extensible Markup Language (XML) | Markup Languages | Artificial Language | XML Schema | W3C XSD
- Business Rules Group's Business Motivation Model, September 2007
- A proposed high-level model for strategic planning, June 2001

Current Work and Results:

StratML Committee teleconference scheduled for September 18, beginning at 11:00 a.m.
- Draft minutes & action items from August 21 telecon
- Draft of StratML standard document
- Draft Use Case for consideration by the W3C's eGov IG
- Graphical depiction of the StratML Core Framework, version 3, compiled by Adam Schwartz on June 3
- Glossary for the StratML Core compiled by Owen Ambur using this XSD and stylesheet
- Simplified graphic depicting the performance plan/report value chain, compiled by Owen Ambur on June 4

The StratML Core XML Schema (XSD)

Betty Harvey revising to include stratml.org namespace as well as IDs attributes on each element in the schema

More than 330 strategic plans rendered in StratML format, using (thus far) five different authoring/conversion tools, including:

Microsoft InfoPath using this form

Business Web Software AchieveForms using the form on their demonstration site

PDF Fillable Form

Xopus Form

Microsoft Word

U.S. Federal Agencies - Small Agencies | State & Local Agencies
Nonprofit Organizations | International Government Agencies | Educational Institutions | Other Plans

U.S. Federal Agency Plans

President's Management Agenda (PMA)

Xopus Renditions - Read-Only | Editable

Lines of Business (LOBs):

Budget Formulation and Execution (BFE LOB)
Case Management (CM LOB)
Federal Health Architecture (FHA LOB)
Financial Management (FM LOB)
Geospatial (GLOB)
Grants Management (GM LOB)
Human Resources (HR LOB)
Information Systems Security (ISS LOB)
Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Optimization (IOI LOB)

CIO Council (CIOC)
- A Practical Guide to Federal Service Oriented Architecture (PGFSOA)
E-Government Strategy (eGov)
Office of Electronic Government and Technology (OEGT)
Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office (FEA PMO)

Business Reference Model (FEA BRM)
Service Component Reference Model (FEA SRM)
Enterprise Architecture Assessment Framework (EAAF)
Geospatial Profile (FEA GSP)
Records Management Profile (FEA RMP)

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Forest Service (FS)

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
Department of Commerce (DOC)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Department of Defense (DoD)
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
- Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)
- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
- Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)
- National Military Strategy (NMS)
- Net-Centric Data Strategy (DoDNCDS)
Federal Plan for Cyber Security and Information Assurance Research and Development (CSIA)
United States Copyright Office (USCO)
Department of Education (ED)
Department of Energy (DOE)

Department of Energy (DOE) Information Resources Management (IRM)
Office of Science, Department of Energy (DOE/ER)

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, Tribal Strategic Plan (OPPTSTSP)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Federal Reserve Board (FRB)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Government Printing Office (GPO)
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA)
Department of Health and Human Services, Information Technology (Draft) (HHS/IT)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
Department of the Interior (DOI)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Information Resources Management (IRM)
Department of the Interior, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Information Technology (OCIO)

Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
Department of Justice (DOJ)

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Department of Labor (DOL)

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Library of Congress (LOC)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development(NCO NITRD)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

NIST E-Gov Standards Resource Center (ESRC)
National Center for Standards and Certification Information (NCSCI)

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
National Security Agency
- Central Security Service (NSA/CSS)
National Security Strategy (NSS)
National Strategy for Information Sharing (NSIS)
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Department of Transportation (DOT)

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

Department of Treasury (Treasury)
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Web Content Managers (WCM)
United States Standards Strategy (USSS)

Small Agency Council (SAC)

Administrative Office of U.S. Courts (AOUSC)
Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (AC/PD)
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (AC/HP)
African Development Foundation (ADF)
Agency for International Development (AID)
American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC)
Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (U.S. Access Board)
Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH)
Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation (GSF)
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)
Commission on Fine Arts (CFA)
Commission on Civil Rights (CCR)
Committee for Purchase from People Who are Blind or Severely Disabled (AbilityOne)
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
Corporation for National and Community Service (CNS)
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA)
Denali Commission
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)
Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC)
District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency (DCPSA)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM BANK)
Farm Credit Administration (FCA)
Federal Administration Managers Association (FAMA) (FMA?)
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB)

FHFB Information Technology (FHFB/IT)

Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)
Federal Maritime Commission (FMC)
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC)
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
General Services Administration (GSA)
Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation (HTSF)
Holocaust Memorial Museum (US/HHM)
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
Inter-American Foundation (IAF)
International Trade Commission (ITC)

International Trade Commission, Information Resources Management (ITC)

Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC)
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (JMMFF)
Legal Services Corporation (LSC)
Marine Mammal Commission (MMC)
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)
Merit System Protection Board (MSPB)
National Archives and Records Administration(NARA)
National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC)
National Cooperative Administrative Support Units (CASU) Program - Office of the Chief Aquisition Officer (OCAO)
National Council on Disability (NCD)
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
National Gallery of Art (NGA)
National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC)
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
National Mediation Board (NMB)
National Science Foundation (NSF)

Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP)

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB)
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC)
Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO)
Office of Government Ethics (OGE)
- OGE Information Resources Management (OGE/IRM)
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (ONHIR)
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
Office of Special Counsel (OSC)
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)

OPIC Information Technology (OPIC/IT)

Peace Corps (PC)

National Peace Corps Association (NPCA)

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC)
The Presidio Trust (TPT)
Railroad Retirement Board (RRB)
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Selective Service System (SSS)
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Smithsonian Institution (SI)
Surface Transportation Board (STB)
U.S. Arctic Research Commission (ARCTIC)
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB)
U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP)
U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC)
U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

State and Local Agencies

Hilton Head Public Service District (HHPSD)
Town of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (HHI)
State of Maine, Office of Information Technology (OIT)
State of Utah (UT)

State of Utah, Information Technology (UTIT)

Nonprofit, Public Service Organizations

Academic Pediatric Association (APA)
Academy of Management (AoM)
Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12)
Action Without Borders (AWB)
Alliance of Nonprofit Management (ANPM)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
American Bar Association, Division of Public Education (ABA/DPE)
American Education Finance Association (AEFA)
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP)
American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T)
American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)
Anti-Slavery International (ASI)
Arca Foundation (Arca)
ARMA International (ARMA)
Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA)
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
Association for Community Networking (AFCN)
Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES)
Association for Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM)
Association of Government Accountants (AGA)
Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA UK)
Association for Strategic Planning (ASP)
ASTM International (ASTM)
Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM)
Boy Scouts of America (BSA)
British Academy of Management (BAM)
Brookings Institution (BI)
Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP)
CENDI
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT)
The Center for Public Integrity (TCPI)
Center for Responsive Politics (CRP)
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
Central and Eastern European Citizens Network (CEECN)
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Club of Rome (CR)
Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA)
Conservation International (CI)
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Council for Excellence in Government (CEG)
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Council on Foundations (COF)
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF)
Council of State Archivists (CoSA)
Creative Learning Exchange (CLE)
DAMA International (DAMA)
Development Gateway Foundation (DGF)
Essential Information (EI)
Ethics Resource Center (ERC)
European Coaching Institute (ECI)
European Current Research Information Systems (euroCRIS)
Family Services, Inc. - Montgomery County, MD (FSI)
Goodwill Industries International, Inc. (GI)
Government Accountability Project (GAP)
Government Information Technology Executive Council (GITEC)
Hudson Institute (HI)
IJIS Institute (IJIS)
Industry Advisory Council (IAC)
Information Renaissance (InfoRen)
IEEE, formerly known as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, United Kingdom (IPEM)
Insurance Accounting and Systems Association (IASA)
International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI)
International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
International Association of Facilitators (IAF)
International Association for Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ)
International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST)
International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM)
International Council on Archives (ICA)
International Council of Museums (ICOM)
International Council for Science (ICSU)
International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI)
International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)
International Digital Enterprise Alliance, Inc. (IDEAlliance)
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC Master Plan & Mission & Objectives)
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (IFSAM)
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS)
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
International Society for the System Sciences (ISSS)
Intertribal Council on Utility Policy (ICOUP)
iSolon.org (IS)
Liberty Coalition (LC)
Management Lab (MLab)
National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA)
National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC)
National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA)
National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers (NASACT)
National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)
National Character Education Foundation (NCEF)
National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA)
National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE)
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC)
National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
National Wildlife Federation (NWF)
National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET)
OMB Watch (OMBW)
Online Computer Library Center (OCLC)
Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG)
Open Data Foundation (ODaF)
OpenTheGovernment.org (OTG)
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)
Pan European eParticipation Network (PEP-NET)
Peace Operations Policy Program (POPP)
Public Citizen (PC)
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC)
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
ReclaimDemocracy.org (RDO)
Society of American Archivists (SAA)
Society for Organizational Learning (SOL)
Society for Military Psychology (SMP)
Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)
Strategic Planning Society (SPS)
Sustainability Institute (SI)
System Dynamics Society (SDS)

United Kingdom Chapter (SDS-UK)

Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS)
Town and Country Planning Association, United Kingdom (TCPA)
Volunteers in Medicine Institute (VIM)
W3C eGovernment Interest Group (WEIG)
Water Environment Federation (WEF)
Web 3D Consortium (Web3D)
Wallace Foundation (WF)
The World Bank (WB)
World Food Logistics Organization (WFLO)
World Values Survey Association (WVSA)
Washington (State) Coalition for Open Government (WCOG)

Non-U.S. Government Agencies

Agency for International Science and Technology Development, Lithuania (AISTD)
Australian Government Information Management Office, e-Government Strategy (AGIMO)
Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP)
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Commission for Environmental Coordination (CEC)
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australia (SDSC)
Canada Council for the Arts (CCA)
Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)
National Research Council Canada (CNRC)
Public Health Agency Canada (PHAC)
Canadian Standards Strategy (CSS)
Sport Canada (SC)
Standards Council of Canada (SCC)
European Committee for Standardization (CEN)
French National Institute for Transport and Safety (INRETS)
National Centre for Science Information, Indian Institute of Science (NCSI)
U.S.-India Strategic Economic Partnership (USISEP)
University for Peace (UPEACE)

UPEACE Centre (UPEACE Centre)

Mexican Digital Government Strategy (eGov Mexico)
Research Council of Norway (RCN)
Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC)
Cultural Policy Institute (Russia) (CPI)
Sweden’s National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2002 (SNSSD)
The United Kingdom's (UK) International Priorities, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)
Communities and Local Government, United Kingdom (CLG)
The Office of the Third Sector, United Kingdom (TOTS)
United Kingdom (UK) Photonics Strategy, Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
United Nations Capital Development Fund Local Governance Unit (LGU)

Educational Institutions

Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University (CITP)
Mikkelsen Library, Augustana College (MLAC)

Other Interesting Plans

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff (Goundswell)

If you would like to include your organization's plan in the StratML collection, please contact us.

StratML Search Services

Mark Logic's StratML search service prototype contains all of the plans currently in the collection, whose URL's are provided below. Please contact Owen Ambur for the user name and password to access Mark Logic's prototype.

Since StratML documents are plain text (XML) documents posted on the public Web, they are readily available for indexing by the search engines, like Google, abeit on an uncertain schedule. Thus, the major search engine indices may not contain the most recent submissions.

Joe Carmel's Atom Protocol demos displaying the <Mission> and <Vision> statements and showing how many times each <Stakeholder> and <Value> has been expressed by various kinds of organizations whose plans have been included in the StratML collection thus far. (Best viewed in MSIE 7. Values are distinguished from Stakeholders by hyphens.)

U.S. Federal Agencies
Small Agencies
State & Local Agencies
Nonprofit Organizations
International Government Agencies
Educational Institutions
Other Plans

If you are aware of other services indexing or otherwise leveraging the emerging StratML standard and/or StratML documents, please contact Owen Ambur to have a link posted here. We are particularly interested in services addressing any of the prospective purposes of the standard but would be happy to be surprised by useful and creative services we have not yet anticipated.

See also our page listing the <WebAddresses> (URLs) of the StratML instance documents to facilitate reuse, including automated indexing by search services