The scope of this document
is limited to the essential components of a data element: the data element
identifier, registry name, definition, and example; data concept; conceptual
domain with its value meanings; and value domain with its permissible
values. This document is not concerned
with the entry of detailed metadata for documents, standards, systems, groups,
partners, and message sets.
2 References
ISO/IEC
DIS 11179-1, Information technology - Specification
and standardization of data elements - Part 1: Framework for the specification
and standardization of data elements
ISO/IEC
DIS 11179-2, Information technology -
Specification and standardization of data elements - Part 2: Classification for
data elements
ISO/IEC
11179-3:1994, Information technology -
Specification and standardization of data elements - Part 3: Basic attributes
of data elements
ISO/IEC
11179-4:1995, Information technology -
Specification and standardization of data elements - Part 4: Rules and guidelines for the formulation of
data definitions
ISO/IEC
11179-5:1995, Information technology -
Specification and standardization of data elements - Part 5: Naming and identification principles for
data elements
ISO/IEC
DIS 11179-6, Information technology -
Specification and standardization of data elements - Part 6: Registration of
data elements
ISO/IEC
TR 15452, Information Technology -
Specification of Data Value Domains
3
Definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following
definitions apply.
3.1
attribute: A characteristic of an object or entity.
3.2 conceptual domain: A
set of possible valid value meanings of a data element expressed without
representation.
3.3
context: A designation or description of the application
environment or discipline in which a name is applied or from which it
originates.
3.4 data element: A
unit of data for which the identification, meaning, representation and
permissible values are specified by means of a
set of attributes.
3.5 data
element concept (DEC): A concept that can be represented in the form
of a data element, described independently of any particular representation.
3.6 data element registry: An
information resource that describes the meaning and representational form of
data elements.
3.7 data
element representation: A data
element component consisting of a value domain and representation class.
3.8 data
identifier: A language
independent unique identifier of a data element within a registration
authority. An unambiguous name for an
object within a given context.
3.9 data
item: An occurrence
of a data element value.
3.10 data
value: An element of a value domain.
3.11 data
value domain: A set of
possible valid values of a data element expressed in a certain representation,
for a data element having a value domain.
3.12
enumerated domain: A value domain that is specified by a list of
all permissible values.
3.13
identifier: See data identifier.
3.14 international registration data identifier
(IRDI): The unique and registered identifier of a data
element.
3.15 metadata: Data that defines and
describes other data.
3.16 name: The primary means of
identification of objects and concepts for humans.
3.17 object class: A
set of ideas, abstractions, or things in the real world that can be identified
with explicit boundaries and meaning and whose properties and behavior follow
the same rules.
3.18
permissible value (label): An expression of a value meaning in a specific value domain.
3.19
property: A peculiarity
common to all members of an object class.
3.20
representation class: A
classification of types of representations.
3.21
structure set: A method of placing objects in context,
revealing relationships to other objects.
Examples include Entity-Relationship Models, taxonomies, and ontologies.
3.22
value meaning: A valid value in a conceptual domain.
3.23
value meaning identifier (VMID): A label that uniquely
identifies a value meaning.
4 Component framework
This clause presents a conceptual framework for structuring data elements and data element components 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 usually progress from the most general (conceptual) to the most specific (ultimately, the physical layer, although a metadata registry would not contain these).
One could use layers to structure development of a system using the Zachman Framework, for instance, with the highest levels of definition contained in the business view, and development progressing to the implemented system level. The number and granularity of layers are driven by user requirements. This clause will describe several (non-exhaustive) possible layers, none of which are intended to be mandatory for any particular implementation.
The
members of each layer are called data element components. Components are envisioned as a set of
building blocks that can be assembled into data elements. Some components may also be members of a
registry in their own right.
4.1 Abstraction types
Abstraction
is a tool which has been well-developed by the object-oriented community. It is
used as a way of focussing 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
components 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 conceptional 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 level.
The
three types of abstraction of most interest to data element development are: decomposition/aggregation,
instantiation/classification, and
specialization/generalization.
·
Decomposition/aggregation relates an item to its
parts. Decomposition may be described
as "x is a part of y," or the part-of
relationship. The reverse, aggregation,
shows that y may be composed of x among other items.
·
Instantiation/classification relates an item to a class
of items. This is described as the is-a relationship, "x is a(n
instance of) y." Classification
reverses the relationship; y contains x as well as other items.
·
The
third type is specialization/generalization. This is a relationship between two classes,
where all items in one (subclass) are also in the other (superclass).
4.2 Conformance
Layers
of abstraction can be used to determine conformance of a registry
implementation to a standard.
Specification of the member classes and abstraction types used to
determine the layer members can be used to define conformance. This will lead to improved chances for
interoperability among registries.
4.3 Developing Layers of
Abstraction
The
process of deriving layers of abstraction for a registry can be described by a
series of examples. Some or all of
these layers may be useful for any given registry.
Abstraction
relationship types define the boundaries between layers. Rules for conformance may be derived from
both boundary abstraction and the relationships of the components of each
layer.
A
useful starting point is the set of real world things that the registry
attempts to model. These can be
described by the phrases "concepts (things, beings, ideas…),"
"things about them," "how they look," and "what they
mean." So, the first layer of
abstraction is the translation of these phrases to model entities (figure
1). Applying the abstraction process of
specialization, the result is that concepts become object classes, things about concepts become properties, how they look becomes representation, and what they mean becomes the conceptual domain. By this
transformation, the amorphous content of superclasses of things in the real
world become subclasses composed of entities of the model, subject to rules
governing their behavior.
Of
course, every model-based registry must include this layer. This is the basic assumption of model
building.
Within
the model, other layers of abstraction can be applied to produce model entities
of use to the developers and users. For
example, aggregation can be applied to the object class and property entities
to produce the data element concept. These can be related to conceptual domains
(which contain sets of value meanings) to produce a potentially useful entity,
the conceptual generic element
(figure 2).
Conceptual
generic elements consist of the attributes associated with their constituent
components. These serve to describe the
object class property and its value meanings without any particular
representation assigned. An example, using ISO 3166, would be to describe country identifier without specifying
which one of the seven possible representations for names or codes for countries
contained in ISO 3166 is preferred.
Consider
representation. It was mentioned
earlier as if it was a model entity, but it does not exist as such in the
model. Representation is a combination
of data value domain with its permissible values (if enumerated) or description
(if not); representation class; and datatype, character set, and unit of
quantity of the values in the value domain.
Therefore, it must be abstracted by aggregation if it is to be considered
as a unit.
Combining
a property with the representation components can create a useful
construct. A logical generic element such as "height measure in feet"
can be used to record conformance criteria such as allowed range values. A narrower construct, limiting the
components to property and representation class, can be created to record
generalized conformance criteria such as that "height measure" must
only be used with units of measure with values of "feet," "inches," "meters,"
"centimeters," etc. These
would potentially be combined with object classes to produce data elements such
as "tree height measure" with a conformance criterion of "height
>0<500" (figure 3).
Another
useful object-oriented concept can be applied to allow inheritance of attribute
values between layers. This mechanism
enables the process described in the last paragraph to be applied in
many-to-one relationships: "height measure" can be applied to
"telephone pole height measure" using the same conformance criterion
as "tree height measure."
Other
combinations of components can be created as the registry designer's
discretion. Documentation by attributes
and relationships must be complete if registry content consistency is to be
maintained. Full use of generics
promotes reuse of standardized data description.
Figure
1. Abstraction from the real world to the model.
Figure 2. Abstraction of a conceptual generic element.
Figure 3. Inheritance of
component values.
REFERENCES
(INFORMATIVE)
C Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions Part 1: Country codes, International Organization for Standards (ISO), ISO 3166:1997.
C Standard representation of latitude, longitude and altitude for geographic point locations, International Organization for Standards, ISO 6709, 1983-05-15.
C Information technology programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces language-independent datatypes, International Organization for Standards, ISO/IEC 11404, First edition 1996 12-15.
C Information technology specification of data value domains, ISO/IEC TR 15452, March 1999.
5.0 REGISTER A DATA ELEMENT
Registration
of a data element in a data element registry requires that certain
characteristics of the data element are recorded to clearly describe and define
it. These characteristics are stored as
attributes of the data element. A
Registry can be used to record information about data elements ranging from
carefully crafted data standards to those found in applications. The amount and quality of metadata
information available can vary from good, complete information to poor,
incomplete information. This document
is intended to describe the population of a Registry with data elements for
which good quality, consistent metadata can be created. Part 3 of the ISO/IEC 11179 specifies
attributes for recording information about a data element in a data
registry. This document gives examples
that demonstrate the population of a data registry. It includes attributes that are mandatory and fully defined by
the metamodel, as well as those where the registration authority must establish
its own profile of required attributes.
Many
metadata registry practitioners find that using a bottom-up approach to
registering a data element is most appropriate. In many cases where a data element is submitted for registration,
only limited information (e.g., a name, definition, and a set of permissible
values) is provided. Other attributes
must be determined based on an understanding of the underlying data values and
concepts that are implied by those facts.
These are most commonly registered by means of a bottom up registration
procedure, where the basic metadata attributes about the data element (e.g.,
definition, name, and permissible values) are completed prior to defining the
conceptual information about the data element.
A bottom-up approach might also be used where the metadata registry is intended to serve as a distribution
mechanism for metadata that describes the data in data products such as public
data sets, query results, etc. The
examples provided in this report describe how to formulate attributes about a
data element, based on a bottom-up procedure.
First a general procedure for registering data elements is described,
followed by examples of registration of three types of data elements, including
data elements from:
C An international standard with an enumerated domain.
C An international standard with a non-enumerated domain.
C An information system, where the application data element uses an enumerated domain.
The
registration procedures are presented in a logical order for analyzing and
formulating attributes for a data element.
Annex F contains a table that concisely summarizes the information
registered for each data element in the examples that follow.
This
report is intended to be used to help metadata registry practitioners to
formulate the attributes that describe and define a data element. Section 5.1 presents an overall approach to
data element registration. Sections
5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 should be consulted for more specific examples of registering
the kinds of data elements described in international standards and in
information systems. Annex Y, which is
based on ISO/IEC 11179, contains more detailed information and examples to
assist the practitioner who is registering data elements.
A
top-down approach is useful in many circumstances. Although it requires more "up front" effort, top-down
registration has the potential to produce more stable and uniform metadata. An example of a top-down registration, where
registration begins with identification of conceptual domains, is provided in
informative Annex G with an example of registration of data elements about
biological organisms.
5.1 General Procedures
Often
only a limited amount of information is available about a data element that has
been submitted for registration, e.g., the name and definition contained in a
document or provided by the submitting organization and a set of permissible
values, where appropriate. The general procedures that follow are
intended to result in the registration of a complete, well-defined data element
that meets the requirements of a particular registration authority.
It
should be noted that the metadata for some data elements in a registry will
never be complete. This is true of
application data elements that are obtained from computer software, where very
little information is known except the representational attributes (e.g., field
length and datatype). For these data
elements, only the most basic attributes will be entered, and the data
element's registration status will remain incomplete.
5.1.1 Understanding the Data
Element
The first step in the
registration procedure is to gain an understanding of the data element. What kind of data will be stored in this
data element? Is there a definition or
description of the data values? Were
permissible values or examples of the data provided? Will the data values be determined by an arithmetic or
statistical procedure? What will the
data values look like; e.g., are they names or descriptions of things, numerals
to be calculated, strings of characters and numbers that are identifiers? Where documentation is inadequate to fully
understand the data element, the practitioner must consult those who represent
the source of the data element to obtain the necessary information.
The
result of this first step is an understanding of the semantic content of the
data element.
5.1.2 Content Research
Prior
to formulating attributes towards registration of a new data element, the
registrar should perform content research to determine whether a data element
is described in an existing International or National standard, or whether a
data element that has the potential for being reused exists in the registry or
a federation of registries. It is
necessary to recognize that the registration practitioner must make value
decisions when recording metadata into the metadata registry. The practitioner will determine if a data
element might be adapted to meet new requirements, or some attributes of an
existing data element (e.g., value domain, data element concept, or conceptual
domain) might be reused with the new data element. Content research should include a search of conceptual domains,
data element concepts, and value domains as well as data elements, to identify
attributes that might be relevant to the data element to be registered. If a standard data element exists that can
be used as a model to meet the particular specifications for a new purpose,
some of its attributes may be reused for registration of the new data element.
The
result of this step is confirmation that a new data element is needed, or a
decision to modify or reuse an existing data element.
5.1.3 Definition and Permissible Values
The
essential semantic content of a data element must be captured in a data element
definition. Part 4 of ISO/IEC 111179
describes rules and guidelines for formulating definitions. Part 3 identifies the attributes for
describing the domain of potentially valid (i.e., permissible) values. The permissible values for a data element
are defined as a value domain. Examples
are provided in Annex Y for formulating definitions, based on the rules and
guidelines set forth in ISO/IEC 11179-4. Annex Y also contains detailed
information about the attributes in value domains and examples of how those
attributes are used for both enumerated (i.e., established through a list) and
non-enumerated domains (i.e., specified through a formula, rule, procedure, or
reference).
Different
attributes are used depending upon whether the potentially valid values are
enumerated or non-enumerated. Each
permissible value is associated with a valid value meaning that provides
meaning to the permissible value, as described in Section 5.1.6. Each permissible value is also entered in
the registry with its begin date (i.e., the date when that permissible value
became valid for that value meaning).
End dates will also be entered, when the permissible value for a value
meaning becomes invalid.
Value
domains for non-enumerated domains must include a definition/description of the
values that are possible valid values for the data element. This report contains specific examples of
registering data elements with enumerated domains (Sections 5.2 and 5.4) and
with non-enumerated domains (Section 5.3).
5.1.4 Name and Identifiers
Part
5 of ISO/IEC 11179 gives principles for naming and identification of data
elements. Each data element registered
within a Registration Authority (RA), i.e.,
an organization authorized to register metadata, is unambiguously identified
with a unique identifier. Although the
standard does not specify the format or content of the data element identifier
(DI), the DI should carry no useful information about the data element, e.g.,
it might be a number assigned sequentially by an automated system. If the attributes of a data element change,
a new version of the data element is created and registered with a version
identifier (VI).
Since
each RA establishes it's own identification scheme, the same DI might be used
to identify a different data element in another metadata registry. Therefore, a Registration Authority
Identifier (RAI) must be established for unique identification of a data
element. Data elements registered under
the provisions of ISO/IEC 11179 are assigned an international registration data
identifier (IRDI), which is a composite of the RAI, the DI, and the VI. Part 6 of ISO/IEC 11179 describes the
requirements for a RA and the construction of a RAI. The IRDI is discussed further in Part 6.
Most
people prefer to use names when talking about a data element, rather than a
non-intelligible identifier. Therefore,
one or more names can be assigned to a data element, each associated with the
context in which the name is used. A
name can be developed for a scientific discipline, an organization, a
particular computer language, a database management system, or other
purpose. Each name is developed
according to the naming convention for the particular name context. The naming convention can vary from
"whatever you want to call it" to a highly structured name. ISO/IEC 11179, part 5 does not specify a
mandatory naming convention, but does explain how to document one. For this report, the data element names are
based on a naming convention described in Annex Y. Annex Y also expands on Part 5 of the standard by providing
examples of the use of names and name contexts.
5.1.5 Other Metadata Attributes
Other
mandatory and optional data element attributes are described in Part 3 of
ISO/IEC 11179. In addition to the
definitional attributes described in Section 5.1.3 and the identifying
attributes described in Section 5.1.4, there are administrative, relational,
classifying, and other miscellaneous attributes that serve to define and
describe a data element.
In
addition to the mandatory attributes specified by Part 3 of the standard, a RA
might establish a profile for a particular metadata registry, where some of the
attributes described as optional in the standard are mandatory for that
registry, some optional attributes are not included, and additional attributes
might be identified to extend the registry.
The
attributes that relate data elements through data element concepts (Section
5.1,5), and those that classify data elements (Section 5.1.6) are described in
subsequent sections of this report.
Many information sources do not provide information about the data
element for these categories. Some administrative information is related to
quality control, and is described in Section 5.1.8. Annex Y includes detailed information about these metadata
attributes.
For
the registration procedure described in this report, some administrative and
miscellaneous attributes are recorded at this time, including:
C Submitting organization: The submitting organization is the Office or organization that has submitted the data element for registration.
C Data Steward: The data steward is the individual who has been assigned by a submitting organization to be responsible for authorizing and maintaining one or more data elements.
C Note: A data element may have a "Note" or "Comment" that can be used to capture additional descriptive information about a data element, including usage, procedure, and other explanatory information that is not appropriate to include in the data element definition attribute.
C Example: A data element shall be registered with an example, which must be one of the permissible values for enumerated value domains or must conform to the value domain description/definition and other value attributes for non-enumerated domains.
C Origin. A data element can be associated with any kind of source, including a document, standard, system, group, partner, or message set. One source, as a minimum, must be associated with a data element to indicate the origin of information about the data element.
5.1.6 Data Element Concept
At
this stage in registering a data element, it is possible to specify conceptual
information about the data element through the data element concept. The data element concept can be thought of
as an idea or perception about something, identified and described
independently of any representation.
The data element concept may relate several data elements that record
data about that concept with different representations, e.g., names and codes
that represent provinces of Canada and share the same concept, which is
"Canadian Province Identifier."
The
data element concept is singular (only one concept is represented). It can be associated with many data
elements, including other names and codes, and it does not include a
representation class term in its name or definition. The data element concept is associated with only one Conceptual
Domain, as described in the following paragraph.
Data
element concepts are specified through a definition, an identifier, a name, and
a conceptual domain, i.e., the meanings of the possible set of valid values for
a data element, expressed without representation. The conceptual domain, "Canadian Provinces", would
include valid value meanings such as "The Canadian province of
(Alberta,......., Yukon Territory)," where each value meaning would
identify one Canadian province. Each
value meaning is entered in the registry, associated with its conceptual
domain, with its begin date (i.e., the date when that value meaning became
valid) and end (i.e., when the value meaning became invalid). Permissible values are associated with value
meanings, according to the representation defined by the value domain.
Derivation
of data element concepts and conceptual domains, including value meanings are
described in detail in Annex Y.6.
5.1.7 Classification Attributes
The classification
attributes are recorded, where appropriate, at this time. Classification helps to add information not
easily included in definitions, helps to organize the contents of a metadata
registry, and helps to provide access by supporting more meaningful
queries. Part 2 of ISO/IEC 11179
describes general categories of classification; Part 5 describes three
classified components: object class, property, and representation class.
A
metadata registry might choose to classify data elements as groups, e.g., the
group of data elements used in a mailing address, the group of data elements
used to identify chemical substances, or the group of data elements that locate
a point on the surface of the earth.
Keywords
might also be used to classify data elements, e.g., altitude, date, facility,
industrial, and organization.
5.1.8 Quality Control
Initially,
only some of the attributes will be recorded for a newly registered data
element. Such a data element will be
assigned the registration status of "incomplete." When all of the mandatory data elements have
been completed, but the quality of the metadata has not been verified, the
registration status will be "recorded." Through the quality review process, some data elements will be
determined to be "certified," and some might become
"standard." The
"standard" data element is the preferred data element to be used for
data sharing, to ensure consistent representation and understanding of the data
being communicated.
Part
6 of ISO/IEC 11179 describes the registration process and the registration
status assigned to a data element as the metadata are reviewed and quality is
improved. Many data elements might be
entered into a data registry, but only a relatively small number of them might
be assigned a "standard" registration status. Annex Y describes the assignment of
Registration and Administrative Status throughout the life cycle of a
registered data element. ISO/IEC 11179
Part 6 specifies the levels of registration status; the administrative
statuses, however, are established for each registry by the RA.
5.2 International Standard with Enumerated
Domain
This
section provides a specific example of the registration of a data element from
an international standard, where the possible valid values are itemized. The International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) 3166-1:1997(E/F), Codes for the representation of
names of countries and their subdivisions B Part 1: Country codes, is used
as the source for this example. ISO
3166:1997 is a complete revision of ISO 3166, which was first published in
1974. The names of countries in the
standard correspond to those given, in English and French, in the current
"Terminology Bulletin B Country Names," issued by the United Nations
Department of Conference Services, entitled "States Members of the United
Nations, Members of the Specialized Agencies or Parties for the Statute of the
International Court of Justice" and to those published in the
"Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use" established by
the United Nations Statistics Division.
The full name is the formal title as notified by the country concerned
to the UN Secretary General.
(ISO)
3166-1:1997(E/F) cancels and replaces the fourth edition (ISO 3166:1993) and
comprises a consolidation of all changes to the lists of the fourth edition
agreed to by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency: ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency
Secretariat, c/o DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V., Burggrafenstrasse 6,
D-10787 Berlin, Germany.
ISO
3166 includes the following domains: short country name in English, full
(official) country name in English (not provided for all countries),
2-character alphabetic code, 3-character alphabetic code, 3-character numeric
code, short country name in French, and full country name in French.
The
following paragraphs are presented in the logical order for formulating
attributes for a standard, enumerated data element, using the short
English-language country name as the example.
The table in Section 5.2.10 contains all of the metadata attributes
recorded for the enumerated data element from an international standard.
5.2.1 Understanding the Data Element
The
data element to be registered is taken from an international standard, and it
includes an authoritative conceptual domain of country identifiers for all of
the countries of the world. The short
English-language name was selected for standardization because it has the most
utility for information systems used by United States (U.S.) federal agencies
as well as the private sector. The
short form of the English-language name is used by the U.S. Postal Service
(USPS)for all outgoing international mail, in preference to any of the codes or
full names that are included in the standard.
The name is also preferred by the USPS to any names that are used
locally by a country to identify itself, e.g., Japan is recognized by the USPS
in preference to Nihon, which is the country name commonly used by that country
itself. The short form of the name in
English has been used in the development of ISO 3166 as the basis for assigning
codes to avoid, wherever possible, any reflection of a country's political
status.
The
English-language short name in the standard varies in length from four
alphabetic characters (e.g., Peru) to 44 alphabetic characters (i.e., South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).
The names use the English language alphabet for their character set.
5.2.2 Content Research
Other standards that contain
conceptual domains for country identification include U.S. Federal Information
Processing Standards (FIPS), published by the U.S. Department of Commerce,
Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST). FIPS 10-4 is maintained by the
Office of the Geographer and Global Issues, U.S. Department of State. It is intended for use in activities by the
Department of State and national defense programs, and can also be used for
Federal interchanges of information with the non-Federal sector of the
U.S. FIPS 10-4, published in April
1995, reflects changes through May 6, 1993.
FIPS 104-1 implements an American National Standards Institute standard
ANSI Z39.27-1984, and adopts, with qualifications, entities, names, and codes
prescribed by ISO 3166. FIPS 104-1 was
last updated on May 12, 1986. The
maintenance organization is the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) in
coordination with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Board of Geographic
Names, and the maintenance organization for ISO 3166. There are no known plans to update either of the FIPS standards,
and neither of these standards is recognized internationally.
An
authoritative international source of value domains which has ongoing
maintenance is a necessity for maintaining data values for the data elements
identifying countries of the world.
Therefore, the ISO 3166:1997 is used as the origin of the data element
for country name.
5.2.3 Definition and Permissible Values
The
definition and permissible values are the most important metadata attributes in
uniquely describing a data element.
5.2.3.1 Definition
Understanding that the
essential meaning of this data element is to identify countries using a short
name in the English-language, the data element definition can be formulated as
"The short name of a country, represented in the English language." This definition is formulated using the
mandatory rules and guidelines established in ISO/IEC 11179-4. The rules and guidelines from Part 4 are
described with examples in Annex Y.2. The definition is singular, since any
instance of the data element contains only one value.
5.2.3.2 Permissible Values
The permissible values for
the data element are the short names in English, listed in ISO 3166 (e.g.,
Afghanistan, Albania, ......., Zimbabwe). Each permissible value is entered
into the registry with the date when that permissible value was valid for that
value domain (in this case the date is January 10, 1997, the same as the begin
date for the value meaning). There is
no end date to enter at this time.
The scope of the permissible
values for this data element includes the short English-language name for all
countries. A value domain is defined as
the permissible values for a data element.
For this example, the value domain is described as "All short,
English-language names of all countries."
Note that Part 3 of ISO/IEC 11179 does not require a description or
definition for enumerated domains. Some
RA, however, prefer that all value domains be registered with a
description/definition. Record the
other value domain attributes for this example at this time, including:
C Character Set: The character set for Short English-Language Country Name is "English language."
C Domain Type: Country names are a fixed list of countries, maintained by international standards; therefore, the domain type is "enumerated."
C Datatype: The datatype for country name is "alphanumeric."
C Maximum and minimum field lengths: Based on prior research (Section 5.2.1), the minimum length for values for the data element is known to be four. The known maximum length for names in the current standard is 44. The maximum field length, however, is set to 60, to accommodate any changes or additions to the domain of values.
C Format: The format selected by the registration authority for this example is A(60) to accommodate the longest of the English-language short names.
5.2.4 Identify and Name the Data Element
Name do not identify a data
element. Identification requires a
unique identifier, preferably one that does not contain information about the
data element. The name provides a
designator so that users of the registry have terms by which they refer to the
data element.
5.2.4.1 Identification
Assign a unique identifier
to the data element for short English-language country name, as described in
Annex Y for the identification of data elements. In the metadata registry for
this example, a unique DI and VI (20903:1) are assigned by the computer at the
time of registry.
5.2.4.2 Name Context and
Naming Convention
ISO/IEC 11179 Part 5
describes the naming of data elements.
Annex Y gives examples of name contexts and naming conventions. For this international standard data element,
the name is assigned the context of "Registry," and it is derived
based on the example naming convention provided in Annex Y and summarized as
follows:
Scope: The scope of this example naming convention is Registry Name.
$ Authority: The authority for this example is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its Environmental Data Registry.
$ Semantic Rules: Names shall include an object and a property, where appropriate. Qualifiers shall be used to differentiate between names that would otherwise be the same. The representation class term shall always be included as the last term in the name.
$ Lexical Rules: A data element name shall have a maximum of 100 alphanumeric characters. The language of the registry shall be English, and the character set ASCII. There are no controlled word lists.
$ Name Uniqueness: Names shall be unique within a registration authority.
5.2.4.3 Name the Data
Element
Using the above naming
convention, the name is entered with the context of "Registry." The convention specifies that the name
should include the object "Country", to indicate the data values to
be stored in the data element. The name
should also include the representation for the concept, in this example
"Name." For this particular
example, it is necessary to qualify the name, since there are four value
domains of country names in the ISO 3166 standard. The qualifiers: "short" and
"English-language" are appropriate to this example. The name that has been formulated for this
data element, therefore, is "Short English-Language Country
Name."
5.2.5 Other Metadata Attributes
Other metadata attributes
that can be recorded at this time are:
C Select the example for this data element; it must be one of the permissible values in the value domain.
Example: China
C Identify the origin for this data element as the standard from which the permissible values are obtained.
Origin: ISO 3166-1:1997, Codes for the
representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 1: Country
codes (Document)
C Record any notes or comments that might provide additional information about the data element that is not included in the definition.
Note: This data element is included in the EPA
revised interim Facility Identification Standard.
C Enter the name of the submitting organization, which is the Office that submitted the data element for registration.
Submitting Organization:
Office of Information Resources Management
C Record the name of the individual or organization assigned the responsibility for monitoring and maintaining the data element as the data steward.
Data Steward: Marian Cody
C Administrative metadata, such as Create Date and User Name are recorded or captured automatically by the system where applicable.
5.2.6 Data Element Concept
Identification of the data
element concept, as described in Section 5.1.6 is based on the data element
name and definition, without the representation. The concept represented by the data element "Short
English-Language Country Name" is "Country Identifier," defined
as "An identifier for a primary geopolitical entity of the world." This concept can be represented by all seven
of the names and codes included in ISO 3166.
The conceptual domain is a
collection of value meanings that provide meaning to the permissible values for
a data element. The conceptual domain
that contains value meanings related to the identity of countries of the world
is named "Countries of the World."
It is defined as "The primary geopolitical entities of the
world." The value meanings
associated with this conceptual domain are defined as "The primary
geopolitical entity of the world known as <country name>,"
where country name is one of the country names listed in ISO 3166. Each value meaning is identified by its own
value meaning identifier (VMID) and each is entered into the registry with the
date when that value meaning was entered into the conceptual domain (in this
case the date is January 10, 1997). End
dates will also be entered, when the value meaning becomes invalid (e.g., when
a country name changes or the territory of a country changes to be combined
with another country or to be subdivided into two or more other
countries).
5.2.7 Classification
This data element might be
classified according to the following classification schemes:
· Identify one or more
keywords, where the keyword is a name or subject matter descriptor that will
facilitate grouping like data elements for retrieval.
Keyword: Country.
· Group Short,
English-Language Country Name with similar data elements according to concept
for translation or by general subject matter.
Conceptual group: Country
Identifiers
Subject group:
Geopolitical Entities.
· Identify the class by which
this data element is represented.
Representation Class: Name
$ One or more real world objects that identify this data element can be identified at this time.
Object: Country
5.2.8 Quality Control
When all of the mandatory
metadata attributes have been entered for this data element, it is assigned the
Registration Status of "Recorded" and the administrative status of
"In Quality Review." Because
the data element was identified by an international standard, and it is
expected to be the preferred data element for representing country name within
the example metadata registry, the registration status will be updated to
AStandard@ with administrative status AFinal@ -after the necessary quality
review has been completed.
5.2.9 Other Codes and Names from ISO 3166
Other codes, official
English names, and French names (both official and short) from ISO 3166 are
registered with their individual value domains, representation, data element
definitions, and data element names.
All of the data elements associated with ISO 3166 will share the same
data element concept (i.e., Country Identifier, defined as "An identifier
for a primary geopolitical entity of the world.") and the same conceptual
domain (i.e., Countries of the World, defined as "The primary geopolitical
entities of the world."). All of
the ISO 3166 data elements will share the same value meanings. They will, however, have different sets of
permissible values associated with the value meanings, depending upon the data
element, its representation, and its value domain.
5.2.10 Summary of Attributes
The metadata attributes that
have been assigned to this data element, the short, English-language country
name identified by the ISO 3166:1997 standard, are summarized in the following
table, and in the first column of the table in Annex F.