This is driving me crazy. There is such a wonderful word and I haven't been able to come up with it after trying for days. It is similar to "naming convention" but that is not right.
Example would be that you have to make a spreadsheet with columns listing data in the correct sequence. Style, then color, then size, then location. Once you make that sequence you have defined the ____ for the list. The prescribed sequence to follow.
The word I would use here would be Hierarchy.
An arrangement or classification of things according to relative importance or inclusiveness. ‘a taxonomic hierarchy of phyla, classes, orders, families, genera, and species’
The word "template" is a good choice. "Once you make that sequence you have defined the 'template' for the list." Many software applications include built-in templates or allow users to create their own. Templates may prescribe layout, color, fonts, and other attributes to implement a particular look-and-feel. The user can created a new document using a template as a starting point and then focus on populating the document with their data, without worrying about the format which the template provides.
"Schema" may be the word you're looking for, given the context of your example. For example, a database schema or XML schema defines data types, structure, and relationships. Schema in the more general sense means "a method for making, doing, or accomplishing something." https://www.freethesaurus.com/Database+schema
Architecture could work in this case.
