ISO/IEC TR 20943-3:2004
(Main)Information technology — Procedures for achieving metadata registry content consistency — Part 3: Value domains
Information technology — Procedures for achieving metadata registry content consistency — Part 3: Value domains
The purpose of this technical report is to describe a set of procedures for the consistent registration of value domains and their attributes in a registry. This technical report is not a data entry manual, but a user's guide for conceptualizing a value domain and its components for the purpose of consistently establishing good quality metadata. An organization may adapt and/or add to these procedures as necessary.
Technologies de l'information — Procédures pour réaliser la consistance du contenu de l'enregistrement des métadonnées — Partie 3: Domaines de valeur
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
REPORT TR
20943-3
First edition
2004-03-01
Information technology — Procedures for
achieving metadata registry content
consistency —
Part 3:
Value domains
Technologies de l'information — Procédures pour réaliser
la consistance du contenu de l'enregistrement des métadonnées —
Partie 3: Domaines de valeur
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2004
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ii © ISO/IEC 2004 – All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword. iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope. 1
1.1 Background. 1
1.2 Purpose. 1
1.3 Limits of this Technical Report . 1
1.4 Registration approach — value domains and data elements. 1
2 Normative references. 1
3 Terms and definitions. 2
4 Understanding value domains. 2
4.1 Introduction. 2
4.2 General principles. 3
4.2.1 Introduction. 3
4.2.2 Choice of codes . 4
4.2.3 Number of permissible values. 4
4.2.4 Conceptual domain hierarchies . 4
4.2.5 Sharing value meanings across permissible values. 5
4.2.6 Sharing value domains across data elements. 5
4.2.7 Associating value domains with concepts (data element concepts and conceptual
domains) . 5
4.2.8 Value domains not associated with data elements .6
4.2.9 Contrasting conceptual domains and data element concepts. 6
4.2.10 Non-enumerated value domains . 6
4.2.11 Value domains with enumerated and non-enumerated components. 7
4.2.12 Semantic restriction of use of value domains . 8
4.2.13 Rapidly changing enumerated value domains (UPC example). 8
4.3 Structure in value domains. 9
4.3.1 Introduction. 9
4.3.2 International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC). 9
4.3.3 Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) . 11
4.4 Code sets as value domains. 12
4.5 Classification schemes as value domains . 13
4.6 Data types and value domains . 15
4.6.1 Basics. 15
4.6.2 Value domains with more than one data type — limitations of value meaning . 15
4.7 Units of measure . 16
4.8 Dimensionality. 18
4.9 Classifying value domains. 19
5 Registering value domains . 20
5.1 Introduction. 20
5.2 Rules for registering value domains. 20
5.3 Strategies. 23
5.4 Examples. 23
5.4.1 Enumerated value domain . 24
5.4.2 Non-enumerated value domain . 30
Annex A Metamodel for value domains and conceptual domains . 33
Bibliography . 35
© ISO/IEC 2004 – All rights reserved iii
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 TR 20943-2, which is a Technical Report of type 3, was prepared by Joint Technical Committee
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 content consistency:
Part 1: Data elements [Technical Report]
Part 3: Value domains [Technical Report]
The following parts are under preparation:
Part 2: XML structured data
Part 4: Overview
iv © ISO/IEC 2004 – All rights reserved
Introduction
The exchange of metadata between metadata registries based on ISO/IEC 11179, Information technology —
Metadata registries (all parts), 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, technical reports to explore
content issues will help current and future users.
Metadata registries can be used to register data elements, value domains, other objects, and associated
attributes for many kinds of organizational data resource collections. Metadata registries can store information
describing value domains used to specify the allowed values of a data element, the codes in a standard list,
and classification schemes.
This technical report is based on ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003 of the six-part ISO/IEC 11179 International 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.
ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, models a value domain and an associated conceptual domain. Conceptualization and
articulation of rules and relationships are needed in the creation of conceptual domains and value domains.
Reuse of value domains should be enabled and regularized. Elementarily equivalent domains have a
relationship between their values that needs to be captured in a metadata registry. Some conceptually
equivalent domains have relationships between their values, too. These also need to be captured. This
Technical Report describes how this can be accomplished.
While metadata registries can be used for storing information about a variety of metadata items, this Technical
Report addresses only value domains, conceptual domains, and their associated attributes and relationships.
The goal of this paper is to ensure that there is a common understanding of the content of the value domain
attributes so that metadata can be shared between registries, despite their differences.
© ISO/IEC 2004 – All rights reserved v
TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 20943-3:2004(E)
Information technology — Procedures for achieving metadata
registry content consistency —
Part 3:
Value domains
1 Scope
1.1 Background
An ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry (MDR) 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 descriptions of data, which facilitates data sharing among
organizations and users. It provides lin
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