- Only use alphanumeric or these 3 special characters: period (.), dash (-), and underscore (_)
- Ampersand (&) should be replaced by “and” if needed
- Each header must be unique
- e.g. can’t have two headers called "duration"
- Units of measure should be omitted
- Units can and must be provided with the data dictionary
- Keep short (less than 30 characters)
- A full description can and must be provided with the data dictionary
- Unique identifiers should be in the left-most column if applicable
- Date and time variables should be in the first column for time series data
- Fixed or classified variables should be ordered with the highest-level variable on the left and most granular variable on the right, for example
- Observed variables should always be on the rightmost columns, these are measured variables often numeric, the following are some example field names that could be observed variables:
- Duration
- Number of Units
- Number of Stories
- Year Built
- People Served