ISO/IEC 11179 Part 5 Naming and Identification Principles for Data Elements

Tommie CurtisTommie CurtisSystems Development CenterSystems Development Center

February 16, 1999

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Scope of Part 5

Provides rules and guidelines for naming and identification

Describes components and structure of data element identification

Defines associations between identifying attributes

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Development of a Naming Convention

Establish a scope for the convention

Determine the authority which establishes a name

Develop semantic rules for the source and content of words used in a name

Formulate syntactic rules for required word order

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Development of a Naming Convention (cont.)

Develop lexical rules covering controlled words lists, name length, character set, language

Set guidelines on uniqueness of names in context

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What’s in a Name?

Representation Term

Object Class Term

Property Term

Qualifier Term

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Representation Term

Describes the form of the set of valid values for a data element

Describes the form of the representation of a data element

If the representation is redundant with the property term, one term or part of a term may be removed

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Example Representation Terms

Amount Code Count Date Group Measure

Name Number Quantity Rate Text Time

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Representation Term Examples

Name – Best Employee Last Name (Name)

– Mailing Address State Code

– Transmission Tower Height Measure

Code

Measure

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Object Class Term

A component of the name of a data element which represent the logical data grouping

A component of a data element which represents an activity or object in context

A set of ideas, abstractions, or things that can be identified with explicit boundaries and meaning

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Object Class Examples

Employee – Best Employee Last Name

– Mailing Address State Code

– Transmission Tower Height Measure

Address

Tower

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Property Term

A component of the data element name which expresses the category to which the data element belongs

A component of the data element name which expresses a property of an object class

A peculiarity common to all members of an object class

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Property Term Examples

Last Name – Best Employee Last Name

– Mailing Address State Code

– Transmission Tower Height Measure

State

Height

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Qualifier Term

A word or words which help define and differentiate a name within the database

May be attached to object class terms, property class terms, and representation class terms

May be derived from structured sets of terms

Should not be redundant

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Qualifier Term Examples

Best

Mailing

Transmission

– Best Employee Last Name

– Mailing Address State Code

– Transmission Tower Height Measure

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Attributes of a Term

Representation Term - Code

Object Class Term - Address

Property Term - State

Qualifier Term - Mailing

Mailing Address State CodeMailing Address State CodeMailing Address State CodeMailing Address State Code

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Identifying Attributes for a Data Element

Name

Context

Registration Authority Identifier

Data Identifier

Version Identifier

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Name and Context

A data element shall have at least one name within a registry

A data element may have additional names assigned depending on the context in which it is used

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Name Context Examples

Registry Name

Legacy Name Short Name Source Name Standard Name

– Mailing Address ZIP Code– ZIP_CODE– MAZIPCd– M_ADD_ZIP_CD– Mailing Address ZIP Code

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Data Element Application Contexts

Abstract (GILS) abstract (ASN) InformationResource.Description.Text

(BSR) Description (Dublin Core) Abstract (FGDC) résumé (French) Abstract (SGML Tag)

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The International Registration Identifier (IRDI)

Registration Authority Identifier - the identifier of any organization authorized to register a data element

Data Identifier - the unique identifier of a data element assigned by a Registration Authority

Version Identifier - the identification of an issue of a data element

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Semantics of Separators

Used to separate name components

No semantic meaning

Semantic meaning

Special meaning for a specific language

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Semantic Separator Examples

Best_Employee_Last_Name

Mailing.Address.State.Code

Transmission:Tower:Height_Measure

Mailing Address Country Name

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Lexical Principles

Establish: Preferred and non-preferred terms Synonyms Abbreviations Component Length Spelling Permissible character set Case sensitivity

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Use of a Thesaurus

Source of name components

Provide semantic linking of preferred terms

Gives guidance in the use of homographs

Shows equivalence, hierarchy, and association

Allows a controlled vocabulary

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So, What’s in a Name?

Establishes what people call a data element. People can use different names in different contexts.

Expresses the primary means to refer to objects and concepts for humans