- Created by DDEX Secretariat, last modified on 2016-06-07
This section of the DDEX Knowledge Base contains the Public Draft version 1.0 of the "ERN Condformance Standard"
1 Introduction
This set of standards (message format, message exchange protocol and choreography) significantly simplifies the exchange of metadata — as long as both partners are using the DDEX standards in exactly same way. It is this conformance standard that enables companies to verify that their business partners are using the DDEX standards in “the correct way”, thus making the process of implementing a new message and metadata feed significantly easier and cheaper.
Conformance standards are being developed by the member organisations of the Digital Data Exchange, LLC (DDEX) to provide means to verify if an organisation’s message exchange technologies are “conforming” to the standards and rules laid down, in various standards and documents, by DDEX.
This standard provides conformance criteria for senders of Release deliveries. At a later stage, DDEX may consider adding conformance criteria for receivers of Release deliveries as well as for other profiles and business cases (e.g. sales reporting or works licensing).
Any organisation wishing to implement this (or any other DDEX standard) is required to apply for an implementation licence. The terms of the licence and an application form can be found at https://ddex.net/implementation/implementation-licence-and-ddex-party-identifiers.
Download/Print standard (PDF)
Download/Print policies for issuing Conformance Certificates (PDF)
Download/Print Conformance Test Report Form (PDF, DOC)
... for the Standard for the Communication of Media Enrichment and Description Information (Message Structure and AVS)
... for the Standard for communicating links between Resources and Musical Works (Version 1.1)
... for the Musical Work Right Share Notification Choreography Standard (Version 1.1)
... for the Standard for communications with and amongst Music Licensing Companies (Version 1.4)
... for Release Notifications (ERN 4.1.1)
... for Release Deliveries using SFTP or Web Service (Version 1.7)
... for the Recording Information Notification (Version 1.1)
2 Scope
These Conformance Points and Procedures can then be used by companies who want to exchange information with a business partner using DDEX standards, to check whether that business partner conforms to the relevant DDEX standard or standards. Similarly an organisation can test its own DDEX implementation before commencing discussions with potential business partners. This will make the process of implementing DDEX with a further business partner significantly easier and cheaper for all parties involved.
The process described above is referred to as “Peer Conformance” in this standard. It also enables “Private Conformance Agencies” to be established who would be able to test other companies’ DDEX Conformance without being officially recognised by DDEX. DDEX does retain the right to appoint official “Conformance Agencies” at a later stage.
3 Normative References
The following normative documents contain provisions, which through reference in this text constitute provisions of this Standard. For dated references, subsequent amendments to, or revisions of, any of these publications do not apply. For undated references, the latest version applies.
- DDEX Data Dictionary Standard; Latest Version
- DDEX Party Identifier (DPID) Standard; Latest Version
- DDEX Electronic Release Notification Message Suite Standard; Latest Version
- DDEX Business Profile for Common Deal Types; Latest Version
- DDEX Release Profile for Common Release Types; Latest Version
- ISO/IEC 19757-3:2006 Information technology – Document Schema Definition Language (DSDL) – Part 3: Rule-based validation – Schematron
4 Terms and Abbreviations
Appointed Conformance Agency (ACA)
A Conformance Agency that is appointed by Digital Data Exchange, LLC (DDEX) to certify that a party Conforms to a Conformance Set.
Note that, at this stage, neither are there any Appointed Conformance Agencies in existence nor are there any specific plans for DDEX to appoint such Appointed Conformance Agencies.
Business Profile
A subset of a DDEX message suite standard that limits the use of data fields for use in a specific business scenario. Business Profiles do typically not limit the descriptions of Releases and their constituent parts but focus on Products based on such Releases.
Business Profiles are defined by DDEX and are themselves DDEX standards.
Compliance, Compliant
The terms compliance or compliant are used synonymous to Conformance and Conformant.
Conformance Set
A combination of Conformance Points. Conformance Sets are the smallest criteria for which Conformance can be asserted.
For Message Suite Standards, a Conformance Set is equivalent to a Business Profile or Release Profile.
Conformance Agency
A Party that offers Conformance certification services to test conformance of other parties. A CA can either be a Private Conformance Agency (PCA) or an Appointed Conformance Agency (ACA).
Conformance Agencies are entitled to issue Conformance Certificates.
Conformance Certificate
A document awarded to companies that have proven that their supply chain is Conformant to a DDEX Standard in accordance with this Standard. It may be possible to issue multiple Conformance Certificates to a single company with respect to a single Conformance Set, if the company has several, largely independent supply chains.
The issuance of Conformance Certificate shall be done in accordance with a well-documented and published set of policies.
Conformance Certificate Register
A register of all Conformance Certificates, maintained and published by DDEX or by an authorised third party on behalf of DDEX.
For Partial Conformant Parties, the Conformance Certificate Register shall include information about which Conformance Points have not passed the Conformance Test and how.
Contractually Mandatory
An entity in a DDEX Message that has the technical cardinality of 0-1 or 0-n but that is mandatory when a DDEX message is sent in a specific commercial context.
Contractually Mandatory fields may, however, be mandatory when a DDEX message is sent in a specific commercial context. In such circumstances, a message is deemed conformant only if and when it contains all the “contractually mandatory” fields as agreed by Message Sender and Message Recipient.
Conformance Weighting
A parameter given to each Conformance Point that can be used to determine if a Party’s supply chain is Partially Conformant or Fully Conformant.
Conformance Weightings are documented in the Relevant Profile Standard in pointy brackets as follows: <Conformance Weighting: 1>
Full Conformance
A company’s supply chain is Fully Conformant to a specific Conformance Set when it fulfils all criteria laid down in the respective clause of this standard. Companies that are found to be Fully Conformant by a Conformance Agency are entitled to displaying a Conformance Certificate.
Partial Conformance
A company’s supply chain is Fully Conformant to a specific Conformance Set when it fulfils well-defined subset of all criteria laid down in the respective clause of this standard. Companies that are found to be Partiallly Conformant by a Conformance Agency are entitled to displaying a Conformance Certificate.
Private Conformance Agency (PCA)
A Conformance Agencies that is not appointed by Digital Data Exchange, LLC (DDEX) to certify that a party Conforms to one or more Conformance Point.
Peer Conformance
Process by which an organisation that wishes to use DDEX standards with a business partner tests the Conformance of that business partner using this Standard.
Release Profile
A subset of a DDEX message suite standard that limits the use of data fields for use in a specific business scenario. Release Profiles do typically limit the descriptions of Releases and their constituent parts and do not address Products based on such Releases.
Release Profiles are defined by DDEX and are themselves DDEX standards.
| AMEP | Automated Message Exchange Protocol |
| ACA | Appointed Certification Agency |
| AVS | Allowed Value Set |
| BP | Business Profile |
| CISAC | Confédération internationale des sociétés d'auteurs et compositeurs, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (see cisac.org) |
| CA | Certification Agency |
| CT | Conformance Tester |
| DAW | Digital Audio Workstation |
| DDEX | Digital Data Exchange |
| DSIG | Digital Signature |
| DSP | Digital Service Provider (incudes Mobile Service Providers) |
| DSR | Digital Sales Reporting |
| ERN | Electronic Release Notification |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol (FTP specifically includes SFTP) |
| GRid | Global Release Identifier |
| HTTP | Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP specifically includes HTTPS) |
| HTTPS | Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol |
| IEC | International Electrotechnical Commission (see iec.ch) |
| ISO | International Organisation for Standardisation (see iso.org) |
| MIME | Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions |
| MLC | Music Licensing Company |
| MWL | Musical Works Licensing |
| MWN | Musical Works Notification |
| MRBV | Multi-Record-Block Variant |
| PCA | Private Certification Agency |
| Portable Document Format | |
| REST | REpresentational State Transfer |
| RIN | Recording Information Notification |
| SFTP | Secure FTP |
| SRBV | Single-Record-Block Variant |
| TIS | Territory Information System (a CISAC Standard) |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security |
| UGC | User-generated content |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| XML | eXtensible Markup Language |
| XSD | XML Schema Definition |
| W3C | World Wide Web Consortium (see w3c.org) |
| WS | Web Service |
5 Conformance Points
Conformance with respect to a Business Profile can be attested with respect to a named Profile defined in the DDEX Standard “Business Profiles for Common Deal Types”.
Each numbered rule in each relevant sub-clause in the aforementioned standard carries a “conformance weighting”. This can be used to determine whether a Party’s supply chain is Partially Conformant.
Conformance with respect to a Business Profile can be attested with respect to a named Profile defined in the DDEX Standard “Business Profiles for Common Deal Types”.
Each numbered rule in each relevant sub-clause in the aforementioned standard carries a “conformance weighting”. This can be used to determine whether a Party’s supply chain is Partially Conformant.
- Are valid XML.
- Meet all external rules defined by the relevant message suite standard and/or profile standard that are ascribed a Conformance Weighting of 1 or 2.
- Are valid XML.
- Meet all external rules defined by the relevant message suite standard and/or profile standard that are ascribed a Conformance Weighting of 1.
- Meet 50% of the external rules defined by the relevant message suite standard and/or profile standard that are ascribed a Conformance Weighting of 2.
NewReleaseMessages is responsible for these messages. Should such messages be found to not be Conformant (in accordance with this standard), the sender may put its own Conformance Certificate(s) at jeopardy.It should be noted that this is includes aggregators who may receive data insufficient to create a Conformant NewReleaseMessage. In such cases, it is recommended that the aggregator does not forward, in the form of a NewReleaseMessage, the incomplete data, but to request, first, that the data be augmented to allow a Conformant NewReleaseMessage to be created.
6 Conformance Test
The steps of this process are:
- A Party that wants to be tested for Conformance may request that one of its business partners conducts the necessary Conformance Test.
This partner can be invited by, for instance, providing it with a statement of what the Party wishes it to be tested against. An appropriately filled in Conformance Test Report, a template for which is provided in Annex A, would be one way of initiating the Conformance Test.
It is also possible for the partner to initiate a Conformance Test on its own accord. - The Party and its partner (hereafter referred to Conformance Tester, if it agrees to conduct the Conformance Test) shall agree the time frame and test material to be used.
- The Party shall then, for each of the Conformance Points for a specific Conformance Set (i.e. a Profile):
- Send a set of NewRelaseMessages containing Releases that are designed to test each Conformance Point (to test for Release Profile Conformance); and/or
- Send a set of NewRelaseMessages containing Deals that are designed to test each Conformance Point (to test for Business Profile Conformance, including Life Cycle Changes).
- The Conformance Tester shall evaluate the material sent and complete a Conformance Test Report (cf. Annex A).
This test shall use the latest ISO Schematron rule file published by DDEX for each Profile for which conformance is to be tested (see also Clause 6.3); the severity of a failed rule shall be judged in accordance with Clause 6.4. - The Conformance Tester shall then send this Conformance Test Report to the relevant Conformance Agency.
Conformance Test Reports shall always make reference to:
- The name and DDEX Party ID of the Party and the Conformance Tester;
- The Version of the Profile Standard used for Conformance Testing;
- The Conformance Sets (i.e. Profiles) tested;
- The relevant Conformance Point(s) for which the Party was successfully tested;
- The relevant Conformance Point(s) for which the Party was unsuccessfully tested (including information in expected and observed behaviour);
- The relevant Conformance Point(s) for which the Party was not tested;
- Whether the test was successful or not successful; and
- The date of issuing the Conformance Test Report.
Annex A contains a template for a Conformance Test Report.
[1] Please note, that these policies may be updated on a regular basis, which may impact upon Conformance Certificates already issued.
DDEX shall publish an Schematron file for each of the Business and Release Profiles it has defined for the Release Notification Message Suite Standard. Once a Schematron file has been published for a specific Profile, Conformance Tests can be conducted for that Profile.[1]
The URL for the latest version of the Schematron files corresponds to the version number of the Release Notification Message Suite Standard as follows:
http://ddex.net/xml/ern/vv/xxxx.sch
with
vvbeing the version of the baseline Release Notification Message Suite Standard andxxxbeing the name of the Profile for the Schematron rule file for a Release Profile and “BuisnessProfiles” for the Schematron rule file for the Business Profiles.
DDEX may, over time, update the Schematron files, either because of a bug fix or because a new Profile standard has been agreed. One consequence of such an update is that at least one of the Schematron files available from the above URLs may change. Retired Schematron files shall remain available, albeit under a different URL.
[1] There may be a delay between defining a Profile and the creation and publication of the accompanying Schematron file. Thus there is a period of time when conformance cannot be attested for a Profile already defined.
Value of “role” Attribute | Corresp. Conform. Weighting | Consequence for Conformance Testing |
Information | None | None. |
Fatal Error | 1 | Failing such a rule means that the Conformance Tester must recommend to not award a Conformance Certificate or to retract a Conformance Certificate if one has already been issued. |
Conditional Fatal Error | 1 | This is the same as a Fatal Error, however, the rule may be ignored if the Conformance Tester has no means of asserting whether the condition[1] expressed in the rule has been met. |
Error | 2 | Failing such a rule means that the Conformance Tester must recommend to award a Partial Conformance Certificate or to downgrade a Conformance Certificate that has already been issued. However, if more than 50%[2] of all rules with a role of “Error” or “Conditional Error”) have been failed at least once, the Conformance Tester must recommend to not award a Conformance Certificate or to retract a Conformance Certificate if one has already been issued. |
Conditional Error | 2 | This is the same as an Error, however, the rule may be ignored if the Conformance Tester has no means of asserting whether the condition expressed in the rule has been met. |
Annex A (informative) Template Conformance Test Report
The template is provided in a separate document. See the blue box here.
Evaluation Licence for DDEX Standards
Subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, DDEX™ grants you a limited, nonexclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable, royalty-free licence solely to reproduce, distribute within your organisation, and use the DDEX standard specifications (“DDEX Standards”) solely for the purpose of your internal evaluation. You may not make any commercial use of the DDEX Standards under this agreement. No other licences are granted under this agreement.
No representations or warranties (either express or implied) are made or offered by DDEX with regard to the DDEX Standards. In particular, but without limitation, no representations or warranties are made in relation to:
- The suitability or fitness of the standards for any particular purpose;
- The merchantability of the standards;
- The accuracy, completeness, relevance or validity of the standards; or
- The non-infringement of any third party intellectual property rights related to the DDEX Standards.
Accordingly, DDEX and/or its members shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or punitive loss or damages howsoever arising out of or in connection with the use of the standards. IN THE EVENT THAT ANY COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION RENDERS JUDGEMENT AGAINST DDEX AND/OR ITS MEMBERS NOTWITHSTANDING THE ABOVE LIMITATION, THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT SHALL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$ 100.00).
Users of the DDEX Standards are cautioned that it is subject to revision. Users are recommended to use the latest versions, which are available at http://www.ddex.net. The use of outdated versions of the standards is not recommended but may be required by agreement between implementers in particular cases.