XtabML has been designed to store the results of survey tabulations in a far more flexible manner than a traditional text file format. The XML format records all the structural information about the table and enables the document to become a live information asset. XtabML tables may be:

• republished in any modern format using XML transformation tools
• stored and cataloged in a structured manner that facilitates retrieval
• treated as data and combined with other tables arithmetically or for presentation.
• a repository for key aggregate data such as population targets