Chief Information Officer
IC Technical Specifications
Abstract Data Definition for Electronic Records Management
Overview
The Abstract Data Definition for Electronic Records Management defines common conceptual data elements that support the management of record information. This specification is maintained by the IC Chief Information Officer via the Data Standards Coordination Activity (DSCA) and Common Metadata Standards Tiger Team (CMSTT).
Electronic Data Management (EDM) is necessary to manage information from initial ingest into the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise (IC ITE) through final data disposition, in accordance with legislation such as the Federal Records Act, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Privacy Act, and direction from the Executive Branch. This applies to permanent and temporary records. To enable originating IC elements to fulfill records management responsibilities, IC ITE Service Providers shall provide the means to audit, track, manage, and disposition information, using agreed upon metadata tags that can be adapted to changing missions and records management practices. EDM will help automate the sharing, processing, routing, discovery, and controlled access of information. EDM is necessary to enable users to quickly discover information related to FOIA and Privacy Act cases and other specialized legal requests, identify documents for mandatory declassification, and respond to other open government initiatives. Bottom line, IC ITE must provide capabilities to effectively manage electronic information, which President Obama described in Presidential Memo M-12-18 as "the backbone of open Government."
Technical Specification Downloads
Latest Approved Public Release:
Mission Requirements
Electronic Data Management (EDM) is necessary to manage information from initial ingest into the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise (IC ITE) through final data disposition, in accordance with legislation such as the Federal Records Act, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Privacy Act, and direction from the Executive Branch. This applies to permanent and temporary records. To enable originating IC elements to fulfill records management responsibilities, IC ITE Service Providers shall provide the means to audit, track, manage, and disposition information, using agreed upon metadata tags that can be adapted to changing missions and records management practices. EDM will help automate the sharing, processing, routing, discovery, and controlled access of information. EDM is necessary to enable users to quickly discover information related to FOIA and Privacy Act cases and other specialized legal requests, identify documents for mandatory declassification, and respond to other open government initiatives. Bottom line, IC ITE must provide capabilities to effectively manage electronic information, which President Obama described in Presidential Memo M-12-18 as "the backbone of open Government."
Chief Information Officer
IC Technical Specifications
CDR: Describe
Overview
The Describe specifications define requirements and provide guidelines for the realization of the CDR Describe Component as a RESTful and SOAP web service and SOAP protocol. The content of these specifications specifies the Describe Service’s behavior, interface and other aspects in detail, providing enough information for Describe Service providers and consumers to create and use CDR-conformant Describe Services.
The Describe Service exposes one required Describe Function for exposing information that describes a content collection. The exposed information, referred to as a Description, is a collection of metadata that refers to the entire content collection rather than individual content resources in the content collection. The Description can be used by Describe consumers to make smart decisions regarding the applicability of a content collection, for example, this type of information can be used by Brokered Search providers to perform type, coverage and/or content-based search query routing.
This specification supports Intelligence Community Directive 501 (ICD 501), Discovery, Dissemination or Retrieval of Information within the Intelligence Community, which establishes policies for (1) discovery, and (2) dissemination or retrieval of intelligence and intelligence-related information collected, or analysis produced by the Intelligence Community.
Compliance with this specification is measured against all aspects of the technical and documentary artifacts contained within the specification release package. This specification is maintained by the IC Chief Information Officer via the Data Standards Coordination Activity (DSCA) and Common Metadata Standards Tiger Team (CMSTT).
Value Proposition
These specifications are designed to fulfill a number of requirements in support of the transformational efforts of the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense Enterprise (IC/DoD). Features of this specification are:
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To provide common service interfaces and a behavioral model to enable Describe consumers, such as Brokered Search providers, to discover relevant content collections from disparate collections across the IC/DoD enterprise.
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To support the implementation of both the IC/DoD Content Discovery & Retrieval SOAP and REST Interface Specifications for CDR Brokered Search 1.1.]
Latest Approved Version
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IC/DoD REST Interface Encoding Specification for CDR Describe, Version 1 (14 Jan 13), [13-1 Baseline]
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IC/DoD SOAP Interface Encoding Specification for CDR Describe, Version 1 (14 Jan 13), [13-1 Baseline])
Chief Information Officer
IC Technical Specifications
XML Data Encoding Specification for Intelligence Community Enterprise Data Header
Overview
This XML Data Encoding Specification for Enterprise Data Header (EDH.XML) defines detailed implementation guidance for using Extensible Markup Language (XML) to encode EDH data. This Data Encoding Specification (DES) defines the XML elements and attributes, associated structures and relationships, mandatory and cardinality requirements, and permissible values for representing enterprise data header data concepts using XML.
This specification is applicable to the Intelligence Community (IC) and information produced by, stored, or shared within the IC. This DES may have relevance outside the scope of intelligence; however, prior to applying outside of this defined scope, the DES should be closely scrutinized and differences separately documented and assessed for applicability.
This specification applies to the IC, as defined by the National Security Act of 1947, as amended; and such other elements of any other department or agency as may be designated by the President or designated jointly by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the head of the department or agency concerned, as an element of the IC. Joint and Coalition forces may use this specification, but it is not required.
Compliance with this specification is measured against all aspects of the technical and documentary artifacts contained within the specification release package.
This specification is maintained by the IC Chief Information Officer via the Data Standards Coordination Activity (DSCA) and Common Metadata Standards Tiger Team (CMSTT).
Technical Specification Downloads
Latest Approved Public Release:
- XML Data Encoding Specification for Intelligence Community Enterprise Data Header (V2019-MAR - Standalone Package)
- XML Data Encoding Specification for Intelligence Community Enterprise Data Header (V2019-MAR - Convenience Package)
- XML Data Encoding Specification for Intelligence Community Enterprise Data Header (V2019-MAR - Light Package)
Mission Requirements
Information sharing within the national intelligence enterprise will increasingly rely on information assurance metadata (including enterprise data headers) to allow interagency access control, automated exchanges, and appropriate protection of shared intelligence. A structured, verifiable representation of security metadata bound to the intelligence data is required in order for the enterprise to become inherently "smarter" about the information flowing in and around it. Such a representation, when implemented with other data formats, improved user interfaces, and data processing utilities, can provide part of a larger, robust information assurance infrastructure capable of automating some of the management and exchange decisions today being performed by human beings.
The Intelligence Community (IC) has standardized the various classification and control markings established for information sharing within the Information Security Markings (ISM) specification. The IC Enterprise Data Header XML specification further expands on this body of work, adapting and extending it as necessary to meet mission-unique needs. By specifying a data object's header information required for exchange on the IC Enterprise, EDH ensures a secure method of information sharing and discovery, supporting use cases such as the IC Cloud.