Summary

The National Community Services Data Dictionary (NCSDD) is the authoritative source of information about endorsed national metadata standards for the community services sectors, and provides the basis for consistent national collection and reporting. This is the 8th biennial version of the NCSDD.

The release of version 8 of the NCSDD coincides with changes affecting the governance of national data standards in the community services sector. As a result of these changes, version 8 is the last NCSDD that will be released. More information about the changed governance arrangements is provided at Section 1.1.1 below.

NCSDD version 8 contains national standards grouped into the following metadata types:

  • Data elements
  • National minimum data set specifications
  • Data set specifications
  • Data element clusters
  • Supporting metadata items:
    • Object classes
    • Properties
    • Classification schemes
    • Glossary items

The standards have been endorsed by the Standing Council on Community and Disability Services Advisory Council’s (SCCDSAC’s) Research, Evaluation and Data Working Group (REDWG) or its predecessor, the National Community Services Information Management Group (NCSIMG) for inclusion in the data dictionary. The standards are also available on METEOR, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s online metadata registry.

It should be noted that only national standards that are generic, that is, of relevance to the broader community services sector, are included in the data dictionary. This means that data standards that are specific to the child protection sector or the disability sector are not included.