Putting XML to Workin portal-based

business processes September 11, 2000

Powered by <XML>

Point of Contact: Mike Douglassmdouglass@sequoiasoftware.com410-952-9286

Focus

A brief introduction to XML

Some US Government XML initiatives

Viewing the portal as analternative architecture for information operations

XML -- at work in the portal

Some operations in detail

Issues for planning

XML Basics

• XML 1.0 is a W3C Specification

Approved in February 1998.

• HTML* defines how data can be displayed in a standard browser

The accessibility and usability of the Web exploded when a working draft of HTML was published (1992)

• XML* defines what the data is ...in context. *Derived from SGML

XML Defined: Content in Context

<employee><employee><name><name>

<last><last>SmithSmith</last></last><first><first>GregGreg</first></first>

</name></name> <address><address>

<<streetstreet>>123123 ColumbiaColumbia StreetStreet</street></street> <city><city> ColumbiaColumbia</city></city>

<state><state>MarylandMaryland</state></state></address></address><college><college>Columbia Columbia UniversityUniversity</college></college><leisure><leisure>

<athletics><athletics>Rafting on theRafting on the ColumbiaColumbia RiverRiver</athletics></athletics><travel><travel>District ofDistrict of ColumbiaColumbia</travel></travel><hobbies><hobbies>Build models of the Space ShuttleBuild models of the Space Shuttle

ColumbiaColumbia</hobbies></hobbies></leisure></leisure>

</employee></employee>

CONTENTCONTENT CONTEXTCONTEXT

Some XML Vocabularies

• Legal XML Working Group Legal XML Working Group • Instrument Markup Language Instrument Markup Language • NewsML NewsML • PetroXML InitiativePetroXML Initiative• Steel Markup LanguageSteel Markup Language• XML for the Automotive Industry XML for the Automotive Industry • Weather Observation Markup Format Weather Observation Markup Format • Chemical Markup Language Chemical Markup Language • Electronic Health Record Electronic Health Record • Financial Products Markup Language Financial Products Markup Language • Geography Markup Language Geography Markup Language • HR-XML HR-XML • Extensible Business Reporting LanguageExtensible Business Reporting Language• Materials Property Data Markup Language Materials Property Data Markup Language • Product Data Markup LanguageProduct Data Markup Language• WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification (WML)WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification (WML)

DII COE* XML Registry (DISA)Namespaces*

• Aerospace Operations

• COE Enterprise

• Combat Support

• Geospatial and Imagery

• General Military Intelligence

• Ground Operations

• Meteorological and Oceanographic

• Messages

• Tracks and Reports

* a collection of people, agencies, activities, and system builders who share an interest in a particular problem domain or practical application

SEE:

http://diides.ncr.disa.mil/shade

** Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment

DoD XML Initiatives• DII COE Data Access TWG• Joint Digital LIbrary• Joint Ammunition Management• Virtual Information Resource Center• Context-based Object Representation Environment• Distributed Information Agents• Defense Information Technology Testbed• Logistics Command and Control (Army R&D)• Command Post XXI (Army R&D)• Garlic Fries (track archiver and archive broker)• eCommerce for C2 and Logistics (Air Force R&D)• Intelligence XML Study Group (CIA)• Intelink• Secure Intel Data Repository• Semi-Structured Data Management (Intel R&D)• GCCS Maritime

Other Federal XML Initiatives• Federal CIO Council XML Working Group

• Key documents– Recommendations of the ad-hoc XML Working Group to the CIO

Council’s EIEIT Committeehttp://cio.gov/docs/xmlreport.htm

– eXtensible Markup Language (XML): Greek, Esperanto, Panacea or Snake Oil? http://users.erols.com/ambur/xml.htm

Owen Ambur (USFWS, Co-Chair XML WG)

– Getting Started with XML in the Federal Government: Recommendations to the EIEITC XML Working Group(This is available at the XML WG website)

Mark Crawford (Logistics Management Institute)

• Diverse intra-agency initiatives

Sequoia Software is a leading provider of

XML-basedinternet infrastructure software

for creating interactive e-business &

e-government portals

EIPEIPTaxonomyTaxonomy

Market feedMarket feedCONTENT PROVIDERCONTENT PROVIDER

News feedNews feedCONTENT PROVIDERCONTENT PROVIDER

SearchSearchINDEX-LEVERAGEDINDEX-LEVERAGED

Task support dataTask support dataENTERPRISE SYSTEMSENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

DocumentsDocumentsENTERPRISE SYSTEMSENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

InteractivityInteractivityENTERPRISE SYSTEMSENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

To-do listTo-do listENTERPRISE APPLICATIONENTERPRISE APPLICATION

CalendarCalendarENTERPRISE APPLICATIONENTERPRISE APPLICATION

Common Portal Components

• Directly improve e-business processes

• Increase worker productivity through information aggregation

• Improve access to information

• Facilitate on-line collaboration and user interaction

• Re-purpose enterprise information

• Revolutionize the architectureof information operations

Enterprise Business PortalsEnterprise Business PortalsStrategic objectivesStrategic objectives

Delphi Group

“Next Generation Portals” (6/00)

• The interactivity and velocity required of e-business mandate a portal environment that supports the rapid integration of rapid integration of allall business-critical information resources business-critical information resources.

• The entire value chainentire value chain, including employees, customers, partners, and suppliers must be able…to modify existing information and write new information to each other’s systems through the portal

This paper is available athttp://www.sequoiasoftware.com/xps/delphiwp.pdf

Delphi Group

“Next Generation Portals” (6/00)

• Today’s portals are full of one-way streetsone-way streets on which information travels to the user. Individuals are not able to publish information directly…nor are they able to modify existing information in those systems….

• Velocity in the portal is constrained constrained by weak systems integration, the lack of bi-directional information flows, and limited access device options.

Delphi Group

“Next Generation Portals” (6/00)

• We are seeing the introduction of next generation portals todaytoday. One of these is the XML Portal Server from Sequoia Software.

• XPS eases integrationXPS eases integration with other applications and information sources, including those owned and maintained by other members of an extended value chain.

• The Sequoia portal enables true interactivitytrue interactivity with these systems and speeds the flow of information…regardless of what device they use.

E-Business Portal Framework

EmployeesPartnersCustomers

XML Portal ServerXML Portal Server

A port authority’s e-business stakeholders

• Airlines• Railroads• Steamship lines & agents• Pilots and towage• Motor freight companies• Brokers & freight forwarders• Tenant operators• State of _______• ________ County• City of ________• US Corps of Engineers• INS, US Customs• US Coast Guard• APHIS• DOD

• Executive management• Planning & investment• Business development• Operations & security• Information technology• Project offices• Finance & accounting• Acquisition & contracts• Maintenance & service contracts• Legal• Facilities & property

management• Human resources• Unions• The public

ExternalExternal InternalInternal

Sequoia’s XML Heritage

• XML server development begun in 1997

• Sponsoring Member of OASIS

• Recipient of NIST ATP grantR&D on massively distributed XML document technology to support location, search, and retrieval for 270,000,000 patient records on a national-scale IP backbone

• Sequoia has embedded XML as thefundamental DNA of its XML Portal Server

How Sequoia’s XPS uses XML 1 of 3

The XML portal supports “loose coupling” of enterprise systems and personnel

Applications in XPS are tied together using XML messaging

The portal is a set of configurations stored as XML files from which agents determine their behavior

An XML message to the XPS security broker is the initial input to user authentication process

How Sequoia’s XPS uses XML How Sequoia’s XPS uses XML 2 of 32 of 3

XML content-in-context supports rules-based routing and workflows

XML templates are mapped to HTML data entry (e-forms) for interactive portal operations

Spiders crawl information sources to build an XML index for enterprise search-and-retrieval

How Sequoia’s XPS uses XML 3 of 3

XML enables external web metasearches using multiple search engines to providea combined resultset

XML stylesheets re-purpose data for multiple roles, access rights, and devices

Semio's Taxonomy engine is functionally integrated with XPS using XML messaging.

XML messaging supports interoperability with external partners

Reference ArchitectureBrowserBrowser

InformationInformationSourceSource

InformationInformationSourceSource

InformationInformationSourceSource

InformationInformationSourceSource

InformationInformationSourceSource

Plus Other Applications and External Web ResourcesPlus Other Applications and External Web Resources

Process AutomationServices

and XML Repository

XML Interface

XML Application Server

XML InterfaceXML XML

Portal Portal ServerServer

XML Search XML Search FacilitiesFacilities

FTR Search FTR Search FacilitiesFacilities

Semio Search Semio Search FacilitiesFacilities

Portal Portal Management Management

ConsoleConsole

Content Delivery Services

Layout Content SelectionSecurityPersonalization

Crawlers Spiders

Conte

nt D

eliv

ery

Agent

Conte

nt D

eliv

ery

Agent

Any Level 4 browserAny Level 4 browser

XML Repository

BrowserBrowser BrowserBrowser

External XML Transaction Architecture

• Serves as conduit between Sequoia XPS and external systems

• Accepts data in an XML messaging format (with published schema)

• Allows XPS facilities to be applied to all external data

• Provides for propagation of modified data back to the external data source

Leveraging the back-end

Information Connectors

Data Source Adapters

Message Builder

Transport Adapters

XML Messages

EDI SAPLotusNotes Oracle Ariba

SMTP FTP HTTP File MSMQ

Transaction

Dispatcher

AgentConfiguration

Store

AgentTrue

False

Message Processing

Receivers

Service

Service

File (Hot Directory)

FTP

IIS

HTTP

Service

SMTP

QueueMessage

Processors

LoadBalancer

Content-Based Routing

<Content/>

Queue Log Log MessagesMessagesSendSend

E-mailsE-mails

RoutingRoutingServiceService

Events trigger Events trigger the Routing Servicethe Routing Service

Rules determineRules determineresulting actionresulting action

CreateCreateWork ItemsWork Items

Databases

Local and Network File

Systems

Automatic Categorization (optional Semio Taxonomy)XPS Index

SmartSummaries

Websites

LegacySystems

XPS Agent: Indexing

Search and Retrieval

• Structured and unstructured data

• Index multiple content formats

– MS Office, PDF, XML, WordPerfect, etc.

• Enterprise search

– Fulltext and contextual queries

• Meta-search

– Parallel query produces aggregated result-sets

– Users configure internet search engines

Taxonomy & the Portal

Automated categorization contributes to portal operations

– Standardizes the enterprise’s business process lexicon

– Provides reference for XML tagging and namespace standardization

– Adds to the “information discovery” toolset

– Augments the XML index repository

Taxonomy Starter File

Automatic Generation

Products

Access Router

Router

Semio’s Approach to Taxonomy Building

ODBC

Semio Technology

Lexicon

ClusteringExtraction

Document Collection

Clusters

•<tagset> <document> <docurl>http://www.nwfusion.com:80</docurl> <tag> <tagname>Ecommerce</tagname> <weight>1.289</weight> </tag> <tag> <tagname>Network Management</tagname> <weight>0.746</weight> </tag> <tag> <tagname>Skills</tagname> <weight>0.659</weight> </tag> </document></tagset>

S E Q U O I A

Semio Taxonomy ResultsSemio Taxonomy Results

<patient> <mrn>12345</mrn> <name>Ron Capwell</name> <address> <street>5457 Twin Knolls Rd.</street> <city>Columbia</city> <state>MD</state> <zip>21045</zip> </address> <phone> <home>410 555-8888</home> <work>410 666-7777</work> </phone> <medications> <drug>Lithium</drug> </medications> <allergies> <allergy>Pollen</allergy> <allergy>Cats</allergy> </allergies> <lastEncounter>02/15/1999</lastEncounter></patient>

Smart SummarySmart SummaryTMTM

<result app=“Lab” mrn=“12345”> <date>02/15/1999</date> <allergies> <allergy>Pollen</allergy> <allergy>Cats</allergy> </allergies></result> Lab SystemLab System

<patient app=“patient record”> <mrn>12345</mrn> <name>Ron Capwell</name> <address> <street>5457 Twin Knolls Rd.</street> <city>Columbia</city> <state>MD</state> <zip>21045</zip> </address> <phone> <home>410 555-8888</home> <work>410 666-7777</work> </phone> <date>01/06/1999</date></patient> Administrative DatabaseAdministrative Database

XML Portal Server <customer app=“pharmacy”> <medrec>12345</medrec> <encdate>12/01/1998</encdate> <drug>Lithium</drug></customer> Pharmacy FilesPharmacy Files

XPS Agent: Smart Summaries™

A physician’s patient-care portalA physician’s patient-care portal

Data fromData frommultiplemultiplesourcessources

summarizedsummarized

XML creation though e-forms

InteractiveInteractive(“write”)(“write”)operationoperation

XPS Agent: Personalization

HTMLPage

IIS

XMLDocument

XMLStylesheet

XPS

Stylesheet registrationand rules management Many-to-one relationship

allows repurposing of data

Dynamically associate stylesheet to XML document

XML Portal Server and BPR

• Leverages existing IT infrastructure

• No impact on enterprise information systems

• Browser-as-client achieves true ‘thinness’

• Implementation is operationally focused

• Promotes standardization of taxonomy

• Employs intelligent, interoperable, and open specification… XML

• A powerful process framework Robust, future-proof portal Anticipates the emergence of e-government Advances GPEA objectives Enables XML interoperability Employs SHADE Common Data Exchange Language

• Adds value to information operations Filtering and Aggregation Personalization Performance optimization

• Opens the door to strategic data re-purposing

The XML Portal Server