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NIEM 4.0 Beta1 Review is Now Complete

Public review and comment of NIEM 4.0 beta1 is now complete. To ensure the final NIEM 4.0 release meets users’ evolving needs, the NIEM Program requested and received feedback from domain stewards, technical subject matter experts, and the NIEM community at large. Comments were due by April 21, 2017.

The NIEM release cycle allows the Program to incorporate changes on a predictable and sustainable schedule. NIEM 4.0 is an upcoming Major Release that includes updates to NIEM’s core, domains, and technical architecture. This particular release incorporates approximately 280 new elements and 350 new types, as well as updates to 2,300 existing elements and 230 existing types.

The final NIEM 4.0 release is expected summer 2017. Visit https://release.niem.gov/niem/4.0/ to download the full NIEM 4.0 beta1 release package. Updates to the Naming and Design Rules (NDR) can be found here.

What’s New in NIEM 4.0?

Key highlights for the upcoming release (to date) include:

A synchronized and more internationally inclusive model

  • Integrated all 3.0-based core supplements  into the model.
  • Conducted harmonization (i.e., reduced duplication) across the model.
  • Addressed over two dozen user-submitted issues since the last release.
  • Conducted a review of international models, exchanges, and standards to identify unique international elements for inclusion in:
    • NIEM core, including international category codes for person names, addresses, financial accounts, and message categories.
    • NIEM domains, including new humanitarian elements within the Emergency Management domain and closer alignment to NATO STANAG 1745 and Department of Defense EBTS 4.0 with the Biometrics domain. Additional domain content relating to international is also expected for later 4.0 incremental releases (e.g. NIEM 4.1).

Refreshed domain content—and welcome Agriculture!

Specific model content updates

  • Increased support for Geopolitical Entitles, Names, and Codes (GENC) country and state codes using the new NIEM Code Lists Specification.
  • Added OrganizationLEIIdentification to nc:OrganizationType, to support the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), an alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies legally distinct entities that engage in financial transactions.
  • Revised Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) and Military Grid Reference System (MRGS) location coordinate representatives.
  • Removed value restrictions on percentages (nc:PercentType) and merged local terminology and appinfo namespaces.
  • Merged nc:ContactInformationAssociationType with nc:ContactInformationType to simplify and support the common usage.
  • Created new namespaces (nc: CountryType and nc:StateType) to support multiple country and state representations and improve reusability.
  • Included the generic entity representation into nc:EntityType, added the term “Abstract” for abstract elements, and incorporated additional entity date representations.
  • Combined code sets in namespace core_misc into core.
  • Remodeled nc:MeasureType so various kinds of measurements are  now independent sub-types rather than alternate substitutions within a single type.

Simplified and more flexible technical architecture

  • Updated the NDR, Schematron in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Schema Definition (XSD), and Code Lists Specifications (supporting code lists defined as CSV spreadsheets) in an effort to:
    • Support linked data (LD) methodology, including a new structure: uri attribute supporting cross-document and within-document references;
    • Relax rules for extension schemas, including use of anonymous types, local elements, and elements of simple types;
    • Update the Model Package Description (MPD) specification to allow for Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPDs) that use the most common, simple usage patterns, and that support convention over configuration;
    • Allow for more characters in component names and some use of fixed elements in XSDs.

Get NIEM 4.0 Beta1

NIEM 4.0 beta1 package is available at https://release.niem.gov/niem/4.0/ and includes the following release products:

  • XML Schemas (XSDs)
  • Data model spreadsheet
  • Code list spreadsheet
  • Change log

Revisions to the NDR can be found here. Reviewers can also access the updated content via the NIEM staging server Schema Subset Generation Tool (SSGT).

When will NIEM 4.0 be final?

NIEM expects the final operational release of NIEM 4.0 in the summer 2017 timeframe. In the meantime, contact us with any questions about NIEM 4.0 or NIEM’s release cycle.