Organisation file
=================

Definition
----------
The *organisation file* contains the data defined by the **IATI organisation standard**.

It is an XML file, containing the relevant **IATI organisation standard** fields for the publishing organisation.

The **IATI organisation standard** allows publishers to report on information for multiple organisations: a government agency may report on behalf of other agencies; an INGO may report on behalf of its national associates; a private company may report on behalf of its subsidiaries.


Considerations
--------------
When using the **IATI organisation standard** to produce the *organisation file*, the following should be considered:

* An IATI publisher should publish one *organisation file*.
* An *organisation file* should contain at least one ``iati-organisation``
* It should be updated at least annually.
* It must be :doc:`well-formed XML <key-considerations/structured>`.
* It must validate against the relevant version of the :doc:`IATI organisation schema </schema/>`
* The *organisation file* must have ``iati-organisations`` as the root element - to contain all other elements.
* The ``generated-datetime`` attribute of ``iati-organisations`` - a date/time stamp for when this *activity-file* was generated - is highly recommended.
* A link to the organisation file should be published on the **IATI Registry**.  
* Ideally, this link would be to an *organisation file* on the publisher website or open data portal.  However, third party tools are available to generate and host files on behalf of publishers.
* When creating the *organisation file* it is recommended to avoid spaces and non-ascii characters in file names and urls.  For example: 
	* ``iatiorganisation.xml`` is preferable to ``IATI Organisation.xml``  
	* ``http://example.org/files/iatidata/iatiorganisation.xml`` is preferable to ``http://example.org/files/iati data/IATI Organisation.xml``.

2.01 Considerations
-------------------
In version 2.01, the following must also be considered:

* It is recommended that a single *organisation-file* does not exceed 40MB in file size.
* The order of the elements presented in an *organisation-file* must follow the order set out in the schema.
* The version of the IATI standard being used must be declared via the ``version`` attribute of the ``iati-organisations`` element.  This must be a valid value on the *Version* codelist.

Further Guidance 
----------------
* For *well-formed XML* tests, see the `W3C XML Validator <http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_validator.asp>`_

* The `IATI Validator <http://validator.iatistandard.org/>`_ tests data against the relevant version of the **IATI organisation schema**.