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NIEM Code Lists Specification 1.0beta1 – Released For Review

The NIEM Technical Architecture Committee (NTAC) has released version 1.0beta1 of the NIEM Code Lists Specification, and requests your help to review and improve it.

One major topic for developers and users of code lists with NIEM information exchanges is the development, distribution, maintenance, and use of code lists. The NTAC has developed the NIEM Code Lists Specification to address this need.

The specification includes:

  • Additional machine-readable formats for code lists: in addition to XML Schema simple types supported by previous versions of NIEM, this specification provides for using spreadsheets in CSV format (comma-separated values format), as well as Genericode, an OASIS format defining code lists in XML.
  • Methods of using code lists in XML Schemas or in XML messages: this enables code lists to be identified at run-time (as attributes in a message), or at schema-time, as annotations on components of a schema.
  • Use of the XML Catalog format for resolving code list identifiers to actual code lists within an IEPD.
  • Rules for how to match values in messages to values in code lists: this enables validation of messages against code lists, and the use of multiple columns in messages (e.g. county code and state code, or vehicle make and model).

The specification is posted on NIEM’s GitHub site. Please review the specification and let us know your thoughts. Comments may be emailed to niem-comments@lists.gatech.edu, or may be submitted as tracked issues at https://github.com/NIEM/niem-code-lists-spec/issues.