XML-based Electronic Service Delivery Systems: A Case Study

This paper investigates the software issues, protocols, and technologies involved in the design and implementation of modern electronic service delivery systems. This investigation is carried out through a case study, namely, the implementation of a system capable of delivering student grades within a university setting through different types of connecting devices including Personal/Laptop computers, WAP-enabled devices (Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), smart phone,…etc.) and regular SMS-based phones. The implemented system utilizes the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to represent the web data content, whereas, the Extensible Style Language Transformation (XSLT) style sheets are used to customize the presentation of such content on the different connected devices. Several lessons learned from this case study including the easiness by which different access devices can be accommodated by the Web/WAP/XML implementation and the steep learning curve through which new programmers must go through to be ready for this type of implementation