ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013

Information technology - Business operational view - Part 10: IT-enabled coded domains as semantic components in business transactions

The primary purpose of ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 is to provide, in a single consolidated document, an integrated approach for the key concepts and their definitions as well as rules pertaining to "coded domains" as they already exist in the multipart ISO/IEC 15944 eBusiness standard, especially Parts 1, 2, 5 and 8. It does so in a systematic and rules-based manner. As such, ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 serves as a methodology and tool for an IT-enabled approach to existing widely used standards, specifications, authority files, pick-lists, etc., of a "codes representing X" nature, i.e. as ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 compliant coded domains, involving the making of (legally-binding) commitments, based on common business practices. ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 specifies the five key characteristics of coded domains and identifies twelve benefits of the use of coded domains. A key purpose of ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 is to maximize and state very explicitly the level of "intelligence" at the highest and most precise required level with respect to the semantics of the actual data being interchanged among autonomous parties in a business transaction. Here the use of coded domains presents a simple and very pragmatic approach at the data element, i.e. semantic component level. It focuses on the development of intelligently coded data elements as part of coded domains. This involves rule-based, structured and pre-defined values whose purpose and use has been clearly stated and unambiguously defined (thereby facilitating an IT-enabled approach). In an Open-edi and eBusiness context ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 supports the use of coded domains as re-useable business objects among participating parties in any type of business transaction. Coded domains can be used is support of any type of scenario component, i.e. "roles", and "Information Bundles (IBs)", and "semantic components (SCs)", as well as scenario attributes. Re-use of coded domains is supported through coded domains being registered through procedures specified in ISO/IEC 15944-2. The semantics of the data values in a coded domain are identified and referenced via unique and unambiguous "ID codes", i.e. as unique identifiers. With such unambiguous and unique ID codes, in ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 compliant coded domains can be associated multiple human interface equivalents (HIEs) in many forms and languages. The approach taken here is that of the separation of the (single) IT interface requirements of semantic interoperability from their (multiple) human interface (linguistic) equivalents (required by the jurisdictional domains of the participating parties as well as those of an individual accessibility nature). Use of ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 therefore facilitates semantic interoperability requirements of both jurisdictional domains and all kinds of parties to a business transaction [including where the buyer is an individual, and public policy requirements apply (e.g. consumer protection, privacy protection, individual accessibility, etc.)]. In addition to its twelve normative clauses and two normative annexes, ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 provides extensive informative text in its Clause 0 "Introduction" and six informative annexes.

Technologies de l'information — Vue opérationnelle d'affaires — Partie 10: Domaines codés activés comme composantes sémantiques dans les transactions d'affaires

General Information

• Status: Withdrawn
• Publication Date: 11-Feb-2013
• ICS: 35.240.60 - IT applications in transport
• ICS: 35.240.63 - IT applications in trade
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 - Data management and interchange
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32/WG 1 - eBusiness
• Current Stage: 9599 - Withdrawal of International Standard
• Start Date: 01-Jun-2023
• Completion Date: 30-Oct-2025

Relations

• Revised: ISO/IEC 15944-10:2023 - Information technology - Business operational view - Part 10: IT-enabled coded domains as semantic components in business transactions
• Effective Date: 23-Apr-2020

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15944-10
First edition
2013-02-15
Information technology — Business
Operational View —
Part 10:
IT-enabled coded domains as semantic
components in business transactions
Technologies de l'information — Vue opérationnelle d'affaires —
Partie 10: Domaines codés activés comme composantes sémantiques
dans les transactions d'affaires

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2013
©  ISO/IEC 2013
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any
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Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
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ii © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword . vi
0  Introduction . vii
0.1  Overview of purpose and nature of coded domains . vii
0.2  Benefits of the use of coded domains . viii
0.3  Identification, mapping and IT-enablement of existing standards for widely-used code
sets. ix
0.4  Link to fundamental components in Business Transaction Model (BTM) . xi
0.5  IT-enabled and content predefined Semantic Components . xii
0.6  Coded domains as reusable business objects . xiii
0.7  Use of "Person", "organization" and "party" in the context of business transaction and
commitment exchange. xiv
0.8  Importance and role of terms and definitions . xv
0.9  Use of "identifier" as "identifier (in business transaction)" to prevent ambiguity . xvi
0.10  Organization and description of document . xvii
1  Scope . 1
1.1  Statement of Scope . 1
1.2  Exclusions . 2
1.3  Aspects currently not yet addressed . 2
1.3.1  Addressing “Quadrant B, C & D” in Figure 5 . 2
1.3.2  Use of coded domains in support of the “Process” component in the Business
transaction model . 2
1.3.3  Use of coded domains with respect to Persons and in particular “individuals” and
associated privacy protection requirements . 2
1.3.4  Use of coded domains in support of “public policy” requirements and in particular
individual accessibility . 2
1.3.5  Detailed levels of rules pertaining to change management aspects of coded domains . 3
1.3.6  Differentiation of categories and levels of Source Authorities (SA) for coded domains . 3
1.4  IT-systems environment neutrality . 3
2  Normative references . 3
3  Terms and definitions . 4
4  Symbols and abbreviation . 38
5  Fundamental principles governing coded domains . 38
5.1  Introduction . 38
5.2  Need to be able to use coded domains in support of commitment exchange . 40
5.3  Coded domains based on clear, predefined rules, i.e., “rule-based” . 41
5.3.1  Requirements of rule-based coded domains as a whole . 41
5.3.2  Rule-base for IT enablement of a coded domain . 43
5.3.3  Rule-base for structuring a coded domain . 43
5.4  Separation of the IT interface from human interface requirements . 44
5.5  Specification and representation of coded domains in an IT-platform neutral manner . 45
6  Business operational view identification and description of coded domains . 46
6.1  Construct of coded domain . 46
6.1.1  Identification of coded domains . 47
6.1.2  Levels of Semantic unambiguity . 48
6.1.3  Rule-base of a coded domain . 49
6.1.4  Table of ID codes and HIEs . 49
6.2  Characteristics of coded domains . 49
6.2.1  “for free” or “for a fee” coded domains . 49
6.2.2  Exhaustiveness of coded domains . 50
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved iii

6.2.3  Semantic granularity .51
6.2.4  Openness of coded domains .51
7  Rules governing rule-base of coded domains .52
7.1  Introduction .52
7.2  Specification of a boundary of a coded domain and inclusion of its members .53
7.3  Specification of exclusionary rules for a coded domain .54
7.4  Source(s) of rule-base governing a coded domain .54
8  Rules for management of ID codes in coded domains .55
8.1  Introduction .55
8.2  Generic rules for the management of a coded domain .55
8.3  Rules governing assignment of ID codes .55
8.4  Rules governing the change management of entries in the coded domain .56
8.4.1  Change management of ID codes .56
8.4.2  Change management of HIEs .57
8.5  Registration of user extensions .57
9  Rules for specifying Human Interface Equivalents (HIEs) to an ID Code in a coded domain .57
9.1  Multiple Human Interface Equivalents (HIEs) for an ID code in a coded domain .57
9.2  Standard structure for semantics of a Human Interface Equivalent (HIE).58
9.3  Rules governing linguistic (written) representations as Human Interface Equivalents
(HIEs) of ID codes as required values in coded domains .59
9.4  Individual accessibility of HIEs of coded domains .59
9.5  Rules governing composite semantics .60
10  Coded domain and controlled vocabularies .60
10.1  Introduction .60
10.2  Rules common to controlled vocabularies and coded domains .61
10.3  Rules governing a controlled vocabulary .61
10.4  Rules governing a coded domain .62
11  Rules governing the registration of coded domains as re-usable business objects .63
11.1  Principles of registration .63
11.2  Process of registration .65
11.3  Coded Domain Registration scheme .65
12  IT-enablement of coded domains .66
12.1  Introduction .66
12.2  Templates for IT-enabled coded domains – Attributes for Scoping an Open-edi scenario
(OeS) .66
12.2.1  Purpose .66
12.2.2  Template structure and content .66
12.3  Template for Scoping Open-edi scenarios .66
12.4  Specification and consolidated template of attributes of Open-edi scenarios, roles,
information bundles (IBs) and semantic components (SCs) .70
Annex A (normative) Coded domain registration administration attributes .74
Annex B (normative) Use of IT-enabled coded domains to ensure semantic interoperability in
support of the “UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” .79
Annex C (informative) Concept and definition of “coded domain” .81
Annex D (informative) Case Study: Example of “e-potato” .87
Annex E (informative) Case study: Example of a coded domain with two writing systems for
Human Interface Equivalents (HIEs) of a set of ID codes - in Russian use of the Cyrillic
alphabet and the romanized form .89
Annex F (informative) Case study: Example of coded domain in Matrix form and XML format as
found in Table 2 in ISO/IEC 5218 “Codes representing the human sexes” .92
Annex G (informative) Determining whether the membership in a coded domain is exhaustive or
non-exhaustive .99
iv © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

Annex H (informative) Examples of identification of different object classes within a coded
domain through the use of semantic qualifiers . 104
Bibliography . 112

Index of Figures
Figure 1 — Need for standard and methodologies for coded domains . x
Figure 2 — Business Transaction Model — Fundamental components (Graphic Illustration) . xi
Figure 3 — Relation of “recorded information”, “data” and “computer system” in electronic
business transactions / Open-edi . xii
Figure 4 — Relations “data” and “data elements” in electronic business transactions / Open-edi . xii
Figure 5 — Purpose of coded domain as IT-enabled and content predefined semantic
components . xiii
Figure 6 — Illustration of Elements of a Data Structure for Human Linguistic Equivalents of an ID
Code – Written form . 58

Index of Tables
Table 1 — Construct of a coded domain . 46
Table 2 — Level of Semantic Unambiguity based on the UN Convention of rights of persons with
disabilities (in support of a collaboration space pertaining to commitment
exchange). 48
Table 3 — Template for specifying the scope of an Open-edi scenario . 67
Table 4 — Consolidated template of attributes of Open-edi scenarios (OeS), roles, information
bundles (IBs) and semantic components (SCs) . 71
Table A.1 — A.Administrative attributes for registration of a coded domain as a business object . 76
Table B.1 — Codes representing levels of semantic unambiguity in support of semantic
interoperability equivalency requirements . 80
Table D.1 — Illustrating IT Interfaces and different HIEs using the WCO HS code for “potato” . 88
Table E.3 — Use of Columns in Table E.4 . 89
Table E.4 — eBusiness vocabulary terms in Russian Cyrillic Alphabetic order . 90
Table E.5 — Use of Columns in Table E.6 . 90
Table E.6 — eBusiness vocabulary terms in Russian Romanized Alphabetic order . 91
Table G.1 — ISO/IEC 15944-10 Compliant representation of Canada entry in ISO 3166-2 as a
coded domain . 100
Table H.1 — Identification of Essential Data Elements in an ISO 3166-1 entry . 106
Table H.2 — Use of semantic qualifier codes for ISO 3166-1 in an Open-edi and eBusiness
context . 107
Table H.3 — Identification of essential data elements in an ISO 4217 entry . 110
Table H.4 — Use of semantic qualifier codes for ISO 4217 in an Open-edi and eBusiness context . 111

© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved v

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC 15944-10 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 32, Data management and interchange.
ISO/IEC 15944 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Business
Operational View:
 Part 1: Operational aspects of Open-edi for implementation
 Part 2: Registration of scenarios and their components as business objects
 Part 4: Business transaction scenarios — Accounting and economic ontology
 Part 5: Identification and referencing of requirements of jurisdictional domains as sources of external
constraints
 Part 6: Technical introduction to eBusiness modelling [Technical Report]
 Part 7: eBusiness vocabulary
 Part 8: Identification of privacy protection requirements as external constraints on business transactions
 Part 9: Traceability framework*
 Part 10: IT-enabled coded domains as semantic components in business transactions

* Indicates parts of ISO/IEC 15944 under development at the time of publication of this part of
ISO/IEC 15944.
vi © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

0 Introduction
0.1 Overview of purpose and nature of coded domains
The primary purpose of this Part 10 is to provide an integrated approach in a single consolidated document the
key concepts and their definitions as well as rules pertaining to “coded domains” as they already exist in the
multipart ISO/IEC 15944 eBusiness standards, especially Parts 1, 2, 5 and 8.
Within an Open-edi context (based on the ISO/IEC 14662 “Open-edi reference model”), business transactions are
viewed from both a Business Operational View (BOV) and the Functional Services View (FSV). ISO/IEC 15944
focuses on the many requirements of the business operational view aspects of Open-edi in support of
electronic business transactions. The primary aspect which distinguishes and differentiates “Open-edi” (and
ISO/IEC 14662 Open-edi Reference Model compliant standards) is that they are developed to be able to support
the making of commitments among autonomous parties. This requires that the set(s) of recorded (SRIs)
information interchanged in the form of Information Bundles (IBs) as well as Semantic Components (SCs), which
form part of an IB, are not only IT-enabled and IT-platform neutral. It is especially important that where these
semantics are captured, recorded, referenced and used via a specified coded domain, that these are
communicated in a very precise and in an “unambiguous” manner, i.e. at the “level of certainty and explicitness
required” to support the goal of the commitment exchange forming the goal of the business transaction.
In addition, the following Open-edi requirements need to be supported:
a) need for unambiguity in commitment exchange applies especially to semantics of the data
interchanged among the parties concerned;
b) ensure as high a degree of data integrity of the semantics of the data interchanged;
c) maximize an IT-enabled approach;
d) maximize granularity and flexibility

Given the fact that in Open-edi there are many differing internal and external constraints as well as the wide
variety of applications and sectors, it is important that the recorded information interchanged among the
parties concerned be as “granular” and precise as possible. Here “coded domains” serve as flexible “lego
blocks” from which data values can be retrieved and used as unambiguous semantic components.
The concept of “coded domain” is unique in the context of an Open-edi approach and has been defined in an
ISO/IEC 15944 context. This concept and its definition represents an approach, methodology and tool which is
needed to support appropriate level of unambiguity of (electronic) data interchange needed to support. The
concept of “coded domain” covers several perspectives ;
1) business and information (modelling) perspective, i.e., those of users and the BOVs;

2) IT modelling perspectives such as:

a) entity-relationship modelling where a coded domain is viewed as an entity type functioning as a
“domain”; and,
b) object-oriented modelling where a coded domain is viewed as an “object class”.

3) an information science (information management, library, records management, etc.) perspective
where coded domains are viewed as “schedules”, “authority files”, “tables” (which one at times
“attaches” to a concept/term thesauri (or indexing/classification schemes of “instance relationships”;

For the definition, see entry “D033” and Clause 5.3.2 in ISO/IEC 15944-7:2007.
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved vii

4) an electronic data interchange perspective where coded domains are known as “code sets” i.e., a set
of codes representing “xyz”. (pop-ups choices in a data entry module); and,

5) application and implementation perspective (and physical data model) where coded domains are
commonly known as (edi) tables (or reference tables).
The term “coded domain” is introduced to differentiate Open-edi, BOV and e-Business requirements from
various other concepts and associated terms such as generic (encodable) value domains, “enumerated
domains”, code sets, which appear to be similar in nature similar in nature in ISO standards. {See Annex C for
more detailed information}.
In addition, a key purpose of Part 10 is to ensure that at the granular level as much information is made
available about a semantic component, at whatever level of granularity as is required to ensure unambiguity in
a commitment exchange.
Another key purpose of this Part 10 is to maximize the level of “intelligence” at the highest most precise level,
i.e., that of the actual data values being interchanged. Here use of coded domains presents a simple and
pragmatic approach. No “expert system”, intelligent interface, use of heuristics, etc., can metamorphose
“dumb” fuzzy data into unambiguous data values which are precise enough to be able to serve as EDI IBs or
SCs in support of the making of commitments as actualized in a instantiated business transaction. On the
other hand “smart data” within an intelligent structure, i.e., as part of a coded domain, can not only stand on its
own but also be much simpler, precise, easier to reference and use.
This approach at the data element level focuses on the development of intelligently coded data elements as
part of coded domains. This involves rule-based, structured and pre-defined values whose purpose and use
has been stated clearly and unambiguously (hereby facilitating an IT-enabled approach).
0.2 Benefits of the use of coded domains
The benefits of using the construct, methodology and implementation of “coded domains”, in compliance with
this Part 10, presented below include (in no order of importance):
1) Maximizing if not ensuring unambiguity in semantics among parties to a commitment exchange
instantiated as a business transaction;

2) Ensuring ability to support Human Interface Equivalencies (HIEs) in support of multilingual and
individual accessibility requirements;

3) Maximize a Total Quality Management (TQM) approach for data integrity control and trustworthiness
and quality assurance;
4) Maximize exchange ability of data among Persons and their applications through computer-to-
computer electronic data interchange (EDI) among the IT-systems of the parties involved;

5) Serve as a methodology and tool which it IT-neutral, i.e., Part 10 conformant “coded domains” are
completely independent of application software and IT-platforms used;

6) Minimization of data entry costs and simplification data entry processes;

7) Enables more efficient and effective search, retrieval and use of recorded information (in multiple
languages);
8) Significant minimization in costs and duplication of effort due to the inherent shareable nature of
coded domains;
See further SC32/WG1 N0520 “Amended 15944-1:2010 Figure 22 Focus of BOV Open-edi Standardization Work ”for
use in development of Part 10”.
viii © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

9) Increased efficiencies and cost reductions in both the internal operations of organizations and public
administrations as well as among them via EDI;

10) Promotes modularity, re-usability of shared solutions supporting both paperless environments;

11) Increased productivity, through reduction of common (non-competitive) costs at organizations and
public administrations as well as at the jurisdictional domain level; and,

12) Serve as a methodology in support of the development of consensus building with respect to the
development of permitted values of a data element in support of the use of a semantic component in
(electronic) data interchange (based on the Pareto principle ).
0.3 Identification, mapping and IT-enablement of existing standards for widely-used code
sets
A coded domain consists of entries of “entities” which the responsible Source Authority (SA) has decided to
include into its “Set of codes representing X” for the specified and particular purpose for which this SA has
decided to establish and maintain the resulting “set of codes representing X” to be used by its members.
However, it is recognized that many “Persons” of whatever nature, i.e., either as an “organization” and/or
“public administration”, and at times, “individuals” as well use a “Set of codes representing X” for a purpose
and in a context which is quite different from that of the purpose and use of the Source Authority which
created and maintains that “Set of Codes representing X”.
Two primary examples here are ISO 3166-1 & -2 and ISO 4217 which from an “object class” methodology
perspective contain several distinct object classes {see the ISO/IEC definition for “object class” from ISO/IEC
11179-1:2004 (as referenced as entry “D147” in ISO/IEC 15944-7 and so used in all Parts of ISO/IEC 15944
where applicable including in this Part 10 as found in Clause 3.98 below). Annex H below provides further
information on these two examples via the use of a “semantic qualifier”.
In this document there is frequent use of the phrase “set of codes representing X”. This is because there are
many existing and widely used sets of codes which need to be converted into “coded domains” from an Open-
edi, eBusiness, commitment exchange, etc, user perspective.
In an Open-edi and/or eBusiness context of the use of an actual values of SRIs, i.e. as instantiations, that are
intended to be used as “coded domains”, are already widely used in existing ISO, IEC, and ITU standards in
the form of a “codes representing X” nature, as well as those found in specifications of differing industry
sectors. These standards are managed and maintained by recognized authorities and implemented in
business practices. From an Open-edi and generic commitment exchange perspective in general as well as
that of eBusiness requirements in particular, Open-edi standards support their use and implementation in an
IT-enabled form.
As illustrated in Figure 1 below, the standard for the IT-enablement of the widely used “codes representing X”
standards is needed to provide guidance for the transformation and achieve consistency among applications
of different standards. Requirements need to be specified for the coded domain, including identification,
mapping to existing codes, as well as cultural adaptability features . In this part of the ISO/IEC 15944, these
specifications are based on explicitly stated rules and scope of coded domains, rules and guidelines for the
construct and characteristics of coded domain and its member codes, especially from the semantic
perspectives, to support commitment exchanges of Open-edi.

st
This 1 edition of Part 10, which focuses on the more primitive aspects of “coded domain”, also applies the “Pareto
Principle” Also know as the “80-20 rule”, or the “law of the vital few”, it states that in many cases 80% of the effects come
from 20% of the causes. In this context, the concepts and definitions as well as the rules and guidelines presented in this
st
1 edition can be viewed to be the 20% which covers 80% of the common user requirements.
See further the “Recommendations of the ISO/IEC JTC1 Business Team on Electronic Commerce (BT-EC)”. [Ref:
ISO/IEC JTC1 N5296]
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved ix

It is a general rule and practice in ISO/IEC 15944 multipart standards development that one maximizes the
use of Formal Description Techniques (FDTs). The rules and guidelines along with associated definitions of
concepts is an approach of using a lexical model as the formal approach to specify requirements from a
business operational view (BOV) perspective. The FDTs can also be used to produce the formal models or to
describe the rule-base for coded domain, which in turn become a integrate part of coded domains.
This part of the ISO/IEC 15944 also specifies that Open-edi coded domains need to be registered as such in
compliance with Part 2 ISO/IEC 15944 requirement. {See further Clause 11 below}
Common Business Practices
To be captured in the form of:
 Explicitly Stated Rules
Common Business
 Explicitly Stated Scope
Practices &
(inclusions & exclusions)
Recognized
 Levels of Granularity
Authority(‘ies)  Entity Relationships
 Code Set(s) Attributes
 Assignment of Codes
 Change Management
(Existing)
 Computational Integrity
Needed a Standard for
Code Set(s)
 IT-Interface Req’mts
IT-enablement of
 Culture adaptability Req’mts
“Codes representing X”
 etc.
(supporting localization
and multilingualism)
Formal Model(s)
IT-Enabled Rule Base for
(Graphical &/or
Coded Domain
Lexical)
Coded Domain Register
Formal Description Technique(s)-
Coded Coded
FDT (e.g. UML) models
domain domain
Figure 1 — Need for standard and methodologies for coded domains
Thus, this part of ISO/IEC 15944 facilitates and allows for the:
 development of Referenceable Semantic Components in Open-edi Scenarios (e.g. as “roles” &
“information bundles”)
 mapping into existing standards & tools for repositories, interchange, access, encoding, syntax, (e.g.
ASN.1, IRDS, SQL, 11179-based registries, HTML, XML, ANSI X.12, UN/CEFACT, ISO 9735
“EDIFACT”, etc.).
x © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

0.4 Link to fundamental components in Business Transaction Model (BTM)
As described in clause 6.1.5 in ISO/IEC 15944-1, a business transaction requires three basic components,
namely “Person”, “process” and “data”.
These three fundamental elements of the Business Transaction Model (BTM) are represented graphically in
Figure 2 below, which has been adapted from Figure 7 in ISO/IEC 15944-1.
PERSON
DATA             PROCESS

Figure 2 — Business Transaction Model — Fundamental components (Graphic Illustration)
The “coded domains” apply to all three of these fundamental components of the BTM. For example, with
respect to “data” (and data element), numerous sets of codes representing XYZ” exist which are already or
can be/should be transformed into IT-enabled domains. With respect to “Person”, ISO/IEC 15944-1 identified
existing “coded domains” for the identification and registration of Persons in the form of ISO standards:
 ISO/IEC 6532 for organizations;
 ISO/IEC 7812 for individuals, organizations and public administrations; and
 ISO/IEC 7501 for individuals.
With respect to the “process” component, ISO/IEC 15944-1 identified a set of five fundamental activities which
may take place in any order. The five fundamental activities are: (a) planning; (b) identification; (c) negotiation;
(d) actualization; and, (e) post-actualization.

Annex D “Existing standards for the unambiguous identification of persons in business transactions (organizations
and individuals) and some common policy and implementation considerations” in ISO/IEC 15944-1 provides further
information on these identification schemas are constructed.
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved xi

 On the whole, a coded domain consists of predefined and structured data elements. Clause 6.4.2 in
ISO/IEC 15944-1 described the relations between concepts of “recorded information” and “data”. Data is
one type of recorded information that can be processed by computer systems. Data is data-element
based or non-data element based, as described by Figure 3 and Figure 4 below, which are adapted from
ISO/IEC 15944-1 Clause 6.4.2.
Recorded information
which is not “data”
“RECORDED
INFORMATION”
“DATA” Electronic business
transactions/Open-edi is
“data” + “computer
“COMPUTER SYSTEM”
system” based
Figure 3 — Relation of “recorded information”, “data” and “computer system” in electronic business
transactions / Open-edi
Non data
element-based
“DATA”
Electronic business
transactions/Open-edi
is primarily
Data element-
data element-based
based
Figure 4 — Relations “data” and “data elements” in electronic business transactions / Open-edi
0.5 IT-enabled and content predefined Semantic Components
As specified by ISO/IEC 14662, Open-edi scenarios include components of roles, information bundles, and
scenario attributes. The coded domain is related to information bundles, which consist of Semantic
Components (SC). A Semantic Component is a unit of recorded information unambiguously defined in the
context of business goal of the business transaction.
Since not specifically required by the ISO/IEC 14662, the Semantic Components for “Person”, “Process” and
“Data” can be either structured or unstructured, and they can also have predefined contents or undefined
contents. It is an ISO/IEC JTC1 requirement that a standard shall support IT-enablement and computational
integrity when possible . Therefore it is the purpose of this Part 10 of ISO/IEC 15944 to maximize the IT-
enablement, interoperability, computational integrity approach through the use of coded domains whose
context provided predefined and structured data values for use as Semantic Component, as shown in Figure 5
below.
See further the “Recommendations of the ISO/IEC JTC1 Business Team on Electronic Commerce (BT-EC)”. [Ref:
ISO/IEC JTC1 N5296].
xii © ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved

Maximize
Structured
IT-enablement,
interoperability,
computational
integrity through
coded domains
“C”
“A”
quadrant
quadrant
Semantic
Components
Predefined Undefined
(SCs) for
Content Content
- “Person”,
- “process”
“B”
“D”
- “data”.
quadrant
quadrant
Unstructured
Figure 5 — Purpose of coded domain as IT-enabled and content predefined semantic components
The focus of Part 10 of ISO/IEC 15944 is to support “Quadrant A” requirements in the development and use of
“coded domains”. This means that the rules governing the allowable contents, i.e., values, in a set of recorded
information which (1) support and enable a structured approach; and (2) all the permitted values for the
semantic component are predefined (and if not there is a very systematic and rule-base to deal with “Others”
in an IT-enabled manner).”
0.6 Coded domains as reusable business objects
In existing business transactions, whether conducted on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis, business
information documents as well as implementable (executable) computer programs consist of reusable
components unambiguously understood among participating parties. Coded domains can be used in support
of any type of scenario component, i.e., “roles”, “Information Bundles (IBs)”, and “semantic components”
(SCs). Coded domains can also be used in support of a scenario attribute registered through procedures
specified by ISO/IEC 15944-2.
Registration of coded domains offers several benefits to the e-Business community, including the following
a) supports wider use of registered coded domains both by providing international recognition to the fact
that such coded domains conform to an International Standard and by making them publicly
available to potential users.
b) provides both immediate recognition to extensions of an International Standard and a source for
updates to that International Standard during the regular maintenance cycle.
© ISO/IEC 2013 – All rights reserved xiii

c) may provide a single mechanism to access information concerning coded domains that are specified
in different standards.
d) provides a mechanism for managing temporal change. Coded domains specified in a standard or in a
register may change over time either due to changes in technology or for other reasons. Published
standards do not clearly document what changes may have occurred, and do not include information
about earlier versions of specified code sets. Such information can be maintained in a register.
e) may be used to make sets of standardized tags available for encoding of registered coded domains
in data sets.
f) supports cultural and linguistic adaptability by providing both a means for recording equivalent HIEs
of coded domains used in different languages, cultures, application areas, and professions and a
means for making those equivalent names publicly available.
0.7 Use of "Person", "organization" and "party" in the context of business transaction and
commitment exchange
In electronic business transactions, whether undertaken on a for profit or not-for-profit basis, the key element
of any type of business transaction is commitment exchange among Persons made among their Decision
Making Applications (DMAs) of the Information Technology Systems (IT Systems) acting on behalf of
"Persons". "Persons" are the only entities able to make commitments . Quoting from ISO/IEC 15944-1:2011,
0.4:
"When the ISO/IEC 14662 Open-edi Reference Model standard was being developed, the "Internet" and
"WWW" were an embryonic stage and their impact on private and public sector organizations was not fully
understood. The Business Operational View (BOV) was therefore initially defined as:
"a perspective of business transactions limited to those aspects regarding the making of business
decisions and commitments among organizations which are needed for the description of a business
transaction".
st
The existing and widely-used ISO/IEC 6523 definition of "organization" was used in the 1 edition of
ISO/IEC 14662. The fact that today Open-edi through the Internet and WWW also involves "individuals" has
now been taken into account in the current editions of both ISO/IEC 14662 and all parts of ISO/IEC 15944.
st
[The 1 edition of ISO/IEC 14662:1997 did not define "commitment", nor the discrete properties and
behaviours an entity must have to be capable of making a "commitment" as well as bridging legal and IT
perspectives in the dematerialized world of the Internet]
During the development of ISO/IEC 15944-1, the term "commitment" was defined. At the same time it was
recognized that in order to be able to make a commitment, the term "Open-edi Party" was not specific enough
to satisfy scenario specifications when the legal aspects of commitment were considered. In many instances
commitments were noted as being actually among IT systems acting under the direction of those legally
capable of making commitment, rather than the individuals in their own capacities. It was also recognized that
in some jurisdictions a commitment could be made by "artificial" persons such as corporate bodies. Finally, it
was recognized that there are occasions where agents act, either under the instruction of a principal, or as a
result of requirement(s) laid down by a jurisdiction, or where an individual is prevented by a relevant
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