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Data represented in datasets will include the following per regulatory requirements, scientific needs, and standards in this guide:

• Data as originally collected or received (using controlled terminology where applicable) to support the submission.
• Data from external references relevant to the submission (such as a reference data).
• Data assigned per conventions in the TIG.
• Data derived per regulatory and TIG conventions.

• Analysis dataset naming has no pre-defined values besides for the requirement to have a dataset named ADSL. 
• Other ADaM datasets should be named AD + applicant-defined name (ADXXXXXX)
• The exception to this is the addition of the RF prefix for reference data that has been introduced in the TIG
• There is no rule that non-compliant datasets must start with AX or that they cannot start with AD
• ADaM datasets should be named logically if possible and consistent naming conventions should be used across studies within a submission 

• There is no ordering defined for the ADaM standards although having variables ordered together within a variable group helps review and dataset understanding.
• Variable order an ADaM dataset must match the order in the define file.  

• Variables will be named per guidance in the ADaM. The ADaM guidance uses fragment names in the CDISC Non-Standard Variables Registry.
• Variable names in TIG ADaM Specifications aligns with naming conventions in the ADaM.  
• Variable names will be 8 characters or less and upper case. 

• Descriptive labels per this guide, up to 40 characters, will be provided as data variable labels for all variables.
• All variables must used the variable labels defined in the sections Section 2.9.5, Predefined Standard Variables for ADSL, Predefined Standard Variables for BDS, and Section 2.9.7, Predefined Standard Variables for OCCDS (besides for the two 2 exceptions described therein).

When variable length is referenced in the TIG, this refers to the length in bytes of ASCII character strings.

• The maximum length of character variable is 200 characters which should not be used unless necessary.
• Applicants will consider the nature of the data and apply reasonable, appropriate lengths to variables. For example:
  • The length of flags will always be 1.
  • PARAMCD will never be more than 8, so the length can always be set to 8.
  • The length for variables that use controlled terminology can be set to the length of the longest term.

Variable case generally depends on the variable usage and how it is presented on outputs (but there is no requirement that this convention must be followed)

Missing values for individual data items will be represented by nulls if necessary for analysis. Otherwise it is up to the dataset creator whether to include missing values in analysis dataset. 

An analysis dataset may be split into physically separate datasets to support submission when needed. ADaM currently has no conventions as to the proper way to split analysis datasets although like types of data should have similar dataset naming.