XML Data Exchange

By Anthony Muhl

26 April 2010

As the 90’s came to an end and the World Wide Web was going full-steam several issues started to surface. I found myself asking the same questions as so many other professionals, primarily, how do you get your e-commerce sales into your accounting system; in addition, how do you get your cancelled orders, your returns, and your damaged items back into the e-commerce system to properly reflect inventory levels?

The popular answer at the time was with great difficulty - one transaction at a time. All the indicated complications combined with many unrelated vendors add further obstacles to the situation. One must realize that for proper business planning it is imperative that there are reports detailing accurate inventory metrics. For example, knowing your turn-rate for each product (the longer an item sits on your shelf, the more that item erodes away your profit) provides you an in-depth view that ensures your business is receiving an adequate return on your investment. By comparison, manually entering inventory is a straightforward task that offers little strain whereas finding ways to get all of your business software tools to talk to each other is a different story.

Consider that there are many choices in software programs from a vast array of vendors that offers specific functions such as accounting, e-commerce, business planning, business intelligence, and customer relationship management. If you operate a brick and mortar retail store, taking on the challenge of an online store will add layers of additional complexity; and yet, to remain competitive one must look to online to further the reach of the business. So at the end of the day, is there a solution to help business decision makers share data between applications?

The answer is yes, and quite simply XML. The flexibility of XML makes the language such an attractive solution especially when one considers trying to define all of a set language requirements in advance. This particular need creates a situation whereas there will be much growing pains down the road. XML is a language where the user can define the data sets as needed, there are literally no limits. I can use XML to exchange a contact list while accounting can export the sales records in XML to a data warehouse for archival purposes – both instances work.

So what can XML do for your business?

For starters, you are no longer limited to purchasing large bundled software packages from limited vendors. Today, there are a plethora of open-software vendors that offer free versions and minimal charge versions of their applications. Each of these software programs are maintained by a community of developers that incorporate features based on the demand of a collective community. Then there are small scale commercial software applications available such as QuickBooks and PeachTree. I will not stop there, in addition to offering you traditional software solutions; I would like to propose that you look at SaaS as a true equivalent.

Wherever your business ventures take you – may XML be a form of freedom that provides you sustenance - a new found clarity in business intelligence.