DataSpecs

Definition: DataSpecs is a metadata management application for an education agency. Data collections, repositories, outputs/reports, data elements, data stewards, calendars, gap analysis reports, and other key features are provided.

What This Means: ESP’s DataSpecs is a metadata inventory application that compiles information about data resources and standardizes data definitions, codes, and formats to facilitate sharing of information across all applications without the need to reformat data time and time again. Reducing the burden of redundant data collection and reporting begins with understanding what is being collecting, by whom, when, for what purpose. Improving data quality begins with clear definitions and codes for what is being collected–and ensuring that those definitions are the same every time, for every report. This is simple to write, but difficult to do when an education agency has hundreds of collections, repositories, and reports to manage with thousands of data elements. To complicate the challenge, a single element like “name” can be labeled dozens of ways across hundreds of fields making linking records electronically virtually impossible. DataSpecs maps, aligns, and sorts this out to create a manageable database of metadata standards and rules for the education agency and can align them with national standards such as NCES handbooks, EDFacts, and SIF.

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