Overview
ISO/TS 15926-6:2013 specifies a methodology for the development, stewarding and validation of reference data used with the ISO 15926 family for integrating life‑cycle data of process plants (including oil and gas production facilities). It defines what must be recorded about reference data items and reference data libraries, how to identify and document them, and how to represent a reference data library (the Specification defines a spreadsheet representation). This Technical Specification supports consistent, validated reference data essential to life‑cycle data integration and industrial automation systems.
Key topics and requirements
- Scope of reference data libraries: technical requirements for structure and content of a reference data library used with ISO 15926.
- Identification of reference data items: person‑interpretable identifiers, non‑person‑interpretable IDs, and URI-based identification.
- Definition content: required text definitions, standard forms, notes/examples and alternative textual designations.
- Administrative information: provenance, source, status, history of changes, succession and version control for reference data and libraries.
- Representation requirements: how identification, definitions and administrative data are recorded using ISO 15926‑2 and the mandated spreadsheet representation.
- Formal relationships: relationships for structuring, representation and definition of reference data items.
- Normative and informative annexes: e.g., information object registration (Annex A), URN/URI guidance (Annex B, G), spreadsheet templates (Annex D), version control examples (Annex H, I) and recommendations for identifiers and text definitions (Annexes E, F).
Referenced normative documents include ISO 15926‑2, ISO/IEC 11179‑3 (metadata registry metamodel) and IETF RFC 2141 (URN syntax).
Practical applications and users
Who benefits:
- Data stewards and information managers responsible for maintaining reference data libraries.
- Systems integrators and software vendors implementing ISO 15926‑based data exchanges.
- Plant engineers and owners/operators in process industries (chemical, petrochemical, oil & gas) managing life‑cycle data consistency.
- Standards bodies and registry operators creating standardized reference data sets.
Practical uses:
- Establishing controlled vocabularies and class definitions for equipment, materials and processes.
- Recording provenance, change history and versioning to support traceability and interoperability.
- Defining URIs and text definitions that enable machine‑readable and human‑interpretable data exchange across distributed systems.
Related standards
Keywords: ISO/TS 15926-6:2013, reference data library, ISO 15926, life‑cycle data, process plants, oil and gas, metadata registry, URIs, version control, industrial automation.