Phone
RIXML 2.5 Element
Telephone contact information supporting voice, fax, and pager communications. Contains required type attribute (PhoneTypeEnum for voice, fax, or pager), optional location attribute (PhoneLocationEnum for office, home, mobile), required CountryCode and Number fields, and optional ExtensionPIN for extensions or pager PINs.
Strongly Recommended. Describes the telephone, fax or pager numbers.
Usage
Strongly recommended optional element within ContactInfo that can appear multiple times. Type attribute is mandatory, while location provides additional context. CountryCode and Number are required when Phone is used.
Business Context
Enables voice and fax communication in research distribution, supporting client consultations, urgent communications, and traditional business contact methods that remain important in financial services relationships.
Specification Guide
Overview
The Phone element captures telephone contact information — voice, fax, and pager numbers — for a person or organisation within a research distribution. It is a child of ContactInfo (alongside Email, InstantMessenger, Address and Website) and exists to give research consumers a structured, classifiable channel for direct voice communication with analysts, authors and research providers. A Phone instance carries the actual number together with metadata describing its kind (via the required type, drawn from PhoneTypeEnum) and, optionally, its physical context (via location, drawn from PhoneLocationEnum).
Usage
Phone is an optional but strongly recommended child of ContactInfo, and multiple instances are permitted so that distinct numbers (e.g. office voice, mobile, fax) can be represented separately (sources: data-dictionary-2.4 p.33, user-guide-2.1 p.21, user-guide-2.2 p.21, user-guide-2.3 p.21, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.35).
Structure in RIXML 2.x (2.0 – 2.5.1):
- Required attribute: type — values from PhoneTypeEnum (voice, fax, pager).
- Optional attribute: location — values from PhoneLocationEnum (office, home, mobile).
- Required child content: a CountryCode element and a Number element (carrying the area code and local digits).
- Optional child content: an ExtensionPIN element for extensions or pager PINs.
Structure in the v3.0 draft:
Phone moves into a dedicated PhoneList container and its internal structure is simplified: the number — including the country code — is stored as xs:string content directly on the Phone element, the separate CountryCode child is removed, and the extension becomes an attribute rather than a child element (sources: data-dictionary-v3-draft p.29, meeting-2025-06 p.22, meeting-2025-01 p.35). PhoneTypeEnum is also extended in v3 to include text and voice and text alongside voice, fax and pager.
Practical guidance: when documenting an analyst or author, populate Phone with at least one voice number whose type is set appropriately; supply location when the office/home/mobile distinction is useful to consumers. Pair Phone with Email within the same ContactInfo to provide multi-channel contact options.
Rules
- SHOULDPhone is strongly recommended within ContactInfo whenever a telephone number is available.[RIXML User Guide v2.2 p.21] [RIXML User Guide v2.3 p.21] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.35] [RIXML Research Suite Data Dictionary v3.0 (DRAFT) p.29]↗
- MUSTWhen Phone is present, the type attribute is required so that voice, fax and pager numbers can be distinguished.[RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.4 p.33] [RIXML User Guide v2.1 p.21] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.35]
- MUSTIn RIXML 2.x, a
CountryCodeand aNumberchild element are required within Phone; anExtensionPINchild is optional.[RIXML Interactions Data Dictionary v2.0 p.21] [RIXML User Guide v2.1 p.21] [RIXML Research Data Dictionary v2.5.1 p.35] - SHOULDAuthor and analyst ContactInfo should provide both Email and Phone so that consumers can use their preferred channel.[Company Report (Advanced) Sample v2.4]↗ [Economics Report (Basic) Sample v2.4]↗ [Industry Report (Basic) Sample v2.4]↗ [Morning Call Report (Basic) Sample v2.4]↗
- SHOULDPhone numbers should follow international formatting conventions, with the country code prefixed by
+and the area code in parentheses (e.g.+1 (212) 555-1212).[Best Practices for Publishing RIXML p.13] - SHOULDIn the RIXML v3.0 draft, the country code is part of the Phone element's string content; the separate
CountryCodechild element is removed.[RIXML All-Member Meeting June 2025 p.22]↗ [RIXML Research Suite Data Dictionary v3.0 (DRAFT) p.29]↗
Relationships
- child-ofContactInfo — Phone appears as a child of ContactInfo in RIXML 2.x and may occur multiple times to represent different numbers and locations.
- typed-byPhoneTypeEnum — The required type attribute is constrained to values from PhoneTypeEnum (voice, fax, pager; extended in v3 to include text and voice-and-text).
- typed-byPhoneLocationEnum — The optional location attribute draws its values from PhoneLocationEnum (office, home, mobile).
- complementsEmail — Phone is typically paired with Email inside the same ContactInfo block to provide multi-channel contact for authors and analysts.
- sibling-ofInstantMessenger — Phone sits alongside InstantMessenger and other contact channel elements within ContactInfo.
Where It Fits
Canonical Path
Definition
| Type | |
| Namespace | http://www.rixml.org/2017/9/RIXML |
| Min Occurs | 1 |
| Max Occurs | 1 |
Attributes
Children
CountryCodestring1..1 |
Telephone country code for the phone number. requiredSince 2.1 |
Numberstring1..1 |
Phone number including area code. requiredSince 2.1 |
ExtensionPINstring0..1 |
Used for extension number for a phone or a PIN. PINs are sometimes associated with pagers. optionalSince 2.1 |
Example
<Phone type="Value">
<CountryCode> ... </CountryCode>
<Number> ... </Number>
</Phone>Version History
Unchanged since introduction in RIXML 2.1
RIXML 2.0 – 2.5.1: Phone is defined as an optional, strongly recommended, repeatable child of ContactInfo. It requires a type attribute (from PhoneTypeEnum) and CountryCode and Number child elements; an optional location attribute (from PhoneLocationEnum) and an optional ExtensionPIN child round out the structure (sources: data-dictionary-interactions-2.0 p.21, user-guide-2.1 p.21, user-guide-2.2 p.21, user-guide-2.3 p.21, data-dictionary-2.4 p.33, data-dictionary-2.5.1 p.35). No material change in semantics occurs across the 2.x line.
RIXML v3.0 (draft): Two structural changes are introduced. First, Phone is wrapped in a new PhoneList container element rather than appearing directly under ContactInfo, and PhoneList must contain one or more Phone children [data-dictionary-v3-draft p.29; decision recorded in meeting-2025-01 p.35]. Second, the internal structure is flattened: the phone number — country code included — is stored as xs:string content on Phone itself, the separate CountryCode child is removed, and the extension is exposed as an optional attribute (sources: data-dictionary-v3-draft p.29, meeting-2025-06 p.22). PhoneTypeEnum is also extended to add text and voice and text alongside voice, fax and pager.