Structure IDs, Names and Descriptions

Overview

Identifiable structures are identified by an ID which must be unique within their context.
Maintainable and Nameable structures are also Identifiable and therefore must have an ID, but in addition have a Name, and an optional Description.

ID

An ID is a string that is mandatory for Identifiable structures and serves as a unique reference as part of each structure's URN.

IDs must be unique within their context. For instance the ID of each Concept must be unique within its Concept Scheme. However, Concepts in different Concept Schemes can have the same ID.

Allowable Content	Example
Alpha Numeric	A-Z a-z 0-9
Dollar	$
Hyphen	-
Underscore	_

By covention, IDs are uppercase, but lowercase characters can also be used.

ID Examples:

Agency	SDMX
Agency	IMF
Concept Scheme	CROSS_DOMAIN_CONCEPTS
Codelist	CL_REF_AREA
Codelist	CL_FREQ
Data Structure Definition	ECOFIN_DSD
Dataflow	WDI_HEALTH
Dimension	FREQ
Dimension	REF_AREA
Attribute	OBS_STATUS

Name

A Name is a string that is mandatory for Maintainable and Nameable structures providing a human-readable way to identify the structure.

Unlike an ID, a structure's name does not have to be unique within its context.

Names can be multilingual.

Name examples:

Agency	SDMX	SDMX
Agency	IMF	International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Concept Scheme	CROSS_DOMAIN_CONCEPTS	SDMX Cross Domain Concept Scheme
Codelist	CL_REF_AREA	Reference area code list
Codelist	CL_FREQ	Frequency code list
Data Structure Definition	ECOFIN_DSD
Dataflow	WDI_HEALTH	World Bank World Development Indicators Health