Series Key

A Series Key is the cross product of values of Dimensions uniquely identifying a series within a dataset.

Overview

Consider the following Data Structure Definition:

Position	Component Type	Component ID	Description
1	Dimension	INDICATOR	Indicator
2	Dimension	REF_AREA	Reference Area
3	Dimension	FREQUENCY	Data Frequency
n/a	Time Dimension	TIME_PERIOD	Observation Time
n/a	Attribute	UNIT_MULT	Unit Multiplier e.g. tens, thousands, millions
n/a	Attribute	Observation Status	Observation Status e.g. Estimated, Final
n/a	Primary Measure	Observation Value	The observation value

In SDMX, Series Keys are generally written by concatenating the Dimension values with dots (.) in the order specified in the DSD.

For the DSD above, the Series Key is constructed as follows:

<INDICATOR>.<REF_AREA>.<FREQUENCY>

Examples

ATMCO2.GRC.A
ATMCO2.GRC.M
TBSINDC.MDG.A
TBSINDC.GBR.M

Attributes do not form part of the Series Key because they have no role in uniquely identifying series or observations.

In some implementations, Series Keys use a colon (:) separator:

Q:S:L:A:TO1:A:5J:A:5A:U:5R:N
Q:S:L:A:TO1:A:5J:A:5A:U:5C:N
Q:S:L:A:TO1:A:5J:A:5A:U:1N:N
Q:S:L:A:TO1:A:5J:A:5A:U:3C:N
Q:S:L:A:TO1:A:5J:A:5A:U:1C:N

Series Keys with time value

A Series Key that also includes a time value uniquely identifies an observation.

                    2015    2016    2017    2018    2019    2020
ATMCO2.GRC.A         278     290     298     304     312     209         
TBSINDC.MDG.A        631     678     645     655     662     669

In the above example ATMCO2.GRC.A.2015 identifies the 2015 time period with observation value 278.