Title: Federal XML Naming and Design Rules and Guidelines NDRG XML Schema Guidelines XSG An Overview
1Federal XML Naming and Design Rules and
Guidelines (NDRG) / XML Schema Guidelines (XSG)
An Overview
- Ken Sall, SAIC / KC Morris, NIST
- Presented to the Data Architecture Subcommittee
(DAS) of the CIO Councils Architecture and
Infrastructure Committee (AIC) - July 13, 2006
2Agenda
- What/Who
- NDR is? / Background / Status of NDRG /
Participants - Why
- Interoperability / Reuse /Sharing / Proliferation
of NDRs - How
- Approach for Going Forward / Quality of Design
(QOD) Tool / XML Schema Guidelines (XSG) /
Authoring and Sharing Environment - Where
- CORE.gov, NIST, SourceForge
3What is an NDR?
- Naming and Design Rules
- Any of a series of rules documents since 2003
that restrict XML Schema flexibility by
proscribing which features should, may, may not,
should not, must, or must not be used - Focuses only on XML Schema
- not DTDs, RELAX NG, XSLT, XSL-FO, DOM, SAX, etc.
- Tends to be very specific and integrated adopt
as a whole, not partially debatable! - Original impetus was E-Commerce (UN/CEFACT and
UBL)
4What is an NDR? Naming Rules.
- Naming rules the names are the XML tags used
by the exchange file - Names represent information to be exchanged
- Names vary between the systems being integrated
- A single common name for a given concept is
adopted for the integration - Consistently representing those names helps
usability of the XML Schema
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
5What is an NDR? and Design Rules
- Design Rules address how information is
structured - Superstructures namespaces
- Microstructures global vs local elements
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
6Why is an NDR needed?
- Many features of XML (in general) and XML Schema
are optional, so developers have many choices to
make - lowercase, camelCase, UpperCamelCase, UPPERCASE?
- Namespaces as URLs or URNs?
- Local or global scope for elements?
- Versioning, modularity, extensions?
- Highly structured, consistent, and clear rules or
guidelines promote reusability, interoperability
and information sharing both within an
organization and across organizations.
7Benefits of NDR Encoding
- NDR can be computationally enforced!
- Encoding of rules results in better rules
- The process of encoding tests the rules
- Executing the rules results in better XML Schemas
- The benefits of the NDR are achieved
- Cycle time from requirements for a schema to
production XML is reduced - Korean group reduced time from 2 weeks to 3
days
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
8NDRG Background and Status 1
- NDR (XML) Naming and Design Rules generic
term - NDRG (Federal XML) Naming and Design Rules and
Guidelines - May 2005 Work initially funded by GSA/OGP, under
the XML Community of Practice (Owen Ambur,
co-chair). LMI authors/editors. A dozen
participants. - 5 drafts circulated over about 9 months. Many
open issues. No code examples until last version. - Participation varied, only a few agencies
represented. - Mar. 6, 2006 Cease Work Instruction issued by
GSA.
9NDRG Background and Status 2
- Mar. 15, 2006 Going Forward - XML CoP
presentations at NIST - NIST Quality of Design Tool (QOD)
- Lessons Learned from Encoding the DON NDR
- Potential Next Steps
- Since May 2006 Bi-weekly telecons hosted by
NIST. - Quality of Design Tool (QOD) progressing nicely
- XML Schema Guidelines (XSG) outline only
- Using CORE.gov for docs NDRG/XSG Community
- Using SourceForge for QOD development
- Few participants
- July 19, 2006 KC Morris presenting to DoD
Metadata WG
10NDRG / XSG Participants (partial list)
- Key Current Participants
- KC Morris kcm_at_nist.gov
- Serm Kulvatunyou serm_at_nist.gov
- Josh Lubell lubell_at_nist.gov
- Betty Harvey, ECC, Inc. - harvey_at_eccnet.com
- Ken Sall, SAIC sallk_at_saic.com (for ODNI
CIO/ICEA) - Joe Pantella, FGM, Inc. - joe_at_fgm.com (for
DISA/DoD Metadata Registry) - Owen Ambur - Owen_Ambur_at_ios.doi.gov (XML CoP
co-chair) - New Participants
- Priscilla Walmsley, Datypic former member, W3C
XML Schema and XQuery Working Group (confirmed) - Webb Roberts, GTRI for NIEM (not yet confirmed)
11NDRG / XSG Participants (partial list) 2
- Previous Participants
- Paul Macias and Greg Wilson, LMI (authors of
draft NDRG through Mar. 2006) - Sol Safran, IRS
- Mike Grimley, DoN
- Chris Traver, DoJ
- Joe Chiusano, BAH
- SSgt Rebecca Wilde, USAF
- Winchel "Todd" Vincent III, xmlLegal.org
- Marion Royal, GSA/OGP
- Mark Crawford, SAP (formerly LMI)
1220 NDRG Rule Categories
13One NDR That Rules Them All? 1
- U.S. Government
- EPA Exchange Network XML Design Rules and
Conventions - Federal XML Naming and Design Rules Project
- Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM) Naming and
Design Rules - IRS XML Naming and Design Rules
- US Department of the Navy XML Naming and Design
Rules - Education Federal Student Aid - XML Registry
- Links from Cover Page on NDR.
- With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien.
14One NDR That Rules Them All? 2
- International
- Danish XML Project OIOXML Naming and Design
Rules - Hong Kong OGCIO Interoperability Framework for
E-Government - OAGIS Naming and Design Rules (NDR)
- OASIS LegalXML Exchange Document Methodology,
Naming, and Design Rules (MNDR) Subcommittee - Universal Business Language (UBL) Naming and
Design Rules - UN/CEFACT XML Naming and Design Rules Technical
Specification - AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group)
- Others?
15NIST Quality of Design Testing Tool (QOD)
- Contains rules based on NDRs from a number of
sources - Stores executable test cases written in
Schematron and Java Expert System Shell (JESS) - Executes tests against user-provided schemas and
reports results i.e., which rules does schema
not comply with - Used to organize tests into profiles
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
16Why QOD?
- Addresses proliferation of NDRs
- Overlapping NDR standards
- Supports reusability of rules
- Highlights ambiguous rules
- Provides an explicit structure for rules in NDRs
- Betty Harvey is developing an XML Schema for NDR
rule structure and another for NDR document
structure - Automates rule enforcement
- Enables versioning and traceability
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
17Quality of Design Tool Testing Environment
Rule N, Test N
QOD
Common Rule Database
Rule Input Test GUI
Schema to Check
Schema Compliance Report
18QOD is a Database of Rules
- Where we are QOD as a Testing Tool
- Tool is available online with an account
- Database contains sampling of rules from DON,
UBL, AIAG - Users may submit others
- Where we are going NDR Authoring and Sharing
Environment - Tool being developed at NIST
- XML Schema Guidelines (XSG) being developed
within XML CoP help is needed!
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
19NDR Authoring and Sharing Environment
- Work in progress
- One XML Schema for rule description and
exchange - Another XML Schema for NDR documentation
- XML Schema Guidelines for expansion of rule base
- Reuse of rules by new COIs
- Clone or Modify
- Traceability and versioning of rules
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
20Quality of Design Tool w/ Authoring and Sharing
Env.
Rule N, Test N
QOD
Common Rule Database
Sharing GUI
Rule Input Test GUI
Rule Selection
Schema to Check
Custom NDRs
Schema Compliance Report
21Benefits of NDR Authoring and Sharing Environment
- Makes an NDR real
- Executable rules are integral to NDR
- Schemas can be tested for consistency with NDR
- Problems in written rules are uncovered as they
are developed - Reduce time spent on formatting
- Multiple output formats from same source (HTML,
PDF, ) - Promote reuse
- Make it easier to extract rules from document
- Make it easier to tailor an existing NDR to meet
new requirements - Improve traceability
Source KC Morris (kcm_at_nist.gov), Boonserm
Kulvatunyou, et al, NIST/MSID (Manufacturing
Systems Integration Division
22Goals and Objectives of the Current Federal XML
NDRG / XSG 1
- Common source of XML Schema rules that may be
applied (to varying degrees) across most US
government XML efforts. - Derived from UN/CEFACT, ISO, and OASIS NDR
standards. - Customizable for adoption at various
organizational levels federal, department,
agency, and project. That is, IRS, DoN,
Education, DoJ, EPA, IC, etc. can each have their
own NDR derived from (and traceable to) the
common source. - Provides varying degrees of interoperability
across these levels, proportional to the degree
of strictness of rule selection.
23Goals and Objectives of the Current Federal XML
NDRG / XSG 2
- Set guidelines for use of xsddocumentation to
facilitate XML Registry Services integration. - Facilitate practical use of the NDRG by providing
tools for customization of the common source, and
for testing how well specific XML Schemas adhere
to their respective organizations NDRs (via the
NIST Quality of Design tool). - Develop QOD NDR Authoring and Sharing Environment
at NIST.
24Proposed Action Plan for NDRG/XSG Working Group
- Write charter based on objectives, goals, and
benefits. - Present charter to DAS for approval.
- Expand QOD Testing Environment to QOD Authoring
and Sharing Environment. - Expand initial rule set and test cases.
- Write documentation explaining how to create a
rule and test case. - Solicit input rules from all (interested)
agencies. - Solicit test cases for these rules from original
contributors or work with them to develop test
cases. - Demonstrate creation of an NDR using the QOD
Authoring and Sharing Environment, perhaps for
the IC. - Tackle specific problems with TEMs, such as to
develop an XML Namespace Recommendation.