Description
Utilizing the proper OASIS template, this Working Draft 01 EDXL Extensions provides a basic introduction to the techniques for adding local community information into existing EDXL standards. EDXL Extensions serve four important purposes: (1) to allow local communities the flexibility to incorporate their own needed additional information to support emergency needs; (2) to provide a structure and process for incorporating additional information in a manner which enforces reusability and appropriate information management; (3) to enable communities to explore and document their emergency terminology; and (4) to serve as a glide-path toward more formal standardization of emergency information. With EDXL Extensions, communities can use their own lists of roles or keywords, and their own user-defined sets of additional terms and values to standards such as Tracking of Emergency Patients and the EDXL Distribution Element. Communities can add additional “layers” of business information, such as Event information, or domain-specific information, such as Earthquake information, to traditional EDXL messages. The goal is not to replace any portions of the more standardized EDXL messages, but instead to allow “extended” information as appropriate to address specific community needs. This paper describes the two major techniques, ValueLists and the Extension element, for extending EDXL standards with examples. After reading this short paper, the reader will be ready to begin using the EDXL Extensions.
