Data Mesh Governance / Policies / Interoperability

ISO 8601 Strings

Category: Interoperability

Context

Many datasets contain date and timestamp values. Some file formats (such as JSON, CSV) have no native representation for date or timestamps.

Decision

We will use ISO 8601 representation for date and timestamps and save them as String fields. Timestamps may include up tp microsecond precision. Timestamps include the offset or Z for UTC. Technical timestamps should be stored in UTC time.

Example date: "2022-12-31"

Example timestamp: "2023-01-03T20:43:18+02:00"

Example timestamp: "2023-01-03T18:43:18.123456Z"

Consequences

• Most programming languages and frameworks support conversion of ISO 8601 dates and times to native representations.
• Timestamps are human-readable without conversion.
• Actual zone (such as PST or CEST) is not stored
• Sortable (if all are in same timezone)

Automation

not applicable

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