1.1 General This Technical Report provides a common description framework for health informatics standards artefacts. The aim of the health informatics profiling framework (HIPF) is to provide a consistent method for describing and classifying artefacts within the domain of health informatics standards. The HIPF establishes common concepts and a vocabulary for describing the complex domain of various health informatics standards initiatives and their supporting artefacts. The use of the HIPF should promote the reuse of health informatics knowledge and improve the identification of opportunities for health informatics standards alignment, collaboration and coordination. 1.2 Purpose The purpose of the HIPF is to facilitate shared descriptions and comparisons of health informatics standards. In particular, it is the aim of the HIPF to: — provide the capability to comprehensively define and classify health informatics standards artefacts, — facilitate the coordination, communication and comparability of health informatics standards through a common understanding of intended uses and content, — help identify and coordinate health informatics standards development, — provide a potential foundation for the development of a global health informatics standards knowledge base, — promote health informatics standards integration and alignment within and between standards from different jurisdictions, and — provide a framework to assist with the coordination of ISO/TC 215 work items both within the technical committee and with related initiatives from other sources. 1.3 Benefits The potential benefits of the HIPF include: — introduction of classification concepts and terminology for health informatics standards artefacts, — enhancement of health informatics standards development coordination through the identification of potential duplication between standards initiatives, and — enhancement of global understanding of health informatics standards in support of their knowledge management. 1.4 Target users The target users of the HIPF include: — health informatics standards developers, and — users of health informatics standards.