SDMX-ML is a format for exchanging information between applications. Therefore each application will store data in whatever form is most effective for its own requirements and import and export information in SDMX-ML format so that it can be readily imported or exported in turn by other applications. In some applications, for example, the SDMX-ML formatted information being used may be mostly tabular numeric information, hence easily manipulated in a relational database. In other applications, the SDMX-ML information may consist of narrative document-like structures with a lot of text, so that a native XML database may be more appropriate. There is no mandatory relationship between SDMX-ML and any particular database or other processing or storage architecture.