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[3.9] Extensibility & profile composition #9

Description

@ozzyathome

Aspect

Section: 3.9 Extensibility and profile composition
Orientation relevance: both

The general method has to let specific industries add their own extra items without breaking the shared approach, and let profiles build on one another rather than starting from a blank page. This issue is about how those add-ons and combinations work.

Example
Telecoms uses cryptography that other industries don't — for example, special mobile-network algorithms. Rather than copy and fork the whole method, telecoms should be able to add those as an "extension" on top of a base profile, much like bolting a specialist module onto a standard course. That makes "procurement profile + telecom extension" a valid, tidy combination.

Objective

Decide how sectors and organisations extend the methodology without forking it, and whether
profiles can derive from or compose with one another.

Background & links

Scoping document §3.9. The telecommunications case (air-interface algorithms, interface
"reference points") is the worked example of a sector extension; see the GSMA telecom CBOM work
for a concrete instance. Namespacing ties back to identity (3.2).

Options under consideration

  • Inheritance + composition — a profile may derive from a single base profile and compose
    with extensions (e.g. procurement profile + telecom extension). (Trade-off: powerful; needs
    clear precedence/merge rules.)
  • Flat profiles + referenced overlays — no inheritance; sector specifics live in separate
    referenced overlay profiles. (Trade-off: simpler; more duplication.)

Open questions

  • How a profile is extended with sector/organisation-specific attributes while staying interoperable.
  • Whether profiles can derive from a base profile (inheritance) and/or be composed, and the governing rules.
  • How extensions are namespaced and registered to avoid conflicts.

Dependencies

Depends on attribute model (3.3 #1) and identity/namespacing (3.2 #5).

Decision

Not yet decided.

Impact on the specification

Spec section "Extensibility and profile composition."

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    aspect:extensibility3.9 Extensibility & profile compositionneeds:ownerNo aspect owner assigned yetstatus:deliberatingOpen argument — options being exploredtype:decisionA concrete choice to be resolved

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