oSIST prEN IEC 63485:2026

• Status: Not Published
• Public Enquiry End Date: 29-Nov-2026
• ICS: 01.110 - Technical product documentation
• ICS: 35.240.01 - Application of information technology in general
• Technical Committee: EDO - Documentation and graphical symbols
• Current Stage: 4020 - Public enquire (PE) (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 15-Sep-2026
• Due Date: 02-Feb-2027
• Ref Project: prEN IEC 63485:2026 - Intelligent information request and delivery - A process model for the exchange of information for use

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-november-2026
Inteligentno zahtevanje in posredovanje informacij - Procesni model za izmenjavo
informacij za uporabo
Intelligent information request and delivery - A process model for the exchange of
information for use
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN IEC 63485:2026
ICS:
01.110 Tehnična dokumentacija za Technical product
izdelke documentation
35.240.01 Uporabniške rešitve Application of information
informacijske tehnike in technology in general
tehnologije na splošno
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

3/1792/CDV
COMMITTEE DRAFT FOR VOTE (CDV)
PROJECT NUMBER:
IEC 63485 ED1
DATE OF CIRCULATION: CLOSING DATE FOR VOTING:
2026-09-11 2026-12-04
SUPERSEDES DOCUMENTS:
3/1768/CD, 3/1790/CC
IEC TC 3 : DOCUMENTATION, GRAPHICAL SYMBOLS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION
SECRETARIAT: SECRETARY:
Sweden Mr Mikael Törnkvist
OF INTEREST TO THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEES: HORIZONTAL FUNCTION(S):

ASPECTS CONCERNED:
SUBMITTED FOR CENELEC PARALLEL VOTING NOT SUBMITTED FOR CENELEC PARALLEL VOTING
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clauses to be included should this proposal proceed. Recipients are reminded that the CDV stage is the final stage for
submitting ISC clauses. (SEE AC/22/2007 OR NEW GUIDANCE DOC).

TITLE:
Intelligent information request and delivery for digital information for use

PROPOSED STABILITY DATE: 2029
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IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
CONTENTS
Contact . 2
CONTENTS . 1
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Intelligent information . 9
4.1 General . 9
4.2 Quality of intelligent information . 9
5 Information flow model . 10
6 Metadata model . 11
6.1 General . 11
6.2 Use cases . 11
6.2.1 General . 11
6.2.2 Use Case 1 - Intelligent information . 11
6.2.3 Use Case 2 - Handover documentation . 12
6.2.4 Use Case 3 - Basic digital documentation . 12
6.3 Classification of metadata . 12
6.4 Match at the interface . 13
6.4.1 General . 13
6.4.2 Coding level (content, descriptive code, packaging) . 13
6.4.3 Shared metadata . 13
6.4.4 Shared semantics . 13
7 Serialization format. 14
Annex A (normative) Intelligent Information Metadata (normative) . 15
A.1 General . 15
A.2 iiRDS core metadata . 16
Annex B (normative) Handover Documentation (normative) . 21
B.1 Automated Integration of Manufacturer Documentation into Operator
Information Environments . 21
B.1.1 File Format Requirements . 21
B.1.2 Requirements for the contents list . 21
B.1.3 Metadata Requirements . 22
B.1.4 Operational Context . 27
B.1.5 Handover documentation Scenario Characteristics . 27
Annex C (normative) Basic digital documentation (normative) . 28
C.1 General . 28
C.2 Requirements for basic digital documentation . 28
Bibliography . 29

Figure 1 – Visualization of the Information Flow . 10
Figure 2 – High level concept of iiRDS . 11
Figure A.1 – Sample excerpt of the iiRDS metadata ontology . 16
Figure B.1 – . 22
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
Table A.1 – . 16
Table A.2 – . 16
Table A.3 – . 17
Table A.4 – . 17
Table A.5 – . 17
Table A.6 – . 17
Table A.7 – . 18
Table A.8 – . 19
Table A.9 – . 20
Table A.10 – . 20
Table A.11 – . 20
Table B.1 – Example of an index . 21
Table B.2 – Required metadata for handover documentation . 22

IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
Intelligent information request and delivery for digital information for use

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for
standardization comprising all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees).
The object of IEC is to promote international co-operation on all questions concerning
standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and in addition to other
activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National
Committee interested in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work.
International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also
participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two
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2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as
possible, an international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical
committee has representation from all interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted
by IEC National Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that
the technical content of IEC Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the
way in which they are used or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC
Publications transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional
publications. Any divergence between any IEC Publication and the corres ponding national or
regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies
provide conformity assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity.
IEC is not responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
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individual experts and members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for
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of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced
publications is indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve
the use of (a) patent(s). IEC 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,
IEC had not 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 https://patents.iec.ch and 9) IEC draws
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). IEC 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, IEC had not
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 https://patents.iec.ch and www.iso.org/patents .
IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. . IEC shall not be
held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC 6XXXX has been prepared by IEC technical committee 3: Documentation, graphical
symbols and representations of technical information. It is an International Standard.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English [change
language if necessary].
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
– reconfirmed,
– withdrawn, or
– revised.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
INTRODUCTION
Standardization in the field of documentation covers rules, principles, and methods focusing on
machine-readable representation of information, including ontologies for the definition, co -
ordination, and management of the information required during the whole life cycle of a device,
system, or plant.
This document approaches information for use that covers the life cycle stages of the use of
products in business to customer (B2C) and especially business to business (B2B)
environments, for example, for technicians who assemble, install, operate, maintai n, repair, or
uninstall technical assets.
In a digitalized world, printed documents are less effective to support the information needs of
people who are used to accessing all kinds of information quickly on the internet, or on mobile
devices. Especially in the context of smart manufacturing or the industrial internet of things,
where technical objects are mirrored by their digital twins, or by digital product passports,
information regarding the efficient, effective, and safe use of technical objects or products (as
required by IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019) can be connected to these virtual objects in a dynamic
way. This document assists in meeting the needs of both, human users and automated systems
searching for technical information that matches their immediate interests: together with
descriptive and operational data, information that helps to interpret data and to take action.
This document specifies a general document classification framework. The Intelligent
Information Request and Delivery Standard (tekom (2025), iiRDS [1]) defines a metadata
framework tailored to technical documentation which enables a more granular information
access as a basis for intelligent information processes. It supports three usecases, intelligent
information (based on iiRDS), handover documentaion (based on VDI 2770, published by the
German professional association for engineers), and basic digital documentation as a method
for companies, especially small and middle-sized ones, that need a simple entry in digital
publishing of information for use.
Within the ecosystem of IEC TC 3, iiRDS uses some administrative metadata according to IEC
82045. Other relevant standards in the field of information management have been evaluated
as well to reduce contradictions and overlap .So, information providers and information
consumers can benefit from the practical and economic advantages of iiRDS, this specification
defines a standard information flow (Clause 6), a metadata model (Clause 7), and a set of core
metadata (Annex A) that can be applied to facilitate this approach. Such semantically supported
information processes help provide real-time delivery of the right information, at the right time,
on the right place, to the immediate need of the users. It helps reduce costs for the operators
of any kinds of assets, caused by wrong, outdated, or not easily accessible and understandable
information.
Where the context of traditional documents is less suitable, the metadata ontology of iiRDS,
maintained by the iiRDS consortium, helps to relate digital twins to the technical information
needed in concrete use cases.
Whereas IEC 62656-8:2020 [2] defines a product ontology, iiRDS sets requirements for
information products (compare IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019), also using a different technology for
specifying its requirements. Thus, iiRDS adds new aspects to the representation of technical
information with respect to information for use of products.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
1 Scope
The document defines requirements for electronic request, delivery and handover processes
for any kind of information for use. Such processes are needed to bridge the gap between
creators of information concerning objects in the real world and the informat ion needed by their
users, especially in the context of smart manufacturing, the industrial internet of things and the
circular economy. This document specifies processes in order to enable n:m relations between
information sources and information users when there is no explicit agreement between
information provider and information consumer. This document also specifies metadata for
models of information for use.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements 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.
IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, Preparation of information for use (instructions for use) of products -
Part 1: Principles and general requirements
ISO 19005-1:2005, Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term
preservation — Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1)
ISO 19005-2:2011, Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term
preservation — Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2)
ISO 19005-3:2012, Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term
preservation — Part 3: Use of ISO 32000-1 with support for embedded files (PDF/A-3)
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), RDF Schema 1.1, available at: https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-
schema/
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
– IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
– ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
creation application
software system which supports the development of intelligent information
Note 1 to entry: Usually the application consists of an editor for structured authoring and managing metadata as
well as a repository in which information units are stored and from which units can be retrieved and used for
generating information products. A creation application can also include contents automatically generated by artificial
intelligence or other information systems.
3.2
creator
person who analyses, conceptualizes, and compiles information
requirements and design
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
3.3
generator
functional component that prepares information for delivery to the integrator, according to a
defined exchange format
3.4
handover documentation
information product provided by the product supplier to others such as owners or operators
Note 1 to entry: Due to contract or legal requirements typically the manufacturer has the product knowledge and
therefore creates the necessary handover documentation
3.5
information for use
information provided by the supplier that provides the target audience with concepts,
procedures, and reference material for the safe, effective, and efficient use of a supported
product during its life cycle
EXAMPLE Step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting information, service information, operation and maintenance
instructions, and assembly instructions.
Note 1 to entry: Instructions for use, procedures for the safe, effective, and efficient use of a supported product",
was the term formerly used to include all the content defined as part of information for use.
Note 2 to entry: Excludes supplementary information, which is outside the scope of information for use.
[SOURCE: IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, 3.17]
3.6
information unit
digital entity containing content for the user and metadata for the management of the conveyed
information, e.g. a topic or a document
3.7
intelligent information
structurally and semantically enhanced information that enables interactive and adaptive
human-machine or machine-to-machine communication
3.8
information integrator
system that receives and consolidates output from the generators and sends it for user
applications
3.9
metadata
data that defines and describes other data
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 11179-1:2023, 3.2.26]
3.10
product knowledge
knowledge needed to identify the product for which information is requested
3.11
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
framework for representing information and metadata as machine-processable statements
describing resources and the relationships between them, using uniquely identifiable entities
and a graph-based data model
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
Note 1 to entry: RDF represents information as triples consisting of subject–predicate–object expressions, which
can be interpreted as directed graphs.
Note 2 to entry: RDF enables the linking and integration of structured data from different sources and is a
foundational technology for semantic web and knowledge graph applications.
3.12
RDF Schema (RDFS)
vocabulary language for defining classes, properties, and relationships in Resource Description
Framework (RDF) data models
Note 1 to entry: RDFS extends RDF with schema and semantic modeling capabilities.
Note 2 to entry: RDFS supports the definition and interpretation of vocabularies and ontologies used in RDF -based
applications.
3.13
RDF vocabulary
set of terms used in Resource Description Framework (RDF) data to describe resources and
their relationships
Note 1 to entry: An RDF vocabulary consists of terms representing classes and properties.
Note 2 to entry: Properties are used to express relationships between resources or between resources and data
values. They are commonly distinguished as object properties (relationships between resources) and datatype
properties (relationships between a resource and a literal value).
Note 3 to entry: RDF vocabularies are defined using RDF Schema (RDFS) or other semantic web standards and
are identified by shared namespaces.
3.14
semantically rich metadata
metadata that embeds semantic information (i.e., meaning, concepts, relationships, and
context), providing a structured, machine-understandable contextual framework for the
information resource it describes
3.15
technical information creation
process of applying information design to create technical content and assign metadata
Note 1 to entry: Usually the task of information creation can be fulfilled by a human, by systems, or a combination
of both.
3.16
topic
coherent part of an information product with a heading that deals with a single subject (IEC/IEEE
82079-1:2019 Preparation of information for use (instructions for use) of products: Part 1:
Principles and general requirements, 3.43)

3.17
user application
HMI (human-machine interface) or MMI (machine-to-machine interface) for the presentation of
the information
Note 1 to entry: A role which is performed by a system.
3.18
context of use
users, tasks, equipment (hardware, software and materials), and the physical and social
environments in which a product is used
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
Note 1 to entry: Context of use includes direct use or use supported by assistive technologies. The context of use
can include the location (geographic region), skill level of the users, use at various stages of the product life cycle
(installation, operation, maintenance), and preferred media for receiving information.
3.19
user
person who interacts with the product
Note 1 to entry: "User" can include persons who install, operate, service, maintain, or dispose of the product.
[SOURCE: IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2019, 3.47]
4 Intelligent information
4.1 General
Intelligent information request and delivery shall enable applications to provide users with
suitable information at the right time, according to their context and their tasks with the product,
in an efficient and more conversational way. Intelligent information’s scope is technical
information, like product information, operating, troubleshooting and service information. A
piece of intelligent information is always bound to some product or component or function, and
some context of use.
4.2 Quality of intelligent information
Regarding the quality of contents of intelligent information, the requirements of IEC/IEEE
82079-1:2019, Clauses 5, 7, 8, 9 shall be fulfilled.
The quality of intelligent information can be assessed with regard to different aspects. Intelligent
information shall have the following properties:
a) be structured according to rules and in a topic-oriented way.
1) Each topic shall focus on answering only one specific question. This enables
applications to provide the right minimal information.
2) Intelligent information topics shall address specific user groups.
3) Users shall get information that matches their roles and skill levels.
4) Intelligent information shall be comprehensible to the user or the automated system.
b) follow a style guide of content rules as referred to in IEC/IEEE 82079-1.
c) use consistent terminology.
d) information units shall be tagged with semantically rich metadata.
e) be related to product and product components and functions as well as information usage
scenarios (such as product lifecycle phases, user clearance) and information types (such
as task, concept, or reference information).
f) metadata shall be based on standardized ontologies or taxonomies to enable collection,
assembly, delivery and usage of information from different sources.
NOTE A high-level view of an ontology is available in Annex A. A comprehensive ontology is available at the iiRDS
website www.iirds.org.
Contents should be tagged with specific elements.
Furthermore, contents should be deliverable to the users by human or machine translation.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
5 Information flow model
Intelligent information request, delivery and handover processes shall be designed according
to this information flow model (Figure 1).
a) at least one information creator shall create several information units by means of one or
more systems which in this context is defined as the creation application. This is an iterative
process that may accumulate a large number of information units in the creation application.
b) The generator shall be a system that stores use-case-oriented information units of different
formats that may originate from one or more creation applications. The generator sends
packages to the information integrator in the form of a standardised interface. The generator
shall be ready to give feedback to the creation application if information requests cannot be
answered. The generator shall be ready to negotiate with any information integrator system
and respond to its requests.
c) The information integrator shall integrate use-case-oriented information units that are sent
by any generator. Furthermore, it shall be able to negotiate with any user application and to
respond to requests which are sent by it.
d) The user is in need of information for a certain use case. The user triggers information
requests. For this purpose, the user applies a user application that formulates machine -
readable code which can be used by the information integrator to receive information for the
use of products. For this purpose, the user application shall
1) identify the user, for example by logging in safely into the user application,
2) identify the object with which the user wants to interact,
3) characterize the use case by a set of metadata which the iiRDS ontology provides.
4) The ontology describes resources relevant for technical communication and their
relationships. The metadata is used to map the model.
NOTE 1 Reference designations can be found in IEC 81346-1:2022 [3] and IEC 81346-2:2019 [4].
NOTE 2 A detailed iiRDS conforming to this document is maintained by the iiRDS consortium and is available at
https://www.iirds.org/material-downloads/

Figure 1 – Visualization of the Information Flow
NOTE 3 In the overall process of the named entities, multiple instances may exist, for example multiple users,
creation applications, generators, information integrators, user applications, or users.
Individual information creation, delivery, or request processes shall be designed based on the
information flow model. Tasks shall be assigned to systems, persons, and organizational units.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
6 Metadata model
6.1 General
This standard provides a vocabulary for documentation metadata in RDF Schema World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C) . The iiRDS RDF vocabulary contains a set of predefined metadata and
docking points for proprietary extensions.
As iiRDS is a domain ontology, metadata concepts can be semantically linked to each other
with predefined relations.
Figure 2 shows the high level concept of iiRDS. An information unit subclass, such as "topic",
is linked to instances of classes via relations.

Figure 2 – High level concept of iiRDS
6.2 Use cases
6.2.1 General
This standard supports multiple use cases involving the structured exchange and provision of
technical information. This clause outlines the primary use cases addressed by this standard.
Detailed normative specifications are provided in:
a) Annex A — Intelligent information
b) Annex B — Handover documentation
c) Annex C — Basic digital documentation
6.2.2 Use Case 1 - Intelligent information
This use case gives requirements for the creation, delivery, and consumption of modular,
context-sensitive content across systems and organizational boundaries.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
a) Information provision perspective: An information creator or provider shall be able to
deliver intelligent information in multiple forms of presentation and in media-specific
compilations. This information shall be made accessible to other systems and organizations
(e.g. via help portals or content delivery platforms) in a structured and machine-readable
format.
b) Information retrieval perspective: An information consumer (e.g. technician, operator,
end user) shall be able to efficiently retrieve relevant information based on context and task
at hand and shall receive only the information necessary to address the specific problem
(e.g. a single relevant topic), rather than large, undifferentiated documents (e.g. extensive
PDF files).
The normative requirements and enabling structures for this use case are defined in Annex A.
6.2.3 Use Case 2 - Handover documentation
This use case gives requirements regarding a reliable and lossless transfer of product -related
documentation between stakeholders, including manufacturers, suppliers, and customers,
across the product lifecycle.
a) Manufacturer perspective: A manufacturer shall transmit the complete, correct and
interoperable product information to external stakeholders in compatible digital format. The
manufacturer uses iiRDS to integrate information from upstream sources (e.g. suppliers,
internal departments) and enable delivery.
b) Owner/Operator perspective: The owner/perator shall provide a platform which can
receive, unambiguosly identify and integrate handover documentation according to the
classification of documents.
The normative specifications for this use case are described in Annex B.
6.2.4 Use Case 3 - Basic digital documentation
This use case addresses the minimum requirements for delivering structured digital
documentation when intelligent information (Annex A) or handover documentation (Annex B) is
not required. It provides a lightweight entry point for organizations - particularly small and
middle-sized companies - to supply essential technical documentation in a consistent and
interoperable format.
The normative requirements for this use case are provided in Annex C.
6.3 Classification of metadata
At each interface of the Information Flow Model, metadata according to iiRDS shall be used to
enable interactions between the different actors.
This metadata is categorized into three different aspects:
– Product metadata (P)
– Functional metadata (F)
– Administrative metadata (A).
Product metadata (P) shall uniquely identify products and components and functions and relate
products and product components and functions to information units. Furthermore, product
metadata comprise product and component taxonomies, as well as further product information
like features and properties.
Functional metadata (F) shall be used to define the circumstances under which the information
is relevant to the user, such as the related product life cycle phase, the required skill level and
the role of the information user.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
Administrative metadata (A) may be used to provide additional content lifecycle metadata of the
information units, such as involved parties, information life cycle state, effectivity date range.
Unique identifiers may be assigned to all information units. Administrative metadata may also
be used to annotate components or other entities.
NOTE iiRDS uses some administrative metadata according to IEC 82045-2:2004 [5].
For intelligent information, a special focus shall be given to product and functional metadata
(categories P and F) in order to enhance information exchange between generator and
information integrator. Thus the quality of information which is required by the user is improved
in the following aspects: selective and situational. Annex A lists requirements for such
metadata.
6.4 Match at the interface
6.4.1 General
Prior to communicating information, generators and information integrators shall negotiate
which metadata they want to use without knowing each other. Using a common ontology shall
be the basis for the metadata. This has the advantage that no specific agre ements need to be
made in advance.
Using a common ontology
– enables the coupling of n:m generators to information integrators;
– establishes a consistent protocol for the exchange of intelligent information that should be
understood and adopted universally;
– ensures consistency and reliability in development and delivery of intelligent information;
– helps organizations enhance existing information development and delivery practices and
better adopt and implement new technologies;
– facilitates interaction and interoperability between new and existing products, services, and
processes;
– speeds up the introduction of products to the market.
6.4.2 Coding level (content, descriptive code, packaging)
The generator shall be able to generate a format that matches the information integrator’s
query.
The format shall comprise the encoding of:
– information units consisting of content in arbitrary formats and their metadata;
– packaging multiple information units for delivery.
NOTE Detailed implementations of these requirements can be found on https://iirds.org
6.4.3 Shared metadata
Information units shall be identified unambiguously at the interface. Information units shall be
related to the product or function.
Additional administrative information may be added, for example versioning, language, property
rights, serial number or part number.
6.4.4 Shared semantics
Organizations sharing information for use shall agree on a publicly available semantic domain
model.
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
NOTE A publicly available domain model for the domain of technical communication can be found on
https://iirds.org/.
This semantic model shall contain precise definitions for entities and relations to enable
information integration across different systems and organizations. The technical
implementation of the model shall be machine-readable, in a format consumable by both parties
and using standardized resource identifiers to be able to link to other datasets.
7 Serialization format
For the delivery of information for use, a container format with the following core components
shall be used. It is specified as a container format with a ZIP archive, containing a predefined
hierarchical file and folder organization.
Core Components
– Metadata File: The central file represents all metadata elements and relationships to
content files according to the iiRDS ontology. While serialization in either JSON -LD or
RDF/XML Comment: spell out in 3.2 list of abbreviated terms. is technically supported,
JSON-LD is the preferred serialization format for interoperability and clarity.
– Content Files: One or more technical content files (such as HTML, PDF, or media formats)
are stored in the container’s defined directories.
– For Handover Documentation, index.html shall be included as a human-readable entry
point and contents list (for further specifications see Annex B ).
NOTE Serialization in programming is the process of converting an object's state or a data structure into a format —
typically a sequence of bytes or a structured text format like JSON or XML—that can be easily stored (e.g., on disk)
or transmitted (e.g., over a network). This allows the original object to be reconstructed later through a process called
deserialization
IEC CDV 63485 © IEC 2026
Annex A
(normative)
Intelligent Information Metadata (normative)
A.1 General
This Annex specifies the required core metadata of the intelligent information Request and
Delivery Standard (iiRDS). It is specified as a modular and extensible metadata framework,
designed to support a range of application domains and use cases. The stan dard consists of
the following components:
– Core model: A normative base module defining common metadata elements and re-lations.
– Domain extensions: Optional normative modules that define metadata specific to particular
application areas (e.g. machinery, software, or documentation handover).
– Variants: Configurations of the core model and relevant domains, designed to support
specific purposes, such as long-term archiving or the handover of technical documentation.
iiRDS supports both:
– an open-world approach, in which metadata values are not restricted to predefined
enumerations and can be extended as needed, and
– closed-world variants, which constrain metadata values and content formats according to
the requirements of a given use case.
The iiRDS metadata model is defined as a domain ontology, which formalizes concepts and
relationships relevant to the management and exchange of technical and product -related
information.
The metadata elements defined by the standard are categorized as follows:
– Administrative metadata – metadata related to lifecycle, versioning, and governance of
information objects;
– Information type metadata – metadata identifying the nature and function of the content (e.g.
instructions, reference information);
– Product metadata – metadata describing the products or components to which the content
pertains;
– Functional metadata – metadata indicating intended usage, delivery channels, or audience
roles.
Domain extensions and variants apply constraints to the metadata model by defining applicable
value sets, mandatory properties, and restrictions on content formats.
This modular architecture allows iiRDS to facilitate semantic interoperability, promote reuse,
and support integration across heterogeneous information environments.
NOTE The entire iiRDS metadata ontology is open source and is available on https://iirds.org
In the following, examples of P- and F- metadata selected from the iiRDS ontology are shown
as well as a sample excerpt of the iiRDS metadata (Figure A.1).
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