1. Get data into XML as quickly as possible
2. Keep it in XML until the last possible minute
3. Bring all your XML tools to bear on solving the data processing problem
-- Sean McGrath"
Matches my recent experiences. Using Excel and MsWord:
1. Resources to create DMRL. 4.5 employees and five months.
2. Resources to create MS Word templates for data modules per DMRL
and load into Sharepoint. 2 employees and three to four weeks.
Using XML Data Map from Excel, XSLT and a ten line Visual Basic
program applying system.xml: 1 day to write XSLT and VB. 1 day to
understand XML Data Map. Time to create same templates: 20 seconds.
Load into Sharepoint: one minute.
Not a hard choice unless resources are cheaper than egos or copies of
MS Word are ubiquitous and a day of training is an ego buster. The
DMRL analysis takes the same time either way and Excel is as good a
way to do that as any other. So this isn't about doing everything
with XML. It is about understanding the difference between string
manipulation and WYSIWYG for Monkeys. THe trick of XML is it requires
slightly smarter monkeys.
And then there is the cost of doing it again if the DMCs are coded
badly and have already been hardwired into the Sharepoint design.
