Datatypes R2 Issue 77
Contents
Data Types Issue 77: II.assigningAuthorityName use not clear
Introduction
The existing definition of assigningAuthorityName is tautological and doesn't actually indicate what "assigning authority" actually is. There are two possible interpretations:
1. The name of the legal organization responsible for issuing the identifier. This will usually be associated in some way with the II.root, but not always and the specific relationship isn't necessarily clear.
2. The name associated directly with the 'namespace' represented by the OID root. Essentially this would be a displayName that would function in a manner similar to CD.codeSystemName in that it could be displayed to users in place of the OID, while the OID would be used for system processing.
? backward compatible.
Discussion
--Lmckenzi 10:27, 30 April 2007 (CDT): If the use represents #1, then there may still be a use-case for #2. At a minimum, people need to know which use is appropriate.
Well there is a 3rd option: delete it alltogether. I feel that it is unsafe to send these things (incl. assigningAuthorityName, codeSystemName, and even CD.displayName), because implementers are tempted to rely on these names for processing. Even displaying to the end-user is not safe, because you display one thing and the code/oid may mean something else (with no way to check!). But that said definitely the answer to this specific item should be #2, but I like to discuss #3 also (drop it because it's unsafe.) It would be a mistake to do #1. Gschadow 06:12, 1 May 2007 (CDT)
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