This material has been adapted from the then-current history of the Dictionary, written by Dick Lambring in 1995.
In 1989, the Petroleum Industry Data Dictionary (PIDD) Committee was formed to record standard terms and definitions across the industry, to enable integration and coordination among Electronic Data Interchange (EDI ANSI X12) transaction set development resulting in uniformity, .to publish the Dictionary from a central source, and to support organizations and groups that contribute to the Dictionary. The historic first meeting was held at the U.S. MMS office in New Orleans in November 1989. It was then agreed to develop the Dictionary for use in E&P technical and business-oriented processes, as well as to support and manage the Dictionary's evolution.
In 1987, an API task force study led to the formation of the PIDX in 1988. The overlap in interest in EDI by PIDD and PIDX led to the PIDD Committee being chartered as a PIDX standards and maintenance function.
Problem Statement: The lack of standardization of terms and definitions creates a difficult environment for communicating requirements and coordinating work efforts.
Policy Statement: The Dictionary will contain the best definitions available for all sources, data modeling, academia, research, industry use, etc. Thus, the Dictionary will support PIDX EDI and other data definition activities in the industry.
Objectives:
Evaluate existing terms and definitions used as data elements in the industry.
Recommend terms and definitions for inclusion in the Dictionary that satisfy real industry needs.
Enable all to share ideas about terms and definitions and their possible use in practical solutions.
Coordinate with the PIDX standards, maintenance, promotion, and education functions.
Support EDI development efforts and, as required, other data modeling efforts.
Note that this last emphasis on EDI, the technology of the day, is understandable. From the perspective of the current Dictionary Work Group, priorities should be reviewed and reset periodically as solution technologies evolve. To be useful over the long term, the Dictionary must be agnostic and ecumenical towards solutions technologies.
The contemporary statement about data base data models was actually very supportive, "PIDD (is) in a position to support (data modeling) efforts by standardizing terminology used in the models." We can emphasize this further by observing that the Dictionary does, in fact and unavoidably, reflect aspects and fragments of data models. This fact has a profound effect on the guidelines for managing the content evolution of the Dictionary.
The Dictionary Committee Organization: This was an interest group made up of volunteers. It was led by an elected Chair and Vice-Chair, as well as an appointed Secretary. An oversight group provided leadership and direction. An education and publicity group handled public relations. The organization developed an initial Dictionary tool as a Microsoft Access database. Later, there was an aborted effort to develop a more comprehensive tool, so the Dictionary was supported for a long time by the evolving database. There was a focus group on units-of-measure. There was a rules and guidelines group, adding new or revised guidelines as circumstances warrant. A content group, composed of a cross-section of people with different backgrounds, determined term names and composed definitions. A temporary task group could be formed for short time period to develop sets of definitions in a given area. A review group checked for consistency. A common codes (reference values) group addressed enumerations of values for selected terms. A coordination group provided linkage with organizations (inside and outside PIDX) interested to submit material for consideration.
Dictionary Process: (1) A submitting group determines what terms and definitions to submit in consultation with the Dictionary Committee through a Dictionary Coordinator. (2) The terms and definitions are compared with the Dictionary content. Matched terms and definitions found to be adequate as is are left as is. Suggested modifications and additions are submitted for consideration through the Dictionary Coordinator. (3) The content group, coordinator, and submitting group representative review and edit the proposals. (4) The proposals are ready for consensus acceptance.
Accomplishments as of 1995: Geobyte article. U.S. DOI (MMS, BLM) recognition. POSC and PPDM recognition. Several thousand terms and defintions were in place. The major sources at that time were seven companies, an API glossary, POSC, and the Council of Petroleum Accountants Societies (COPAS) and 14 active EDI groups.
Benefits Summary:
Central Dictionary (at minimal cost)
Consistent industry terminology
Easier communication with outside organizations
Easier to develop and understand EDI transaction sets
Easier trading partner implementation set-up
Easier EDI to other technology transitions
Easier process re-engineering in industry organizations
The participating companies as of the mid-90's includes the following, where the more active ones are marked with an asterisk:
Commercial companies: Applied Terravision, CogniSeis (now part of Paradigm Geophysical), Dwights (now part of IHS), Exxon (now part of ExxonMobil), Fourth Wave*, IBM, PI* (now part of IHS), Schlumberger*, Simon, Western (now part of Baker Hughes and the WesternGeco alliance)
Oil companies: Amoco* (now part of BP), Arco, BP, Conoco* (now part of ConocoPhillips), Fina* (now part of Total), Kerr-McGee*, Lone Star Gas, Marathon*, Mobil* (now part of ExxonMobil), Phillips (now part of ConocoPhillips), Texaco* (now part of ChevronTexaco), Union Pacific
Regulators: U.S. DOI BLM* and MMS*
Standards organizations: API User Groups*, COPAS, POSC*