StratML This project is to describe, develop and promote StratML as an international standard. Vision_1072ae7b-dc0e-4a8c-b9c4-ff2b9d1452e8 Mission_1072ae7b-dc0e-4a8c-b9c4-ff2b9d1452e8 Machine-readability Machine-readable data is data (or metadata) which is in a format that can be understood by a computer. International Accountability Strategic Alignment Strategic alignment is about marshalling all of the organization’s resources to achieve its goals and objectives. Practically speaking – beyond establishing a clear, concise, and inspirational vision statement – that means organizational leaders should: 1. Render the organization’s strategic plan in open, standard, machine-readable StratML format; 2. Populate the goal and objective identifier elements with globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) or other identifiers that are standardized, unique, and well-known within the organization; 3. Enable referencing of those identifiers in metadata associated with each record/document/piece of content, thereby creating linkages to the goal(s) and objective(s) it supports and thus strategic alignment, literally speaking; and 4. Make available to the organization’s stakeholders a content/document/records management application/service that supports the StratML standard and makes it easy (semi-automatic) for users to provide the necessary metadata. (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Transparency Standardised Revenue Develop revenue opportunities for StratML implementations Goal_a434e768-eec7-41cf-a4b3-58a09a7e975d 1 Outreach Spread the word about StratML Goal_9d93b65f-669a-4613-a537-04e64d396bb6 2 REST Services Develop RESTful services for StratML Goal_10e758fd-1fb2-49f6-ab0e-c5d83e23925a 3 Provide indexes giving access to StratML documents using restful naming and delivery conventions in HTML, Json and XML. Jason Lind has provided a RESTful service for the IRS charity data. Simply execute a GET at https://stratml.services/api/PartTwo or https://stratml.services/api/PartOne to discover the id's and then https://stratml.services/api/PartTwo/{id} and https://stratml.services/api/PartOne/{id} to get the underlying document. Chris Fox has provided a RESTful service for projects whose StratML has been made public in StratNavApp.com. Simply execute a GET at https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part1, or https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part2, or https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part3, to discover the IDs and then https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part1/{id}, https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part2/{id}, or https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part3/{id} to get the content. For styled content, it is https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part1/{id}/Styled, https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part2/{id}/Styled, or https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/part3/{id}/Styled Chris Fox Developed a StratML REST service at https://StratNavApp.com Performer Jason Lind Developed a StratML REST service at https://stratml.services Performer Improvement Continue to improve the StratML Standard Goal_de71940d-7a38-4ca5-943d-7fdce7312bd9 4 Developer Resources Develop and improve resources for StratML developers Goal_d3378b25-557f-4c04-ab00-d04be162fec2 5 The forms-based UIs that have been developed thus for creating and editing StratML files are listed with hyperlinks at http://stratml.us/#Forms The prototypical StratML services available thus far are listed at http://stratml.us/#Services A listing of some of the types of tools, apps, and services that will be required is available in StratML format at http://stratml.us/carmel/iso/SMLTASwStyle.xml  The schemas themselves are documented at: - http://stratml.us/#Part1  - http://stratml.us/#Part2  - http://stratml.us/#Part3 Owen Ambur StratML Committee Chair ISO Status Achieve International Standards Organisation (ISO) status Goal_a3c95862-e129-461e-a43c-287253b4666a 6 Part 1 is already an ISO standard ( (ISO 17469-1). Parts 2 and 3 have yet to achieve ISO standard. International Standards Organisation (ISO) Stakeholder Consultation & Linkages Stakeholder Consultation & Linkages Goal_7ce42994-74a7-4d98-b990-7460f3b44078 7 One of the problems with strategic planning as it is commonly conducted is that stakeholders are not actively engaged. An even more basic problem is that many organizations have not even explicitly identified their stakeholders, much less linked their goals to them. Again, Congress has recognized that problem and established a good practice. The eGov Act requires agencies to work together to link their performance goals to key stakeholder groups.9 The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Intentions - What do we want to accomplish? What are our longer-term goals and near-term objectives? Stakeholders - Who is trying to do it and for the benefit of whom? Results - How do we know if progress is being made and when success has been achieved? requires that stakeholders be consulted. 10 However, as currently practiced, such consultation leaves much to be desired. (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Capability/Process Maturity Capability/Process Maturity Goal_3b56684b-636e-4aa2-8759-425bd21d7697 8 All of the existing “social” networking services are immature for business-quality usage. However, combined with an open standard like StratML, business networking services can help organizations engage their stakeholders far more efficiently and effectively (maturely) than ever before possible. 11 (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Agility Agility Goal_48cfed9b-5e4d-42ec-99b6-71b4748adc52 9 Another problem is that strategic plans are typically updated every three to five years, with considerable time, effort, money, and fanfare invested in publishing them in lovely glossy format … at which point they become “shelfware,” outdated before the ink is dry. Maintaining plans in machine-readable StratML format on the Web facilitates updating to accommodate the increasing pace of change. (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Data Centricity (Rather than Software Centricity) Data Centricity (Rather than Software Centricity) Goal_942543c4-1a35-4373-905a-86e711eb8ac8 10 Naturally, as long as their customers let them get away with it, software and service providers want to build into their offerings means of locking users into doing business with them on a long-term basis – particularly by using proprietary data formats, “owning” and controlling their users’ data, and making it difficult and costly for them to switch to other products and services. Customer loyalty should be based upon superior service, not proprietary data-based vendor lock-in. (from: http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Data Standards (Semantics & Structure) Data Standards (Semantics & Structure) Goal_9cafea1d-e706-4cff-86b2-e5374b3c7a36 11 Business data and documents should be relatively persistent and maintained in open, standard formats – like StratML – throughout their full life cycles. By contrast, software and services should be fungible, based upon quality and value, which may change as rapidly as the technology supporting it. Switching costs should be low. Software and service providers should compete on the basis of real value-add and superior service, rather than artificially imposed proprietary exploitation of users’ data. (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Interoperability Interoperability Goal_1609ff44-5771-48e9-9e9a-1d6cef7f0179 12 By virtue of compliance with open data standards, information should flow seamlessly across organizational and system boundaries, free of software dependencies. (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Discoverability Discoverability Goal_e229d178-93f5-45ce-82e2-5f174722a224 13 It should be quick and easy for users to query and discover content/documents/records based upon the goals/objectives with which they are aligned as well as stakeholder groups they support, and vice versa (top-down & bottom-up). (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Metrics Metrics Goal_6532d810-9f72-4f40-89e3-297b5967e35b 14 Performance indicators should automatically be gleaned, aggregated, and reported from records created in the routine course of the business process (rather than as a separate after-the-fact, madeup/make-work reporting process). To accommodate that requirement, the original, authoritative records themselves should be created and maintained in open, standard, machine-readable format so that the process of auditing data maintained in databases can be automatically conducted as anytime. (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) Partnership Partnership Goal_44cfb1bc-374e-446d-9bac-78a9a6ee5343 15 Performance partnerships should be formed around common values and shared objectives, which should be cross-referenced in each organization’s performance plan. The stratml:Reference elements can be used to do so, by citing the identifiers of the shared objectives. Value-added service providers can reference that data to support each of the performance partners by helping them manage their own outputs while monitoring those of their partner(s). (from http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/AIIM-BP-StratML.pdf) International Achieve International use Goal_0c4a02d1-442c-40fd-9858-7f125ca18315 16 Section 10 of the GPRA Modernization Act (GPRAMA) requires U.S. federal agencies to publish their strategic and performance plans and reports in machine-readable format, like StratML. We are not yet aware of any other countries or international organisations with a similar requirement. Charitable Fundraising Facilitate the identification and selection of charitable causes to which donors may wish to contribute Goal_1850678b-8735-490d-bbb2-e91f1dd26b5f 17 Charitable Donors Charities Charity portals / aggregators Build a portal(s) which allows donors to search and evaluate charitable organisations using data submitted by them in StratML format Build a portal(s) which allows donors to search and evaluate charitable organisations using data submitted by them in StratML format Objective_4552298b-0b2e-466d-9fab-a119ff095a69 1 Encourage charitable organisations to submit plans and performance plans to the portal(s) in StratML format Encourage charitable organisations to submit plans and performance plans to the portal(s) in StratML format Objective_26aefe2b-6ea6-42e4-943b-8dffc0ce356c 2 Encourage donors to use the portal(s) to identify and select charitable causes to support Encourage donors to use the portal(s) to identify and select charitable causes to support Objective_f5560ba9-3509-4397-8c46-ea1edd10cb4e 3 Some training and promotional materials have already been produced See http://stratml.us/references/StratMLTraining.htm C.More than 4,000 StratML Documents have been created and are freely available for usage in tools, apps, and services demonstrating the utility of the standard. Most are available at http://stratml.us/drybridge/index.htm, with a few more at http://strategiclearningapp.com/Project/PublicStratMLList StratML provides a standard vocabulary and schema for strategic and performance plans and reports As such it provides a benchmark for the completeness of a strategy. See Michael Taylor's blog post on this subject. StratML Part 1, Strategic Plans, is an ISO Standard StratML Part 2, Performance Plans & Reports, was approved as an ANSI standard The existing prototypical query services do not take advantage of the structure and semantics of the schema. The greatest unmet need is for a robust, faceted query service for the StratML collection, which now comprises >3,400 documents.  In particular, it would be good to be able to selectively query the names and/or descriptions of Goals, Objectives, Values, and Stakeholders. MarkLogic had such a prototypical query service, whose history is documented at http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/index.htm#MarkLogic.  Unfortunately, the guy who developed it left the company and his prototype was not maintained.  However, a couple screen shots are available at http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/MarkLogicStratMLQueryPrototype.htm and the StratML collection is now considerably larger and Part 1 is now an international standard.  So such a service is more needed and, presumably, would be more valuable. Owen makes use of a site-specific search on Google, but this only works on a single site at a time, and won't pick up any StratML posted elsewhere. One would have thought that this was a problem that needs to be solved by someone like Google who would have the capability to index StratML/XML documents across all domains. StratNavApp includes a Google site-specific search which covers Owen's site and the public StratML available on StratNavApp (i.e. two sites, but not more) - see here - but otherwise suffers the same limitations of the capability mentioned in the previous paragraph.  AIM will charge for StratML training Fees may deter people from learning about StratML. Is there an opportunity for providing complimentar free materials? StratML does not incorporate any graphical elements Much of the strategic discourse I encounter relies heavily on graphical elements. Such graphical elements range from: - simple text formatting, such as bullet points, lists, tables, charts, graphs, etc., which enhance the readability of information, to - graphical representations of key strategy concepts, such as Balanced Scorecard Strategy Maps (which show the causal relationships between goals) and Porter Activity Maps (which show the interdependencies and tradeoffs between the key activities which underpin and organisations strategic positioning). Both of these types can be reduced to XML, but are not allowed for in StratML. A simple solution would be to allow HTML, or a subset thereof, in the description fields within StratML. StratML forces strategic discourse this to be reduced to plain (albeit very structured) text only. Although this might ultimately improve the quality of strategic discourse, it might also slow its rate of adoption. This is an area for consideration for future inclusion in the StratML standard. "StratML" generates low levels of search See, for example, Google Trends analysis at https://www.google.co.uk/trends/explore#q=stratml , which shows that very few people do Google Searches containing the term "StratML". The StratML applications developed thus far are prototypical in nature and lack features compelling enough to attract high-volume usage Most of the emphasis thus far seems to have been on generating StratML, rather than on consuming it. What is probably required is one or more aggregating portals which bring together subsets of StratML output (e.g. US charitable organisations, or UK political candidates) with tools to work with the data to achieve specific objectives. Posting most StratML on a US Government domain may deter international / non-US adoption StratML lacks any representation of action plans to achieve strategic goals and objectives US Federal agencies are required to publish their strategic and performance plans and reports in a machine readable format Section 10 of the GPRA Modernization Act (GPRAMA) requires U.S. federal agencies to publish their strategic and performance plans and reports in machine-readable format, like StratML.  http://xml.fido.gov/stratml/references/PL111-532StratML.htm#SEC10 The Standards Board that is taking over AIIM's standards program, under which StratML has been specified and moved through the ANSI & ISO processes, is planning to develop a strategic plan of its own. HTML5 and RDFa might be positioned as an alternative for exposing the semantics of strategic plans Colin McKenzie suggested that proposing HTML5 plus RDFa might be proposed for devliering the semantics for strategy, instead of "author first" XML. [We might need Colin to elaborate on this to understand its merits, and more importantly, where we think StratML is the stronger contender.] AIIM is withdrawing from standards development, how will the standard continue to progress? On 8 September, Owen mentioned that AIIM is withdrawing from standards development activities. Who will see parts 2 and 3 through the ANSI process? StrategyPlan_1072ae7b-dc0e-4a8c-b9c4-ff2b9d1452e8 2025-10-29 https://www.stratnavapp.com/StratML/Part3/1072ae7b-dc0e-4a8c-b9c4-ff2b9d1452e8/Styled Submitter_1072ae7b-dc0e-4a8c-b9c4-ff2b9d1452e8