[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

RE: The triples datamodel -- was Re: Semantic Web pe

• To: 'Rick Marshall' <rjm@z...>, "Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@c...>
• Subject: RE: The triples datamodel -- was Re: Semantic Web permathread, iteration n+1
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <len.bullard@i...>
• Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 08:38:05 -0500
• Cc: XML Developer List <xml-dev@l...>

Actually, yes.  It's called liquidated damages if your system 
fails to meet the requirements in the contract.  It is not a 
new endeavour.  It is quite common.  As I read this thread, 
it occurs to me that many here are focused entirely on the 
programming side of the argument and too few are acquainted 
with the business processes (not what you are coding; what 
your sales, marketing and contracts personnel execute to 
work with their customers).

It is part of the pressure to use commodity schemas where 
there is a requirement to interoperate across distributed and  
loosely coupled organizations.  While we may not like all the 
details, and we do have to XSLT in and out of local systems, 
it is the occurrence of schemas like Global Justice XML that 
pushes our customers to converge.  They don't always but in 
every case that they don't, their costs go up due to the 
high cost of localized, customized variations on what is 
otherwise a turnkey system.  

The problem is changing the tire in the intersection.  From 
one direction (say committees) come schemas, from another 
comes an evolving framework (say DNA, ASP, Longhorn, etc.) 
and then there are the local agency authorities who insist 
on preserving local reporting requirements.   If any of 
these push a schedule out or cause a post-implementation 
system to fail, negotiations follow.   We've never lost 
a customer to this or been sued, but we are rare in our 
business for that because in a firm fixed price model, 
we bid higher implementation costs and accept the risk 
of losing bids for the benefit of higher quality.

It isn't "Pay me now or pay me later."  That's cost plus. 
It's "Bill me now and fix me later at your expense."  If 
you ever wonder about outsourcing, this is ONE of the 
causes.

len


From: Rick Marshall [mailto:rjm@z...]

and if the schema changes, but not the xslt, and someone suffers 
financial loss - tax returns fail, orders lost, etc - who pays?

or will this be a whole new endeavour for lawyers? do i need extra 
profesional indemnity to cover what happens when you change something 
without telling me?

this thread is starting to worry me....

• Prev by Date: Re: Difference between RPC and Doc. type in WSDL(need help)
• Next by Date: RE: Conformance Testing and Schemas (WAS RE: The triples da tamodel -- was Re: Sema ntic Web permathread, iteration n+1 )
• Previous by thread: Re: The triples datamodel -- was Re: Semantic Web permathread, iteration n+1
• Next by thread: RE: The triples datamodel -- was Re: Semantic Web permathread, iteration n+1
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread