Refinement of the Dialect code element

The proposal is to tighten up the wording of the File Naming Conventions to dis-allow dialect codes in the spec, which currently allows for a dialect code in that position, but doesn’t specify dependencies such as the contents of the language refset file.

  • This would be implemented here:

  • It would be applied to the “ContentSubType” element of the naming conventions.

  • It would apply to all SNOMED CT products (including Managed Service products), and would have to be applied consistently going forward to any product being published by SNOMED CT

  • It would not be applied retro-actively

  • However, Managed Service customers could, in theory, add a dialect element in after receiving the package from SNOMED CT

  • It would not have an impact on the International Edition, as there are currently no dialects specified in the package.

  • The questions then, would be:

    • a) is there any known impact to applying this to all products?
    • b) would this cause problems for any managed service customers?
    • c) would this cause problems for any end users?
    • d) should we allow managed service customers to specialise it post-release?
    • e) if so, do we have to make this an Optional Element in the Release File Spec?
    • f) or, should we be removing it completely from the Release File Spec docs?
    • g) can we apply it to ALL file types, or just say Descriptions/TextDefinitions, but still ALLOW it for LanguageRefset files?

New proposal (after feedback from the AG’s) -

  • to remove the option for dialect-code to be included for either Description or Text-Definition files…
  • but to continue allowing the dialect-code to be included for Language refset files only
  • to discuss whether or not the existing use of the dialect-code in the Language refset filenaming for context-specific refsets is acceptable, or whether we need a new, more appropriate method for distinguishing these files from original Language refset files within the same package
  • (eg)
  • der2_cRefset_LanguageSnapshot-nb_NO1000202_20250715.txt
  • der2_cRefset_LanguageSnapshot-nb-gp_NO1000202_20250715.txt
  • der2_cRefset_LanguageSnapshot-nn_NO1000202_20250715.txt
  • der2_cRefset_LanguageSnapshot-nn-gp_NO1000202_20250715.txt

This will first be posted on the MSUAG forums site for discussion, and then put back through the TRAG before sending to the MF…