cfiXML schemas have been developed to provide a pragmatic solution for electronic data exchange in the capital facilities industry and are available for use now. They are applicable to any industry that requires engineering information including manufacturing, process and power.

Technical information is shared among purchasers, suppliers and engineering contractors throughout the supply chain for the procurement and operations and maintenance of engineering equipment and plant. This information is still commonly shared by stakeholders through traditional paper or “electronic paper” documents. Using, storing and managing this technical information during the life cycle of an equipment item contributes to the overall design, procurement and maintenance costs. Electronic data exchange allows data to be reliably transferred between stakeholders without time consuming, costly and potentially error prone manual transcription of data. cfiXML schemas provide a common language to enable stakeholders to share this information electronically.

High Business Value of Interoperability

Deployment of a system to reliably and efficiently share data electronically (i.e. providing interoperability) will potentially save the capital facilities industry millions of dollars a year. In 2004, NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology ) reported that lack of software interoperability costs the capital facilities industry at least $15.8 billion annually and $1.6 billion/year in the process industry alone [Cost of Inadequate Interoperability in the US Capital Facilities Industry, NIST GCR 04-867, Aug 2004].

Benefits of Electronic Collaboration

• collaborators each use their own preferred tools
• work processes are streamlined improving responsiveness
• costs and project length are reduced
• the need for expensive and multiple custom-built interfaces is reduced
• data become available for use in multiple applications
• improved data integrity results in error reduction
• provides an audit trail of changes which supports legal compliance and reduces risk of litigation

The cfiXML Schema Solution

• provides a software independent electronic data exchange system, based on a standardized method of describing and storing data
• is public domain based on W3C (www) Schema
• is developed and managed by collaborating organizations such as the FIATECH AEX project, and NIST
• is supported by a large range of XML tools for building software
• has been developed to automate information exchange for the design, procurement, delivery, installation, operation and maintenance of engineered equipment
• enables information flow to and from multiple software systems within a company or with other companies
• one interface written to the common language gives access to all compliant applications

This web site is a shared resource for collaborating organizations and work groups to:

• publish open source software and testing tools, examples, XML schemas and associated documentation
• support automation of information exchange between different software systems to streamline the work flows in the capital facility industry
• form a gateway to an open source environment for software developers and implementers through the SourceForge - cfidev project development area.  

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