Enclosure (1) to COMDTINST 5230.42A
1.1
The Utility of Naming Standards:
The mission of Data Administration is the management of data. Data is a corporate
resource. While the majority of all corporate data should be available to appropriate users, a
centralized Coast Guard command is responsible for the coordination and control. The Systems
Directorate Architecture and Planning Office (G-SIA), in its data administration function, provides
the strategy and tools to accomplish goals such as the cost reductions for data collection, storage
and usage, and the reduction of errors in the processing and design of data.
We cannot manage data that we cannot identify. We cannot identify data that we cannot
name. A strategy adopted by G-SIA is the composition of a set of data element naming standards.
Used in conjunction with a logical database design, naming standards can provide greater
efficiencies in data handling and less confusion as to the specific use and meaning of a data
element.
1.2
What is in a Naming Standard?
There are two areas of concern when naming data: content and format of the data element
name. Content relates to the essential meaning of the words chosen for the data name; format
relates to the structure of the data element name (i.e., its size, shape and the arrangement of the
words in the data name).
1.3
Benefits:
Naming of data elements is an initial step in developing a data element dictionary.
Opportunities identified for cost reduction and avoidance related to data naming standards are:
o Improve identification of existing, valuable information resources that can be used more
efficiently by others in the organization, or shared with other organizations
o Simplify software and data conversion through the provision of consistent
documentation
o Increase portability of acquired skills resulting in reduced personnel training costs
o Facilitate development, modification, and maintenance of manual/automated systems
throughout their life cycles
o Support an organizationally-defined data element standardization program and reduce
the unnecessary
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