As pointed out earlier in this guide, transforming an entire Web site to XML can be a daunting task. So, start out small by converting a small section of your Web site to XML. This approach gives your team the opportunity to explore and learn. From this first step, you will then be able to apply the knowledge gained to expand and enhance the XML implementation.

Consider a “Modest/Moderate/Elaborate” approach to the overall project, which allows the project manager to balance the team’s ability with organizational support for the effort. (CTG’s publication, Opening Gateways: A Practical Guide for Designing Electronic Records Access Programs, offers a thorough explanation of this approach in its “Program Design Tool” section.) Also refer to CTG’s Web site of XML resources, www.thexmltoolkit.org, which contains code samples and explanations based on the modest/moderate/elaborate approach(see Figure 6; click on figure to display a larger image).

Figure 6. An Example “Modest/Moderate/Elaborate” Approach.