Elkera XML DTD and schema design services

Elkera's design consultants have over 10 years experience developing and adapting SGML and XML DTDs and schema (schema) for a wide range of document types, including judicial decisions, legislation, contracts, technical documents and business documents.

A schema is the foundation of a single source or dynamic enterprise publishing system. Every application in the system must be developed around the schema. If changes are made to the schema, changes may be needed to many applications. Expert analysis during the selection or design of a schema is one of the most important contributors to the development of a good system architecture.

A well designed schema will ensure efficient application development and legacy data conversion. It will enable the enterprise to select the best tools and update or replace them as needed. It will ensure that content contains the information needed for all publishing and processing tasks. It should also ensure that content can be efficiently created and that it is consistently marked up.

One of the most difficult choices customers face is whether to use and adapt an existing schema or develop a new schema. If an existing schema can be used, it should reduce costs by providing access to existing authoring and publishing tools that are tailored to the schema.

Even where an existing schema is used, there may be a need to add extensions to meet enterprise needs.

If this choice is made without adequate information and awareness of the critical issues, customers may find that all the apparent advantages of using an existing schema are lost.

Elkera consultants guide customers through a step by step analysis that ensures all relevant requirements are taken into account in the selection and design process. These steps may include:

• the customer's business requirements (project vision)
• the generic structure of content and its consistency
• required publishing outputs
• semantic processing needs for information retrieval purposes
• publishing work flow
• sources of content
• author characteristics and needs
• requirements for data exchange with other stakeholders
• the suitability of existing schema, covering function, tools availability and fit to requirements
• the implications of either modifying an existing schema or developing a new schema.

If you are planning to develop a single source or dynamic enterprise publishing system, Elkera will save you time and expense. Elkera's extensive experience and development methodologies will enable you to quickly select or develop a schema that fully meets your enterprise's needs.