Identity

Definition

Identity is the persistent and unique representation of an Object. Identity distinguishes one Object from all others regardless of changes to its metadata, state, relationships, or implementation. Identity shall remain stable throughout the lifetime of an Object.

Purpose

This document defines Identity within the OCOM Specification.

Identity provides the mechanism by which Objects are uniquely recognized, referenced, and managed throughout their existence.

Identity enables interoperability, traceability, governance, and consistent object management across the OCOM ecosystem.

Business meaning

Identity allows organizations to reliably identify and manage Objects across systems, workflows, and business domains.

A stable Identity ensures that operational history, governance, evaluations, and relationships remain attached to the same Object over time.

Design principles

Every Identity shall:

• be unique
• be persistent
• be immutable
• be globally distinguishable within its defined scope
• support interoperability
• remain technology independent

Core characteristics

• uniquely identify an Object
• remain unchanged during the Object Lifecycle
• support references from other Objects
• support auditability
• support traceability

Relationship to other specifications

Identity is used by:

• ocom:Object
• ocom:Metadata
• ocom:Relationship
• ocom:Reference
• ocom:Registry
• ocom:Lifecycle
• ocom:Governance
• ocom:Evaluation

All managed Objects shall possess an Identity.

Compared with

• OCOM vs Digital Twin — Similar
• OCOM vs Knowledge Graph — Partial

Independence — does not prescribe

• identifier formats
• UUID standards
• database keys
• naming conventions
• implementation technologies

Conformance

A compliant implementation shall ensure that every managed Identity:

• assign a unique Identity to every managed Object
• preserve Identity throughout the Object Lifecycle
• prevent Identity reuse
• support traceability
• remain technology independent

Provenance

Governance records: —

Recommended citation