Executive Summary

An enterprise application uses XML to provide an operating benefit by increasing the efficiency of business process execution or enabling new business processes. The best way to understand how to achieve such benefits in your enterprise is by examining some examples. This provides both inspiration and a context for using the technology. Up to this point, we've examined XML only in isolation. Figuring out how to leverage XML in the enterprise requires an understanding of how it operates with other components of enterprise applications.

Table 7-1 lists five examples of enterprise applications where XML can deliver significant operating benefits. The rest of this chapter discusses these applications in detail. For some of these applications, enterprise software developers may not have to write the software that manipulates XML documents. In these cases, third-party software provides these capabilities. However, there are product selection, installation, integration, administration, and extensibility issues that require the enterprise to understand how the underlying XML features work.

Table 7-1. Enterprise Applications and XML Benefits

Application	Category	Examples	Key XML Benefit
Workforce Automation	Content Documents	Claims processing Field service	Customized structuring of information to support job tasks
Knowledge Management	Content Documents	Product planning Technical support	Extensible knowledge structuring and wrapping of existing documents
Trading Partner Coordination	Business Documents	Supply chain management Service provisioning	Negotiation of trading relationships that can then execute automatically
Application Integration	Business Documents	Inventory management ERP/HR integration	Portable business entity definitions and infrastructure for transformation
Data Integration	Business Documents	Customer management Product information management	Customized data formats and document synthesis from data sources