Introduction
XIP stands for XML Industrial project ( with effect from 2004, XIP
stands for XML Interoperability Platform) is an initiative by XML Working group under ITSC Data Exchange Technical
Committee to implement a system to assist Singapore companies to evaluated XML as a tool for data exchange amongst themselves.
The project was initiated in Jan 2002 and the following members jointly develop the
specification:
- Dr Lee Eng Wah, Chairman of Data Exchange TC, Singapore Institute
of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech).
- Mr Andy Tan, Member, from Intrinix Networks Pte Ltd
- Mr Chin Chee Kai, Member, from SoftML Pte Ltd
The objectives of this project are as follows:
- To act as a leading initiative to make XML practical for companies and businesses.
- Oriented towards providing benefits to as large a community of end-users as
possible.
- Use XIP as a platform for the promotion of XML technologies
The key deliverables are as follows:
1.An illustrative system.
An illustrative system includes recommended computer hardware and software configuration as
well as software suite to enable interoperability and exchange of business documents among
companies.
2.A suite of XML e-business documents
Provide a set of document templates and supporting software utilities to facilitate business document exchange. Companies can use this set of templates and utilities to enable them to evaluate the system easily.
3.A list of vendors for business companies to follow-up
To provide a list of vendors who can provide supporting services and products to enable companies to adopt and use the system for their business. Supporting services include system
installation, training and customization.
System design principle
The project team adopted the following principle in the design stage:
1. Simple, Measurable and short
This is to serve as a guideline to design and implement the XIP project. When the team faces many choices, uncertainty or possibilities this principle shall serve as the guide to preserve the direction of the XIP. This is to ensure that the project is completed on time.
2. Simple transaction model
The transaction model between partners shall be simple and common business transaction is selected. 8 business documents are selected in this phase of the project. The team envisages that more documents will be added later.
The 8 business documents are:
- Request for quotation
- Quotation
- Purchase order
- Purchase order acknowledge
- Delivery order
- Invoice
- Receipt of delivery
- Receipt of Payment
3. Simple transaction scenario
The team focuses on common business transaction scenario for testing and evaluation.
Project Consideration
Design Goals
- Simple and easy to implement - extension to existing applications
- Low infrastructure cost - Hardware and Software requirements
- Initially focus on data exchange -- using XML
- Uses proven technology - Internet and FTP
- Open system
System framework
This is a system configuration guideline that consists of a suite of software, templates and exchange protocol. Companies can quickly set-up a system base on this information.
The FTP transfer protocol is selected for the initial implementation of the XIP, however the team does not rule out other transfer protocol in the future enhancement of the standard.
Two or more companies can implement the XIP based on the following configuration (refer to figure 1). Companies can also make use of value added service provider to provide additional exchange support (refer to figure 2).
Figure 1: Point to point configuration
Figure 2: Via value-added service provider
Documentation
A set of documentation, which includes system specifications, e-business documents data type
definitions files (DTD), user guide of the evaluating software from participating members and companies are provided.
Transformation
The team has selected a most common application, Microsoft Excel, to be used as the front end user interface to the XIP. Software utilities are provided to companies to transform Excel file to XIP compatible XML files and vice versa as well as documentation transfer software to enable these XML files to be exchanged between business partners.
Simulations and testing
A set of samples test files is available to enable system testing and evaluations.
On March 28, 2002, the participating members had conducted the
interoperability test and the project was completed. The project team will
continue to enhance the software and perform further tests.
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