The New PHIN VADS: Data Model Overview

Recognizing the need to accommodate versioning of standard terminologies and code systems while facilitating the distributed management of the vocabulary needed to enable information exchange, the Vocabulary Services team in NCPHI/DISS has undertaken a significant re-structuring of the PHIN Vocabulary Access and Distribution System (PHIN VADS).  Combining lessons learned from earlier implementations with a detailed requirements analysis, a new PHIN VADS architecture has been developed, including new user interfaces, new service APIs, and a new supporting data structure. 

 This presentation will address the logical modeling of the enhanced vocabulary metadata including the versioning of vocabulary objects, representation of semantic relationships between concepts, and the controlled recording and distribution of atomic Change Event objects.  The full scope of the logical model includes integration with a forms and question management domain and anticipatory links to ontology services, and a brief review of such future possibilities will be offered.  Persistence patterns and standards applied when building the MS SQL database will also be presented, offering some early insights into the nascent vocabulary governance and change control process being developed to eventually support local vocabulary authoring and code request submissions.