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NIEM namespaces

NIEM maintains a set of governing bodies for data definitions. Each body is responsible for its own data definitions, and is encouraged to reuse the definitions of others. As described earlier, NIEM data definitions are organized into namespaces. These bodies, and their namespaces, include:

  • The NIEM Business Architecture Committee (NBAC) governs the central namespace of NIEM, called NIEM Core. NIEM Core covers a large number of broadly-applicable data definitions which need to be managed across the entire NIEM community.

  • The NIEM Technical Architecture Committee (NTAC) governs the technical architecture and manages the foundational namespaces structures and appinfo.

  • Domains are communities of interest, each managing components addressing a specific topic or line of business.

Core and domains, and their namespaces, are outlined elsewhere on this site.

Each namespace has:

  • an XML namespace name, which is a URI.
  • a commonly-used namespace prefix, which is a short label that stands for the full namespace URI in instances and schemas.

Examples:

  • NIEM core uses the prefix nc, and in NIEM 4.0 has the XML namespace namehttp://release.niem.gov/niem/niem-core/4.0/.

  • The Justice domain uses the prefix j, and in NIEM 4.0 has the XML namespace name http://release.niem.gov/niem/domains/jxdm/6.0/.

The namespace prefix plus the local name for a component is the qualified name for a component. For example:

  • The PersonBirthDate element defined by NIEM Core would be expressed as a qualified name, with the commonly-used prefix, as nc:PersonBirthDate.

  • The ChargeDisposition element defined by the Justice domain would be expressed as a qualified name, with the commonly-used prefix, as j:ChargeDisposition.