Provider
From Xcri
URI: http://xcri.org/profiles/catalog/1.1/provider
Definition: Providers are organisations that offer one or more courses.
Type: Class
Namespace: This is defined within the namespace: http://xcri.org/profiles/catalog
[edit] Properties
@recstatus (optional) if the delta update pattern is in use, this attribute MAY be used to indicate the status of the resource.
identifier (optional, multiple) An identifier
title (optional, multiple) The title of the resource
subject (optional, multiple) A tag describing the resource
description (optional, multiple) Descriptive information
relation (optional, multiple) A relationship to another resource
url (optional) A URL for further information
image (optional) An image that represents the resource, such as a photo or logo
street (optional) Street address
town (optional) Postal town
postcode (optional) PostCode for the address. This MUST NOT be a POBox or other 'virtual' address as aggregators should be able to use this for geocoding. Use a typed address line entry for POBox.
address (optional, multiple) Additional address information, expressed as a String with an optional @type attribute describing the type of address information. May occur zero or more times to hold address line information that benefits from being broken down for display purposes.
phone (optional) A phone number as it would be dialled from the UK
fax (optional) A fax number as it would be dialled from the UK
email (optional) An email address
course (optional, multiple) a course offered by the Provider.
[edit] Guidance Notes
Identifiers: A Provider SHOULD have a default unique identifier formatted as a URL (e.g. "http://www.bolton.ac.uk/"). Additional identifiers in other formats may be used, but SHOULD be qualified using xsi:type to a specific identifier namespace. An example would include the UK provider reference number (UKPRN) within the UKRLP:UKPRN namespace. See the identifier definition for more details.
Title: a Provider SHOULD have a title.
Description: A Provider SHOULD have a description, generally a small amount of generic information about the provider.
If a delta update pattern is being used, the recstatus attribute can alert an aggregator to a change in provider details. Whenever recstatus is used, provider.identifier must contain a persistent, unique identifier, so that an aggregator can identify what has changed, as well as how it has changed (addition, modification or deletion).
Street, Town and Postcode: It is recommended that these are included in the provider information.
Url: A Provider SHOULD have a URL for its homepage, or its applications microsite, in addition to its primary domain identifier (see above).
Course: In almost all cases there SHOULD be at least one course for a provider. The capability for supporting zero courses is offered for cases where XCRI CAP is used to format course search results.
[edit] History
v1.1: Since v1.0 the common metadata for providers, courses, and other resources was rationalized. This means quite a few minor changes. In particular, elements that were mandatory or single in v1.0 are now mostly optional and multiple.
