ISO/TS 23768-1:2011 specifies a reference dictionary for all rolling bearings described in the various International Standards relevant to rolling bearings, together with their descriptive properties and domains of values.

It specifies a reference dictionary that contains:

• a definition of a general class of bearings intended to be further extended by reference dictionaries specifying bearings in other International Standards;
• definitions and identifications of the classes of rolling bearings as they are described in the various International Standards relevant to rolling bearings, with associated classification scheme;
• definitions and identifications of data element types that represent properties of rolling bearings;
• definitions and identifications of domains of values that prove useful for describing the above-mentioned data element types.

Each class, property or domain of values of this application domain constitutes an entry of the reference dictionary defined in ISO/TS 23768-1:2011. It is associated with a computer-sensible and a human-readable definition, and with a computer-sensible identification. Identification of a dictionary entry allows for unambiguous reference from any application.

Definitions and identifications of dictionary entries are defined by means of standard data, which consist of instances of the EXPRESS entity data types defined in the common dictionary schema, resulting from a joint effort between ISO/TC 184/SC 4/WG 2 and IEC SC 3D, and in their extensions defined in ISO 13584-24 and ISO 13584-25.

The following are within the scope of ISO/TS 23768-1:2011:

• standard data that represent the classes of rolling bearings;
• standard data that represent the properties of rolling bearings;
• standard data that represent domains of values used for properties of rolling bearings.

The following are outside of the scope of ISO/TS 23768-1:2011:

• methodology for structuring parts families used for specifying standard data defined in ISO/TS 23768-1:2011;
• an implementation method by which the standard data defined in ISO/TS 23768-1:2011 can be exchanged.