Case Study: Using XML Schemas to Implement EAI Solutions

by André LeClerc

I am currently the application architect on a project whose purpose is to accept service orders from Web clients and implement those orders by triggering workflows in back-end legacy systems. The exact details of the client or the application are unimportant. What's important is that this is a typical enterprise application integration (EAI) scenario -- using a Web client to invoke end-to-end transactions via a workflow middle layer that ultimately uses back-end resources to perform its work. I will spare you the gory details of the technical architecture and focus on the benefits of using the new World Wide Web Consortium XML schemas to externalize a type system and use XML files as data storage.