Interoperability Clearinghouse Glossary of Terms

Activity - A named process, function, or task that occurs over time and has recognizable results. Activities use up resources to produce products and services. Activities combine to form business processes. [GAO]

Activity-based costing - A set of accounting methods used to identify and describe costs and required resources for activities within processes. [GAO]

Agency capital plan - A document that identifies existing and proposed capital assets and that provides justification for new capital funding. Included in the capital plan should be a statement of the agency's strategic plan, a description of assets already owned by the agency or in procurement, an analysis detailing the performance gap between existing capabilities and the goals and objectives highlighted in the strategic plan, justification for new capital acquisitions proposed for funding, and other related information. [GAO]

Alignment - The arrangement of the parts of a system to support the overall purpose of the system. Strategic alignment means deliberately arranging all parts of an enterprise, including its IT function and investments in its IT capability, to be consistent with the enterprise's overall business purpose and priorities (mission, vision, measurable goals, strategies, etc.) as a whole.

Annual performance plan - A document, covering each program activity identified in an agency's budget, that describes the actions and goals that the organization will undertake during the year to work towards the long-term goals established in the organization's strategic plan. Specifically, the annual performance plan establishes the agency's performance goals for the year, describes strategies the agency will use to meet these goals, and identifies performance measures to measure or assess the relevant service levels, outcomes, or outputs that are to be achieved and to compare actual program results with the established performance goals. [GAO]

Application - Software that lets users do relatively complex tasks as well as create and modify documents. [San Diego State University]

Architectonics - The science of architecture.

Architecture - Design; the way components fit together. May be conceived of any complex system such as "software architecture" or "network architecture" [Free On-line Dictionary of Computing]. An IT architecture is a design for the arrangement and interoperation of technical components that together provide an organization its information and communication infrastructure. See component and enterprise.

Artifact - An abstract representation of some aspect of an existing or to-be-built system, component, or view. Examples of individual artifacts are a graphical model, structured model, tabular data, and structured or unstructured narrative. Individual artifacts may be aggregated. [Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Baselining - Obtaining data on the current process that provide the metrics against which to compare improvements and to use in benchmarking. [GAO]

Benchmark - A measurement or standard that serves as a point of reference by which process performance is measured. [GAO] Benchmarking is a structured approach for identifying the best practices from industry and government, and comparing and adapting them to the organization's operations. Such an approach is aimed at identifying more efficient and effective processes for achieving intended results, and suggesting ambitious goals for program output, product/service quality, and process improvement. [GAO]

Benefit - A term used to indicate an advantage, profit, or gain attained by an individual or organization. [GAO] A tangible benefit is one produced by an investment that is immediately obvious and measurable. [GAO]

Best practice - An activity or procedure that has produced outstanding results in another situation and could be adapted to improve effectiveness, efficiency, ecology, and/or innovativeness in another situation.

Business case - A structured proposal for business improvement that functions as a decision package for organizational decision-makers. A business case includes an analysis of business process performance and associated needs or problems, proposed alternative solutions, assumptions, constraints, and a risk-adjusted cost-benefit analysis. [GAO]

Business process - A collection of related, structured activities--a chain of events--that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers. [GAO] Business process reengineering (BPR), in government, is a systematic disciplined improvement approach that critically examines, rethinks, and redesigns mission-delivery processes and subprocesses within a process management approach. In a political environment, the approach achieves radical mission performance gains in meeting customer and stakeholder needs and expectations. [GAO]

Business vision - A description of what senior management wants to achieve with the organization in the future. Business vision usually refers to the medium to long term and is often expressed in terms of a series of objectives. [GAO]

Capability maturity model - A formal archetype of the evolutionary stages that lead toward a desired level of competency in a particular area of operation, such as software engineering.

Capital asset - Tangible property, including durable goods, equipment, buildings, installations, and land. [GAO]

Capital planning and investment control (CPIC) process - A process to structure budget formulation and execution and to ensure that investments consistently support the strategic goals of the Agency. [OMB]

Collaboratory - An amalgamation of Collaboration and Laboratory, conveying the concept of a collective research organization where a high value and focus is placed on the sharing of effort and findings such that the quality and progress of the research is highly optimized and relevant, and every member of the research organization receives benefits greater than their actual investment. A collaborative tool is a technology that enables the structured, free-flowed sharing of knowledge; e.g., groupware.

Community of practice - An affinity group. An informal network or forum where tips are exchanged and ideas generated [Thomas A. Stewart]. A group of professionals, informally bound to one another through exposure to a common class of problems, common pursuit of solutions, and thereby themselves embodying a store of knowledge [McKinsey & Co.].

Component - An object adhering to a component architecture. Component technology is a blend of object-oriented and Internet technologies. In a component-based architecture, the components of a system have generic interfaces through which they advertise their functionalities, enabling the dynamic loading of the components. See architecture and interoperability.

Configuration - 1. The components that make up a computer system (which models, what peripherals). 2. The physical arrangement of those components (what's placed and where). 3. The software settings that enable computer components to talk to each other (as in configuring communications software). [San Diego State University]

Core capability - A competitive advantage of an organization; e.g., specific organizational competencies such as intangible assets or resource deployments. These are built up over time and cannot be imitated easily. They are distinct from supplemental and enabling capabilities, neither of which is sufficiently superior to those of competitors to offer sustainable advantage. Technological capability is a term used to encompass a system of activities, tangible assets, skills, information bases, managerial systems, and values that together create a special advantage for an organization. [Dorothy Leonard]

Cost-benefit analysis - A technique used to compare the various costs associated with an investment with the benefits that it proposes to return. Both tangible and intangible factors should be addressed and accounted for. [GAO]

Customer - Groups or individuals who have a business relationship with the organization--those who receive and use or are directly affected by the products and services of the organization. Customers include direct recipients of products and services, internal customers who produce services and products for final recipients, and other organizations and entities that interact with an organization to produce products and services. [GAO]

Cyberspace - Refers to the electronic universe of information available through the Internet. [San Diego State University]

Cycle time - The time that elapses from the beginning to the end of a process or subprocess. [GAO]

Data - Facts represented in a readable language (such as numbers, characters, images, or other methods of recording) on a durable medium. Data on its own carries no meaning. Empirical data are facts originating in or based on observations or experiences. A database is a store of data concerning a particular domain. Data in a database may be less structured or have weaker semantics (built-in meaning) than knowledge in a knowledge base. Compare data with information and knowledge.

Decision criteria - A documented set of factors that are used to examine and compare the costs, risks, and benefits of various IT projects and systems. These decision criteria consist of (1) screening criteria, which are used to identify whether new projects meet initial acceptance requirements and ensure that the project is reviewed at the most appropriate organizational level, and (2) criteria for assessing and ranking all projects. These ranking criteria weigh and compare the relative costs, risks, and benefits of each project against all other projects. [GAO]

Discount factor - The factor that translates expected benefits or costs in any given future year into present value terms. The discount factor is equal to 1/(1 + i)t where i is the interest rate and t is the number of years from the date of initiation for the program or policy until the given future year. [GAO] Discount rate is the interest rate used in calculating the present value of expected yearly benefits and costs. [GAO]

Domain - A limited region or field marked by some specific property; for example, a field of knowledge, an industry, a specific job, an area of activity, a sphere of influence, or a range of interests. Generally, a system in which a particular set of rules, facts, or assumptions operates.

Encryption - A way of coding information in a file or e-mail message so that if it is intercepted by a third party as it travels over a network it cannot be read. [San Diego State University]

Enterprise - A system of business endeavor within a particular business environment. An enterprise architecture is a design for the arrangement and interoperation of business components (e.g., policies, operations, infrastructure, information) that together make up the enterprise's means of operation.

Enterprise engineering - A multidisciplinary approach to defining and developing a system design and architecture for the organization. [CIO Council]

Environment - The environment of a system is that part of the universe that is in communication with the system, but is not part of the system. [Walter Fritz, Intelligent Systems and Their Societies]

Experience - Refers to what has been done and what has happened. [Thomas Davenport & Laurence Prusak]

Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) - An organizing mechanism for managing development, maintenance, and facilitated decision making of a Federal EA. The Framework provides a structure for organizing Federal resources and for describing and managing Federal EA activities. [Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Financial system - An information system, comprised of one or more applications, that is used for any of the following: collecting, processing, maintaining, transmitting, and reporting data about financial events; supporting financial planning or budgeting activities; accumulating and reporting cost information; or supporting the preparation of financial statements. [GAO]

Firewall - A mechanism that isolates a network from the rest of the Internet, permitting only specific traffic to pass in and out. [San Diego State University]

Framework - A logical structure for classifying and organizing complex information. [Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Guiding principle - A statement that articulates shared organizational values, underlies strategic vision and mission, and serves as a basis for integrated decision making. Principles constitute the rules, constraints, overriding criteria, and behaviors by which an organization abides in its daily activities in the long term.

Human capital - Capabilities of the individuals required to provide solutions customers. [Thomas A. Stewart]

Information - 1. A message, usually in the form of a document or an audible or visible communication, meant to change the way a receiver perceives something and to influence judgment or behavior; data that makes a difference [Thomas Davenport & Laurence Prusak]. 2. Patterns in data [Carla O'Dell & C.Jackson Grayson]. 3. That which reduces uncertainty [Claude Shannon]. Compare with data and knowledge. An information system is an organized collection, processing, transmission, and dissemination of information in accordance with defined procedures, whether automated or manual. Information systems include non-financial, financial, and mixed systems [GAO]. Information management is the planning, budgeting, manipulating, and controlling of information throughout its life cycle [GAO]. Information resources management (IRM) includes related resources such as personnel, equipment, funds, and information technology. Information engineering is an approach to planning, analyzing, designing, and developing an information system with an enterprisewide perspective and an emphasis on data and architectures [GAO].

Information technology (IT) - Includes all matters concerned with the furtherance of computer science and technology and with the design, development, installation, and implementation of information systems and applications [San Diego State University]. An information technology architecture is an integrated framework for acquiring and evolving IT to achieve strategic goals. It has both logical and technical components. Logical components include mission, functional and information requirements, system configurations, and information flows. Technical components include IT standards and rules that will be used to implement the logical architecture.

Intangible benefit - Benefits produced by an investment that are not immediately obvious and/or measurable. [GAO]

Intellectual capital (IC) - E.g., the commercial value of trademarks, licenses, brand names, formulations, and patents [Carla O'Dell & C.Jackson Grayson].

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - The group that developed the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocols.

Internet - 1. The "Internet" is a multiprotocol "internet." It is a three-level hierarchy composed of backbone networks (e.g., NSFNET, MILNET), mid-level networks, and stub networks. [San Diego State University] 2. Unlike online services, which are centrally controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design. Each Internet computer (host) is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community. [Webopedia]

Internet protocol (IP) - The standard that allows dissimilar hosts to connect to each other through the Internet. This protocol defines the IP datagram as the basic unit of information sent over the Internet. The IP datagram consists of an IP header followed by a message. [San Diego State University]

Interoperability - The ability of information systems to operate in conjunction with each other encompassing communication protocols, hardware software, application, and data compatibility layers. See component.

Investment Review Board (IRB) - A decision-making body, made up of senior program, financial, and information managers, that is responsible for making decisions about IT projects and systems, based on comparisons and trade-offs between competing projects and an emphasis on meeting mission needs and improving organizational performance. [GAO]

IP address - Network addresses are usually of two types: (1) the physical or hardware address of a network interface card; for Ethernet this 48-bit address might be 0260.8C00.7666. The hardware address is used to forward packets within a physical network. (2) The logical or IP Address is used to facilitate moving data between physical networks and is made up of a network number, a subnetwork number, and a host number. All Internet addresses at SDSU have a network number of 130.191, a subnet number in the range of 1-254, and a host number in the range of 1-254. [San Diego State University]

IP datagram - The basic unit of information passed across the Internet. An IP Datagram is to the Internet as a hardware packet is to a physical network. It contains a source and destination address along with data. Large messages are broken down into a sequence of IP Datagrams. [San Diego State University]

IT investment management approach - An analytical framework for linking IT investment decisions to an organization's strategic objectives and business plans. The investment management approach consists of three phases--select, control and evaluate. Among other things, this management approach requires discipline, executive management involvement, accountability, and a focus on risks and returns using quantifiable measures. [GAO]

Java - An object-oriented programming language to create executable content (self-running applications) that can be easily distributed through networks like the Web. [San Diego State University]

Knowledge - What is known by perceptual experience and reasoning. For example, 1234567.89 is data; "Your bank balance has jumped 8087% to $1234567.89" is information; "Nobody owes me that much money" is knowledge; and "I'd better talk to the bank before I spend it because of what has happened to other people" is wisdom. [Free On-line Dictionary of Computing] Explicit knowledge is formal and codified, e.g., documents, databases, knowledge bases. Tacit knowledge is informal and uncodified, e.g., that found in the heads of employees, customers, vendors. It is experiential, ephemeral, transitory, and difficult to document [Carla O'Dell & C.Jackson Grayson]. It is internalized by the knower over a long period of time, and incorporates so much accrued and embedded learning that its rules may be impossible to separate from how an individual acts [Thomas Davenport & Laurence Prusak]. Compare with data and information.

Knowledge base - A store of knowledge about a domain represented in machine-processable form, which may be rules (in which case the knowledge base may be considered a rule base), facts, or other representations. See repository.

Legacy system - Those systems in existence and either deployed or under development at the start of a modernization program. All legacy systems will be affected by modernization to a greater or lesser extent. Some systems will become transition systems before they are retired. Other systems will simply be retired as their functions are assumed by modernization systems. Still others will be abandoned when they become obsolete. [Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Life-cycle cost - The overall estimated cost for a particular program alternative over the time period corresponding to the life of the program, including direct and indirect initial costs plus any periodic or continuing costs for operation and maintenance. [GAO]

Message - A collection of data that is ordered according to the rules of a given protocol suite, such that it is intelligible to the sending and receiving software. [San Diego State University]

Methodology - A documented approach for performing activities in a coherent, consistent, accountable, and repeatable manner. [Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Military Network (MILNET) - A network used for unclassified military production applications. It is part of the DDN and the Internet. [San Diego State University]

Multi-purpose Internet mail extensions (MIME) - A format originally developed for attaching sounds, images and other media files to electronic mail, but now also used with World Wide Web applications. A MIME mapping is a list of file extensions and the types of files they belong to. When the server sends an HTTP reply, it sends a type/subtype header according to the requested file's extension. A MIME type/subtype is an HTTP header sent with a reply that determines how a client will view or use the message. The MIME type tells the general type of document, such as image or application, and the subtype tells the specific type such as GIF or ZIP. [San Diego State University]

Mixed system - An information system that supports both financial and non-financial functions. [GAO]

Model - A representation of a set of components of a process, system, or subject area, generally developed for understanding, analysis, improvement, and/or replacement of the process [GAO]. A representation of information, activities, relationships, and constraints [Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework].

Native - Software written specifically to run on a particular processor. Also, the file format in which an application normally saves it documents. The native format is generally readable only by that application (other programs can sometimes translate it using filters). [San Diego State University]

Net present value (NPV) - The future stream of benefits and costs converted into equivalent values today. This is done by assigning monetary values to benefits and costs, discounting future benefits and costs using an appropriate discount rate, and subtracting the sum total of discounted costs from the sum total of discounted benefits. [GAO]

National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) - A high speed network of networks which is hierarchical in nature. At the highest level is a backbone network which spans the continental United States. Attached to that are mid-level networks and attached to the mid-levels are campus and local networks. NSFNET also has connections out of the U.S. to Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. The NSFNET is part of the Internet. [San Diego State University]

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) - A set of standard protocol grouped into seven layers: the physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, and application layers. [San Diego State University]

Outcome - The ultimate, long-term, resulting effect--both expected and unexpected--of the customer's use or application of the organization's outputs. [GAO]

Performance measurement (PM) - The process of developing measurable indicators that can be systematically tracked to assess progress made in achieving predetermined goals and using such indicators to assess progress in achieving these goals [GAO]. A performance gap is the gap between what customers and stakeholders expect and what each process and related subprocesses produces in terms of quality, quantity, time, and cost of services and products [GAO].

Post-implementation review (PIR) - An evaluation tool that compares the conditions prior to the implementation of a project (as identified in the business case) with the actual results achieved by the project. [GAO]

Protocol - When data is being transmitted between two or more devices something needs to govern the controls that keep this data intact. A formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to exchange those messages. Protocols can describe low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in which hits and bytes are sent across wire) or high-level exchanges between application programs (e.g., the way in which two programs transfer a file across the Internet). [San Diego State University]

Public-domain - Software that has no copyright or fee, which means you can copy, use, and even alter and sell it. [San Diego State University]

Repository - 1. A store of items that typically are fetched in order to perform some task. Items in a repository (such as a document) would be retrieved in order to be used in their own right. In contrast, data in a database might be used to compute statistics, or to verify access, or retrieve information associated with a triggering event, rather than used as an artifact in their own right. The distinction is not a hard one, however. 2. An information system used to store and access architectural information, relationships among the information elements, and work products [Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework]. See knowledge base.

Return on investment (ROI) - A figure of merit used to help make capital investment decisions. ROI is calculated by considering the annual benefit divided by the investment amount. [GAO]

Risk analysis - A technique to identify and assess factors that may jeopardize the success of a project or achieving a goal. This technique also helps define preventive measures to reduce the probability of these factors from occurring and identify countermeasures to successfully deal with these constraints when they develop. [GAO]

Scenario - An outline of an hypothesized chain of events. A use case is a special kind of scenario that breaks down system requirements into user functions; each use case is a sequence of events performed by a user.

Sensitivity analysis - Analysis of how sensitive outcomes are to changes in the assumptions. The assumptions that deserve the most attention should depend largely on the dominant benefit and cost elements and the areas of greatest uncertainty of the program or process being analyzed. [GAO]

Sequencing plan - A document that defines the strategy for changing the enterprise from the current baseline to the target architecture. It schedules multiple, concurrent, and interdependent activities and incremental builds that will evolve the enterprise. [CIO Council]

Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) - A protocol used to run IP over serial lines, such as telephone circuits or RS-232 cables, interconnecting two systems. [San Diego State University]

Shareware - Software that you can try before you buy. It's distributed through on-line services, BBSs, and user groups. You're allowed to try it out and give copies to others, but if you want to keep using it, you must pay the registration fee. [San Diego State University]

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) - Internet standard protocol for transferring electronic mail messages from one computer to another. SMTP specifies how two mail systems interact and the format of control messages they exchange to transfer mail. [San Diego State University]

Stakeholder - An individual or group with an interest in the success of an organization in delivering intended results and maintaining the viability of the organization's products and services. Stakeholders influence programs, products, and services. Examples include congressional members and staff of relevant appropriations, authorizing, and oversight committees; representatives of central management and oversight entities such as OMB and GAO; and representatives of key interest groups, including those groups that represent the organization's customers and interested members of the public. [GAO]

Standard - A set of criteria (some of which may be mandatory), voluntary guidelines, and best practices. Examples include application development, project management, vendor management, production operation, user support, asset management, technology evaluation, architecture governance, configuration management, problem resolution. [Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Strategic plan - A document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. According to requirements of GPRA, a strategic plan should include a mission statement, a description of the agency's long-term goals and objectives, and strategies or means the agency plans to use to achieve these general goals and objectives. The strategic plan may also identify external factors that could affect achievement of long-term goals. [GAO] Strategic planning is a systematic method used by an organization to anticipate and adapt to expected changes. The IRM portion of strategic planning sets broad direction and goals for managing information and supporting delivery of services to customers and the public and identifies the major IRM activities to be undertaken to accomplish the desired agency mission and goals. [GAO]

Strength of evidence (SOE) - A comparative measure, in percentile, of the overall risk inherent in an IT architecture. It is an amalgamation of information from disparate sources. The more times an interface has been implemented successfully, the greater the SOE. Because SOE is based on other-contextual data, assertions are limited to a maximum of 85%.

Sunk cost - A cost incurred in the past that will not be affected by any present or future decision. Sunk costs should be ignored in determining whether a new investment is worthwhile. [GAO]

Supply chain - The flow of resources into and out of the enterprise's collective operations. An IT supply chain is the flow of resources into and out of its IT operations.

System - A collection of components organized to accomplish a specific function or set of functions. [IEEE STD 610.12]

Systems development life cycle (SDLC) - Guidance, policies, and procedures for developing systems throughout their life cycle, including requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, operations, and maintenance. [Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework]

Systems engineering - The application of engineering to solutions of a complete problem in its full environment by systematic assembly and matching of parts in the context of the lifetime use of the system.

TELNET - Internet standard protocol for remote login (terminal connection) service. TELNET allows a user at one site to interact with a remote timesharing system at another site as if the user's terminal were connected directly to the remote computer. [San Diego State University]

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) - This is a transport layer protocol that establishes a reliable, full duplex, data delivery service used by many TCP/IP application programs. The TCP software uses the IP protocol to transmit information across the Internet. [San Diego State University]

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) - A set of protocols, resulting from ARPA efforts, used by the Internet to support services such as remote login (TELNET), file transfer (FTP) and mail (SMTP). [San Diego State University]

Uncertainty - A measure of variety. Uncertainty is zero when all elements are in the same category. Uncertainty increases with both the number of categories and their equiprobability. [Principia Cybernetica Web]

Uniform resource identifier (URI) - A string of characters that represents the location or address of a resource on the Internet and how that resource should be accessed. A URI is a superset of the Uniform Resource Locator. [San Diego State University]

Uniform resource locator (URL) - A string of characters that represents the location or address of a resource on the Internet and how that resource should be accessed. World Wide Web pages are assigned a unique URL. Each hyperlink on a web page contains the URL of the page to be linked to. http://rohan.sdsu.edu/glossary.html is the URL for this page. [San Diego State University]

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) - A unit that switches to battery power whenever the power cuts out. [San Diego State University]

UNIX - An operating system developed by Bell Laboratories that supports multiuser and multitasking operations. [San Diego State University]

Use case - See scenario.

USENET - A network of newsgroups. There are thousands of newsgroups available through USENET. Each one covers a specific topic or subject area. [San Diego State University]

Value chain - The sequential set of primary and support activities that an enterprise performs to turn inputs into value-added outputs for its external customers. An IT value chain is that subset of enterprise activities that pertain to IT operations, both to add value directly for external customers and to add indirect value by
supporting other enterprise operations.

Value proposition - 1. The unique added value an organization offers customers through their operations. 2. The logical link between action and payoff that knowledge management must create to be effective; e.g., customer intimacy, product-to-market excellence, and operational excellence [Carla O'Dell & C.Jackson Grayson].

Value-added - Those activities or steps that add to or change a product or service as it goes through a process; these are the activities or steps that customers view as important and necessary. [GAO]

World Wide Web (WWW) (W3) - The hypermedia document presentation system that can be accessed over the Internet using software called a Web browser [San Diego State University]. A Web browser (also known as a Web client program) is software that allows users to access and view HTML documents (e.g., Netscape, Mosaic, Lynx, WinWeb, MacWeb) [San Diego State University].

X.25 - Data communications interface specification developed to describe how data passes into and out of public data communications networks. The CCITT and ISO approved protocol suite defines protocol layers 1 through 3. [San Diego State University]

Zachman Framework - Classic work on the concepts of information systems architecture that defined the concept of a framework and provided a 6x6 matrix of architecture views and perspectives with products. [John Zachman, 1987, IBM Journal]