ANSI/AIIM 21:2009, StratML Part 1

Happy new year, one and all!

 

Presuming that you haven't already seen it, I encourage you to check out
AIIM's announcement of Part 1 of the Strategy Markup Language (StratML)
standard:
http://www.aiim.org/pressrelease/new-industry-standard-StratML.aspx 

 

It doesn't have any official standing among .gov agencies yet and the
tools/services that have been developed thus far are best characterized as
prototypes:  http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Forms &
http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Services   

 

However, it was referenced in Beth Noveck's wrap-up to the open gov
brainstorming session on collaboration:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Wrap-Up-of-the-Open-Government-Brainstorming-
Collaboration/  

 

Usage of StratML Part 1 has been demonstrated with more than 550 plans,
including those of all of the U.S. federal Cabinet-level agencies, most of
the members of the Small Agency Council (SAC), and more than 250 non-profit,
public service organizations. http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#StratPlans  

As far as I am aware, it is the only open, standard way in which agencies
can comply with provisions of subsections 202(b)(4)
<http://xml.gov/documents/completed/eGovXML.htm#202b> & (5) and 207(d)
<http://xml.gov/documents/completed/eGovXML.htm#207d>  of the eGov Act,
which respectively require agencies to: 

*	Work together to link their performance goals to key groups,
including citizens, businesses, and other governments, as well as internal
Federal Government operations; and 
*	Adopt open standards enabling the organization and categorization of
Government information in a way that is searchable electronically and
interoperably across agencies. 

The eGov Act expressly references "extensible markup language" as the sort
of standard technology that should be used.  See the text highlighted in red
at http://xml.gov/documents/completed/eGovXML.htm  

 

OMB Circular A-119 charges agencies with participating in the development
and use of voluntary consensus standards, like StratML.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/rewrite/circulars/a119/a119.html  And the
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires them to consult with
their stakeholders in compiling and maintaining their strategic and
performance plans.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/mgmt-gpra_gplaw2m/  

 

Publication of StratML Part 1 as an ANSI/AIIM standard is particularly
relevant and timely with respect to OMB M-10-06, which directs agencies to
compile open gov plans and post information in an open format.  See
objectives 3.a and 1.b in the StratML rendition of the memo at
http://xml.gov/stratml/crane/OGD.xml   

 

The guidance provided in the attachment to the memo has been rendered as a
model plan in StratML format at http://xml.gov/stratml/MOGP.xml  Since I
compiled it in InfoPath, MSIE tries to open InfoPath but other browsers
should ignore the InfoPath processing instruction and open the file as plain
XML text.  Since XML and, thus, StratML files are in "open" format, they can
be viewed and edited in any XML-enabled application or text editor.  (It
will be interesting to see how the patent infringement case may affect the
ability of MS Word to open and edit StratML files.)  

 

A set of StratML FAQ is available at
http://www.aiim.org/standards/article.aspx?ID=37932 and a draft overview
presentation at http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#WorkResults or, more
specifically, http://xml.gov/stratml/draft/ANSIAIIM212009.ppt 

 

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them.

 

Owen Ambur

Co-Chair, AIIM StratML <http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm>  Committee

Co-Chair Emeritus, xml.gov <http://xml.gov/>  CoP

Communications/Membership Director, FIRM <http://firmcouncil.org/index.htm> 

Former Project Mananger, ET.gov <http://et.gov/> 

Invited Expert, W3C eGov IG <http://www.w3.org/2007/eGov/IG/wiki/Main_Page>