Data dictionary example

In the following example, flight data, avionics data, avionics signal data, and avionics function data are all Classification groups. They are intended for organizational purposes and cannot have additional qualifying information such as attributes. As you traverse down the hierarchy, the administrator typically qualifies the lower levels with more detail to facilitate quick searches.

On the main signals dictionary, you may want to capture such information as the subsystem that a signal is used in or the flight programs it is used in. The administrator can set these characteristics as Classification attributes on the main signal dictionary. Anytime functional designers add a signal to the main signal dictionary, they can then specify a value for the subsystem attribute, the flight program information, or both. When searching for the signals in the dictionary, functional design engineers can search based on a specific value for the subsystem, flight program attribute, or both.

In the example, the circles represent Classification groups and the rectangles represent Classification classes. The green rectangles are Classification classes that are marked as libraries, while the gray rectangles are classes that are not libraries.

(Diagram: sample data dictionary hierarchy — not reproduced)

Related Topics

• Process for creating a data dictionary