Introduction to Data Modeling
Statistics Division, September 2019
Data Structure Definitions
• DSDs are a description of the data model
• SDMX provides a framework to build DSDs
• To design a DSD, we first need to find concepts that
identify and describe our data
• Each concept describes something about the data
Building DSDs
Building DSDs
Concepts
Dimensions
Primary Measure
(Obs. Value)
Attributes
Dimension or Attribute?
• Concepts that identify data, should be made dimensions
• Concepts that provide additional information about data,
should be made attributes
If a concept is a dimension, it is possible
to have time series that are different only
in the value of this concept
Time Dimension
• TIME dimension provides the observation time
• FREQUENCY dimension describes interval between
observations (yearly, quarterly, daily, etc.)
Representation
Coded
• Based on code lists
• For example:Country, Sex, Indicator
Un-coded with format
• Format specified
• For example: postal code with 5 digits
Un-coded free text
• Any text is valid
• For example: footnote
Examples of Code Lists
Representation of Concepts
• Dimensions must always be coded
• Attributes can be coded or un-coded
SDG Data Structure
• Developed by the IAEG-SDG Working Group on SDMX
• Version 1.0 released in June 2019 (link)
SDG DSD – Dimensions
Frequency
Reporting Type
Series
Reference Area
Sex
Age
Degree of urbanization
Income or wealth quantile
Education level
Occupation
Disability status
Economic activity
Product type
Custom breakdown
Composite breakdown
Time period
SDG DSD – Dimensions
• Reporting type: ‘N’ for national, ‘G’ for global
• Sex: when series refer to female population, use ‘F’ – for
example: Number of seats held by women in national
parliaments
• Custom breakdown: for non-standard breakdown, ad-hoc
• Composite breakdown: combination of few seldom used
breakdowns
SDG DSD – Code Lists
• Dimensions with breakdown have a code _T to denote the
total or no breakdown. For example CL_URBANISATION
• Code list CL_AREA has countries and groupings. For
country-level use, the code list needs to be expanded with
regions, cities, provinces, etc.
Code Description
_T Total
U Urban
R Rural
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