Description of the tool

The Terminologies (or Controlled Vocabularies) Tool is a browser-based application for creating and managing information domain specific terminologies and the defined concepts in them.

The tool also functions as a public web site where anyone, including unregistered users, can browse the various vocabularies and concepts. Only authorized users from registered organisations can create and edit information in the tool.

The tool was released in January 2018. Further development is continuous and carried out in cooperation with the registered users of the tool.

The address of the service: https://sanastot.suomi.fi/

Purpose of the tool

The Controlled Vocabularies Tool is intended for

• terminology and vocabulary specialists in their organisations
• data and information architects as well as data modellers, and other ICT experts whose work touches on semantics
• communications specialists and translators
• citizens who, as public service users, want to learn about the meanings of terms and concepts used in public administration

The Controlled Vocabularies Tool lets you

• create, import and manage terminologies
• define concepts, including language versions and their management
• define formal relations between concepts
• make suggestions for new concepts for common use within the public sector
• visualize terminologies and conceptual relations

Terminologies and concepts

The main attributes for concepts:

• preferred term (prefLabel)
• synonym(s) (altLabel)
• non-recommended synonym(s)
• language versions (FIN, SWE, ENG)
• definition
• note
• example
• concept scope (or information domain)
• concept class
• status
• related concepts + types of relation
• source (for example, when a concept has been “borrowed” from IATE or another standard source)

Note:

• some attributes have several sub-attributes; “preferred term”, for example, has almost a dozen sub-attributes
• preferred term is the ONLY mandatory attribute of a concept, everything else is optional although definition, language versions and related concepts are recommended

The main attributes for terminologies:

• name
• language
• contributor / owner organisation
• description
• status
• information domain, e.g. “health”, “environment”, “education”, “social services”, “traffic" etc.
• namespace

The intended benefits of the tool

• Precise and efficient management of concepts and terminologies, with easy change log control and better visibility for your organisation’s terminologies and concepts.
• Avoiding the unnecessary and even harmful cases of having the same content in different, unconnected instances; efficient reuse of once created content.
• Information contents can be freely browsed and used in accordance with the terms of the usage agreement.
• A single point of access to semantic materials created by different organisations, regardless of the status of the materials; ie. both “draft” and officially approved (valid) content are ok in the tool but you use the not-yet-approved content at your own risk. 
• Terminologies are reliable to use because they are managed along common guidelines and are up to date

Link to the instructions of the Terminologies Tool (in Finnish).