The Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 establishes a new, best practice scheme for sharing Australian Government data, underpinned by strong safeguards and consistent, efficient processes – the DATA Scheme. The Office of the National Data Commissioner (ONDC) has developed a metadata standard for the Australian Government Data Catalogue. It builds on the work of the Australian Government Data Champions Network and a six-step methodology for developing a data inventory, which is currently used by APS agencies to build or enhance their data inventories.

The National Archives has worked with the ONDC to map the Australian Government Data Catalogue metadata attributes to the Australian Government Recordkeeping Metadata Standard (AGRkMS v2.2).   

The National Archives recommends considering both standards to inform the use of metadata by your agency, to meet requirements of the ONDC to enable data sharing and the National Archives’ requirements for effective management of information assets over time.

The following advice can help your agency understand what is required by the ONDC and the National Archives. The requirements are similar in most cases, allowing reuse of metadata.

ONDC attributes that map to AGRkMS properties

Download a table of ONDC attributes with a complete or partial mapping to AGRkMS properties (XLSX, 39 KB). 

Note the ONDC attributes are focused on managing data assets, which can be described by the AGRkMS using 'Record' as the relevant entity. Other entities from the AGRkMS are relevant to some ONDC attributes. For example, AGRkMS property '3.1 Name Words' can identify the 'Title' of a data asset or its 'Data Custodian', but a data asset is a 'Record' entity and a data custodian is an 'Agent' entity. Mapping between the ONDC attributes and AGRkMS displays the relevant entity and property combinations.

ONDC attributes that do not map to AGRkMS properties

The AGRkMS is not designed to accommodate the ONDC metadata attributes listed below. The Date Modified attribute must be recorded for data assets to be included in the Australian Government Data Catalogue.

• Date Modified
• Update Frequency
• Licence
• Data (registration) Status
• Publish Date
• Publisher
• Purpose

These differences reflect the purpose of the ONDC metadata attributes to promote discoverability and use of data assets under the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022, whereas the National Archives’ metadata requirements meet the broader needs of information management practices.

AGRkMS properties that do not map to ONDC attributes

The AGRkMS features many properties that do not map to the ONDC attributes. However, most of these properties are optional. The National Archives recommends Australian Government agencies review obligations for metadata specified in the AGRkMS against their specific business needs, and at least meet requirements of the minimum metadata set, a simplified application of the AGRkMS.

For further advice about meeting information management metadata requirements, please contact the Agency Service Centre.