Noting Paper 343 - CDS Guidelines and Conventions

[nealemorison]

In 2020 the Data Standards Body published Noting Paper 143 – CDR Conventions. NP143 proposed to introduce Conventions, which documented broadly accepted interpretations of the Consumer Data Standards, but did not impose compliance obligations.

This Noting Paper acknowledges that several forms of guidance, published by the Data Standards Body, have assumed the role intended for conventions.

As guidance has assumed the role intended for the Conventions proposed in NP143, the DSB proposes to phase out Conventions.

Where appropriate, the DSB will incorporate the content from existing conventions into the CDS Guide.

The Noting Paper is attached below:

Noting Paper 343 - CDS Guidelines and Conventions.pdf

[perlboy]

Guidance outside of conventions has not assumed the role of conventions, in fact, there remain a glaringly large number of inaccuracies in published guidance, some of which have been raised and have remained unfixed and technically inaccurate for more than a year. In addition, guidance published by the DSB and other government bodies is regularly updated without change history, release status or versioning and often in reaction to participants raising ambiguity, often resulting in further ambiguity.

The DSB should factually verify all guidance before suggesting they are a suitable replacement for conventions which NP143 describes as being strongly recommended "wherever possible to maximise interoperability". Doing so in the current state of published guidance would have the opposite outcome.

[ProductCloudCDR]

This seems like a good simplification step @nealemorison. The ProductCloud team appreciate the guidance articles on the CDR support portal and rely on them. We have found them to be incredibly useful over the years.

Simplifying the concepts on the support portal seems like a good idea.