§ 6.4 Glossary.

Appendix A of this part provides a glossary of terms as used in this part and in descriptions of data.

§ 6.5 Types of standards.

For the purposes of this part, the following types of practices and standard are identified for data elements and representations:

(a) De facto practices. Those data elements and representations in current use that have not been subjected to official or formal standardization.

(b) Unit standards. Those data elements and representations that have been approved by an authorized official for use within that unit. (A unit for purposes of this part is any Federal organization within the executive branch of the government, which is at a lower organizational level than an executive department or independent agency).

(c) Agency standards. Those data elements and representations that have been approved by an authorized official for use within an executive department or independent agency.

(d) Federal program standards. Those data elements and representations that have been approved by the Secretary of Commerce for use in a particular program or mission where more than one executive branch department or independent agency is involved with their use. For example, those standards that could be approved and prescribed for use those which include, but are not limited to, Federal-wide personnel, communications and transportation data systems.

are

untary national use by the American National Standards Institute.

(g) International standards. Those data elements and representations that have been approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), for voluntary use by member nations and international organizations.

§ 6.6 Policies.

The following policies apply to the development, implementation, and maintenance of data element and representation standards:

(a) Data elements and representations that are prescribed for interchange among more than one executive department or agency or with the private sector including industry, state, local, or other governments, or with the public at large will be considered for standardization as either Federal general or Federal program standards.

(b) Federal general standards are the highest level standards followed by Federal program standards, agency standards and unit standards in that order. This order establishes a precedence for standards use. For example, a Federal general standard will be used and will supplant a Federal program, agency or unit standard. Likewise a Federal program standard takes precedence over an agency or unit standard.

(c) Approved standards will be implemented by all Federal agencies in all circumstances where technical, operating and economic benefits can be expected to result. These standards will be considered on the basis of their long term benefits and advantages to the government at large. Local inconveniences or short-term conversion costs need to be recognized, but such factors will not be considered overriding deterrents to the development, implementation, and maintenance of standards that are capable of reducing overall government operating costs or providing improved government services.

(d) Existing standards will be considered for adoption as Federal general or program standards when these are determined to meet Federal require

ments or can readily be adapted to do

So.

(e) Approved standards and revisions thereto will be implemented on a time phased basis in order to minimize disruption and conversion costs. Conversion costs will be identified and considered in the submissions of annual budget estimates.

(f) Although data element and representation standards are developed and implemented to provide for the effective interchange and processing of data, Federal departments and agencies must comply with applicable statutes, regulations and executive orders to assure that sensitive or classified data are adequately protected and that only authorized disclosure or release of such data is allowed.

(g) In the formulation of standards for data elements and representations which will have implementation impact on state and local governments, industry or other segments of the private sector, arrangements will be made to establish necessary liaisons and coordinations with these interests to consider their needs and potential problems in responding to federally imposed reporting requirements.

§ 6.7 Responsibilities.

Responsibilities for the standardization of data elements and representations are outlined below:

(a) Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce will provide leadership of an executive branch program for standardizing data elements and representations. Within the Department the following specific responsibilities are assigned:

(1) Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce, on behalf of the President, approves all Federal Information Processing Standards. For data elements and representations, this approval will include both Federal general and Federal program standards.

(2) National Bureau of Standards. The National Bureau of Standards will:

(i) Arrange with appropriate executive branch departments and independent agencies to assume leadership and undertake responsibilities for the development and maintenance of spe

cific Federal program and Federal general standards.

(ii) Arrange for the publication and promulgation of approved Federal general and Federal program standards. These will be promulgated by the National Bureau of Standards as Federal Information Processing Standards. The responsibility under this subparagraph includes the authority to modify or supersede these standards whether issued under this regulation or prior to the effective date of this regulation.

(iii) Maintain and promulgate selected registers of data element and representation standards and practices that are under development or are in current use.

(iv) Provide procedures, guidelines and criteria to assist Federal departments and agencies in the development, implementation, and maintenance of standards.

(v) Provide technical assistance, as requested and within the limits of available resources to Federal departments and agencies on matters concerning the utilization of automatic data processing and standardization.

(vi) Arrange for the assessment of the need, impact, benefits and problems related to the implementation of proposed and approved standards.

(vii) Coordinate requests for exceptions to and deferments on the implementation of approved Federal standards.

(viii) Arrange for and coordinate appropriate Federal representation and participation on voluntary industry committees.

(ix) Arrange for appropriate liaison with state, local and other governments on matters of mutual interest or concern relating to Federal development, implementation, and maintenance of standards.

(b) Departments and independent agencies. Each of these organizations will:

(1) Implement approved Federal standards that are announced under the provisions of this part and assist the National Bureau of Standards in the assessment of the need, impact, benefits and problems related to the implementation of approved stand

ards.

(2) Assume leadership and support of responsibilities for the development of Federal general and Federal program standards as may be mutually arranged by the National Bureau of Standards.

(3) Establish within their organizations, mechanisms for the development, implementation and maintenance of agency and unit standards where such efforts will contribute to reduced costs or improved services.

(4) Establish appropriate procedures and mechanisms within their organizations for the dissemination and implementation of approved Federal standards.

(5) Review and provide information and comments on proposed standards that are being considered for Federal adoption. This includes the analyses necessary to assess implementation impact and potential savings or improved services.

(6) Prepare and submit selected registers of data elements and representations within the data systems of the department or agency as may be arranged by the National Bureau of Standards. These registers will be used as a source reference to avoid duplication in the design of new data elements and representations and to assist in determining possible subjects for future standardization.

(7) Provide participation on committees and task groups that may be formed to develop and maintain Federal general or Federal program standards.

(8) Provide participation, as requested by the National Bureau of Standards, on committees and task groups that may be formed to develop and maintain voluntary industry standards for use nationally and internationally.

(9) Designate an office or official to act as a single point of contact on matters related to this part.

§ 6.8 Exceptions, deferments, and revisions of Federal standards.

Requests for exceptions, deferments and revisions of standards will be forwarded to the National Bureau of Standards for consideration and/coordination. These requests will provide detailed justification for the exception, deferment or revision deemed

necessary. These should be submitted at least forty-five days in advance of any exception or deferral action.

§ 6.9 Effect on previously issued standards.

All standards that were issued under the provisions of Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-86 prior to the effective date of this regulation remain in effect unless modified or superseded pursuant to the provisions of the regulations in this part.

APPENDIX A-GLOSSARY OF TERMS

This Glossary includes definitions of terms used in this part. Additional terms applicable to data standardization are provided for purposes of clarification. The terms and definitions are either from established vocabularies or have been defined for purposes of this part.

Attribute Data Element-A data element that is used to qualify or quantify another data element (e.g., "Date of Birth" and "Mailing Address" would be attribute data elements in a personnel file where the primary element(s) is/are used to identify the person).

Character Type-An indication of the type of characters or bytes to represent a value (i.e., alphabetic, numeric, pure alphabetic, pure numeric, binary, packed numeric, etc.).

Alphabetic-A representation which is expressed using only letters and punctuation symbols.

Alphanumeric-A representation which is expressed using letters, numbers, and punctuation symbols.

Binary-A representation of numbers which is expressed using only the numbers 0 and 1, e.g., 5 is expressed as 101.

Numeric-A representation which is expressed using only numbers and selected mathematical punctuation symbols.

Packed Numeric-A representation of numeric values that compresses each character representation in such a way that the original value can be recovered, e.g., in an eight bit byte, two numeric characters can be represented by two four bit units.

Pure Alphabetic-A representation which is expressed using only letters. Pure Alphanumeric-A representation which is expressed using only letters and numbers.

Pure Numeric-A representation which is expressed using only numbers.

Composite Data Element (Data Chain)—A data element that has an ordered string of related data items that can be treated as a group or singly, e.g., a data element named

"Date of Birth" could have the data items, "Year", "Month", and "Day of Month”.

Context Dependent Definition-A statement of meaning that relies upon a situation, background, or environment for proper interpretation.

Date Code-A coded representation used to identify a data item. Usually codes are designed according to established rules and criteria, and only by chance form a phonetic word or phrase.

Data Element-A basic unit of identifiable and definable information. A data element occupies the space provided by fields in a record or blocks on a form. It has an identifying name and value or values for expressing a specific fact. For example, a data element named "Color of Eyes" could have recorded values of "Blue (a name)”, “BL (an abbreviation)" or "06 (a code)." Similarly, a data element named "Age of Employee" Icould have a recorded value of "28 (a numeric value)."

Data Element Abbreviation-An abbreviated form of the data element name.

Data Element Definition—A statement of the meaning of a data element.

Data Element Name-A name used to identify a data element.

Data Element Source-An identification of the source or provider of the particular data element, i.e., individual, organization, sensor, computation, etc.

Data Element Tag (Data Element Code)A symbolic tag used to identify a data element.

Data Item-The expression of a particular fact of a data element e.g., "Blue" may be a data item of the data element named "Color of eyes".

Data Item Abbreviation-An abbreviated form of the data item name.

Data Item Definition-A statement of the meaning of a data item.

Data Item Name-A name used to identify a data item.

Dependent Code-A code that has segments which are dependent upon other segments in order to provide unique identification of the coded item. Usually, codes having classification significance are dependent codes.

Field-In a record, a specific area used for representing a particular category of data, e.g., a group of card columns used to express a wage rate.

Field Length-A measure of the length (size) of a field, usually expressed in units of characters, words, or bytes.

Field Length Type-An indication of whether the field of a record is fixed or variable in length.

Fixed Length Field-A field whose length does not vary.

Variable Length Field-A field whose length varies. Usually, the boundaries of

this type of field are identified by filed separators.

Field Separator-A character or byte used to identify the boundary between fields.

Filler Character-A specific character or bit combination used to fill the remainder of a field after justification.

Formatted Information-An arrangement of information into discrete units and structures in a manner to facilitate its access and processing. Contrasted with narrative information that is arranged according to rules of grammar.

General Definition—A statement of meaning that can be interpreted without regard to a specific situation, background, or environment.

Information Interchange-The transfer of data representing information between or among two or more points (devices, locations, organizations, or persons) of the same or different (dissimilar) information system or systems.

Justification-To adjust the value representation in a field to either the right or left boundary (margin).

Left Justify-Adjustment of a value representation to the left boundary (high order) of a field.

Right Justify-Adjustment of a value representation to the right boundary (low order) of a field.

Non-significant Code-A code that provides for the identification of a particular fact but does not yield any further information, e.g. random numbers used as codes. Contrasted with significant code.

Numeric Value-The expression of a data item which denotes a measurement, count, or mathematical concept, usually represented by numerals and a limited number of special characters (i.e., plus (+), minus('), decimal point (.), comma (,), asterisk (*), and slant(/)).

Padding-A technique used to fill a field, record, or block with dummy data (usually zeros or spaces).

Primary Data Element—A data element or elements that is/are the subject of a record. Usually the other elements, called attribute data elements, qualify or quantify the primary data element (e.g., in a personnel field, the element(s) that is/are used to identify the individual are primary; other elements such as "Date of Birth" and "Mailing Address" are attributable data elements).

Radix Point A character, usually a period, that separates the integer part of a number from the fractional part. In decimal (base 10) notation the radix point is called the decimal point.

Record-A collection of related elements of data treated as a unit.

Record Index-An ordered reference list of the contents of a record together with keys

or reference notations for identifying and locating the contents.

Record Layout-A description of the arrangement and structure of information in a record, including the sequence and size of each identified component.

Record Length-A measure of the length (size) of a record, usually expressed in units of characters, words, or bytes.

Record Length Type-An indication of whether the records of a file are fixed or variable in length.

Fixed Length Record-Pertaining to a file in which the records are uniform in length. Variable Length Record-Pertaining to a file in which the records are not uniform in length.

Representation-A number, letter or symbol used to express a particular concept or meaning. It may be in the form of a name, abbreviation, code, or numeric value. Rounding (Roundoff)-To delete the least significant digit or digits of a numeral, and to adjust the part retained in accordance with some rule.

Self-Checking Code-A code that is appended to another code to provide for validity checking. A self-checking code is derived mathematically from the characteristics of the base code.

Significant Code-A code which in addition to identifying a particular fact also yields further information, e.g., catalog numbers in addition to identifying a particular item also often indicate the classification of the item. Contrasted with non-significant code.

Truncate-To delete characters from a character string, usually from either end of the string.

Type of Code Significance-An indication of the type of significance that a particular code yields.

Collating Significance—A code designed in such a way that it facilitates ordering of the coded item.

Mnemonic Significance-A code designed in such a way as to facilitate the human recall of the name of the coded items.

Classification Significance-A code designed in such a way as to facilitate the classifying of the coded items into classes and sub-classes.

Variable Name Data Element-A data element that identifies a set (array) of similar values (data items). By varying certain identifiers in the name the entire set (array) of values can be identified. For example, a set of values that give population by State and Year could be identified by the data element "Population of (State) in (Year)" where State and Year are variable names. The variable names are used to identify particular values in an array (e.g., "Population of (New Jersey) in 1970" was 7,168,164.) In this example "New Jersey" and "1970" are