Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Reference Schemas
Problem
You have a sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, has already designed an XML
schema for a basic entity like Address. You want to build off of the work of a standards body
or working group comprising smart people who have had lots of time to consider this sort of
thing, and you don't want to reinvent the wheel.
Solution
Check out the many industry schemas that have been defined by the Open Applications Group
(OAGi) at
http://www.openapplications.org
.
They define XML schemas for a variety of ver-
ticals. Registration basically means giving them your email address, and then you can down-
load for free the wide variety of schemas they have written. You can use them outright, which
will simplify integration with other companies that also use them outright, or you can use them
as a starting point and incorporate what you can from them into your own designs.
The Open Applications Group has done a lot of work over many years creating schemas ac-
cording to best practices, and specifically for the purpose of supporting B2B integration ef-
forts. It has published whitepapers, which you can also download, on how it has defined its
schemas. These whitepapers are interesting in their own right, but they also should encourage
you to do the same within your enterprise.
As part of your governance plan, create a set of standards, best practices, and requirements
that you publish internally as part of your reference architecture. Reviewing the OAGi docu-
ments will help guide you on how to do this.
I warn you that OAGi's schemas and whitepapers can be long and involved, so you may be-
nefit from condensing them a bit for your own purposes.
