It's All in the Name - Implementing Data Element Naming Standards

Abstract

Data element naming standards promote and facilitate data sharing across systems and among data users by proving a means for making data readily identifiable. At the University of Michigan one of the charges of the newly established Data Administration area is to develop and implement standards for naming and defining data. A working group was established to make recommendations for standards for institutional data. This group conducted research on standards used at other institutions in order to propose naming standards which could be applied to both internal and external data. This paper focuses on the goals and activities of the Data Element Naming Standards Working Group (DENS), their successes and obstacles, end users' and programmers' reactions to the proposed standards, and how these standards are being implemented at the University.