Equipment

Warning

This is a draft claim field set currently in development. The format described in this documentation is a proposed format which may change with further research and development.

The Equipment claim type describes links a Unit to the Materiel it uses.

Equipment: Summary of claim attributes

The table below summarizes the following dimensions of Equipment claims:

  • Attribute label: a human readable label for the attribute

  • Status: whether the attribute is optional or required in a claim

  • Data type: the sort of data that can be entered into the attribute

  • Key name: a standardized name that simplifies attribute use in SFM databases

Attribute label

Status

Data type

Key name

type:claim

required

string

:claim/type

status:meta

required

string

:claim/statuses

researcher:meta

required

string

:meta/researchers

internal_comments:meta

optional

string

:meta/internal-comments

citation:refs:claim

required

strings<->uuids

:claim/citation:refs

about_entity:ref:claim

required

string<->uuid

:claim/about-entity:ref

about_entity:name:qa

optional

string

n/a

equipment:materiel:refs:assertion

required

uuid-string

proposed

equipment:materiel:names:qa

optional

string

n/a

equipment:types:assertion

required

string

proposed

equipment:related_unit:refs:assertion

required

string<->uuid

proposed

equipment:related_unit:names:qa

optional

string

n/a

equipment:id:assertion

optional

string

proposed

first_precise:range

optional

string-date

:range-precise/first

last_precise:range

optional

string-date

:range-precise/last

first_imprecise:range

optional

string-date

:range-imprecise/first

last_imprecise:range

optional

string-date

:range-imprecise/last

starting:range

required

YN<->bool

:range/starting?

ending:range

required

YN<->bool

:range/ending?

starting_context:range

optional

string

:range/starting-context

ending_context:range

optional

string

:range/ending-context

public_notes:meta

optional

string

:meta/public-notes

type:entity

required

string

:entity/type

Equipment: Details of claim attributes

This section contains further information about each attribute, including descriptions, examples of use, and Guidance on use.

type:claim

Description

A field that defines what type of claim is being made.

Attribute type

Text string

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

:claim/type

Example of use

materiel, equipment, component

Guidance on use

Entering equipment defines the claim and defines the relevant fields to be used in further data entry about the Equipment. For quality assurance purposes, entering equipment should create an error if there is any entry for fields tied to other claim types, such as Materiel or Component.

status:meta

Description

A field that classifies the data in the claim.

Attribute type

Text string

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

:claim/statuses

Example of use

accepted, conflict, work_needed, issue

Guidance on use

Claims are marked accepted when all of the data can be entered in accordance with the guidance of this handbook. The conflict flag is used whenever a claim conflicts with another claim (or claims) and a review of citations show it to be the incorrect or false claim (see Citations with both Accepted and Conflicted Information for guidance when one claim from a citation contains both accepted and conflict information). A public_notes:meta should always accompany any conflict claim.

If the data itself cannot be brought into the SFM standard the flag issue should be used. Finally, if the current citations cannot establish whether a claim should be flagged as accepted or conflict then the flag work_needed should be used as additional research is needed.

researcher:meta

Description

Field for initials or other identifier of researcher who last entered data for the claim.

Attribute type

Text string

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

:meta/researchers

Example of use

TW, Jane_Doe, G1

Guidance on use

Every researcher should use this field to mark the claims that they have entered. Anytime a researcher modifies any data for an existing claim they should update this field so that any questions can be directed to the right person and the flow of work can be better tracked.

internal_comments:meta

Description

A field for temporary comments or notes for the researcher or research team working on the claim.

Attribute type

Text string

Status

This attribute is optional.

Key name

:meta/internal-comments

Example of use

Come back to this to determine date for claim

Guidance on use

Researchers may use this field to make temporary notes or leave temporary comments intended for others in the research team about a claim. These should eventually be addressed and the field cleared by the researcher or research team. If the claim needs an explanatory note or comment to be better understood, then that should be entered in the public_notes:meta field.

citation:refs:claim

Description

Field unique 32 character code assigned to citation(s) evidencing the claim.

Attribute type

String in UUID format

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

:claim/citation:refs

Example of use

69dba35b-2b70-47cf-bfda-f80225f652c6, 4e99308c-f9c0-49e8-b97b-14c1e7bcb99d;bedf57b2-c20b-41e3-9dcf-b7b065eaa3b7

Guidance on use

Every claim must have at least one citation to evidence the data in the claim. When two or more citations are needed to evidence a claim then a corresponding explanatory note should be entered in the public_notes:meta field. This field is for the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) for each citation, found in the source:access_point_id:admin field in the Sources sheet. When multiple citations are needed every UUID should be semi-colon separated.

about_entity:ref:claim

Description

A unique 32 character code assigned to each entity in the dataset.

Attribute type

String in UUID format

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

:claim/about-entity:ref

Example of use

521ebf18-f161-4ac9-8c72-5a246efa0458

Guidance on use

Every entity has a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) to distinguish it from any other entity. For Equipment this UUID distinguishes them from any other Equipment in the dataset.

about_entity:name:qa

Description

Field that provides human readable name for entity.

Attribute type

Text string

Status

This attribute is optional.

Key name

n/a - proposed field

Example of use

n/a - proposed field

Guidance on use

This field provides a human readable counterpart to the about_entity:ref:claim which combines the various elements of the claim into a single text field. This field can be manually added by a researcher or automatically populated by the system after import.

equipment:materiel:refs:assertion

Description

The unique 32 character code assigned to the materiel which is the focus of the Equipment claim.

Attribute type

String in UUID format.

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

n/a - proposed field

Example of use

ca19cc03-1180-469d-b87a-94fb54d657fb

Guidance on use

The UUID used in equipment:materiel:refs:assertion must be for Materiel which already exists in the dataset.

equipment:materiel:names:qa

Description

The human readable name of the materiel that is used by the unit.

Attribute type

Text string.

Status

This attribute is optional.

Key name

n/a - proposed field

Example of use

AAQ-14 Sharpshooter

Guidance on use

This field provides a human readable counterpart to the equipment:materiel:refs:assertion. This field can be manually added by a researcher or automatically populated by the system after import. Best practice for this field is to use the name:annotation of the Materiel.

equipment:types:assertion

Description

The type of relationship that exists between the materiel and the unit.

Attribute type

String from controlled list.

Status

This attribute is required.

Key name

n/a - proposed field

Example of use

equipment-of

Guidance on use

We use this field to define the nature of the relationship between the Materiel that is the subject of the claim (as described in equipment:materiel:refs:assertion) and the other Unit described in equipment:related_unit:refs:assertion. The only value that can be used by the researcher in this attribute is equipment-of. As this is a draft field the number of possible entries in this field may increase. The field may also prove redundant and be removed in future updates.

equipment:id:assertion

Description

An identifier for the equipment as specified in the citation from which it is taken.

Attribute type

Text string.

Status

This attribute is optional.

Key name

n/a - proposed field

Example of use

3018, 101

Guidance on use

This attribute is used to capture any serial number, tail number, or other identifier for a specific piece of Materiel.

first_precise:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

last_precise:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

first_imprecise:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

last_imprecise:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

starting:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

ending:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

starting_context:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

ending_context:range

Full guidance on rationale for and differences between precise and imprecise date ranges, the use of this attribute can be found in the Handbook page How Dates Work.

public_notes:meta

Description

Additional context or details about the claim for a public audience.

Attribute type

String

Status

This attribute is optional.

Key name

:meta/public-notes

Example of use

Citation @3c981094-fb7b-4b78-b8f6-b525a03f72b5, published on 15 July 2019, states that numerous military appointments occurred "last week". This is understood to mean the week starting the previous Sunday 7 July 2019 through Saturday 13 July 2019.

Guidance on use

This field should be used whenever any claim requires additional explanation because for a general reader the claim is not clearly and directly stated in the citation. For the example of use above a citation published on 15 July 2019 refers to something happening “last week” and as a result a researcher has determined the previous Sunday 7 July 2019 through Saturday 13 July 2019 should be entered into the appropriate fields of first_imprecise:range and last_imprecise:range. That range would not be immediately clear to a public audience since neither date is directly referenced in the text of the citation. As a result, the researcher should explain how that date range was evidenced by the citation.

type:entity

Description

Specifies the type of entity.

Attribute type

Text, controlled vocabulary.

Status

This field is required.

Key name

:entity/type

Example of use

claim

Guidance on use

For Equipment the only allowed entry for this field is claim.