Glossary · Documentation metadata

iiRDS FunctionalMetadata

Also known as: functional metadata, task metadata

In iiRDS (intelligent information Request and Delivery Standard), FunctionalMetadata is the group of documentation metadata that describes the work behind content — actions, events, planning times, qualifications and supplies — so that iiRDS Consumers can implement advanced delivery features.

iiRDS term
Ontology
Information architecture

In one sentence

iiRDS FunctionalMetadata describes actions, events, planning times, qualifications and supplies, enabling task- and event-based content delivery.

Example

A maintenance topic states the working time “30 minutes”, the required role “service technician” and the supplies “torque wrench” and “gasket set”, so a service app can plan the job and list the tools.

In-depth wiki articleAudience in iiRDS: how Qualification, Role and SkillLevel model the target group

How it applies

Technical documentation: Functional metadata turns instructions into plannable work. iirds:Supply (linked with iirds:relates-to-supply) lists tools, spare parts and operating supplies; iirds:PlanningTime (linked with iirds:has-planning-time) holds working times, downtimes and maintenance intervals; iirds:Action (iirds:relates-to-action) names what is done.
Service and events: iirds:Event (iirds:relates-to-event) links content to an event in the equipment, with an event code and type, for example from OPC UA. When a machine reports an error code, the matching troubleshooting topic can be shown immediately.
Safety and MedTech: iirds:Qualification (iirds:relates-to-qualification) with its subclasses Role and SkillLevel records who may carry out a task. iiRDS deliberately provides no standardized qualification terms, because they vary by country and industry — companies add their own, such as a certified biomedical technician.
AI and retrieval: Functional metadata gives an assistant the facts it needs to plan, not just to explain: which tools are needed, how long the work takes and whether the user is qualified to do it.

Functional vs. product metadata

Functional metadata describes the work (what, how long, with which tools, by whom). Product metadata describes the product it applies to (which variant, which component, which lifecycle phase). Both are subclasses of iirds:DocumentationMetadata.

In RDF

Shown in Turtle for readability — inside a package, metadata.rdf is written in RDF/XML. The role and supply are proprietary instances defined by the manufacturer.

@prefix iirds: <http://iirds.tekom.de/iirds#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

<https://example.com/iirds/roles/service-technician> a iirds:Role ;
    rdfs:label "Service technician"@en .

<https://example.com/iirds/supplies/torque-wrench> a iirds:Supply ;
    rdfs:label "Torque wrench"@en .

<https://example.com/iirds/replace-gasket> a iirds:Topic ;
    iirds:has-topic-type iirds:GenericTask ;
    iirds:relates-to-qualification <https://example.com/iirds/roles/service-technician> ;
    iirds:relates-to-supply <https://example.com/iirds/supplies/torque-wrench> .