1 What is the National Information Infrastructure (NII)?
The NII is a framework that lists strategically important data and documents the services that provide access to the data and connect it to other data. It provides information on relevant policies, standards and guidance, as well as definitions, all of which help govern and deliver the data and services.
The NII comprises the data list and the information required to manage and use data, ensuring that it is reliable, well documented, standardised, linkable, reusable by others and of high quality. It includes: the services that provide access to the data; policies on quality, standards and publication; vocabularies and code lists; licensing and attribution, as well as guidance on safe use.
The data list is a part of the framework that serves as an inventory of the most strategically important data held by government. This data is also likely to have the broadest and most significant economic and social impact, especially if made available and accessible outside of government. It is informed by the components of the framework.
Pleased to see that the NII is now branded as the overall framework, including policies, standards, etc and that the data list is flagged up as being part of the NII, but is referenced separately and can be updated independently of the framework. This should overcome the confusion in the old version, where if someone asked 'so what is the NII' they were sometimes told it was the strategic framework, and at others that it was the detailed list of datasets in the inventory.