Page 32 - GAO-02-327 Electronic Government: Challenges to Effective Adoption of the Extensible Markup Language
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Chapter 1: Background: Features and Current
Federal Use of XML
much fuller advantage of XML’s strengths and allow investors to better
access financial data and automatically perform many kinds of analyses.
However, to do so would require agreement on a complete vocabulary of
data tags and schemas for describing financial statement information,
which could require coordinating with other groups such as the XBRL.org
consortium, which is also developing business vocabularies related to
financial reporting. Further, in addition to agreeing upon a standardized
vocabulary, developers would need to make software available to format
financial information according to the standards so that it would not be
burdensome for filers to conform to the standard vocabulary. Since none
of this has yet happened, SEC officials believe it is not in the best interest
of filers to levy an XML requirement at this time.
Amtrak Amtrak, a federally chartered corporation, has successfully used XML to
enhance its reservation system, according to Amtrak officials. However, in
doing so, officials say they have consciously taken the risk that their self-
defined data structures may not match industry standards that emerge in
the future. According to Amtrak officials, the use of XML has streamlined
software development, including reducing costs, and produced an easier
set of specifications for travel agencies to address when developing or
modifying their own systems. In moving to XML, Amtrak officials found
that they were the first in the railroad industry to attempt to convert their
data to XML format, and thus they were free to define data tags as they
wished. They decided to base their definitions on specifications developed
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by the OpenTravel Alliance but found that those specifications were not
sufficiently articulated to meet all of Amtrak’s needs. As a result, Amtrak
defined new tags for rail reservations purposes when none were available.
Amtrak officials told us that they expect the OpenTravel Alliance to
continue to develop its specifications, and tags may be standardized that
are incompatible with Amtrak’s. In that case, Amtrak will likely have to
modify its system to meet the new industry standards.
Department of Justice The Department of Justice reported in October 2001 that it had taken steps
to move beyond single-system implementations of XML and facilitate
broader information sharing and integration of justice information systems
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The OpenTravel Alliance is a self-funded, nonprofit organization working to create and
implement industrywide, open electronic business specifications. Membership in the
alliance includes major airlines, hoteliers, car rental companies, travel agencies, and other
interested parties.
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