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This document tracks the history and evolution of the Open Data Contract Standard.

v3.0.2 - 2024-03-31 - APPROVED

  • Added field physicalName for the properties in JSON schema.
  • Explicitly specifies YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.SSSZ for default date format.
  • Added field name team members in JSON schema and docs.
  • Added field description team members in JSON schema and docs.
  • Fixed Athena Server required property name from staging_dir to stagingDir

v3.0.1 - 2024-12-22 - APPROVED

  • Added field authoritativeDefinitions into JSON schema
  • Added field description.customProperties into JSON schema
  • Added field description.authoritativeDefinitions into JSON schema
  • Added field role.customProperties into JSON schema
  • Updated status field to include examples
  • Updated authoritativeDefinitions description to be vendor agnostic
  • Updated tags description and included examples

v3.0.0 - 2024-10-21 - APPROVED

  • New section: Support & communication channels.
  • New section: Servers.
  • Changes to fundamentals :
  • Rename uuid to id.
  • Add name.
  • Rename quantumName to dataProduct and make it optional.
  • Rename datasetDomain to domain (we avoid the dataset prefix).
  • Drop datasetKind (example: virtualDataset, was optional, have not seen any usage).
  • Drop userConsumptionMode (examples: analytical, was optional, already deprecated in v2.).
  • Drop sourceSystem (example: bigQuery, information will be encoded in servers).
  • Drop sourcePlatform (example: googleCloudPlatform, information will be encoded in servers).
  • Drop productSlackChannel (will move to support channels).
  • Drop productFeedbackUrl (will move to support channels).
  • Drop productDl (will move to support channels).
  • Drop username (credentials should not be stored in the data contract).
  • Drop password (credentials should not be stored in the data contract).
  • Drop driverVersion (will move to servers if needed).
  • Drop driver (will move to servers if needed).
  • Drop server (will move to servers if needed).
  • Drop project (BigQuery-specific, will move to servers).
  • Drop datasetName (BigQuery-specific, will move to servers).
  • Drop database (BigQuery-specific, will move to servers).
  • Drop schedulerAppName (not part of the contract).
  • Changes to Schema:
  • Major changes, check spec.
  • Adds support for non table formats, hierarchies, and arrays.
  • name is a new field
  • items is a new field
  • priorTableName is not supported anymore, if needed, consider a custom property.
  • table is not supported anymore, if needed, consider using name.
  • columns is now properties
  • dataGranularity is now dataGranularityDescription.
  • encryptedColumnNameis now encryptedName.
  • partitionStatus is now partitioned.
  • clusterStatus is not supported anymore, if needed, consider a custom property.
  • clusterKeyPosition is not supported anymore, if needed, consider a custom property.
  • sampleValues is now examples.
  • isNullable is now required.
  • isUnique is now unique.
  • isPrimaryKey is now primaryKey.
  • criticalDataElementStatus is now criticalDataElement.
  • clusterKeyPosition is not supported anymore, if needed, consider a custom property.
  • transformSourceTables is now transformSourceObjects
  • Restrict schema.*.logicalType to be one of string, date, number, integer, object, array, boolean.
  • Add schema.*.logicalTypeOptions.
  • Changes to Data Quality:
  • Significant changes have been applied to support more tools and use cases. Please review the new section.
  • If needed, templateName is a custom property.
  • toolName is obsolete, replaced by type=custom; engine: <engine name>.
  • scheduleCronExpression is replaced by schedule and scheduler. scheduleCronExpression: 0 20 * * * becomes schedule: 0 20 * * * and scheduler: cron.
  • Pricing:
  • No changes.
  • Changes to team (fka stakeholders):
  • Replaces stakeholders. Content stays the same.
  • Changes to Role:
  • Added description
  • Changed access is not required anymore
  • Security:
  • No changes.
  • Changes to SLA:
  • Starting with v3, the schema is not purely tables and columns, hence minor modifications: columns are now elements.
  • slaDefaultColumn is now slaDefaultElement.
  • column is now element.
  • Explicit reference to Data QoS.
  • Changes to custom and other properties:
  • systemInstance is not supported anymore, if needed, consider a custom property.

v2.2.2 - 2024-05-23 - APPROVED

  • In JSON schema validation:
  • Change dataset.description data type from array to string.
  • Change dataset.column.isPrimaryKey data type from string to boolean.
  • Change price.priceAmount data type from string to number.
  • Change slaProperties.value data type from string to oneOf[string, number].
  • Change slaProperties.valueExt data type from string to oneOf[string, number].
  • Update examples to adhere to JSON schema.
  • Full example from README directs to full-example.yaml.
  • Add in mkdocs for creating a documentation website. Check building-doc.md.
  • Add vendors page vendors.md. Feel free to add anyone there.

v2.2.1 - 2023-12-18 - REPLACED BY V2.2.2

  • Reformat quality examples to be valid YAML.
  • Type of definition for authority have standard values: businessDefinition, transformationImplementation, videoTutorial, tutorial, and implementation.
  • Add in isUnique, primaryKeyPosition, partitionKeyPosition, and clusterKeyPosition to column definition.
  • Add JSON schema to validate YAML files for v2.2.1.
  • Integrated as part of Bitol.
  • Reformat Markdown tables.

v2.2.0 - 2023-07-27 - REPLACED BY V2.2.1

  • New name to Open Data Contract Standard.
  • templateName is now called standardVersion, v2.2.0 parsers should account for this change and support both to avoid a breaking change.
  • Added support for authoritativeDefinitions at the table level.
  • Added many examples.
  • Various improvements and typo corrections.
  • Finalization of fork under AIDA User Group.

v2.1.1 - 2023-04-26 - REPLACED BY V2.2.0

  • Open source version.
  • Additional value field valueExt in SLA.

v2.1.0 - 2023-03-23 - REPLACED BY V2.1.1

Data Quality

The data contract adds elements specifically for interfacing with the Data Quality tooling.

Additions: * quality (table level & column level check): * templateName (called standardVersion since v2.2.0) * dimension * type * severity * businessImpact * scheduleCronExpression * customProperties * columns * isPrimaryKey

Physical names

The data contract is a logical construct; we add more specific links to the physical world.

Service-level agreement

The service-level agreements not previously used are more detailed to follow the DP QoS pattern. See SLA.

Other

Removed the weight for system ratings from the data contract. Their default values remain.

v2.0.0 - REPLACED BY V2.1.0

Guidelines & Evolution

  • Type case
  • Support for SemVer versioning.
  • Tags can have values.

Additions

  • Version of contract definition: v2.0.0. A breaking change with v1.
  • Description:
  • Purpose (text field).
  • Limitations (text field).
  • Usage (text field).
  • Domain.
  • Dictionary section:
  • Identification of masked column (encryptedColumnName property), example: the email_decrypted column would be masked by email_encrypted.
  • Flag for critical data element.
  • Added keys for transformation data (sources, logic, description).
  • Sample values.
  • Ability to specify links to authoritative sources at the column level (authoritativeDefinitions).
  • Business name.
  • List of stakeholders:
  • Username (user account).
  • Role.
  • Date in.
  • Date out.
  • Replaced by.
  • Service levels: agreements & objective orginal inspiration.
  • Price / cost.
  • Name changes to match PPaaS type case.
  • Product data:
  • productDl.
  • productSlackChannel.
  • productFeedbackUrl.
  • Renamed tables key to dataset.
  • Removed owner key. Owner is now a stakeholder role.
  • Additional quality keys:
  • description.
  • toolName.
  • toolRuleName.
  • Custom Properties.
  • Product dates:
  • generalAvailabilityDate.
  • endOfSupportDate.
  • endOfLifeDate.

v1 - DEPRECATED

  • Description of the data quantum/data artifact.
  • Roles.
  • Schema:
  • Tables, columns.
  • Data quality.
  • System rating weightage.
  • Ratings:
  • System, user, etc.