Guidance on semantic correspondence

The semantic correspondence requirements facilitate semantic interoperability by making explicit how the information definition conforms to the semantics of the AIRM.

The requirements include SWIM-INFO-013 through SWIM-INFO-019 of the specification. The relationships between the requirements, including the number of each requirement, are visualised below.

Each concept needs a semantic correspondence statement. This correspondence can be in one of four forms (SWIM-INFO-014).

• The ideal situation is to have all the concepts in the information definition mapped to the AIRM using the trace mechanisms outlined in SWIM-INFO-016 to SWIM-INFO-019.
• However, this is not always possible (e.g. when the information definition contains new concepts that have not been captured by the AIRM) or desirable (e.g. when the information definition has concepts that are not in the scope of the AIRM). It is therefore possible to use a change request reference, out-of-scope declaration or no correspondence declaration. In the case of an out-of-scope declaration or no correspondence declaration, a rationale must be provided (SWIM-INFO-015).

The specification allows different formats to be used in establishing the correspondence. The guidance on SWIM-INFO-013 shows how different formats can be used. A complete example of an information definition with the semantic correspondence embedded into it is available for you to use.

The specification is silent on the exact methods to be adopted in order to build the semantic correspondences. Therefore, this section of the handbook gives examples to be followed.