Data, Services & Offerings Descriptions

According to the DSSC, a cornerstone of any data space is the precise and comprehensive description of data products, services, and offerings. These descriptions are created using machine-readable metadata so that both people and software systems can use them. This supports seamless interactions, discovery, and automation.

Figure 21. Example of how data products, services, and offerings are described, published in a catalogue, and discovered by both software systems and data product consumers.

They can include metadata for various elements, including data products, services, data licenses, usage terms, and additional details such as commercial terms and pricing, all systematically organised within a catalogue. This helps data providers publish their resources clearly and allows potential data users to assess whether the available data, services, or offerings are relevant, understandable, and usable for their needs.

High-quality metadata plays a critical role in ensuring the discoverability, interoperability, and usability of data products and services, forming the foundation for an efficient data sharing ecosystem.

Figure 22. Lifecycle of a Data Space Offering.

For participants to find and use what a data space offers, these offerings must be clearly described. Good descriptions reduce misunderstandings, support automation, and make it easier for new participants to onboard. They should be designed with the end-user in mind and mantained in a structured and scalable way over time.

In line with DSSC 3.0 and Article 33 of the Data Act, offering descriptions should cover at least:

• Data content, including scope, use restrictions, licences, data quality, and uncertainty;

• Data Structures and Semantics, such as formats, vocabularies, classification schemes, taxonomies, and code lists;

• Technical access, including APIs or other access methods, their terms of use, and quality of service;

• and, where relevant, Commercial and Operational Details, such as pricing, usage tiers, or service conditions.

High-quality metadata helps ensure that offerings are discoverable, interoperable, governed, and usable across participants and domains. In practice, this also requires capabilities for creating metadata, validating it against agreed standards and rulebook requirements, and updating it with version control throughout the lifecycle of the data product or service.

The DSSC recommends standards such as DCAT and DCAT-AP as a basis for structuring these descriptions. The iSHARE Trust Framework does not prescribe a specific metadata model for describing offerings, each data space is free to define or adopt the standards that fit best, but doing so in a structured and consistent way is key to building an efficient and trustworthy ecosystem.

For the full recommended metadata dimensions, operational guidance, and further implementation examples, see the relevant DSSC section on Best practices: Creating and Maintaining Metadata.

See the complete DSSC Description here.

Data, Services & Offerings Descriptions connects closely with other building blocks:

• Publication and Discovery: Publishes and discovers datasets using machine-readable descriptions.(e.g. DCAT)

• Provenance and Traceability: Tracks who created or changed datasets for transparency and quality.

• Data Space Offering: Includes metadata like usage, quality, access, and pricing in data products.

• Data Models: Defines dataset structure, formats, and standards.

• Access & Usage Policies and Control: Ensures secure access using embedded policies.

• Value Creation Services: Describes services like AI models, anonymization, and orchestration.

• Regulatory Compliance: Data and services must comply with laws like the GDPR and Data Act. Descriptions should include these rules to inform users about applicable regulations.

The guiding questions can help in the co-creation process and in defining this building block, so please see the next section.