TS EN 62656-1

TS EN 62656-1 defines the logical data structure behind a spreadsheet-based way of registering and transferring product ontologies, using what it calls the Parcellized Ontology Model, or POM. The standard is about organizing ontology information through connected spreadsheet “parcels” rather than a single file or database object, so product concepts, properties, and relationships can be represented in a structured and transportable form.

Why spreadsheet-based ontology transfer matters

In general technical terms, an ontology is a formal representation of concepts in a domain and the relationships between them. A product ontology brings that idea into product data: it helps arrange names, definitions, attributes, and classes in a controlled, dictionary-like structure. Spreadsheets are a practical medium because they are widely used, readable by humans, and relatively easy to exchange between systems. The focus of TS EN 62656-1 is the logical organization of those spreadsheet sets.

How the POM and parcels fit together

• POM is the logical model used to express ontology descriptions in spreadsheet form.
• Each transport unit is called a parcel and can carry data together with metadata.
• The standard uses this structure for defining, transferring, and registering product ontologies.
• It also allows the ontology model itself to be represented as instance data, supporting evolution over time.
• In other literature, similar ontology descriptions may be called reference dictionaries.

This makes the standard relevant to product information management, data exchange, and cataloguing workflows where meaning needs to travel with the data. Its emphasis is on the structure for representing ontology information, not on a specific product category or a fixed set of product characteristics. In practice, that distinction matters because the same logical framework can be applied to many kinds of product reference data.