Strategy Markup Language (StratML)
Definition & Purposes | Current Work & Results - Schema, Forms & Documents | Protoype Services | History | See Also

Strategy Markup Language (StratML) is an XML vocabulary and schema for strategic plans.  Its purposes include but may not be limited to the following:
CURRENT WORK & RESULTS
FORMS

During the development, piloting, proof-of-concept phase, more than 550 strategic plans have been rendered in StratML format, using (thus far) six different authoring/conversion tools, including:
  1. Microsoft InfoPath using this form
    • Note: A new InfoPath form has been created based upon the final version of the schema specified in ANSI/AIIM 21:2009 but it has not been thoroughly tested. For those who do not have InfoPath, screen shots of the form are available in MS Word format.
  2. Business Web Software AchieveForms using the form on their demonstration site
  3. PDF Fillable form (Rights extended to December 31, 2010.)
    • Note: A new PDF form has been created based upon the final version of the schema specified in ANSI/AIIM 21:2009 but it has not been thoroughly tested.
  4. Xopus form (As of June 10, 2009, now available in Spanish as well as English)
  5. Microsoft Word - See the StratML Quick Start Guide for MS Word Users compiled by Ictect
  6. Joe Carmel's XForms form - See his About StratML XForms page
DOCUMENTS

The most current and complete listing of plans in the StratML collection is available at http://xml.gov/stratml/drybridge/index.htm. The previous listing that formerly appeared here will be maintained for some period of time for archival/referencing purposes at http://xml.gov/stratml/docindexOLD.htm.

StratML SEARCH & OTHER PROTOTYPICAL SERVICES

  1. Mark Logic's StratML search service prototype contains all of the plans in the collection as of February 8, 2010. Please contact Owen Ambur for the user name and password to access Mark Logic's prototype.


  2. Since StratML documents are plain text (XML) documents posted on the public Web, they are readily available for indexing by the search engines, like Google, albeit on an uncertain schedule. Thus, the major search engine indices may not contain the most recent submissions.
    Google
    WWW StratML
    Note: The following site-specific search, to enable selective queries of the agency     open gov plans, was created on May 21. However, Google apparently is not indexing the xml.gov/opengov subdirectory so, as of June 17, no results are being returned that are explicit to the open gov plans.
    Google
    WWW xml.gov/opengov
  3. Joe Carmel's StratML demos:
  4. StratML parsing demonstration by Ari Knausenberger, Strategi Consulting, which produces a tag cloud for the top 50 most frequently used <Goal> <Names>. The strategic plans in which each of those goal names occur can be retrieved by clicking on the tag name and scrolling to the bottom of the page to see the results. The most frequently occurring goal name is Education and it is used in the default query. The second most frequently used goal name is Advocacy, followed by Leadership, Membership, Infrastructure, Collaboration, Partnerships, Representation, Communication, and Research, rounding out the top ten.


  5. In XML Simplicity's editorial portal, StratML documents can be edited in online Authentic. Here is a brief description provided by Keith Matthew:
    • XML Simplicity's StratML service provides powerful, yet easy-to-use, collection browsing and filtering of StratML documents. Users have complete control over collection display settings, such as sorting, grouping, highlighting, charting, downloading, column selection, etc. Documents are available for fast dynamic download in XML, PDF, RTF, and HTML formats. Editing of the StratML XML documents is available in either an offline or online word-processor like interface, that ensures consistent and correct XML source data.

  6. Pooyan Zamanian's StratML authoring, editing, and transformation portal, which is available in Farsi and English, enables the creation of strategic plans and the conversion of the "raw" (plain text XML) StratML files to XHTML using XSL Transformation. After entering the portal with the "guest" username and password (54321), users who have Microsoft's InfoPath forms application can download the form from the Strategic Plans page, enter the data, and upload the plan. (Plans that have been previously uploaded will also be available for editing and re-uploading.) After uploading, the user is re-directed to result page to view the transformed plan as it appears in XHML format on the Web.


  7. StratML Tagging with Microsoft Word: Quick Start Guide, Pradeep Jain & Vivian Dey, Ictect, September 25, 2009 - DOC | PDF
    • A Strategic Communications Plan converted to StratML format by Owen Ambur on December 22, 2009, using MS Word with the assistance of the Quick Start Guide. (Note: Since the purpose of this exercise was to test the Guide and not to produce a "pretty" document, it has not been edited for appearance, to include all of the elements of the StratML core, or to remove verbiage that does not fit neatly into the elements of a StratML document.)

  8. Ken Holman of Crane Softwrights has compiled HTML and PDF stylesheets for StratML documents but they are based upon a previous version of the schema that has been supplanted by ANSI/AIIM 21:2009


  9. NIST's XML Instance Validation service can be used to remotely validate files against the StratML schema. For additional information, see KC Morris' announcement.


  10. Getting Started with the Strategy Markup Language (StratML) Standard, eBook available from Vision4Standards


  11. Liquid Technologies' Liquid XML Studio 2010 is an XML developers toolkit and IDE containing tools for designing and developing XML Schema and applications, with support for StratML and other public standards.
    • See especially their documentation of the schema for StratML Part 1

  12. The schema for StratML Part 1, Strategic Plans, has been included in Schema Central by Priscilla Walmsley of Datypic.com.


  13. Owen Ambur is promoting the notion that political parties and candidates for elective office should be expected (by their constituencies) to post their platforms on the Web in StratML format. To prove the concept, he has begun posting the issue statements of candidates on his personal Web site.
If you are aware of other services indexing or otherwise leveraging the emerging StratML standard and/or StratML documents, please contact Owen Ambur to have a link posted here. We are particularly interested in services addressing any of the prospective purposes of the standard but would be happy to be surprised by useful and creative services we have not yet anticipated.

See also our page listing the <WebAddresses> (URLs) of the StratML instance documents to facilitate reuse, including automated indexing  by search services
HISTORY of StratML