The growing use of XML within the company, coupled with the need to harmonise and coordinate different technologies, got AstraZeneca to establish an XML coordination organisation with the central R&D Information Architecture group. Eurostep has been working closely together with AstraZeneca's Stefan Olsson, to lay out strategies and guidelines for an XML Framework within AstraZeneca, and to help coordinate the different XML initiatives within the company.

This problem is not unique for AstraZeneca, and not for the implementation of XML either. Similar approaches have been taken by most organisations when the database technology was introduced, and the framework approach could be equally successful for e.g. programming languages or harmonising information models. 

Purpose
The purpose of the AstraZeneca XML framework is to support XML related projects with adequate guidelines for the best use of XML in each case, and at the same time enabling future intercommunication between any XML applications. XML applications will appear in many places within AstraZeneca in the future, regardless of the existence of an XML framework. An XML framework will however make it possible to develop these applications in a way that make them ready to talk to each other, if and when there would be a business requirement for them to do so. 

Components
The methodology provided by the XML framework consists of a small set of quite simple rules that are mandatory for all uses of XML within AstraZeneca. It also provides several optional recommendations that, if used, will provide for shorter development time and more standardized usage of common concepts and resources. The purpose is always to enable coordination without imposing unnecessary rules. Therefore, the mandatory rules are very few.

The development of the XML framework has included a lot of interfacing discussions with other R&D Information Architecture areas, such as modelling, metadata and terminology. The following are some of the documents that make up the framework methodology: 

• Categories of XML use in applications
• XML development process
• Statement on XML as the AstraZeneca format for Information Exchange
• XML for Application Integration
• XML naming conventions
• Definitions of concepts and terms
• Use of AZ XML repository
• Use of XML Schemas or DTDs
• Recommendation on XML Namespace

The coordination work consists mainly of project reviews focused on XML, where recommendations and suggestions are given to the project. But there is a more static way of harmonising XML related projects through the "XML repository", i.e. a registry of DTDs, XML Schemas and XML namespaces, where each project describes their application of XML and shares its information with others. In this way, other projects may use XML components that have already been defined, in order for them to concentrate on their prime business goals rather than on inventing yet another way of doing something other applications are already doing. Using what already exists is also a way of not introducing something new, which otherwise might be contradictory to what is already existing.

The XML framework will also help in providing general and specific information on XML for better understanding about what XML is. Several reports have been written to explain XML related recommendations and vocabularies such as XML Signatures, RDF and Dublin Core, XML Schema, XML namespaces, Web services, etc. 
 
Management
The XML framework is continuously maintained and updated. In a global perspective, the XML related technology is still very young, and new development is presented every week. There will be many different XML applications internally, and they will all add new experience to the XML framework so it needs to be flexible.

The XML framework has been started with as little mandatory rules as possible in order to make it more flexible, and to enable the organic growth by experience.

The Framework methodology and guidelines is published on the AstraZeneca intranet, together with a lot of interesting information about XML and internal XML-related applications, as well as links to the most useable web sites around the world. 

Contact
For more information concerning the AstraZeneca XML Framework, please contact Stefan A. Olsson, AstraZeneca R&D Information Architecture, Lund, phone +46 (0)46-33 61 19.

For more information regarding the Framework composition, and using a framework approach to other technologies such as information modelling, please contact Peter Bergström, Eurostep AB, office phone +46 (0)8-200 440, mobile phone +46 (0)708-111 966.