In some of my recent presentations, I've talked about where HR-XML has enjoyed uptake within the broader HR services ecosphere and where it hasn't. See slides 11 and 12 from the deck embedded below (or if the embed is giving you problems, view here). Simply stated, HR-XML has had some success as a starting point for B2B integrations, such as those between applicant tracking systems and screening service providers. This is good. There is a lot of value in such connections. Where HR-XML hasn't proved as useful is for those stakeholders that need a data model that works in a consistent way across HR business processes. I've mentioned in prior posts, the forthcoming 3.0 library goes a long way towards providing the uniform model that has been lacking.
On slide 12, I cover support by "tool and platform" providers. There are a few success stories here, but these are fairly specialized offerings. For example, in one of our recent Webinars, Pilotfish Technology demonstrated an HR-XML-2_5-Enrollment to ASC-X12-834 transformation offered with their XCS eiConsole platform.
With the version 3.0 release, HR standards are much better positioned for some level of support by enterprise application integration (EAI) vendors. This is mainly because the version 3.0 release fits into an architecture that is bigger than just HR. As I've written elsewhere, the version 3.0 library will be the first industry standard to be designed as a plug-in to the Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS).
The Open Applications Group has been quite single minded in advancing the OAGIS architecture through 4 major revisions. OAGIS is now at a point in maturity where it is starting to get direct support by major EAI vendors. The latest evidence in this regard was Microsoft's release at the end of September of a BizTalk Server 2006 Developer Guide for OAGIS. The document provides guidance on using BizTalk with OAGIS Business Object Documents (BODs) and goes through a simple purchase order processing scenario using the OAGIS AcknowledgePurchaseOrder, ConfirmBOD and ProcessPurchaseOrder BODs.
Microsoft is just latest to turn its attention to supporting OAGIS. IBM's Websphere Commerce has for a couple of years offered a set of service interfaces based on OAGIS BODs. You can find very extensive documentation of these interfaces on the Websphere Commerce Website.
There are no guarantees. However, it sure makes sense that aligning HR business language standards with an architecture that is getting increasing attention by major EAI vendors increases the chances for direct support of HR standards as well. My slide 12 was the one dealing with "platform" support. Go back to slide 11. Better support in EAI tools ripples throughout the ecosphere. In 9 years of working with HR-XML, I've learned that there are widely varying capabilities out there. I can assure you there are some organizations that simply aren't likely to adopt standards until they they are supported directly within the tool sets they already know and have deployed.
