The DATA Act Information Model Schema (DAIMS) is the authoritative source for the terms, definitions, formats, and structures for hundreds of distinct data elements that tell the story of how federal dollars are spent. DAIMS gives federal agencies guidance about what data to report to Treasury, where to get that data, and how to submit it.

The DCAT-US schema is the standardized metadata specification for describing all datasets and APIs within a government agency’s comprehensive data inventory. It was formerly known as the Project Open Data Metadata Schema. The standard is based on the international W3C DCAT specification and is used by agencies to compile their dataset listings for inclusion on Data.gov. Under the OPEN Government Data Act and the Open Data Policy, federal agencies are required to publish an enterprise data inventory, provided as a JSON file, using the standard DCAT-US metadata schema and hosted on an agency’s website at agency.gov/data.json. DCAT-US is currently in use by most federal agencies as well as by many state and local governments.