At 8:24 AM -0400 10/4/08, Costello, Roger L. wrote:

>  > Many organizations have found that an iterative
>>  process, in which technology experts consult with SMEs and
>>  revise the specification, and the design, many times during
>>  development.
>
>Good points. I did not mean to imply that the development of a Data
>Specification is a one-time thing. As you point out, a Data
>Specification may be revised iteratively as deeper insights are
>obtained.
>
>Nonetheless, my question remains: what is the connection between a Data
>Specification and a derived XML Schema design?

You didn't get my point, or at least my whole point. I suggest that
your SMEs be involved in BOTH development of specification documents
AND development, or at least testing and adjustment, of the data
design. Given their involvement throughout the process, your
question is simply a question of whether the original specification
is continually updated as the requirements are CLARIFIED and ADJUSTED
or if the resultant data design is documented in some other way.

* Clarified, because as the SMEs see how they are interpreted by the
techies and see what structures result from implementing the original
specifications, they will clarify the requirements. (At least, I have
never seen a Data Specification that was so perfect that as the SMEs
saw it implemented they didn't think of things that should have been
there from the beginning and realize that it was ambiguous in some
aspects that cause techies to do something surprising).

* Adjusted, because the techies will discover that some of the things
the SMEs specified require magic, others will be very costly, and
others don't seem reasonable. However, instead of simply making changes
to "fix" these "errors" in the spec, they will consult with the SMEs.
It is likely that SOME of these things don't matter, and some are
critical. If the techies just guess the data design will be broken.
If they follow the original data specification slavishly it will be
inelegant, inefficient, and probably broken.

So, if you continue to revise the Data Specification as requirements
are discovered and accommodated, then at the end there will be a
1:1 relationship. And if you abandon that document as a "starting
place" and document your schema elsewhere, then there won't be.
Your question is not, or at least in my opinion should not be, a
question about data design, it is a question about documentation
practice.

-- Tommie
-- 

======================================================================
B. Tommie Usdin                        mailto:btusdin@m...
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                           Phone: 301/315-9631
Suite 207                                    Direct Line: 301/315-9634
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
----------------------------------------------------------------------
   Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in XML and SGML
======================================================================