Common Data Architecture
for Life Sciences™
Creating an industry standard for operational data
Improving industry efficiency and interoperability
As life sciences companies continue to introduce new data and software into their organizations, different names and formats are often used to describe the same information. This makes efficiency and interoperability an increasing challenge for the industry.
The Common Data Architecture (CDA) for Life Sciences™ is an open and freely available standard for software applications, data products, and people to talk to each other with greater consistency and accuracy. CDA will help create a common understanding within and between organizations that increases speed, efficiency, and quality of data management.
What is the Common Data Architecture for Life Sciences?
The Common Data Architecture for Life Sciences is a simple set of data structures that are small, easy to understand, and easy to implement. CDA is organized into kernels, which consist of component definitions for a related set of entities, attributes, and picklist items that together create a standardized data structure.
CDA currently contains kernels for Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), Healthcare Organizations (HCOs), and Commercial Content. Additional kernels for Affiliations, Clinical Operations, and Products and Diseases (PD) will be developed over time.