How do I view a data dictionary?

Owned by Charlotte Reynolds
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024 by Paul
3 min read

The Adult Social Care (ASC) Terminology Data Catalogue is a public facing data browser that provides technical users with access to Adult Social Care Terminology resources and the ability to feedback on standards development through a managed service desk.

Tutorial:

1. To begin, open the Adult Social Care (ASC) Terminology Data Catalogue and navigate to a dataset or data standard by searching for keywords or using the filters on the left hand side.

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2. Click on the dataset or data standard.

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4. Click on one the data classes under the “Data Dictionary” tab heading on the far left sidebar to start exploring the Data Dictionary.

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5. The selected data class will now be displayed in the main panel.

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DSRC Data Standards are organised into Data Classes.

Data Classes contain one or more Data Elements and/or child Data Classes.

Data Elements contain a Data Type which specifies the input value of the element e.g. varchar or datetime.

The definitions, including rules and constraints for valid values for all Data Classes and/or Data Elements are defined using the following metamodel:

  • Name: the name of the data class

  • Description: a description of the data class

  • Cardinality: the number of times a data class / element can occur within a group

  • Data Elements: data elements contained with the class

  • Child Classes: data classes contained within the class

  • Level: Could, Should, Must

  • Metadata: any additional metadata associated with the data class

  • Relationships: related data classes or elements (which may reside in another standard)

7. Click on a Data Element to learn more about it.

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8. A Data Element pop-up window will be display with three tabs: Details, Relationship and Metadata.

Details

This includes the Data Element Description, Data Type (and enumerations if applicable) and any Rules associated with the Data Element.

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Relationships

Here you will find a list of related Data Element and Data Classes. The Relationship type (.e.g contained in, related to, flows to, is based), Data Element/Class Name + Link, the containing Dataset and the Type (i.e. Class or Element).

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Metadata

Any additional metadata will be contained in this tab, including the Cardinality and Level.

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9. To close this pop-up window and return to the Data Class view, click on the X in the top right hand corner.

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Next Steps:

How can I learn more about a dataset?

What is Structural Metadata?