In the Top 15 Requirements for Web Office, I described how the use of an XML page behind can be used to leverage existing Blog processes into something that radically increased the value of enterprise blog pages.

It looks like the idea has some wings, as Richard MacManus over at Read/Write Web says in his recent article Gettin' Techi Wit It.

It appears that the team behind at Structured Blogging are leading the charge in making this real.

Let me explain how we intend to implement this at my firm which is one of the big 4 audit/consulting firms:

To begin with, we are going to set up a series of blog types including Bio Blogs, Project Blogs, and Product Blogs.

Behind each blog, we are going to create a simple XML page that is created just like any other XML template. Also, for each collection of a type of Blog, we are going to keep a directory of that type of blog. For example, we are going to have a Bio Blog Directory.

The following four diagrams show how we are planning on making the process work:

The thing that makes this so valuable is the loose coupling. The XML page behind can store information in any format. The blog can display it in a completely different format. What's more, information is captured during the normal flow of work. Finally, the XML page can be leveraged by any number of different downstream applications.

To make this truly successful, the XML page behind will need to store information in consistent format. All Addresses should use a consistent Address XML schema. All HR reporting hierarchies should use a consistent HR Reporting schema.

The question becomes how do we define a whole series of these little address schemas and project schema so that people like me can build their XML pages behind knowing that the XML pages will be truly leverageable. The team behind microformats.org has started the very important work of putting together these mini formats together. They have even got a nice wiki. The more I think about it, the more I realize that Microformats are the nano technology of Web 2.0. Small and very very powerful.

The next issue becomes how to glue all these microformats together, and how to capture the information during normal work-flows. The folks at Structured Blogging are working on this effort. It is my hope to join with that effort in some capacity - at least as a guy who is trying to make this happen within a large organization.

It looks like Ray Ozzie over at microsoft has also been thinking about these issues. His Really Simple Sharing is focused on addressing some of the ways that information can be communicated between blogs.

Ray and the crew at Microsoft have released a the Simple Sharing Extensions for RSS and OPML specification and provided a FAQ