ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003
(Main)Information technology — Procedures for achieving metadata registry content consistency — Part 1: Data elements
Information technology — Procedures for achieving metadata registry content consistency — Part 1: Data elements
An ISO/IEC 11179-based metadata registry (MDR) (hereafter referred to as a "registry") is a tool for the management of shareable data; a comprehensive, authoritative source of reference information about data. It supports the standardization and harmonization processes by recording and disseminating data standards, which facilitates data sharing among organizations and users. It provides links to documents that refer to data elements and to information systems where data elements are used. When used in conjunction with an information database, the registry enables users to better understand the information obtained. A registry does not contain data itself. It contains the metadata that is necessary to clearly describe, inventory, analyze, and classify data. It provides an understanding of the meaning, representation, and identification of units of data. The standard identifies the information elements that need to be available for determining the meaning of a data element (DE) to be shared between systems. The purpose of ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003 is to describe a set of procedures for the consistent registration of data elements and their attributes in a registry. ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003 is not a data entry manual, but a user's guide for conceptualizing a data element and its associated metadata items for the purpose of consistently establishing good quality data elements. An organization may adapt and/or add to these procedures as necessary. The scope of ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003 is limited to the associated items of a data element: the data element identifier, names and definitions in particular contexts, and examples; data element concept; conceptual domain with its value meanings; and value domain with its permissible values. There is a choice when registering code sets and other value domains in an ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry. Some Registration Authorities treat these sets as value domains, and others treat them as data elements. For the purposes of ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003, the choice will always be to treat the sets as data elements unless explicitly stated. This choice is made to help illustrate the way to register many different kinds of data elements, including examples for registering standard code sets as data elements.
Technologies de l'information — Procédures en vue d'obtenir la cohérence du contenu d'un registre de metadonnées — Partie 1: Éléments de données
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
20943-1
First edition
2003-08-01
Information technology — Procedures for
achieving metadata registry (MDR)
content consistency —
Part 1:
Data elements
Technologies de l'information — Procédures en vue d'obtenir la
cohérence du contenu d'un registre de metadonnées (RM) —
Partie 1: Éléments de données
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2003
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ii © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword. vii
Introduction . viii
1 Scope. 1
1.1 Background. 1
1.2 Purpose. 1
1.3 Scope. 1
1.4 Registration approach — data elements and value domains . 1
2 Normative references. 2
3 Terms and definitions. 2
4 Data element abstraction . 2
4.1 Abstraction types. 3
4.2 Example of specialization/generalization. 3
4.2.1 Example of sharing a value domain. 4
4.3 Example of concatenation/decomposition. 4
4.4 Example of aggregation . 5
5 Data element registration. 6
6 Bottom-up approach to data element registration . 6
6.1 General procedures for registering a data element . 7
6.1.1 Understanding the data element . 7
6.1.2 Content research. 7
6.1.3 Data element definition. 8
6.1.4 Permissible values and value domain . 8
6.1.5 Representation class. 9
6.1.6 Names and identifiers. 9
6.1.7 Other metadata attributes. 9
6.1.8 Data element concept. 10
6.1.9 Classification schemes. 11
6.1.10 Registration and administrative status information. 11
6.2 Example of International Standard with enumerated domain. 12
6.2.1 Understanding the data element . 12
6.2.2 Content research. 12
6.2.3 Data element definition. 13
6.2.4 Permissible values and value domain . 13
6.2.5 Representation Class. 13
6.2.6 Identification and naming the data element. 13
6.2.7 Other metadata attributes. 14
6.2.8 Data element concept. 15
6.2.9 Classification. 15
6.2.10 Registration and administrative status information. 16
6.2.11 Other names and codes from ISO 3166. 16
6.2.12 Summary of metadata attributes . 16
6.3 Application system data element development examples . 19
6.3.1 Understanding the data element . 19
6.3.2 Content research. 19
6.3.3 Data element definition. 19
6.3.4 Permissible values and value domain . 20
6.3.5 Representation Class. 20
6.3.6 Identify and name the data element. 20
6.3.7 Other metadata attributes. 21
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved iii
6.3.8 Data element concept .22
6.3.9 Classification.22
6.3.10 Registration and administrative status information.22
6.3.11 Related data elements .23
6.3.12 Summary of metadata attributes .23
6.4 Example of International Standard with non-enumerated domain .25
6.4.1 Understanding the data element.25
6.4.2 Content research.26
6.4.3 Data element definition.26
6.4.4 Permissible values and value domain.26
6.4.5 Representation Class.27
6.4.6 Identifying and naming the data element .27
6.4.7 Other metadata attributes.28
6.4.8 Data element concept .28
6.4.9 Classification.29
6.4.10 Registration and administrative status informaiton.30
6.4.11 Other data elements in ISO 6709 .30
6.4.12 Summary of metadata attributes .30
6.5 Example of a standard data element that uses a standard non-enumerated domain .33
6.5.1 Understanding the data element.33
6.5.2 Content research.33
6.5.3 Data element definition.33
6.5.4 Permissible values and value domain.33
6.5.5 Representation Class.34
6.5.6 Identifying and naming the data element .34
6.5.7 Other metadata attributes.35
6.5.8 Data element concept .36
6.5.9 Classification.36
6.5.10 Registration and administrative status information.37
6.5.11 Related data elements .37
6.5.12 Summary of attributes .37
6.6 Classification of data elements.40
6.6.1 General procedures for registering a classification of data elements .40
6.6.2 Data elements in a document.41
6.6.3 Data elements in a standard.42
6.7 Linking of data elements .43
7 Example of top-down approach to data element registration .44
7.1 Classification and Context.45
7.2 Objects and properties of data element concepts.46
7.3 Professional organization identifier example.47
7.3.1 Data element concept, conceptual domain and value meanings.47
7.3.2 Define and identify data elements .47
7.3.3 Specify value domain and permissible values.48
7.3.4 Other data element attributes .48
7.3.5 Classify the data element .49
7.3.6 Registration and administrative status information.49
7.3.7 Summary of attributes .49
7.4 Language expert identifier example.49
7.4.1 Data element concept, conceptual domain and value meanings.49
7.4.2 Define and identify data elements .49
7.4.3 Specify value domain and permissible values.50
7.4.4 Other data element attributes .50
7.4.5 Classify the data element .51
7.4.6 Registration and administrative status information.51
7.4.7 Summary of attributes .51
7.5 Language skill type identifier example .51
7.5.1 Data element concept, conceptual domain and value meanings.51
7.5.2 Define and identify data elements .52
7.5.3 Specify value domain and permissible values.52
iv © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved
7.5.4 Other data element attributes . 53
7.5.5 Classify the data element. 53
7.5.6 Registration and administrative status information.53
7.5.7 Summary of attributes. 53
7.6 Natural language identifier example . 53
7.6.1 Data element concept, conceptual domain and value meanings . 54
7.6.2 Define and identify data elements. 54
7.6.3 Specify value domain and permissible values . 54
7.6.4 Other data element attributes . 55
7.6.5 Classify the data element. 55
7.6.6 Registration and administrative status information.55
7.6.7 Summary of attributes. 56
7.7 Skill level discriminator example . 56
7.7.1 Data element concept, conceptual domain and value meanings . 56
7.7.2 Define and identify data elements. 56
7.7.3 Specify value domain and permissible values . 57
7.7.4 Other data element attributes . 57
7.7.5 Classify the data element. 58
7.7.6 Registration and administrative status information.58
7.7.7 Summary of attributes. 58
7.8 Example summary table of attributes. 58
8 Example of complex data. 58
8.1 Examples. 58
Annex A (informative) Tables of data element attributes for examples. 65
Annex B (informative) Application of ISO/IEC 11179-2, -4, -5 and -6. 75
B.1 Data element definition. 75
B.1.1 Rules for definitions . 75
B.1.2 Guidelines for definitions. 77
B.1.3 Data element definition syntax . 80
B.1.4 Terms commonly used in definitions . 81
B.2 Representational attributes. 81
B.2.1 Permissible values. 81
B.2.2 Value domain. 82
B.2.3 Representation class. 83
B.2.4 Data Element Example. 84
B.3 Identifying and naming a data element. 85
B.3.1 Name context. 85
B.3.2 Establish a naming convention . 86
B.3.3 Example of a naming convention. 87
B.3.4 Formulating a data element name. 87
B.4 Identification. 88
B.4.1 Data element identifier. 88
B.4.2 Versioning. 89
B.5 Conceptual relationships. 90
B.5.1 Data element concept. 90
B.5.2 Conceptual domain. 91
B.5.3 Value meanings. 91
B.6 Classification. 92
B.7 Quality review. 93
B.7.1 Registration status. 93
B.7.2 Administrative status. 93
Annex C (informative) Crosswalk of names in Technical Report to ISO/IEC 11179-3 metamodel. 95
Annex D (informative) Example of complete associated metadata item descriptions using top-
down approach to data element registration . 98
D.1 Example data model. 98
D.2 Presentation of Information . 99
D.2.1 Format of Item identifier. 99
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved v
D.3 Context.100
D.4 Object classes and properties .101
D.5 Data element concepts and conceptual domains.105
D.6 Value Meanings.112
D.7 Value Domains and Representation Classes .114
D.8 Permissible Values.118
D.9 Data elements.121
Bibliography.125
vi © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved
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.
In exceptional circumstances, the joint technical committee may propose the publication of a Technical Report
of one of the following types:
— type 1, when the required support cannot be obtained for the publication of an International Standard,
despite repeated efforts;
— type 2, when the subject is still under technical development or where for any other reason there is the
future but not immediate possibility of an agreement on an International Standard;
— type 3, when the joint technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that which is
normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example).
Technical Reports of types 1 and 2 are subject to review within three years of publication, to decide whether
they can be transformed into International Standards. Technical Reports of type 3 do not necessarily have to
be reviewed until the data they provide are considered to be no longer valid or useful.
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 JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 32, Data management and interchange.
ISO/IEC 20943 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Procedures
for achieving metadata registry (MDR) content consistency :
Note: Parts 2 and 3 are currently under development.
Part 1: Data elements
Part 2: XML structured data
Part 3: Value domains
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved vii
Introduction
The exchange of metadata between metadata registries based on International Organization for
Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 11179 Information technology —
metadata registries (MDR), depends not only on registry software that conforms to the standard, but also on
metadata contents that are comparable between registries. While the standard has provisions for data
specification and registration, there are pragmatic issues pertaining to populating the registries with content.
Based on the experiences of organizations that are implementing the standard, a Technical Report to explore
content issues will help current and future users.
Metadata registries can be used to register data elements, value domains, and associated attributes for many
kinds of organizational data resource collections. Metadata registries can store information on data elements
used on forms, represented in enterprise data models, contained in EDI message sets, and described in
documents and standards, as well as those data elements that are part of computer system applications.
Some organizations use the registry to record essential facts about how data elements are used in existing
applications, while other organizations use the registry as a repository of standard data elements to be used
as models for data elements in application development. ISO/IEC 11179-6 specifically addresses the
development and population of metadata registries.
ISO/IEC 11179-3 models a data element and its associated data element concept. Conceptualization and
articulation of rules and relationships are needed in the creation of data element concepts, data elements, and
value domains. Explication of the various possible levels of data elements and data element concepts and
their relationships would greatly assist in the creation of shareable, well-formed data. Relationship and
inheritance from the most generalized data element to the most specialized application data element need to
be specified. Reuse of data value domains should be enabled and regularized.
While metadata registries can be used for storing information about a variety of metadata entities, this report
addresses only data elements and associated metadata items. The goal of this paper is to ensure that there is
a common understanding of the content of the data element attributes so that metadata can be shared
between registries, despite their differences.
This Technical Report is based ISO/IEC 11179-3 of the six-part ISO/IEC standard that describes the
organization of a registry for managing the semantics of data. The standard specifies the structure of a
registry in the form of a conceptual model. The conceptual model is not intended to be a logical or physical
data model for a computer system.
viii © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved
TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003(E)
Information technology — Procedures for achieving metadata
registry (MDR) content consistency —
Part 1:
Data elements
1 Scope
1.1 Background
An ISO/IEC 11179-based metadata registry (MDR) (hereafter referred to as a "registry") is a tool for the
management of shareable data; a comprehensive, authoritative source of reference information about data. It
supports the standardization and harmonization processes by recording and disseminating data standards,
which facilitates data sharing among organizations and users. It provides links to documents that refer to data
elements and to information systems where data elements are used. When used in conjunction with an
information database, the registry enables users to better understand the information obtained.
A registry does not contain data itself. It contains the metadata that is necessary to clearly describe, inventory,
analyse, and classify data. It provides an understanding of the meaning, representation, and identification of
units of data. The standard identifies the information elements that need to be available for determining the
meaning of a data element (DE) to be shared between systems.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003 is to describe a set of procedures for the consistent registration of
data elements and their attributes in a registry. ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003 is not a data entry manual, but a
user’s guide for conceptualizing a data element and its associated metadata items for the purpose of
consistently establishing good quality data elements. An organization may adapt and/or add to these
procedures as necessary.
1.3 Scope
The scope of ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003 is limited to the associated items of a data element: the data element
identifier, names and definitions in particular contexts, and examples; data element concept; conceptual
domain with its value meanings; and value domain with its permissible values.
1.4 Registration approach — data elements and value domains
There is a choice when registering code sets and other value domains in an ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry.
Some Registration Authorities treat these sets as value domains, and others treat them as data elements. For
the purposes of ISO/IEC TR 20943-1:2003, the choice will always be to treat the sets as data elements unless
explicitly stated. This choice is made to help illustrate the way to register many different kinds of data
elements, including examples for registering standard code sets as data elements.
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 1
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
1)
ISO/IEC 11179-1:— , Information technology — Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 1: Framework for the
specification and standardization of data elements
1)
ISO/IEC 11179-2:— , Information technology — Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 2: Classification for data
elements
ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, Information technology — Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 3: Registry metamodel
and basic attributes
1)
ISO/IEC 11179-4:— , Information technology — Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 4: Rules and guidelines
for the formulation of data definitions
1)
ISO/IEC 11179-5:— , Information technology — Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 5: Naming and
identification principles for data elements
1)
ISO/IEC 11179-6:— , Information technology — Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 6: Registration of data
elements
ISO/IEC TR 15452:2000, Information technology — Specification of data value domains
Standards from which examples have been drawn to be used in this document are listed in the Bibliography.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 11179 and ISO/IEC TR 15452
apply.
4 Data element abstraction
This clause presents a conceptual framework for structuring data elements and data element contents in a
registry. Data elements are ideally the result of a process of development, involving several types of
abstraction, producing a series of "layers" related to each other by the method of abstraction used to produce
one from the other. Layers may progress from the more general to the more specific.
Depending on the type of abstraction, relationships among the members of each layer and between layers are
meaningful in terms of defining the structure of the registry contents. This provides a means of comparison of
the contents of different registries and of searching within a registry. In addition to the data element definition
and other attributes, comparing the type and level of abstraction by which the data element was derived can
ensure that content can be shared among registries.
One could use layers to structure development of a system, for instance, with the highest layers of definition
contained in a business view, and development progressing to the implemented system layer. The number
and granularity of layers are driven by user requirements. This clause will describe two ways to derive layers,
neither of which are intended to be mandatory for any particular implementation, and will present examples of
the types of abstraction most useful to registry implementations.
1) To be published.
2 © ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved
4.1 Abstraction types
Abstraction is a well-developed tool for analysis and conceptualization. It is used as a way of focusing on parts
of the model of interest to a particular process or function. The term "abstraction" is used to refer both to the
process and the results of the process. Abstraction can be applied to the registry environment as a way to
articulate the development of data elements and their relationships to each other.
Several methods can be used to achieve the decomposition of layers from the most abstract to the more
concrete. Starting with the most general conceptual notions and progressing to the data elements in
applications, these layers can be labeled by the type or types of abstraction used to produce them from
another layer. Although this description of the process of abstraction development implies that it always
proceeds in one direction (from the general to the concrete), there may certainly be cases where the reverse
is true. Also, after the structures are in place, there is no implication that the relationships are all in single
directions. Indeed, the names of the abstraction types deliberately include two levels in a effort to avoid that
assumption.
The three types of abstraction of most interest to data element development are specialization/generalization,
concatenation/decomposition and aggregation.
• Specialization/generalization is a relationship between two classes, where all items in one (subclass)
are also in the other (superclass).
• Concatenation (or composition) involves the development of composite values by concatenation of
character sequences from source values. Decomposition involves the separation out of the component
portions of value sequences into their source character values.
• Aggregation involves the derivation of values by means of mathematical operations on source values. It
is not usually possible to reverse the operation (called derivation) to recover the component parts.
All three types are commonly found in registries.
4.2 Example of specialization/generalization
The mechanism of specialization/generalization can be used to express a hierarchical structural relationship
among data elements.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) establishes postal codes for the United States. The data element
State USPS Code (figure 1) forms part of an address group. It might be used to map to application data
elements directly, but it could also be the highest layer of a hierarchy of data elements, each displaying a
greater degree of specialization according to its position in the structure.
The next layer down contains the elements Geographic Address State Code and Mailing Address State Code.
The two State Code elements are now members of two differing address groups. The conceptual domains of
the two elements are still identical, however, as the set of potentially valid values of geographic addresses and
mailing addresses are the same.
Further specialization takes place at the next layer. Mailing Address State Code is partitioned into Facility
Mailing Address State Code and Customer Mailing Address State Code. As before, the address groups of
these elements differ, and in addition the data value domains do not necessarily contain the same sets of valid
values. The domain of Customer Mailing Address State Code might remain the same as Mailing Address
State Code, but the domain of Facility Mailing Address State Code might now be restricted to the subset of
states in which facilities are located.
In this example, application data elements are mapped to the registry elements at this layer. Subclause 6.7
describes linking data elements that occur in different databases, under different names, to one registry data
element. These relationships encourage data interchange by assuring semantic equivalency among
disparately appearing data elements.
© ISO/IEC 2003 — All rights reserved 3
State USPS Code
Mailing Address State Code
Geographic State Code
Facility Customer Facility Customer
Geographic State Code Geographic State Code Mailing Address State Code Mailing Address State Code
Figure 1 — Specialization/generalization hierarchy
Clauses 6, 7 and Annex A show a way to track the layers of specialization by assigning Layer of Abstraction
Type as a value of Classification_Scheme_Item.csi_type_name and values such as specialization,
generalization, aggregation, and concatenation to the attribute Classification_Scheme_Item.csi_value in the
data element description. These attributes show the type of abstraction of the data element in the abstraction
structure. In the example above, the attribute value for data element State USPS Code's
Classification_Scheme_Item.csi_value is designated as Generalization. This designation indicates that this
data element is at the top of the specialization/generalization structure for data elements in this registry. The
data elements in the next layer, Geographic State Code and Mailing Address State Code, are assigned the
attribute value Specialization. The data elements in the third layer, namely Facility Geographic State Code,
Customer Geographic State Code, Facility Mailing Address State Code, and Customer Mailing Address State
Code, are also assigned Specialization.
There may be other structures in the registry in which data elements are placed relative to other registry
entries, such as data element concepts. In that case, other attributes may be needed to locate the example
data elements in those structures.
4.2.1 Example of sharing a value domain
Figure 1 show
...
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