NIEM 3.0 Release

NIEM 3.0 is a major release, published October 2013.

• Resources
• Highlights
• Specification Links
• Specification Updates
  • Naming and Design Rules (NDR) 3.0
  • Model Package Description (MPD) Specification 3.0
  • Conformance Targets Attribute (CTAS) Specification 3.0 - new
  • NIEM UML Profile

Resources

• Download the full release package as a zip file

• View schemas and documentation on release.niem.gov or GitHub

• Use the online Schema Subset Generation Tool (SSGT) to search or build XML schema subsets for use in IEPDs
  (go to Options in the menu bar to switch to the 3.0 release)

• Download the component spreadsheet or the code spreadsheet to explore the contents of NIEM 3.0 in Excel

Highlights

• NIEM adopted a new annual release strategy with a 3-year cycle: a major release one year would be followed by minor releases the next two years.

• Added the Biometrics (biom) domain - replaced the ANSI NIST namespace from NIEM 2.0

• The Family Services (fs) domain was renamed as Children, Youth, and Family Services (cyfs)

• Military Operations (mo) debuted as a domain update after the NIEM 3.0 release

• Augmentations were revised to use element substitution instead of type extension.
  • This addressed challenges users had faced with the limits of type extension, which only allowed for the use of an augmentation for a type from a single domain.
  • Element substitution allows for IEPD developers to use multiple domain augmentations to be used in combination together.

• Extensive review and harmonization of Core components

• Simplified XML schema syntax of elements and types

• Added the conformanceTargets attribute to NIEM schemas to allow users to explicitly designate which NIEM specifications and rule sets are applicable

• Added support for local terminology, allowing namespaces to define subject area-specific terms that do not appear in standard dictionaries

See the NIEM 3.0 change log spreadsheet for changes.

Specification Links

The following are the NIEM specifications that can be used with this release:

Specification Updates

Starting with NIEM 3.0, specification version numbers were adjusted to match the corresponding major NIEM release.

Naming and Design Rules (NDR) 3.0

The Naming and Design Rules (NDR) specification was updated from version 1.3 to version 3.0

Changes include:

• Replaced conformant indicator with conformance targets for reference schema, extension schema, conformant schema document set and conformance instance XML document

• Updated the approach used for augmentations
  • Replaced the use of type substitution with element substitution
  • Added augmentation point elements to object and association types

• Added support for local vocabularies

• Added structures:ref and merged content and reference elements

• Added NDR Schematron rules to normatively define and validate conformance where possible.

• Replaced ComplexObjectType with ObjectType and AssociationType

• Added multiple representations of code lists (code, literal)

• Removed appinfo base

• Removed sequenceID, augmentation and metadata elements

• Replaced external adaptor type indicator with an attribute

• Added external import indicator

• Replaced applies-to element with substitution groups for augmentations and applies-to types and applies-to elements for metadata

• Replaced link metadata with relationship metadata

• Replaced appinfo annotation elements with attributes

• Replaced reference target annotations with XML schema type attribute

Model Package Description (MPD) Specification 3.0

The NIEM Model Package Description (MPD) specification was updated from version 1.1 to version 3.0

Conformance Targets Attribute (CTAS) Specification 3.0 - new

The NIEM Conformance Targets Attribute (CTAS) specification was introduced as version 3.0

NIEM UML Profile

The NIEM UML Profile was updated to version 3.0