Chapter One

Introduction

XML equips organizations with the tools to develop programmatic solutions to manage their data interchange environments using the same economies of scale associated with their DM environments. XML complements existing DM efforts nicely and enables the development of new and innovative DM techniques. Rather than looking at data management as a set of many problems, each consisting of a method of transporting, transforming, or otherwise evolving data from one point to alternate forms, practitioners can now look at the big picture of DM—the complete set of systems working together, and how data moves amongst them. This is jumping up one conceptual level—moving from thinking of the challenge in terms of its individual instances to thinking of it in terms of a class of similar challenges. It is an architectural pattern that is seen frequently as systems evolve. First, a solution is created for a specific problem. Next, a slightly different problem arises that requires another specific solution. As more and more conceptually similar problems arise that differ only in the details, eventually it makes sense from an architectural standpoint to develop a general solution that deals with an entire class of similar problems by focusing on their commonalities rather than their differences.

This first chapter begins by describing a present-day DM challenge. We then present the definitions of DATA and METADATA used throughout the book. The next section presents a brief overview of DM. This is followed by a justification for investing in metadata/DM. We acknowledge the challenge of XML's