Identifiers

The INDIGO specification uses three kinds of identifier to link data internally and offers space to enhance the data with the identifiers of related disclosures.

INDIGO identifiers

INDIGO identifiers are assigned to projects, organisations and funds to ensure uniqueness for these important entities across all published datasets. An INDIGO identifier must not be changed once assigned.

The entity an INDIGO identifier refers to can be inferred from the prefix, as follows.

Prefix	Entity type
INDIGO-POJ	A project.
INDIGO-ORG	An organisation.
INDIGO-FUND	An outcome payment or investment fund.

Real-world identifiers

Most organisations will have an official registration number suitable for use as a unique identifier. The INDIGO specification requires identifiers to use the format and prefixes specified by org-id, an open register of organization lists.

An organisation identifier consists of:

1. A list code: a prefix that describes the list the identifier is taken from.

2. An identifier taken from that list.

Example

Open Data Services Co-operative Limited is a private company limited by shares, registered in the UK. From the org-id page the prefix for Companies House is GB-COH. From the linked register the company number is 09506232. The full identifier in org-id format is then GB-COH-09506232.

Internal identifiers

Internal identifiers are unique within a project and used to join components of a project together, for example a result can be linked to a specific outcome metric. Once an internal identifier is set it must not be changed.

Related contract identifiers

To link one or more contracting processes published to the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS), use the ocid, or contract processing identifier, field. The value in the INDIGO dataset must match that in the relevant published OCDS field. The use of this field is described in the OCDS documentation. The data dictionary describes in what circumstances a contracting process is considered to be linked to a project.

Related grant identifiers

To link one or more grants published to the 360Giving Data Standard, use the grant_id, or grant ID, field. The value of the grant_id field in the INDIGO dataset must match that in the relevant 360Giving field. The use of this field in is described in the 360Giving documentation. The data dictionary describes in what circumstances a grant is considered to be linked to a project.