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• Contents

• Introduction
• The Global Justice XML Data Model
• The National Information Exchange Model
• Global JXDM & NIEM in Action

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• Global JXDM Wikipedia article
• NIEM Wikipedia article
• Official Global JXDM website
• Official NIEM website

THE GLOBAL JUSTICE XML DATA MODEL

In March 2001, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) sponsored an effort to create a framework for the secure and timely sharing of information across the justice domain. Rather than attempting to integrate the myriad software platforms that were being used at the time, their goal was to provide a “common ground” that would normalize information exchanges between agencies. This framework, called the Global Justice XML Data Model (Global JXDM or GJXDM), was built using Extensible Markup Language (XML) in order to give it maximum flexibility. XML is a widely used markup language specifically designed t­o facilitate the sharing of structured data between different information systems. Not only does it allow users to transmit data and the meaning of that data, it also allows structured relationships to be defined. It is vendor-independent and platform-independent, which gives it the flexibility that traditional software interfaces lack.

There are three main elements that the Global JXDM utilizes to facilitate data exchanges: a data dictionary, a data model, and a reuse repository.

Data Dictionary

When agencies share data, they transmit Information Exchange Packages (IEPs) to each other. An IEP is a set of data that is transmitted between agencies for a specific purpose. For example, an IEP sent from a police department to the local prosecutor with the information requirement to create a charging document would contain a particular set of data (victim name and biographical data, initial charging information, date and time of the offense, etc.) as well as associated artifacts (electronic incident report, dashcam video, 911 audio transcript). If the police department and the prosecutor’s office do not utilize a common vocabulary and structure for this IEP, however, it will be difficult or impossible for the data to be interpreted and utilized.

The Global Justice XML Data Dictionary (Global JXDD) defines the common vocabulary utilized in Global JXDM and helps to bring agencies onto common ground with each other. The Global JXDD breaks down the information that is exchanged between agencies into individual data components that describe real-world objects and concepts and gives them unique names and definitions. These data components in turn serve as the “building blocks” of data exchanges.

For example, in order for the data exchange described in the above scenario to be successful, a set of identical terms and definitions must be utilized by the two agencies. If the police department uses the term “Supervision Official” to describe the officer in charge of an arrest and the prosecutor’s office uses it to describe an officer supervising a suspect, the IEP that is transmitted will result in confusion. If both agencies adopt the vocabulary outlined in the Global JXDD, however, they will not have to worry about conflicting terminologies.

Because the Global JXDD defines a massive number of data components, smaller data dictionaries must be created for individual IEPs. These data dictionaries only contain the concepts and definitions relevant to their corresponding data transfers.

Data Model

While data dictionaries define the common vocabulary to be used in IEPs, the relationships between the different “building blocks” need to be defined in order for the data to be interpreted. For example, the personal information for a number of individuals may be included in an IEP for an auto theft. If the relationships between these data components are not defined, it will be impossible for someone to distinguish the personal information of the owner of the car from that of the person who stole it. The Global JXDM utilizes data models to describe the relationships between the different data components included in an IEP. Data models link these different concepts together by the use of two types of relationships: “is_a” and “has_a.” The “is_a” type is used when one object or concept inherits characteristics from another type. The “has_a” relationship shows what kind of information an object has. In the example above, the carjacker “is_a” person, while an investigating officer “has_a” badge number.		The Global JXDM utilizes data models to define the relationships between different concepts included in IEPs.
Reuse Repository
The data dictionary and data model for a particular IEP are encapsulated within Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD). IEPDs act as standards for the creation of individual IEPs, and define what content and related artifacts are included in certain data exchanges. Whenever an agency creates an IEPD, they can submit it for inclusion in a reuse repository known as the IEPD Clearinghouse, which in turn makes that IEPD readily available for reuse by anyone who wishes to facilitate similar information exchanges. For example, if an agency submitted an arrest filing IEPD to the Clearinghouse, any agency wishing to facilitate electronic arrest filings could simply download the corresponding IEPD rather than having to create one from scratch. If the IEPD doesn’t entirely meet the needs of that agency, the flexibility of Global JXDM allows them to expand and adapt it with a minimal investment of time.		The data dictionary and data model for a particular Information Exchange Package are assembled in an IEPD. This IEPD is then entered into the IEPD Clearing House where it is accessible to anyone who needs to facilitate a similar information exchange.
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