itemsessentially

Itemsessentially is a concept used in information governance to refer to the subset of an item's attributes that are regarded as essential for its identification, validation, and basic use within a given domain. The term blends "item" with "essential," signaling that these attributes are prioritized over optional metadata.

Definition: Essential items are those fields without which an item cannot be reliably identified or processed in routine workflows. They are defined by policy, schema, and context, and may change over time as needs evolve.

Applications: In inventory management, essential items typically include a unique item code, a name, and a price or unit of measure. In a library catalog, essential fields may comprise title, creator, and publication date. In geospatial datasets, essential attributes might include a feature ID and coordinates.

Determination and governance: Determining itemsessentially involves stakeholders from business, data management, and IT, and is supported by data dictionaries, validation rules, and versioned schemas. The goal is to balance minimalism (avoid unnecessary data) with sufficient information for use cases.

Relationship to related concepts: It is related to core metadata and minimum data sets but emphasizes selectivity and domain-specific relevance rather than universal attributes.

Limitations: The concept risks ambiguity when domains disagree on essentiality and can create maintenance overhead as requirements change.

See also: core metadata, essential attributes, minimum data set.