What is StratML?
StratML is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) vocabulary and schema for the information that is commonly contained in strategic plans.
The vocabulary names and defines the elements of strategic plans, and the schema specifies the structure and relationships among the elements of such plans.
XML is the international lingua franca (common language) for sharing information across organizations and systems. For more information on XML, seeWikipediaand/or the W3C'sXML Specification.
Why is StratML needed?
StratML formalizes a practice that is commonly accepted by organizations but often implemented inconsistently. By establishing a standard for the names, definitions, and relationships among the elements of strategic plans, StratML will enable efficient discovery, sharing, referencing, reuse and analysis of such information.
Who is AIIM and what is its role?
AIIM provides education, research, and best practices to help organizations find, control, and optimize their information. As an ANSI accredited standards development organization (SDO), AIIM is well suited to sponsor the development of a standard whose purpose is so highly supportive of its mission.
Additional information about AIIM is available athttp://www.aiim.org.
What is the status of StratML?
StratML is a multi-part standard. Part 1 includes the elements that are common and deemed to be "core" (essential) for strategic plans. Part 2 addresses the core elements of performance plans and reports. Part 3 will include additional elements that are deemed to be useful extensions to those specified in Parts 1 and 2.
Parts 1 and 2 have been approved and published, respectively, as ANSI/AIIM 21:2009 and ANSI/AIIM 22:2011.
During the development, piloting, proof-of-concept phase, hundreds of plans have been converted to StratML format and are available athttp://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#StratPlans.
A number of prototypical applications have also been developed and are available athttp://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Services.
AIIM's StratML Committee has begun to specify Part 3. Participation is open and welcome.
The StratML Committee hopes StratML will be widely adopted as a voluntary consensus standard by organizations worldwide and implemented in myriad applications and services supporting various communities of interest.
What are the core elements of Part 1?
The core elements of strategic plans include: mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, and stakeholders as well as the name(s) of the organization(s) compiling and supporting the plan.
In addition, Part 1 includes a relatively small set of metadata that, while not essential, have been deemed useful. Those elements include the name and contact information for the person submitting the plan in StratML format as well as the source (URL) for the information contained in the plan, if copied from elsewhere. Usage of those elements is optional.
All that is required for compliance with the schema for Part 1 is documentation of one goal and the name of at least one organization supporting it.
What does Part 2 add to Part 1?
Part 2 specifies the basic, minimum additional elements for performance plans and reports, particularly stakeholder roles and performance indicators.
What are some of the more specific purposes of StratML?
The purposes of StratML include but may not be limited to the following:
- Facilitate thesharing, referencing, indexing, discovery, linking, reuse, and analysesof the elements of strategic plans, including goal and objective statements as well as the names and descriptions of stakeholder groups and any other content commonly included in strategic plans.
- Enable the concept of "strategic alignment" to be realized in literal linkages among goal and objective statements and all other records created by organizations in the routine course of their business processes.
- Facilitate the discovery of potentialperformance partnerswho share common goals and objectives and/or either produce inputs needed or require outputs produced by the organization compiling the strategic plan.
- Facilitatestakeholder feedbackon strategic goals and objectives.
- Facilitateupdating and maintenanceof discrete elements of strategic plans without requiring review and approval of the entire plan through bureaucratic channels, thereby helping to make the strategic planning process more agile and responsive to stakeholder feedback and changing circumstances, thus helping to overcome the tendency of strategic plans to become outdated "shelfware".
- Reduce the needless time, effort, inconsistencies, and delays associated with maintaining data redundantly in myriad"stovepipe" systemsrather than referencing the authoritative sources.
- Enable U.S. federal agencies to comply with the provisions of subsections202(b)(4) & (5)and207(d)of the eGov Act, which respectively require agencies to:
- Work together to link their performance goals tokey groups, including citizens, businesses, and other governments, as well as internal Federal Government operations; and
- Adoptopen standards(e.g., StratML) enabling the organization and categorization of Government information in a way that is searchable electronically and interoperably across agencies.
No doubt, forward-thinking organizations and value-added intermediaries will identify additional innovative and creative ways to leverage the StratML standard in support of their stakeholders.
What will StratML do for me?
As a manager in an organization, you will be able more efficiently and effectively to engage your employees, partners, and other stakeholders not only in crafting but also carrying out your strategic goals and objectives.
As an application developer or service provider, you will have the opportunity to leverage and extend the StratML to demonstrate your capabilities to more fully support your existing customers as well as to attract new customers. Having a standard vocabulary and schema for strategic plans will make it easier to develop such applications and services.
As a citizen and tax payer, you will be able to more easily discover, comment on, and participate in the establishment of the goals and objectives of agencies whose missions are of particular interest to you.
As a volunteer and/or contributor to charitable organizations, you will be able to more easily discover those who share your values and are pusuing objectives you consider to be worthy of priority for your support.
As a customer or investor, you will be able to review and provide feedback far more efficiently and effectively on the goals and objectives of companies that are truly customer focused and share their strategic plans openly.
To the degree that Part 2 is implemented and used, you will also be able to track and monitor the performance of organizations about whose goals you care.
In addition, Part 2 will enable vendors to identify their products and services as inputs required to produce outputs desired by customers in order to achieve their objectives. At the same time, consumers will be able to identify the qualities of such products and services they deem to be important. The effect will be to revolutionize the advertising and marketing paradigm, putting consumers in control and vastly reducing the needless time, effort, and cost of bringing suppliers and consumers together in the marketplace.
Finally, as an individual who chooses to lead a mission/goal-directed life, you will be able far more efficiently and effectively to engage those who share your values in the pursuit of objectives you hold in common. In that respect, the current social networking technologies are a mere shadow of what such services can become when they implement the StratML standard and begin to enable focus on the accomplishment of objectives (achievement of results rather than merely what we look like, whom we know, or what we happen to be doing at the moment).
What is the difference between StratML and other XML or strategic plan formats?
While other intitiatives have been mounted to compile abstract and theoretical models of the strategic planning process, StratML is the first to enable the concept of "strategic alignment" to be realized on the Web through literal hypertext linkages among goal/objective statements and the content (records) generated in the business processes conducted in support of them.
Are there any Intellectual Property restrictions for using StratML?
There are no intellectual property restrictions on the use of StratML.
Parts 1 and 2 of the StratML standard are available for purchase atANSI/AIIM 21: 2009 andANSI/AIIM 22: 2011.
The XML schemas for Parts 1 and 2 are freely available for use athttp://stratml.net.
Who is involved in developing StratML?
Representatives of the following organizations havae participated in specifying the StratML standard:
- U.S. Government Printing Office
- XML Community of Practice (xmlCoP)
- Electronic Commerce Connections
- RReckteck LLC
- The Center for Strategic Management
- Themanager.org
- International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- ANSI X12
- Presto Vivace
- i411 (now IntelligenX)
- Grant Thornton
- DRRW.net
- Strategi Consulting
- U. S. Navy
- Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Why does the standards development process take so long?
Developing standards in conformance with the policies of national standards bodies and ISO ensures that the process is open and consensus-driven. Participants with relevant expertise work together to contributeto the standard. To ensure ample opportunity for interested parties to provide input and express opinions, a very formal balloting process is specified by the standards organization.
While proprietary stovepipe systems can often be developed very quickly, such systems may be very inefficient and costly over time. By contrast, achieving the necessary consensus to establish open standards may take a considerable amount of time, but they make it relatively easy to develop applications and services that can interoperate and be maintained at relatively low cost.
Will StratML become an ISO standard?
AIIM initiated the process for adoption of StratML as an ISO standard with the expectation of it becoming an ISO standard in 2013.
Where can I get more information on StratML?
Additional information about StratML - including intial requirements, meeting minutes, meeting notes, and presentation materials - is provided on AIIM's website athttp://www.aiim.org/stratmland on the XML.gov Community of Practice (xmlCoP) site athttp://www.xml.gov/stratml.
If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact the committee chair Owen Ambur atowen.ambur@verizon.netor AIIM atstandards@aiim.org.
How can one get involved?
Any interested party wishing to participate in the project can contact AIIM athttp://www.aiim.org/standardsor via email atstandards@aiim.orgfor more information.
If you would like to start using Part 1 of the StratML standard, feel free to try out any of the StratML forms listed athttp://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Formsand/or contact any of the vendors whose prototype applications and services are listed athttp://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Services.
