1990-08-14 In the example above, the Representation terms are "ID" for the <PersonID>, the suffix "Name" for the Given and Family names, and "Date" for the <PersonBirthDate>. Sample representation terms The following are samples of Representation Terms that have been used for the exchange of electronic messages in systems such as NIEM or GJXDM 3.0: [note: the restrictions expressed here are limited to those specifications and do not represent universal consensus] Pros of representation terms Use of representation terms in a data element name is a convention that is widely adopted by several large systems such as NIEM, GJXDM and ebXML. Many data architects that are responsible for mapping XML from foreign sources find Representation terms very useful. Standards such as the UDEF depend on accurate coding of Representation Terms. Tools that validate against enumeration lists can distinguish coded values quickly by looking for the "Code" suffix. Dimensional analysis of data can use representation terms for creating data warehouses. Representation terms such as Code and Indicator can be converted into dimensions and Amounts and Measures can be converted to measures in a fact table. Cons of representation terms No universal agreement exists as to the definitive set of representation terms. There is not always a direct relationship between a representation term and the value domain it represents. This is caused by further qualifying the corresponding data type term. Standards that use representation terms Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language The US Government's National Information Exchange Model requires the use of representation terms for XML data elements. The US Department of Justice data exchange standards Global Justice XML Data Model required the use of representation terms for XML data elements. [Note] This is an extremely limited set of the wide range of standards that specify the use of representation terms. See also ISO/IEC 11179 ISO/IEC 11404 Metadata Data element Representation class Universal Data Element Framework XML XML schema Notes ISO/IEC 11179-5 3.11 (238K zip file) In ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003 5.4 (546K zip file) it is actually representation class which is specified as an attribute of a data element. External links ISO/TS 15000-5:2005 Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) -- Part 5: ebXML Core Components Technical Specification, Version 2.01(ebCCTS) (1MB pdf file) ISO/IEC 11179-3:2003 Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 3: Registry metamodel & basic attributes (546K zip file) ISO/IEC 11179-5:2005 Metadata registries (MDR) — Part 5: Naming and identification principles (238K zip file)