Name: Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange
Alternative name: SDMX
Version: 2.0
Valid: From November 2005
Description: The Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) initiative sets technical standards and content-oriented guidelines to facilitate the exchange of statistical data and metadata.
There are several sections to the SDMX Technical Specification:
1. The SDMX Information Model - the information model on which syntax-specific implementations described in the other sections are based.
2. SDMX-EDI - the EDIFACT format for exchange of SDMX-structured data and metadata.
3. SDMX-ML - the XML format for the exchange of SDMX-structured data and metadata.
4. The SDMX Registry Specification provides for a central registry of information about available data and reference metadata, and for a repository containing structural metadata and provisioning information.
5. The SDMX Implementor's Guide - this is a guide to help those who wish to use the SDMX specifications. It includes reference material for the use of the SDMX Information Model;
6. Web Services Guidelines - this is a guide for those who wish to implement SDMX using web-services technologies.
Intended use: The aim of SDMX is to create and maintain technical and statistical standards and guidelines to be used and implemented by organisations dealing with statistical data and metadata. Together with the use of modern IT technologies, these standards and guidelines should improve efficiency by preventing duplication of effort.
The SDMX standards support a data-sharing process based on the use of central registry services. Registry services provide visibility into the data and metadata existing within the community, and support the access and use of this data and metadata by providing a set of triggers for automated processing. The data or metadata itself is not stored in a central registry - these services merely provide a set of metadata about the data (and additional metadata) in a known location, so that users or applications can easily locate and obtain whatever data and metadata is registered. The use of standards for all data, metadata, and the registry services themselves permits a high level of automation within a data-sharing community.
Maintenance organization: SDMX is maintained by a group of seven sponsors: the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the European Central Bank (ECB), Eurostat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations and the World Bank. The SDMX Secretariat (in which all sponsoring organisations are represented) is in charge of carrying the work forward.
ISO Standard Number: ISO TS 17369
References: The SDMX technical specifications and content-oriented guidelines are freely available at http://www.sdmx.org. User guide at http://sdmx.org/?page_id=38
Relationships to other standards: Concept Map
Language: English
Description last updated / validated: 14 January 2010