ISO/TS 23164:2025
(Main)Automation systems and integration — Core vocabulary for industrial data
Automation systems and integration — Core vocabulary for industrial data
This document specifies a vocabulary for industrial data that defines generic terms for things that exist in more than one industrial domain. The following are within the scope of this document: — definition of terms for generic types of industrial thing; EXAMPLE 1 Definitions of the terms “material object”, “artefact” and “product” are within the vocabulary. — definition of terms relevant to assemblies, systems and their breakdown structures; — definition of terms relevant to activities and participation in activities; — definition of terms relevant to positions and roles in organizations; — definition of terms relevant to behaviour, capability and function; — definition of terms relevant to state and condition; — definition of terms relevant to specifications, designs and plans; — definition of terms relevant to versions, alternatives and configurations for specifications, designs and plans; — definition of terms relevant to signals and other carriers of information and to devices that process signals and information; — definition of terms relevant to physical quantities and properties. The following are outside the scope of this document: — definition of terms that are relevant to data themselves, rather than the things that data are about; EXAMPLE 2 Definitions of the terms “data” and “information” are not within the vocabulary. — definition of terms that are relevant to representations. EXAMPLE 3 Definitions of the terms “representation” and “model” are not within the vocabulary.
Systèmes d'automatisation et intégration — Vocabulaire de base pour les données industrielles
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
Technical
Specification
ISO/TS 23164
First edition
Automation systems and
2025-01
integration — Core vocabulary for
industrial data
Systèmes d'automatisation et intégration — Vocabulaire de base
pour les données industrielles
Reference number
© ISO 2025
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ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 1
3.1 Terms and definitions .1
3.2 Terms related to particular and kind .2
3.3 Terms related to artefact, product and material object .3
3.4 Terms related to part and component .4
3.5 Terms related to things that are aggregations of parts .5
3.6 Terms related to activity and participation .9
3.7 Terms related to breakdown.10
3.8 Terms related to behaviour, capability and function .11
3.9 Terms related to state . 13
3.10 Terms related to person, organization, position and role in organization .14
3.11 Terms related to process and service .16
3.12 Terms related to requirement, design and specification .16
3.13 Terms related to method and plan .17
3.14 Terms related to physical quantity and physical property .17
3.15 Abbreviated terms .21
Annex A (informative) Development methodology .22
Annex B (informative) Guidance on groups of terms .25
Annex C (informative) Definitions of terms in sources .32
Bibliography .38
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through
ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee
has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations,
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with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types
of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the
ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent
rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a)
patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that
this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at
www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
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related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 184, Automation systems and integration,
Subcommittee SC 4, Industrial data.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
The terms and definitions in this document are applicable to all ISO/TC 184/SC 4 standards. Depending upon
the standard, these terms can be implemented as classes, relationships, properties or other types of model
or ontology element. The core terms can be used in the documentation of the links between the different
standardized data models, ontologies and software applications that need to work together to produce a
digital twin for an industrial activity. The terms in the set can also help with data integrity by making sure
we are talking about the same thing.
This document:
— provides a vocabulary that is not only understandable by ISO/TC 184/SC 4 experts, but also by domain
engineers and by business decision makers;
NOTE 1 Many of the terms and definitions can already exist in the Oxford English Dictionary or in standards,
but the definition of an integration layer requires their selection and so even these terms are included.
— enables the development of reference data that are equally applicable to all ISO/TC 184/SC 4 standards;
NOTE 2 Domain experts will produce detailed taxonomies that specialise generic items identified by terms in
the set. The domain experts will not need detailed knowledge of any particular ISO/TC 184/SC 4 standard or of
any particular top-level ontology.
— defines an interface to reference data developed outside ISO/TC 184/SC 4, and thereby enables its use by
all ISO/TC 184/SC 4 standards.
NOTE 3 This document is intended to be analogous in the industrial domain to the Dublin Core in the document
management domain. The original Dublin Core metadata set consisted of only 15 terms. This initial set has since
been expanded to 55 terms. This document is of a similar size.
The role of this document in the development of reference data libraries is shown informally in Figure 1.
Figure 1 — Role of this document in the development of reference data libraries
A top-level ontology in Figure 1 addresses generic issues such as the representation of whole-part
relationships, change over time, and the distinction between actual objects, requirements and plans.
At present ISO 10303 does not contain a top-level ontology. However, the Integrated Resource data models
can be regarded as containing an informal top-level ontology. ISO 15926-2 is a top-level ontology.
v
The reference data libraries for different domains in Figure 1 are shown as independent. In practice there
are large overlaps. This document shows which reference data items are specialisations of the same generic
item, and therefore make the overlaps easier to manage.
The approach used to develop the content of this document and to define its scope is described in Annex A
“Development methodology”.
The guidance on groups of terms and their motivation is contained in Annex B “Guidance on groups of terms”.
NOTE 1 The methodology followed in the development of this document has been to:
a) define a thing about which industrial data is held using natural language;
b) assign a preferred term consisting of one or more English language words to the thing.
Because the things and their definitions are primary with terms assigned to them, this document can also be called a
“thesaurus”.
NOTE 2 In this document the preferred terms are unique. In some cases, admitted terms are also given, which are
not necessarily unique.
NOTE 3 Where possible the terms are taken from international standards.
NOTE 4 The terms can be used in the text definitions and descriptions of entities and attributes in industrial data
models, and of classes and relationships in industrial ontologies. The terms can be used in the text definitions and
descriptions of items within industrial data libraries for particular industrial domains.
vi
Technical Specification ISO/TS 23164:2025(en)
Automation systems and integration — Core vocabulary for
industrial data
1 Scope
This document specifies a vocabulary for industrial data that defines generic terms for things that exist in
more than one industrial domain.
The following are within the scope of this document:
— definition of terms for generic types of industrial thing;
EXAMPLE 1 Definitions of the terms “material object”, “artefact” and “product” are within the vocabulary.
— definition of terms relevant to assemblies, systems and their breakdown structures;
— definition of terms relevant to activities and participation in activities;
— definition of terms relevant to positions and roles in organizations;
— definition of terms relevant to behaviour, capability and function;
— definition of terms relevant to state and condition;
— definition of terms relevant to specifications, designs and plans;
— definition of terms relevant to versions, alternatives and configurations for specifications, designs and plans;
— definition of terms relevant to signals and other carriers of information and to devices that process
signals and information;
— definition of terms relevant to physical quantities and properties.
The following are outside the scope of this document:
— definition of terms that are relevant to data themselves, rather than the things that data are about;
EXAMPLE 2 Definitions of the terms “data” and “information” are not within the vocabulary.
— definition of terms that are relevant to representations.
EXAMPLE 3 Definitions of the terms “representation” and “model” are not within the vocabulary.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org
3.2 Terms related to particular and kind
3.2.1
particular
individual
thing existing in space and time
EXAMPLE 1 The pump with serial number “X12345”, which was supplied by Fred Bloggs and Co. to UGE Inc. on
2019-09-27, is a particular pump.
EXAMPLE 2 The computer file http:// www .uge .com/ annual -report/ 2019 .docx is a particular computer file. It was
created at a particular time and m
...
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