Understanding the Data Dictionary

This diagram shows the conceptual structure of the Dictionary. It shows all types of Dictionary items and the relationships between them.

The items in the Dictionary can be classified in three categories: Business Concepts, Data Types and Message Concepts.

• Business Concepts are Dictionary items with a business semantic meaning. 
  The following items are part of this category: Business Associations, Business Components, Constraints, Business Elements and Business Roles.  
• Data Types are Dictionary items that unambiguously specifies the set of valid values of a Business Element or of a Message Element.
• Message Concepts are Dictionary items used in Message Definitions. 
  The following items are part of this category: Message Components, Constraints and Message Elements