1、 Reference numberISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E)ISO/IEC 2004INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC11179-4Second edition2004-07-15Information technology Metadata registries (MDR) Part 4: Formulation of data definitions Technologies de linformation Registres de mtadonnes (RM) Partie 4: Formulation des dfinitions de d
2、onnes Adopted by INCITS (InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards) as an American National Standard.Date of ANSI Approval: 12/29/2004Published by American National Standards Institute,25 West 43rd Street, New York, New York 10036Copyright 2004 by Information Technology Industry C
3、ouncil (ITI).All rights reserved.These materials are subject to copyright claims of International Standardization Organization (ISO), InternationalElectrotechnical Commission (IEC), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and Information Technology Industry Council(ITI). Not for resale. No par
4、t of this publication may be reproduced in any form, including an electronic retrieval system, withoutthe prior written permission of ITI. All requests pertaining to this standard should be submitted to ITI, 1250 Eye Street NW,Washington, DC 20005.Printed in the United States of AmericaCopyright Ame
5、rican National Standards Institute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS-,-,-ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E) PDF disclaimer This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobes licensing policy, this file may
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10、49 09 47 E-mail copyrightiso.org Web www.iso.org Published in Switzerland ii ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reservedCopyright American National Standards Institute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS-,-,-ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004
11、(E) ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reserved iiiContents Page Foreword iv Introduction v 1 Scope 1 2 Conformance . 1 3 Terms and definitions. 1 4 Summary of data definition requirements and recommendations 3 4.1 Requirements 3 4.2 Recommendations 3 5 Provisions 4 5.1 Premises 4 5.2 Requirements 4 5.3 Recomm
12、endations 6 Bibliography . 9 Copyright American National Standards Institute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS-,-,-ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E) iv ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reservedForeword ISO (the International Organizat
13、ion 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 respect
14、ive 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
15、 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 St
16、andards 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. Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be th
17、e subject of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. ISO/IEC 11179-4 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 32, Data management and interchange. This second edition cancels and r
18、eplaces the first edition (ISO/IEC 11179-4:1995), which has been technically revised. ISO/IEC 11179 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology Metadata registries (MDR): Part 1: Framework Part 3: Registry metamodel and basic attributes Part 4: Formulation of data
19、 definitions Part 5: Naming and identification principles Part 6: Registration The following part is under preparation: Part 2: Classification Copyright American National Standards Institute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license
20、 from IHS-,-,-ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E) ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reserved vIntroduction Data processing and electronic data interchange rely heavily on accurate, reliable, controllable and verifiable data recorded in databases. A prerequisite for correct and proper use and interpretation of data is tha
21、t both users and owners of data have a common understanding of the meaning and representation of the data. To facilitate this common understanding, a number of characteristics, or attributes of the data have to be defined. These characteristics of data are known as “metadata”, that is, “data that de
22、scribes data”. This part of ISO/IEC 11179 specifies requirements and recommendations on the formulation of data definitions that are specified in Metadata Registries. The purpose of these definitions is to specify, describe, explain, and clarify the meaning of data, to promote the standardization or
23、 reuse of data elements, and to promote data sharing and integration of information systems. The structure of a Metadata Registry is specified in the form of a conceptual data model. The Metadata Registry is used to keep information about data elements and associated concepts, such as “data element
24、concepts”, “conceptual domains”, and “value domains”. Generically, these are all referred to as “metadata items”. Such metadata are necessary to clearly describe, record, analyse, classify, and administer data. The definitional requirements and recommendations specified in this part of ISO/IEC 11179
25、 do not always apply to terminological definitions found in glossaries and language dictionaries. Differences exist between the requirements that apply in a language dictionary, and the requirements that apply in a metadata registry. The requirements for ISO/IEC 11179 are more restrictive than those
26、 for a natural language dictionary. For example, a language dictionary may have multiple definitions covering multiple senses of a term or word, whereas data definitions are developed for particular contexts and should not have multiple senses within any context. Data definitions are intended to exp
27、licate the concept or concepts, which are represented by a collection of data, a data value, a data element, or other metadata item. A single definition may be established as the reference definition, with other definitions asserted to be equivalent (e.g., a definition in one language may be establi
28、shed as a reference definition, with definitions in other languages asserted to be equivalent). Metadata items may have a single preferred definition within a particular context, with other deprecated definitions. Many data definitions include terms that themselves need to be defined (e.g., “charge”
29、, “allowance”, “delivery”). Some of these terms may have different definitions in different industrial sectors. Therefore, there is a need for most metadata registries to establish an associated glossary or terminology reference of terms used in the definitions. Copyright American National Standards
30、 Institute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS-,-,-Copyright American National Standards Institute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS
31、-,-,-INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E) ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reserved 1Information technology Metadata registries (MDR) Part 4: Formulation of data definitions 1 Scope This part of ISO/IEC 11179 specifies requirements and recommendations for constructing definitions for data and metad
32、ata. Only semantic aspects of definitions are addressed; specifications for formatting the definitions are deemed unnecessary for the purposes of ISO/IEC 11179. While especially applicable to the content of metadata registries as specified in ISO/IEC 11179-3, this part of ISO/IEC 11179 is useful bro
33、adly for developing definitions for data and metadata. These definitional requirements and recommendations pertain to formulating definitions for data elements and other types of data constructs such as entity types, entities, relationships, attributes, object types (or classes), objects, composites
34、, code entries, metadata items, and the data referred to by XML tags. 2 Conformance This part of ISO/IEC 11179 may be used independently, e.g., for defining data elements outside the context of a metadata registry. In such cases, compliance may be claimed if the requirements and recommendations have
35、 been followed in developing the definitions. Where used in the context of an ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry, this part of ISO/IEC 11179 shall constitute the criteria for definitions when establishing the registration status as specified in ISO/IEC 11179-6. 3 Terms and definitions For the purposes
36、of this document, the following terms and definitions apply. 3.1 Conceptual Domain set of valid value meanings NOTE The value meanings may either be enumerated or expressed via a description. ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.3.21 3.2 Concept unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristic
37、s ISO 1087-1:2000, 3.2.1 3.3 data re-interpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing NOTE Data can be processed by human or automatic means. ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993, 01.01.02 Copyright American National Standards Institute Provi
38、ded by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS-,-,-ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E) 2 ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reserved3.4 data element unit of data for which the definition, identification, representation and permissible values are specified
39、by means of a set of attributes ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.3.36 3.5 Data Element Concept concept that can be represented in the form of a data element, described independently of any particular representation ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.3.38 3.6 definition representation of a concept by a descriptive state
40、ment which serves to differentiate it from related concepts ISO 1087-1:2000, 3.3.1 3.7 metadata data that defines and describes other data ISO 1087-1:2000, 3.2.18 3.8 Metadata Registry information system for registering metadata ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.2.22 3.9 metadata item instance of a metadata o
41、bject NOTE 1 In all parts of ISO/IEC 11179, this term is applied only to instances of metadata objects described by the metamodel in Clause 4 of ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003. Examples include instances of data elements, data element concepts, permissible values, etc. NOTE 2 A metadata item has associated at
42、tributes, as appropriate for the metadata object it instantiates. ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.2.19 3.10 metadata object object type defined by a metamodel NOTE In all parts of ISO/IEC 11179, this term is applied only to metadata objects described by the metamodel in Clause 4 of ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003. Exa
43、mples include data elements, data element concepts, permissible values etc. See Clause 3.3 of ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003 for a complete list. ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.2.20 3.11 name designation of an object by a linguistic expression ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.2.26 Copyright American National Standards Instit
44、ute Provided by IHS under license with ANSI Not for ResaleNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS-,-,-ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004(E) ISO/IEC 2004 All rights reserved 33.12 Value Domain set of permissible values NOTE 1 The value domain provides representation, but has no implication
45、 as to what data element concept the values may be associated with nor what the values mean. NOTE 2 The permissible values may either be enumerated or expressed via a description. ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003, 3.3.140 4 Summary of data definition requirements and recommendations A listing of the requirement
46、s and recommendations without explanations is provided in this clause for convenience of the user. The intent is to facilitate ease of use of this document once an understanding of the requirements and recommendations is achieved. Clause 5 describes each requirement and recommendation with an explan
47、ation and examples to ensure their exact meaning is understood. 4.1 Requirements A data definition shall: a) be stated in the singular b) state what the concept is, not only what it is not c) be stated as a descriptive phrase or sentence(s) d) contain only commonly understood abbreviations e) be exp
48、ressed without embedding definitions of other data or underlying concepts 4.2 Recommendations A data definition should: a) state the essential meaning of the concept b) be precise and unambiguous c) be concise d) be able to stand alone e) be expressed without embedding rationale, functional usage, or procedural information f) avoid circular reasoning g) use the same terminology and consistent logical structure for related definitions h) be appropriate for the type of metadata item being defined Copyright American National Standards Institute Provided by IHS under licens
