Properties of Clear Definitions
A good definition is:
- Precise - The definition should use words that have a precise meaning. Try to avoid words that have multiple meanings or multiple word senses.
- Concise - The definition should use the shortest description possible that is still clear.
- Non Circular - The definition should not use the term you are trying to define in the definition itself. This is known as a circular definition.
- Distinct - The definition should differentiate a data element from other data elements. This process is called disambiguation.
- Unencumbered - The definition should be free of embedded rationale, functional usage, domain information, or procedural information.
A data element definition is a required property when adding data elements to a metadata registry.
Definitions should not refer to terms or concepts that might be misinterpreted by others or that have different meanings based on the context of a situation. Definitions should not contain acronyms that are not clearly defined or linked to other precise definitions.
If you are creating a large number of data elements, all the definitions should be consistent with related concepts.
Critical Data Element -- Not all data elements are of equal importance or value to an organization. A key metadata property of an element is categorizing the data as a Critical Data Element (CDE). This categorization provides focus for data governance and data quality. An organization often has various sub-categories of CDEs, based on use of the data. e.g.,
- Security Coverage – data elements that are categorized as personal health information or PHI warrant particular attention for security and access
- Marketing Department Usage – the Marketing department could have a particular set of CDEs identified for identifying Unique Customer or for Campaign Management
- Finance Department Usage – the Finance department could have a different set of CDEs from Marketing. They are focused on data elements which provide measures and metrics for fiscal reporting
Standards such as the ISO/IEC 11179 Metadata Registry specification give guidelines for creating precise data element definitions. Specifically chapter four of the ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry standard covers data element definition quality standards .
Read more about this topic: Data Element Definition
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