Any agency that produces several publications understands the challenge of managing multiple versions. Each time a content author changes the text, the Web pages must also be edited. This can take a Webmaster hours searching for the exact places where the changes were made both in the text and in the HTML document. Again, with XML, the Webmaster needs only to change the XML source document. This significantly reduces time spent on changes to existing publications.

As Figure 3 illustrates, under existing HTML-based Web technologies (bottom figure), the Web team’s resources are increasingly used up in routine maintenance and operational tasks. Eventually, resources for new development opportunities are completely squeezed out. Using the new XML-based Web technologies (top figure), routine operational and maintenance tasks are increasingly automated and demand less time, so the opportunity for new development increases dramatically. The Web team can devote more time to higher-skill, higher value development projects. (This data is based on CTG’s ROI analysis of its own Web site conversion to XML, which is covered in more detail in CTG’s publication, Return on Investment In Information Technology: A Guide for Managers, http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/guides/roi)

Figure 3. Costs Trends Analysis of XML Implementation.