Maintenance Cycle
The Ownership Group agreed on an annual maintenance cycle for changes to the data structures or related artefacts. Updates to any of the DSDs do not necessarily invalidate previous versions. Even if for instance a new version 1.3 will become available, version 1.2 can still be used if the changes introduced in V1.3 do not impact the data exchange template derived from the previous DSDs. This approach ensures long term stability of the published data structures. Only for the rare cases where backwards compatibility cannot be assured, old data structures might be discontinued. This will be communicated with ample lead time through various communication channels by all organisations represented in the Ownership Group.
Description of the maintenance cycle and annual roadmap
Data Structure Definitions
All structures are stored in the SDMX Global Registry. Access is possible without authentication at https://registry.sdmx.org/. The registry interface can be used to visualise the data structures, all related artefact (such as code lists), and to download specific versions of artefacts. It will also host dataflows and constraint artefacts, which describe the subsets of DSDs applicable to Balance of Payments and Foreign Direct Investment.
SDMX Packages
The content of the BOP and FDI packages is described below.
BOP Package V2.3 (published in April 2024)
- Data Structure Definition for BOP and associated code lists
- List of changes in the SDMX BOP DSD matrix and IO codification files as compared to previous version 2.2
FDI Package V1.11 (published in September 2023)
- Data Structure Definition for FDI and associated code lists
- FDI data requests of Eurostat, OECD and IMF (CDIS) and corresponding dataflows
- List of changes in the SDMX FDI DSD matrix and IO codification files as compared to previous version 1.10
- Guidelines for using FDI-DSD concepts in time series key (FDI DSD version 1.10)
The DSDs can be downloaded through the links below (either in SDMX-ML V2.0 or in SDMX-ML V2.1 format). No authentication is required for the registry.
Table 1. BOP and FDI Data Structure Definitions
|
DSD & SDMX Standard |
DSD Title |
Maintenance Agency |
|
|
Balance of Payments |
IMF |
|
Foreign Direct Investment |
OECD |
Change Requests
Please indicate any mistakes you might find or any changes you would like to propose for any of the DSDs or linked artefacts to the following email address: tickets@imfdata.uservoice.com Please add the full version information of the artefact you wish to be changed (ID and version number) along with a detailed description of the changes and a justification why those changes are needed.
IMF will collect all change requests according to the maintenance cycle and follow up on them accordingly. Once a decision is taken in the Ownership Group, the initiator of the change request will be informed if the change has been accepted and in which version it will be accommodated.
An issue log with all change requests received and their follow up will be published here.
