Tight Integration of Booking Systems based on XML Message Exchange

XML is recognized as the standard syntax to define communication protocols for e-commerce applications; messages exchanged by these protocols are based on an XML format. In particular, in the context of tourism, the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) [2] defined a very rich set of standard XML messages concerning e-business activities, like hotel booking, car rental, flight reservation, etc.; heterogeneous booking information systems can be part of a unique distributed tourism system that connects hotels, travel agencies, tour operators,Global Distribution System (GDS), Internet Distribution Systems (IDS) and travelers. The OTA standard is the most famous proposal, but several others are based on XML message exchange. In this paper, we present a technique for tightly integrating information systems with XML-based Message Exchange Services. The technique has been jointly developed by A.E.C. s.r.l., a young and dynamic Italian company working in the area of information systems for hotels and booking, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bergamo. Moving from XML Schema specifications, the technique generates a mapping descriptions between the messages and the internal data structures of the information systems. Then, two components named Message Loader and Message Generator, respectively load incoming messages and generate outcoming messages. As a result, the system is easily integrated with communication channels, and the correctness of XML message processing is guaranteed by the mapping information are directly derived from the XML Schema specifications.