AIRS XSD Data Standards

In June 2008, the AIRS Board of Directors approved Version 3.0 of the AIRS XSD.

This new version builds upon the work of previous standards and incorporates improvements suggested by I&R organizations and vendors. AIRS endorses this data standard in the belief that data sharing will be easier, faster and less costly when I&R data conforms to basic criteria.

There are two main components involved to complying with the standard:

1. I&Rs should enter data in ways that are compliant with the XSD. For example, email addresses should conform to the required format of an email address.
2. I&R software vendors should use the XSD as a template to which they can map their data so that a data export can be facilitated.

The following resources can help I&Rs and their vendors use the AIRS XSD:

• The AIRS Style Guide has information on how I&Rs can enter data elements in order to be compliant with the AIRS XSD. The Guide is recommended best practices rather than mandatory standards. If a state/provincial collaborative (or an individual agency) has invested significant resources in setting up their own style guide, there is no reason to change to the AIRS model.
• An AIRS XSD website has been developed to validate XML exports. This means that if vendors or users need to know whether their resource database is compliant with the standard, they can use this website to easily test their exports.

The purpose of the AIRS XSD is to encourage and support resource database interoperability -- that is, ways for resource databases to import/export resource data collected by other agencies using different softwares.

This standard uses a technology called XML (eXtensible Markup Language) which is an internationally recognized technology for creating customized standards. These customized standards are called XML Schemas. AIRS has used this technology to create the AIRS XML Schema (copyright of AIRS), a customized standard for sharing I&R resources. (This presentation on XSD may be a more helpful introduction).

A subcommittee of the AIRS Technology Committee built upon the work of Michigan Association of United Ways and received further assistance through a U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Opportunities Grant to the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. This resulted in the creation of the first version of the AIRS XSD.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a scaled down version of the AIRS XSD facilitated the sharing of data in emergency situations.

Following that experience, the AIRS Technology Committee led by Marianne Galleon, began a full scale review of the AIRS XSD. AIRS secured the consulting services of information architects, Ian Cottingham and Ben Kutsch from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Laboratory for Advanced Research Computing, to review the composition of I&R resource data. The objective was to create a more robust and reliable XSD that should encourage vendors to build it into their systems. Bowman Systems generously set up an ongoing wiki site for the development and future stages of the project.

More work still needs to be done. It is very important to note that at this stage, there is no vendor software that is officially "AIRS XSD Compliant".