Overview
ISO/IEC 20944-5:2013 - part of the MDR-IB (Metadata Registries Interoperability and Bindings) family - specifies profiles for accessing and navigating metadata registries, especially those based on the ISO/IEC 11179 metamodel. This part defines common provisions for profiles and a concrete profile that maps ISO/IEC 11179-3 metadata attributes to standardized, navigable identifiers. The standard enables consistent identifier formation, attribute mapping, and navigation semantics to support interoperable access (via coding, API and protocol bindings defined in the wider MDR-IB suite).
Key technical topics and requirements
- Attribute mapping for the ISO/IEC 11179-3 metamodel: provides a canonical mapping from metamodel classes and attributes to navigable identifiers (labels) for registry navigation.
- Value space of labels: labels use the ISO/IEC 11404 datatype
character_based_multiple_identifier (an array of ISO-10646 characterstrings).
- Label formation rules:
- Identifiers use slash (“/”) as a component separator (binding-specific separators may vary).
- Class identifiers get the suffix _class (e.g.,
representation_class_class).
- Navigable relations get the suffix _relation (e.g.,
classifying_relation).
- Arrays and multi-valued roles use numeric indexing (e.g.,
name_entry/0, name_entry/1).
- Lexical normalization: lower case, spaces → underscores, punctuation removed (e.g.,
context_for_administered_item).
- Inheritance is represented by copying base attributes into the subtype’s navigable set.
- Mandatory and optional top-level identifiers: lists of required navigation entry points (e.g.,
administered_item_class, value_domain_class, registration_authority_class) and optional ones (e.g., stewardship_class, terminological_entry_class).
- Identifier mappings: detailed mapping tables for ISO/IEC 11179-3 classes (examples include
administered_item_class, registration_authority_class, organization_class).
- Conformance: implementations SHALL map the specified labels to a conforming ISO/IEC 11179-3 metadata registry.
Practical applications and who uses it
- Enables interoperable metadata access across registries - useful for national data portals, statistical agencies, healthcare information exchanges, and enterprise metadata management.
- Supports consistent API, protocol and coding bindings developed under ISO/IEC 20944 parts 2–4, enabling clients and services to navigate registry content reliably.
- Primary users:
- Data architects and metadata managers implementing MDRs
- Software developers building registry APIs, metadata harvesting tools, and metadata governance platforms
- Standards bodies and integrators aligning registry implementations to ISO/IEC 11179
Related standards
By standardizing navigable identifiers and attribute mappings, ISO/IEC 20944-5:2013 helps organizations build interoperable metadata registries and consistent metadata access layers across systems.
Open preview (PDF)Information technology — Metadata Registries Interoperability and Bindings (MDR-IB) — Part 5: Profiles
