Data standardization is fundamentally prescriptive because no information system can solve the data integration issue without enforcing certain rules. The question is, therefore, where the rules should be prescribed. Most existing data standards prescribe the rules over the data itself. However, excessive use of such an approach can easily lead to inefficient data representation. An alternative approach enforces the conforming rules over the description of the data. Under such data standardization, data producers are free to choose the representation of their data but should describe the representation in a standard manner. By developing software libraries that can understand the data description, this descriptive approach will give maximal flexibility in data representation while still ensuring the data interoperability.