The following information is applicable to data element concepts only.
A single or multi-word designation assigned to a data element concept.
Mandatory completion.
A data element concept is composed of the following:
Object class name+space+Em dash+Propety name
For example, the concatenation of the object class Person and the property Body height is: Person—body height.
The name should be concise and indicative of the content of the data element concept.
The object class and property name components of the data element concept name are to be written exactly and in full (i.e. repetitive text should not be removed).
The first word of the property name component of the data element concept name should be written in lower case unless it is a proper noun.
Capital letters should only be used for the first letter of the first word and proper nouns.
Parentheses should only be used to enclose terms which qualify either the object class or property name.
The object class name shall occupy the leftmost position.
The property name shall follow the object class name unless the object class name is qualified.
Separate the object class name component of the data element concept name with an Em dash (—). Do not leave any spaces before or after the Em dash e.g. Person—body height.
Hyphens (-) should only be used when two or more words are turned into a single compound word. Do not leave any spaces before or after the hyphen. For example, ‘on-call’, ‘waist-to-hip ratio’.
Do not include any of the following in a data element concept name:
Slashes (/) are permitted; do not include any spaces before or after the slash.