Schema

April 9, 2026 · View on GitHub

This section describes the schema of the data contract. It is the support for data quality, which is detailed in the next section. Schema supports both a business representation of your data and a physical implementation. It allows to tie them together.

In ODCS v3, the schema has evolved from the table and column representation, therefore the schema introduces a new terminology:

Objects are a structure of data: a table in a RDBMS system, a document in a NoSQL database, and so on.
Properties are attributes of an object: a column in a table, a field in a payload, and so on.
Elements are either an object or a property.

Figure 1 illustrates those terms with a basic relational database.

Schema elements

Figure 1: elements of the schema in ODCS v3.

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Examples

Complete schema

schema:
  - id: tbl_obj
    name: tbl
    logicalType: object
    physicalType: table
    physicalName: tbl_1
    description: Provides core payment metrics
    authoritativeDefinitions:
      - url: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/air-quality
        type: businessDefinition
        description: Business definition for the dataset.
      - url: https://youtu.be/jbY1BKFj9ec
        type: videoTutorial
    tags: ['finance']
    dataGranularityDescription: Aggregation on columns txn_ref_dt, pmt_txn_id
    properties:
      - id: txn_ref_dt_prop
        name: txn_ref_dt
        businessName: transaction reference date
        logicalType: date
        physicalType: date
        description: null
        partitioned: true
        partitionKeyPosition: 1
        criticalDataElement: false
        tags: []
        classification: public
        transformSourceObjects:
          - table_name_1
          - table_name_2
          - table_name_3
        transformLogic: sel t1.txn_dt as txn_ref_dt from table_name_1 as t1, table_name_2 as t2, table_name_3 as t3 where t1.txn_dt=date-3
        transformDescription: Defines the logic in business terms.
        examples:
          - 2022-10-03
          - 2020-01-28
      - id: rcvr_id_prop
        name: rcvr_id
        primaryKey: true
        primaryKeyPosition: 1
        businessName: receiver id
        logicalType: string
        physicalType: varchar(18)
        required: false
        description: A description for column rcvr_id.
        partitioned: false
        partitionKeyPosition: -1
        criticalDataElement: false
        tags: []
        classification: restricted
        encryptedName: enc_rcvr_id
      - id: rcvr_cntry_code_prop
        name: rcvr_cntry_code
        primaryKey: false
        primaryKeyPosition: -1
        businessName: receiver country code
        logicalType: string
        physicalType: varchar(2)
        required: false
        description: null
        partitioned: false
        partitionKeyPosition: -1
        criticalDataElement: false
        tags: []
        classification: public
        authoritativeDefinitions:
          - url: https://zeenea.app/asset/742b358f-71a5-4ab1-bda4-dcdba9418c25
            type: businessDefinition
          - url: https://github.com/myorg/myrepo
            type: transformationImplementation
          - url: jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/adventureworks/tbl_1/rcvr_cntry_code
            type: implementation
        encryptedName: rcvr_cntry_code_encrypted

Simple Array

schema:
  - name: AnObject
    logicalType: object
    properties:
      - name: street_lines
        logicalType: array
        items:
          logicalType: string

Array of Objects

schema:
  - id: another_obj
    name: AnotherObject
    logicalType: object
    properties:
      - id: x_prop
        name: x
        logicalType: array
        items:
          logicalType: object
          properties:
            - id: id_field
              name: id
              logicalType: string
              physicalType: VARCHAR(40)
            - id: zip_field
              name: zip
              logicalType: string
              physicalType: VARCHAR(15)

Definitions

Schema (top level)

Key	Type	UX label	Required	Description
schema	array	schema	Yes	Array. A list of elements within the schema to be cataloged.

Applicable to Elements (either Objects or Properties)

Key	Type	UX label	Required	Description
id	string	ID	No	A unique identifier for the element used to create stable, refactor-safe references. Recommended for elements that will be referenced. See References for more details.
name	string	Name	Yes	Name of the element.
physicalName	string	Physical Name	No	Physical name.
physicalType	string	Physical Type	No	The physical element data type in the data source. For objects: `table`, `view`, `topic`, `file`. For properties: `VARCHAR(2)`, `DOUBLE`, `INT`, etc.
description	string	Description	No	Description of the element.
businessName	string	Business Name	No	The business name of the element.
authoritativeDefinitions	array	Authoritative Definitions	No	List of links to sources that provide more details on the element; examples would be a link to privacy statement, terms and conditions, license agreements, data catalog, or another tool.
quality	array	Quality	No	List of data quality attributes.
tags	array	Tags	No	A list of tags that may be assigned to the elements (object or property); the tags keyword may appear at any level. Tags may be used to better categorize an element. For example, `finance`, `sensitive`, `employee_record`.
customProperties	array	Custom Properties	No	Custom properties that are not part of the standard.

Applicable to Objects

Key	Type	UX label	Required	Description
dataGranularityDescription	string	Data Granularity	No	Granular level of the data in the object. Example would be "Aggregation by country."

Applicable to Properties

Some keys are more applicable when the described property is a column.

Key	Type	UX label	Required	Description
primaryKey	boolean	Primary Key	No	Boolean value specifying whether the field is primary or not. Default is false.
primaryKeyPosition	integer	Primary Key Position	No	If field is a primary key, the position of the primary key element. Starts from 1. Example of `account_id, name` being primary key columns, `account_id` has primaryKeyPosition 1 and `name` primaryKeyPosition 2. Default to -1.
logicalType	string	Logical Type	No	The logical field datatype. One of `string`, `date`, `timestamp`, `time`, `number`, `integer`, `object`, `array` or `boolean`.
logicalTypeOptions	object	Logical Type Options	No	Additional optional metadata to describe the logical type. See Logical Type Options for more details about supported options for each `logicalType`.
physicalType	string	Physical Type	No	The physical element data type in the data source. For example, VARCHAR(2), DOUBLE, INT.
description	string	Description	No	Description of the element.
required	boolean	Required	No	Indicates if the element may contain Null values; possible values are true and false. Default is false.
unique	boolean	Unique	No	Indicates if the element contains unique values; possible values are true and false. Default is false.
partitioned	boolean	Partitioned	No	Indicates if the element is partitioned; possible values are true and false.
partitionKeyPosition	integer	Partition Key Position	No	If element is used for partitioning, the position of the partition element. Starts from 1. Example of `country, year` being partition columns, `country` has partitionKeyPosition 1 and `year` partitionKeyPosition 2. Default to -1.
classification	string	Classification	No	Can be anything, like confidential, restricted, and public to more advanced categorization.
authoritativeDefinitions	array	Authoritative Definitions	No	List of links to sources that provide more detail on element logic or values; examples would be URL to a git repo, documentation, a data catalog or another tool.
encryptedName	string	Encrypted Name	No	The element name within the dataset that contains the encrypted element value. For example, unencrypted element `email_address` might have an encryptedName of `email_address_encrypt`.
transformSourceObjects	array	Transform Sources	No	List of objects in the data source used in the transformation.
transformLogic	string	Transform Logic	No	Logic used in the column transformation.
transformDescription	string	Transform Description	No	Describes the transform logic in very simple terms.
examples	array	Example Values	No	List of sample element values.
criticalDataElement	boolean	Critical Data Element Status	No	True or false indicator; If element is considered a critical data element (CDE) then true else false.
items	object	Items	No	List of items in an array (onlyapplicable when `logicalType: array`)

Logical Type Options

Additional metadata options to more accurately define the data type.

Logical Data Type	Key	Type	UX Label	Required	Description
array	maxItems	integer	Maximum Items	No	Maximum number of items.
array	minItems	integer	Minimum Items	No	Minimum number of items.
array	uniqueItems	boolean	Unique Items	No	If set to true, all items in the array are unique.
date/timestamp/time	format	string	Format	No	Format of the date. Follows the format as prescribed by JDK DateTimeFormatter. Default value is using ISO 8601: 'YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.SSSZ'. For example, format 'yyyy-MM-dd'.
date/timestamp/time	exclusiveMaximum	string	Exclusive Maximum	No	All values must be strictly less than this value (values < exclusiveMaximum).
date/timestamp/time	exclusiveMinimum	string	Exclusive Minimum	No	All values must be strictly greater than this value (values > exclusiveMinimum).
date/timestamp/time	maximum	string	Maximum	No	All date values are less than or equal to this value (values <= maximum).
date/timestamp/time	minimum	string	Minimum	No	All date values are greater than or equal to this value (values >= minimum).
timestamp/time	timezone	boolean	Timezone	No	Whether the timestamp defines the timezone or not. If true, timezone information is included in the timestamp.
timestamp/time	defaultTimezone	string	Default Timezone	No	The default timezone of the timestamp. If timezone is not defined, the default timezone UTC is used.
integer/number	exclusiveMaximum	number	Exclusive Maximum	No	All values must be strictly less than this value (values < exclusiveMaximum).
integer/number	exclusiveMinimum	number	Exclusive Minimum	No	All values must be strictly greater than this value (values > exclusiveMinimum).
integer/number	format	string	Format	No	Format of the value in terms of how many bits of space it can use and whether it is signed or unsigned (follows the Rust integer types).
integer/number	maximum	number	Maximum	No	All values are less than or equal to this value (values <= maximum).
integer/number	minimum	number	Minimum	No	All values are greater than or equal to this value (values >= minimum).
integer/number	multipleOf	number	Multiple Of	No	Values must be multiples of this number. For example, multiple of 5 has valid values 0, 5, 10, -5.
object	maxProperties	integer	Maximum Properties	No	Maximum number of properties.
object	minProperties	integer	Minimum Properties	No	Minimum number of properties.
object	required	array	Required	No	Property names that are required to exist in the object.
string	format	string	Format	No	Provides extra context about what format the string follows. For example, password, byte, binary, email, uuid, uri, hostname, ipv4, ipv6.
string	maxLength	integer	Maximum Length	No	Maximum length of the string.
string	minLength	integer	Minimum Length	No	Minimum length of the string.
string	pattern	string	Pattern	No	Regular expression pattern to define valid value. Follows regular expression syntax from ECMA-262 (https://262.ecma-international.org/5.1/#sec-15.10.1).

Expressing Date / Datetime / Timezone information

Given the complexity of handling various date and time formats (e.g., date, datetime, time, timestamp, timestamp with and without timezone), the existing logicalType options currently support date, timestamp, and time. To specify additional temporal details, logicalType should be used in conjunction with logicalTypeOptions.format or physicalType to define the desired format. Using physicalType allows for definition of your data-source specific data type.

version: 1.0.0
kind: DataContract
id: 53581432-6c55-4ba2-a65f-72344a91553a
status: active
name: date_example
apiVersion: v3.1.0
schema:
  # Date Only
  - name: event_date
    logicalType: date
    logicalTypeOptions:
      format: "yyyy-MM-dd"
    examples:
      - "2024-07-10"

  # Date & Time (UTC)
  - name: created_at
    logicalType: timestamp
    logicalTypeOptions:
      format: "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ"
    examples:
      - "2024-03-10T14:22:35Z"

  # Date & Time (Australia/Sydney)
  - name: created_at_sydney
    logicalType: timestamp
    logicalTypeOptions:
      format: "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ"
      timezone: true
      defaultTimezone: "Australia/Sydney"
    examples:
      - "2024-03-10T14:22:35+10:00"

  # Time Only
  - name: event_start_time
    logicalType: time
    logicalTypeOptions:
      format: "HH:mm:ss"
    examples:
      - "08:30:00"

    # Physical Type with Date & Time (UTC)
  - name: event_date
    logicalType: timestamp
    physicalType: DATETIME
    logicalTypeOptions:
      format: "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ"
    examples:
      - "2024-03-10T14:22:35Z"

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