A Guide to cXML

Tuesday December 06 2016

If you’re a business owner, most likely you’ve run across some Ecommerce verbiage here and there. Today, we’ll be touching on cXML, what it is, and how it benefits your company. Shall we get started? 

What is cXML?

Commerce Extensible Markup Language (cXML) is a protocol created by Ariba in 1999 for the use of communicating business documents between applications, Ecommerce hubs, and suppliers. In a nut shell, it’s a subset of XML that’s specific to commerce. 

How does it work?

A programmer uses cXML to define fields, assigning them to various lists called “schemas.” Schemas are able to communicate to programmers how to reference these fields when creating data. For example, let’s refer to integration. Information fields may differ from one software to another. So, schemas act as a sort of decoder — ensuring that nothing gets lost in translation with your data. Pretty neat, right?

Why’s is cXML?

Though cXML is used for commerce, it’s a protocol based in XML. Meaning, information is still arranged in plain text — and able to view on a standard web browser. For your business, this translates to lower overhead and flexibility in withstanding additional information as it flows in. 

As a business owner, how does cXML affect me?

An easier benefit to digest, cXML allows your business to prepare for the future of Ecommerce. It’s the most widely adopted business-to-business (B2B) protocol today and streamlines how you do business electronically. This, in turn, saves you time, resources and precious productivity.

If you’ve been considering streamlining your Ecommerce using cXML, be sure to check more information on cXML here. For more details on our all-inclusive Omnichannel Commerce, give our team at BirdDog Software a call at (877) 794-5950.