Industry-specific standards
A variety of industries and disciplines are developing standardised ways of using XML, sometimes based on ebXML. One of the largest groups is the HR-XML Consortium, which develops and promotes a suite of XML specifications for human resources-related e-commerce and data exchange. Members include recruitment and personnel firms such as Adecco and Kelly Services, ERP vendors including JD Edwards, Peoplesoft, and SAP.
Other examples include cXML (commerce XML, for procurement applications), XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language, for the preparation and exchange of business reports and data such as annual and financial statements--the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia is a participant in this effort), and NITF (News Industry Text Format, developed by the International Press Telecommunications Council to define the structure and content of news articles--Australian Associated Press is an ITPC member).
However, standardisation isn't just about the format of the messages that will be exchanged: the exchange mechanism must also be specified. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) was originally a Microsoft specification but with the backing of other big players SOAP 1.2 has reached the W3C working draft stage. Now that it is no longer proprietary, SOAP is used by ebXML.
