Chief Information Officer
IC Technical Specifications
Authority Category
Overview
This CVE Encoding Specification for Authority Categories (AUTHCAT.CES) defines detailed implementation guidance using several encoding formats including XML, and JSON to encode Authority Categories controlled vocabulary. This specification defines and contains common valid Authority Categories for Access Control.
This specification is maintained by the IC Chief Information Officer via the Data Standards Coordination Activity (DSCA) and Common Metadata Standards Tiger Team (CMSTT).
Technical Specification Downloads
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Mission Requirements
Many IC encoding specifications use CVEs to define allowable values for various elements and attributes. Over time, several encoding specifications became dependent on the same list of values, and dual (or more) maintenance was required to keep the lists aligned. Additionally, any changes to a specification’s CVEs caused an entire new version of that specification to be created. In order to remove the need for dual maintenance and to remove the need to revision a specification when a CVE was updated, a new type of encoding specification, the CVE Encoding Specification, was created to decouple the vocabulary from the specifications. Each CES contains one or more CVEs and optionally a master schema defining elements and attributes limited to the allowable values and/or any Schematron rules that enforce the vocabulary in specifications that define their own elements or attributes.