ISAN creation: episodic works

This basic step by step guide outlines the ISAN applications process for episodic (or serial) works such as series, serial documentaries, recurring TV entertainment programs,... ISAN applications for single works (i.e. non-episodic such as feature films,...) are not covered by this article, for guidance on this topic refer to ISAN creation: single works 

This article covers the following topics:

1. New Episodic Schema

2. Principle of episodic works registrations

3. Registration Wizard

4. New Series registration

5. New Group registration

6. New Episode registration

7. Display the application form with the ISAN

1       New Episodic schema

The Episodic metadata schema including the Works hierarchy has evolved to improve the identification of episodic works. Previously, Episodes were regrouped under a Serial Header representing the Series, it was described by one or more original and alternate titles. The Episodic schema has evolved as follows:

Series: Series are on the top of the Works hierarchy. The Serial Header of the previous schema is replaced by a Series Record described with a full set of metadata (similar to episodes).

• Groups: Groups are in the middle of the Works hierarchy, between Series and Episodes. Episodes can optionally be grouped under a Group Record described with a full set of metadata (similar to episodes). A typical grouping of Episodes are Seasons, but other kind of groups are possible such as sets of alternate episode edits (e.g. the same series produced in different formats, sometimes with minor changes: 5 x 10 min / 8 x 6 min …) or groups of episode compilations (combination of 2 or more episodes).
• Episodes: Episodes are at the bottom of the Works hierarchy. Episodes can optionally be attached to a Group (e.g. a Seasons of fictional series) or be directly attached to the Series. When Episodes are regrouped under a group as a season then the season number of the Group is automatically inherited by all episodes of that group. Finally, an episode ca be attached to several groups (e.g. an original season, and alternate season with alternate episode numbering, etc..).

To facilitate the registration, some metadata is inherited from the parent record (i.e. pre-filled in the registration form and changeable). Therefore, all Groups of a Series will inherit the Title of the Series, but also the Creator or Director, etc… Similarly, Episodes will inherit information from the Group or Series they are attached to.

2       Principle of episodic works registrations

A series is identified with a root ISAN i.e. the first 12 digits that are shared by all ISAN issued for the Series (Groups, Episodes, Versions). The issuance of unique root ISAN is critical and therefore to prevent duplicates, the root ISAN for the Series is only delivered after registration of the series and registration of the first Group or Episode.

 

2.1.1     Registration steps for a new Series

1. Perform a preliminary search to check if the Series in not already registered
2. Fill and submit the Series registration form
3. Resolve potential duplicates if applicable.
4. Register a first Group or a first Episode to issue the ISAN for the Series and the first Group or Episode

2.1.2     Registration steps for a new Group

1. Perform search to find the Series under which you will register your Group
2. Select the Series and open a new Group registration form
3. Fill and submit the registration form
4. Resolve potential duplicates if applicable.
5. Get the new ISAN

2.1.3     Registration steps for a new Episodes

1. Perform search to select the Series or Group under which you will register your Episode
2. Select the Series or Group and open a new Episode registration form
3. Fill and submit the registration form
4. Resolve potential duplicates if applicable.
5. Get the new ISAN

Note that an Episode can be attached anytime to one or more Group(s). To do so, edit the Episode data and select the Group(s) to attach the Episode to it.

 

3       Registration Wizard

To start, open the menu New ISAN and select Episodic Work

 A short wizard helps to confirm the registration for:

1. a finished work                                                      2. the kind of episodic work to register

       

Next,

• if you want to register a new Series it is recommended to perform a preliminary search, to check whether the Series is already registered.
• If you want to register a new Group, you will search for the Series it is attached to.
• if you want to register a new Episode, you will search for the Group (Season) it is attached to (if applicable) or for the Series it is attached to.

To do so, select the right Record Type (see the red box in the screenshot below)

Make sure you search for the right Record Type (see the red box in the above screenshot). Set the Record Type to: Series for a preliminary search to register a new Series Series to find an existing Series for a new Group or Episode registration. Group to find an existing Group for a new Episode registration

 

4       New Series registration

4.1.1     Fill the Series registration form

If the Series could not be found when searching the ISAN registry, click on New Series to open the Series registration form.

 

 

 Fill in the series information as defined in the ISAN registration best practices. For a proper identification of the series, provide as much information as available.

To facilitate the registration, some metadata is inherited from the parent record (i.e. pre-filled in the registration form and changeable). Therefore, all Groups of a Series will inherit the duration, the language, the Creator or Director, etc… Similarly, Episodes will inherit information from the Group or Series it is attached to.

 Add any other relevant information that is useful for the proper identification of the series in the free text field Complementary Information.

Complementary information field shall never contain information for which a dedicated ISAN field exist, doing so would result in poor identification.

4.1.2     Review and submit the Series registration form

 click Preview to display the form for review before submitting the form for ISAN allocation.

To submit the application form, click on Allocate ISAN

Right after the application form is submitted, the Registration Timeline is displayed at the bottom of the Series form

From the Registration Timeline you can follow the progress of the registration process.

Click on Refresh to display next steps

Two outcomes to the application are possible

	Case 1: No similar ISAN was detected	Case 2: One or more similar ISAN exist
1	The Message Series Ready! The ISAN will be allocated with the first Group or Episode indicates that the Series is ready for adding the first Group or Episode. The ISAN of the Series will only be allocated at that moment.	The Message Potential duplicate found indicates that the application is pending and a deduplication is required.
2	Click on New Group or New Episode to register the first Group or the first Episode.	Click on Deduplicate to resolve the duplicate.
3	For the next step see New Group registration or New Episode registration	For the next step, refer to the guide Deduplication

 

4.1.3     Get the ISAN root for the Series

A series is identified with a root ISAN i.e. the first 12 digits that are shared by all ISAN issued for the Series (Groups, Episodes, Versions). The issuance of unique root ISAN is critical and therefore to prevent duplicates, the root ISAN for the Series is only delivered after registration of the series and registration of the first Group or Episode.

 You will retrieve the ISAN root of the Series in the list My ISAN, accessible from the menu New ISAN once the first Group or Episode has been registered with ISAN.

5       New Group registration

5.1.1     Open the Group registration form

Unless you have registered a new series (see New Series registration), you need to select first the series for which you want to create a new group (see Registration Wizard). To asses if a series is matching with yours, you can view the series data and then navigate through the Groups and Episodes with the help of the tabs at the top of the form (see red box on the screenshot below).

Click on List of Groups to display the list

Click on (+) Add Group to open the Group registration form (see red box in the screenshot above)

Alternatively, if no group exists, you can use the Action Menu / New Group in the bottom of the Series view (see red box in the screenshot below).

 

If you are adding a new season still under development to an existing series, you can create a new group project

 

5.1.2     Fill the Group registration form

 The form is similar to the Series registration. Some information is inherited from the Series (title, duration of episodes, country of production, credited company, participants).

Other fields are specific to the Group

 

I. Group Property:

• Season: the group is a season[1] (yearly or semiannual sets of new episodes), with season and episodes numbers as known in the original release. Typically, applicable to fictional series, TV shows, etc …
• Group: Original grouping of episodes except for seasons grouping that have their own group property
• Thematic: episodes are grouped by thematic (historical period, geographical regions, musical genres, etc…), typically applicable to episodic documentaries programs.
• Alternate grouping: alternate sets of episodes typically with different season and episodes numbers (e.g. fictional series broadcasted outside of the domestic market). Episodes are usually linked to two Groups: the “original” season group & the alternate season group but with a different numbering.
• Alternate Edit: an alternate cut or segmentation of the episodes of the series (e.g. the same series produced in different formats, sometimes with minor changes: 5 x 10 min / 8 x 6 min …).
• Specials: grouping of all specials of the series (i.e. exceptional one time shows). Typically, applicable to TV shows.
• Compilation: combination of episodes, typically works (e.g. cartoons) registered originally as individual episodes and then compiled with two or more works in one new episode.
• Segments: 
• Bundle: 
• Package: package of segments 
• Other: any other grouping of episodes not covered by the Group Properties.

II. Total number of Episode: the total number of episodes in the group.

III. Group Number (or Reference): the reference or a number by which the Group is known. This is the Season Number if the group is a Season.

IV. Context for episodes numbers: the context for episode numbers allocation. The value by default is “Production”. For Alternate Edit Groups, use preferably the domain name of the main party involved in the re-numbering the episodes (e.g. “bbc.com” for the re-numbering made by the British Broadcasting Corporation in its broadcasts). Alternatively, use the name of the main party involved in the re-numbering the episodes.

Fill in the Group information as defined in the ISAN registration best practices. For a proper identification of the Group, provide as much information as available.

5.1.3     Get the ISAN for the Group

Like for Series, right after the Group application form is submitted, the Registration Timeline is displayed at the bottom of the Group form.

• If no similar group is found in the ISAN Registry, then the ISAN for the Group is allocated, if not, potential duplicates need to be resolved.
• If this is the first group of a new Series without Episodes, then the ISAN root for the series is allocated at the same time as the ISAN for the Group.

6       New Episode registration

6.1.1     Open the Episode registration form

 Unless you have registered a new series (see New Series registration), you need to select first the Series or the Group for which you want to create a new Episode (see Registration Wizard). To confirm that a Series or a Group is the right one, you can view the series data and then navigate through the Groups and Episodes with the help of the tabs at the top of the form (see Open the Group registration form).

The Episode registration form can be opened from the Series. If so, the Episode will be attached directly to the Series. Note that it can be attached later to a Group, during the registration if the Group already exists or anytime later. The Episode registration form can be opened from a Group. If so, the Episode will be attached to that group.

 

6.1.2     Fill the Episode registration form

 The form is similar to the Series and Group registration.

Some information is inherited from:

• the Series if the Episode is attached to the Series (i.e. registration form is opened from the Series)
• a Group if the Episode is attached to a Group (registration form is opened from a Group)

Other fields are specific to the Episode

In the new metadata schema, the Season Number is no more a data field that can be filled at the Episode level. To set a season number, you need to attach the Episode to the Group that identifies the season. Indeed, the season number defined in the Group is automatically assigned to all Episodes of the Group.

Click on the icon to select a Group

Click on the line of the group you want to select and validate it with the button Select Group

Fill in the Episode information as defined in the ISAN registration best practices. For a proper identification of the Episode, provide as much information as available.

 

6.1.3     Get the ISAN for the Episode

 Like for Series and Groups, right after the Episode application form is submitted, the Registration Timeline is displayed at the bottom of the Episode form.

• If no similar Episode is found in the ISAN Registry, then the ISAN for the Episode is allocated, if not, potential duplicates need to be resolved.
• If this is the first Episode of a new Series without a Group, then the ISAN root for the series is allocated at the same time as the ISAN for the Episode.

 

	Case 1: No similar ISAN was detected	Case 2: One or more similar ISAN exist
1	The Message Activation Successful indicates that the new ISAN is allocated	The Message Potential duplicate found indicates that the application is pending and a deduplication is required.
2	Click on View more to display the ISAN with the work metadata	Click on Deduplicate to resolve the duplicate and obtain the ISAN.
3	See the screenshot below: application form with allocated iSAN	For the next step, refer to the guide Deduplication

 

7     Display the application form with allocated ISAN

The allocated ISAN can be displayed from the Registration Timeline right after registration (message “Activation Successful”), to do so click on the button “View More”. Alternatively, once the application form has been submitted, you can retrieve your work in one of the lists of the menu New ISAN / In Progress or Data Review or Deduplication or My ISAN For more details, refer to the guide Where can I find my ISAN after registration?