XML standard may unite systems.

Instant links between enterprise resource planning and accounting systems built by different suppliers may be possible if vendors adopt a fledgling British standard.

An XML schema, released by the Business and Accounting Software Developers' Association (Basda), allows systems to understand purchase orders and invoices produced to different formats by using the web language XML to describe the data contained.

Seventy suppliers, including Oracle, SAP, Baan and PeopleSoft, have promised to adopt the standard, called eBIS-XML, says Dennis Keeling, Basda's chief executive.

Analysts welcome the move but caution that the standard may not achieve the critical mass needed to ensure its success. Jonathan Steel, chairman of UK researcher The Bathwick Group, said the standard will not be a breakthrough until 'every vendor agrees to it'.

Others were more optimistic. 'Basda has done a good job of lining up industry support, which makes this initiative promising,' said Ovum analyst Heather Stark. 'The business application market is littered with failed standards, but this is well worth watching.'

The schema has been posted on Microsoft's Biztalk XML web site and Basda's site. 'This is an important breakthrough,' said Neil Hutson, Microsoft's Biztalk application architect. 'It is the first time we have really seen XML in action sharing business documents.'

Basda claims that 94% of developers planned to implement eBIS into their accounting packages, according to a survey of delegates at its eBIS-XML workshop held last month. Of those, 46% said they aim to have the work completed by the end of March.

Rivals to the eBIS standard will emerge, said Hutson. Competing standards might nevertheless be able to co-exist by using eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), a standard proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium, as a translator.

Additional eBIS elements such as order acknowledgement, delivery note and remittance are likely to be released in the 'next month to six weeks', added Keeling.