ISO/IEC 9594 has been produced to facilitate the interconnection of information processing systems to provide directory services. A set of such systems, together with the directory information that they hold, can be viewed as an integrated whole, called the Directory. The information held by the Directory, collectively known as the Directory Information Base (DIB), is typically used to facilitate communication between, with or about objects such as application entities, people, terminals and distribution lists.

ISO/IEC 9594-5:2014 specifies the application service elements and application contexts for two protocols - the Directory Access Protocol (DAP) and the Directory System Protocol (DSP). The DAP provides for access to the Directory to retrieve or modify Directory information. The DSP provides for the chaining of requests to retrieve or modify Directory information to other parts of the distributed Directory System where the information may be held.

In addition, ISO/IEC 9594-5:2014 specifies the application service elements and application contexts for the Directory Information Shadowing Protocol (DISP) and the Directory Operational Binding Management Protocol (DOP). The DISP provides for the shadowing of information held in one Directory System Agent (DSA) to another DSA. The DOP provides for the establishment, modification and termination of bindings between pairs of DSAs for the administration of relationships between the DSAs (such as for shadowing or hierarchical relationships).