DataProviderScheme

In SDMX a Data Provider Scheme contains a non-hierarchic list of data providers. Each maintenance agency can have a single data provider scheme, and may have none. The identity of the data provider is a combination of the identity of the data provider scheme (which includes the maintenance agency) in which it resides and the identity of the data provider in that scheme.

The Data Provider is the owning organisation of data and reference metadata. These data and reference metadata are reported, exchanged, or disseminated as SDMX data sets and SDMX metadata sets. The type of data and metadata that are available are specified in a Dataflow and Metadataflow. The union of one data provider and one Dataflow or Metadataflow is known as a Provision Agreement.

In a data collection scenario the data provider is the organisation reporting the data or reference metadata and information can be linked with the provision agreement. Information linked to the provision agreement can specify where the data or reference metadata are located (data registration) and the data collector (as the Agency of the provision agreement) can specify validation Constraints such as allowable dimension values or series keys for which data can be reported.

In a data dissemination scenario information linked to the provision agreement can specify the location of the data source and the content of the data source in terms of series keys available (Constraint).