XML Industrial Project
About XIP
The XML Working Group under the Information Exchange Technical Committee embarked on this project at the beginning of year 2002. It was co-funded by ITSC, to produce a starter-kit for local organisations, especially the SMEs, to help them get up to speed with the practical applications of XML. The idea was to provide a working environment that most SMEs would be familiar with, in order to reduce the barrier for SMEs to get their hands on XML, and actually find out for themselves the benefits and possibilities of document exchange using XML. The project also aimed to deliver the following:- A set of XML DTDs/specifications
- Sofware that implements and uses those XML DTDs
- A cost analysis report on how much it costs to start using XML
The project has been completed, and the XIP project team, comprising Dr Lee Eng Wah (Chairman of Information Exchange Technical Committee, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology or SIMTech), Andy Tan (XML WG, Intrinix) and Chin Chee Kai(XML WG, SoftML), have successfully come up with a set of XIP specifications covering 8 possible document types.
Two separate implementations of an Excel interface to these documents were also created by Intrinix and SoftML as part of this project, and they have agreed to make them available for free download on the ITSC website. The choice of Microsoft Excel was in line with the aim of making XML accessible to SMEs, by hiding XML internals from users through a familiar user interface. So, although the exchange of documents is actually in XML format, the user sees the final document in Excel. However, because the XIP specifications lie on a XML foundation, other interfaces can be used if preferred, therein lies the extensibility and power of XML. The fact that XML is used also means that the information can be processed by machines, and can thus be hooked up with any backend systems that the SMEs may currently have.
XIP at the moment works on a peer-to-peer exchange model, and relies on FTP as the underlying transport layer. So, it is assumed that both sending and receiving SMEs have Internet access.
Please note: XIP is not an international or industry standard like those of RosettaNet, Oasis or ebXML. It is an attempt by ITSC to produce a starter-kit to help local SMEs get up to speed with the practical applications of XML.
Deliverables
Here are the Version 1.0 software and documentation for:
XIP Specification (1.62MB)
- Intrinix XIP implementation (1.66MB)
(Requires: Microsoft Data Access Components Version 2.5, MDAC 2.5 SP2),
Intrinix XIP User Guide (730kB)
- SoftML XIP implementation (XIPix, 1.15MB),
SoftML XIPix User Guide (776kB)
- XIP System Setup Cost Analysis(229kB)
Questions
- ITSC secretariat for general questions relating to the XIP.
- http://www.intrinix.com/xip for technical questions relating to the Intrinix implementation of the XIP specifications.
- xipix@SoftML.Net or http://SoftML.Net/xip/ for technical questions relating to the SoftML implementation of the XIP specifications.
Feedback
We would like to hear your feedback on XIP. Please send them to ITSC secretariat.
Presentations
- Team member Chee Kai gave a presentation (2.3 MB) on XIP during XMLAsia 2002 on the 11th July.
- Team member Andy Tan gave a presentation (3.6 MB) on XML and XIP during SME March Seminar on the 24th May.