CERIF

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The Common European Research Information Format (CERIF) standard was developed in the late 1980's by the European Union. It was intended for use by CRIS systems to allow them to store and transfer CRIS data among databases and information systems. The current version of the CERIF standard is available through membership of the euroCRIS organisation. Several CERIF compliant CRISs exist in Europe and the standard has been used in European Union funded projects such as CISTRANA and IST World.

The purposes of CERIF are:

  • To enable storage and interchange of information between CRISs.
  • To enable information access to CRISs through the Internet, Web and Grid.
  • To provide a standard data model, best practices and tools for the CRIS developer.

CERIF benefits:

  • the policy maker who needs to know what areas are currently being researched.
  • the programme manager of a funding agency who administers the implementation of policies.
  • the project manager of a university or government organisation who submits new project proposals.
  • the SME looking for new wealth-creating and patentable opportunities.

The CERIF 2004 data model uses the following notational conventions:

  • All table and attribute names use the "initialised capitals" convention. For example: OrgUnit.
  • The underscore character is used only in relationships. For example: Person_OrgUnit.
  • Entities have types and relationships have roles.
  • All tables are colour coded to signify different object types:
      Green   = BASE table (strong entity)
      Blue    = SECONDARY BASE table (strong entity)
      Yellow  = LANGUAGE-FIELD BASE table (weak entity)
      Grey    = LOOKUP table (strong entity)
      White   = LINK table (relationship)

The CERIF 2006 data model is in a pre-released state. Note that it adds a 'cf' prefix to all tables and attributes (e.g. cfPerson_OrgUnit); this is to avoid clashes with keywords in the SQL language.

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