| Ability To Perform |
A feature of a process that describes the preconditions that must exist before the process can be consistently implemented. [CMMI]* |
| Abstract Data Type |
A data type for which only the data describing the external behaviour of the object, the properties of the data and the operations to be performed on the data are specified, without defining how the data will be represented or how the operations will be implemented internally. [IEEE 610]* |
| Abstraction |
A restricted view of a real-world object that focuses on the information relevant to a particular purpose with no sacrifice of the sense and ignores the remainder of the information. [IEEE 610]* |
| Acceptance |
When the supplier is ready to deliver the validated product, the customer should judge whether or not the product is acceptable according to previously agreed criteria and in a manner specified in the contract. [ECSS Q-80A] |
| Acceptance |
An action by an authorised representative of the acquirer by which the acquirer assumes ownership of the product as partial or complete performance of a contract. [DoD 498]* |
| Acceptance Criteria |
The criteria that a product, system or component must satisfy in order to be accepted. [IEEE 610]* |
| Acceptance Criteria |
Minimum conditions that a product must satisfy to be accepted by a user, customer or other stakeholder. [www.processimpact.com/UC/Module_3/Export/data/downloads/glossary.html] |
| Acceptance Criteria |
Minimum standards for the content of programs, plans, procedures and designs required by a specification for the performance of a contract. Acceptance Criteria are the basis for judging the responsiveness of a contractor’s program and is used as a basis for suspending work, if necessary. [www.paintinfo.com/mpi/store/glossary/gloss-a.htm] |
| Acceptance Plan |
Prepares acceptance based on the defined strategy and criteria.
It indicates the extent of supplier involvement
If acceptance is based on tests, it may reference or provide an overall test plan.
It may include test conditions to verify or validate system or software requirements for each test case, listings of data to be used during testing, procedures/steps for executing a test, e.g. pre-test procedure requirements, test set up and completion instructions, actions required to execute the test steps, expected test results for each test step, comments/notes, space for indicating status of the execution of each test step (pass/fail/skipped), post test analysis steps, mapping to covered requirements, test objectives and expected output data) and test environment (environmental conditions to properly execute the tests and supplier involvement) for accepting the products. [FCD 15289]* |
| Acceptance Procedure |
Describes the procedures for conducting acceptance review and testing of a deliverable product or service, and conditions that are to be satisfied before acceptance. The acceptance procedure should comply with the provisions of the acceptance strategy and conditions of the acquisition plan and contract. [FCD 15289]* |
| Acceptance Record |
Documents that the acquirer has reviewed and tested a product and whether the product is accepted. [FCD 15289]* |
| Acceptance Review |
A formal event in which the product is evaluated in its operational environment. It should be carried out after the product has been installed and transferred to the customer and installed on an operational basis. [ECSS E-40]* |
| Acceptance Test |
Formal test of a product, system or functional unit usually performed after installation on the customer's premises under responsibility of the purchaser by a authorised entity with the participation of the supplier to determine whether the contractual requirements (obligations) are met. [ISO 2382]* |
| Access |
To obtain the use of a resource. [ANSI] |
| Accident |
An undesired event arising from operation of any items which results in
a. Human death or injury;
b. Loss of, or damage to, hardware, software or facilities which could then affect the accomplishment of the mission;
c. Loss of, or damage to, public or private property; or
d. Detrimental effects on the environment. [ECSS-P-001] |
| Accordance |
Concurrence of opinion. [WordReference] |
| Accreditation |
The act of granting credit or recognition (especially with respect to an institution that maintains suitable standards. |
| Accuracy |
(1) A qualitative assessment of correctness or freedom from error.
(2) A quantitative measure of the magnitude of error. [IEEE 610] |
| Achievement |
TBD. |
| Acknowledge |
(1) Report the receipt
(2) Accept as binding and valid
(3) Express obligation. |
| Acquirer |
A party, commonly an organisation, that obtains a product, system or service from a supplier. [ISO 12207]* |
| Acquisition |
The acquiring by contract with appropriated funds of supplies or services by and for the use of the customer through purchase or lease, whether the supplies or services are already in existence or must be created, developed, demonstrated and evaluated. [FAR]* |
| Acquisition |
The process of obtaining a system, product or service. [ISO 12207] |
| Acquisition Plan |
(1) Provides the activities that must be undertaken to acquire a product or service, through procurement or development, and specifies management and assurance requirements.
(2) The document defines the technical and managerial processes necessary to satisfy the acquisition requirements. It addresses the following acquisition activities: process initiation, request for proposal (RFP) (tender) preparation, contract preparation and maintenance, supplier monitoring and acceptance and completion. It includes system requirements, planned employment of the system, contract type, organisational responsibilities and the concept of support. It identifies risks and methods to manage risks. It may include costs and budgets for the acquisition. It documents acquisition options and criteria to include risk, cost and benefits for each option considered. Acquisition options include off-the-shelf product, product developed internally or contracted out, and enhanced existing product or service, or any combination thereof. It should include supplier selection criteria. It should include the purpose of the system or software; describe the general nature of the system and components, including software; outline the expected life cycle processes and need for system development, operation, and maintenance; identify the project sponsor; acquirer organisation; user organisations and support agencies; and list current and planned operating sites. [FCD 15289] |
| Acquisition Report |
Notifies suppliers of the results of source selection. [FCD 15289]* |
| Action |
Step a person takes to complete a task; a step that cannot be subdivided further. A single action may invoke one or more functions but need not invoke any. [IEEE 1063]* |
| Action Item |
A unit in a list that has been assigned to an individual or group for disposition. [SW-CMM]* |
| Active Redundancy |
The use of auxiliary elements operating simultaneously for the purpose of preventing or recovering from failures. [IEEE 610]* |
| Activity |
A major unit of work to be completed in achieving the objectives of a project. An activity has precise starting and ending dates, incorporates a set of tasks to be completed, consumes resources and produces tangible results (work products). An activity may contain other activities in a hierarchical manner; however, the lowest level activities in the hierarchy must have task descendents. Dependencies often exist among activities and tasks, so that completion of one activity or task may provide necessary preconditions for initiation of subsequent activities and tasks. [IEEE 1058]* |
| Activity |
Any step or function performed, both mental and physical, toward achieving some objective. [EIA 731-1]* |
| Actor |
One who acts, or performs any action, or takes part in any affair; a doer. [OED] |
| Actuator |
A peripheral (output) device which translates electrical signals into mechanical actions; e.g. a stepper motor which acts on an electrical signal received from a computer instructing it to turn its shaft a certain number of degrees or a certain number of rotations. [FDA] |
| Adaptability |
The ease with which a product satisfies differing system constraints and user needs. [SEI Glos]* |
| Adaptation |
The tailoring of the documentation standards (within the specifications of the rules and guidelines) for a specific program, project or system. [NASA-2100]* |
| Adaptive Maintenance |
Maintenance performed to provide enhancements necessary to accommodate changes in the operational environment. These include changes to implement new system interface requirements, new system requirements or new hardware requirements. [ISO 14764]* |
| Address |
A number, character or group of characters, that identifies a given device or storage location. [IEEE 610] |
| Address Space |
The addresses that a computer program can access. [IEEE 610]* |
| Adequate Evidence |
Information sufficient to support the reasonable belief that a particular fact has occurred. [FAR]* |
| Adoption Process |
The set of activities by which an organisation brings specific methods or tools into widespread use. [ISO 14471]* |
| Affirmation |
A judgment by a higher authority that the judgment of a lower authority was correct and should stand. [WordReference]* |
| Agreement |
The mutual acknowledgement of terms and conditions under which a working relationship is conducted. [ISO 15288] |
| Alert |
The formal notification to users , informing them of failures or non-conformances of items, already released for use or not, which could also be present on other items already delivered (e.g. items with identical design concept, materials, components or processes). [ECSS-P-001] |
| Algorithm |
(1) A finite set of well-defined rules for the solution of a problem in a finite number of steps; for example, a complete specification of a sequence of arithmetic operations for evaluating sine x to a given precision.
(2) Any sequence of operations for performing a specific task. [IEEE 610] |
| Allocated Baseline |
The initial approved specifications governing the development of configuration items that are part of a higher level configuration item. [IEEE 610]* |
| Allocated Baseline |
The initially approved documentation describing a subsystem's functional, performance, interoperability and interface requirements that are allocated from those of the system or a higher level subsystem; interface requirements with interfacing subsystems; design constraints; derived requirements (functional and performance); and verification requirements and methods to demonstrate the achievement of those requirements and constraints. [EIA 731-1] |
| Allocated Cost |
A cost that can be directly identified with a business unit. [ITIL] |
| Allocated Requirement |
Requirement that distributes all or part of the performance and functionality of a higher-level requirement on a lower-level architectural element or design component. [CMMI] |
| Allocation |
The process of distributing requirements, resources or other entities among the components of a system or program. [IEEE 610]* |
| Alpha Test |
Acceptance test performed by the customer in a controlled environment at the developer's site, where the product is used by the customer in a setting approximating the target environment with the developer observing and recording errors and usage problems. [Pressman]* |
| Alphanumeric |
Pertaining to a character set that contains letters, digits and usually other characters such as punctuation marks. [FDA] |
| Alternative Hypothesis |
The hypothesis that remains tenable when the null hypothesis is rejected. [ISERN] |
| Ambiguous |
Open to more than one interpretation, often intended to mislead. |
| Ambivalent |
Uncertain or unable to decide, often characterised by a mixture of opposite feelings. |
| Analog |
Pertaining to data (signals) in the form of continuously variable (wave form) physical quantities; e.g. pressure, resistance, rotation, temperature, voltage. [FDA] |
| Analog to Digital Converter |
Input related devices which translate an input device's [sensor] analog signals to the corresponding digital signals needed by the computer. [FDA] |
| Analysis |
The determination of the essential characteristics, performance and limitations of an item by cognitive or computational methods. [ECSS-P-001]* |
| Analysis Report |
(Report that ) provides the data and findings of an analysis (e.g. a needs assessment) with commentary to identify substantively and / or statistically significant results and to present recommendations based upon the findings. |
| Anomaly |
Any deviation from the expected situation. [ECSS-P-001] |
| Anomaly |
Anything observed in the documentation or operation of a product that deviates from expectations based on previously verified products or reference documents. [IEEE 1012] |
| Anomaly |
Any condition that deviates from expectations based on requirements specifications, design documents, standards, etc. or from someone's perceptions or experiences. [IEEE 729] |
| Applicable Document |
Normative document imposed on a project. [ECSS-P-001] |
| Application |
SYN: Application Software, Application Program. [ITIL] |
| Application Module |
A reusable collection of a scope statement, information requirements, mappings and a module interpreted model that supports specific usage of product data across multiple application contexts. [ISO SC4 N326] |
| Application Program |
A complete, self-contained program that performs a specific function directly for the user. [FOLDOC] |
| Application Program Interface |
A formalised set of calls, routines or method invocations that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting system, network or database services. [SEI Glos]* |
| Application Software |
One or more executable units designed to fulfil individually or in cooperation with each other specific needs of a user. [IEEE 610]* |
| Apportioned Cost |
A cost that is shared by a number of business units (an indirect cost). This cost must be shared out between these units on an equitable basis. [ITIL] |
| Appraisal |
A comparison of an implemented process to a process reference model. [SE-CMM]* |
| Approach |
Course of actions intended to deal with a problem or task. [WordReference]* |
| Approval |
Written notification by an authorised representative of the acquirer that a work product can be used as the basis for further work. [DoD 498]* |
| Architectural Design |
The process of defining a collection of components and their interfaces to establish the framework for the development of a system. [IEEE 610]* |
| Architectural Design Description |
The result of the architectural design process. [ISO 15504] |
| Architecture |
A description (model) of the organisational structure of a system, its decomposition into and relationships between parts. [IEEE 610]* |
| Architecture |
(1) Provides visibility into the design and the degree of compliance with the requirements.
(2) The document describes the top-level system and presents the system-wide design decisions and rationale.
It identifies high-level items of hardware, software (including database and user interface) and manual operations and their interfaces.
It ensures that the system requirements are allocated among the items. It presents the concept of operation using the architectural components. Hardware and software configuration items and manual operations are subsequently identified from these high-level items.
(3) The fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other, and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution. [IEEE 1471]* |
| Archive |
A lasting collection of data or other records that are in long term storage. [IEEE] |
| Argument |
(1) An independent variable; for example, the variable m in the equation E = mc2.
(2) A specific value of an independent variable; for example, the value m = 24 kg.
(3) A constant, variable or expression used in a call to a module to specify data or program elements to be passed to that module. [IEEE 610] |
| Arithmetic Overflow |
The result of an arithmetic operation, by which the length of the word exceeds the word length of the space provided for the representation of the number. [ISO]* |
| Arithmetic Underflow |
The result of an arithmetic operation, whose absolute value is too small to be represented within the range of the numeration system in use. [ISO]* |
| Artifact |
A discrete, cohesive collection of information, typically developed and reviewed as a single entity. [RW98] |
| As Built |
Pertaining to an actual configuration of software code resulting from a development project. [NIST] |
| Ascertain |
To obtain knowledge or awareness of something not known before, as through observation or study. [answers.com] |
| Assemble |
The process of translating programs expressed in assembly language into their machine language equivalents. [IEEE 610] |
| Assembly |
An element of a product designed and built to accomplish a specified purpose, which can be disassembled and retain its capabilities after re-assembly. [ECSS-P-001] |
| Assembly Language |
A programming language that corresponds closely to the instruction set of a given computer, allows symbolic naming of operations and addresses, and usually results in a one-to-one translation of program instructions into machine instructions. [IEEE 610] |
| Assertion |
A logical expression specifying a program state that must exist or a set of conditions, that program variables or relations among them must satisfy at a particular point during execution. [IEEE 610]* |
| Assertion Checking |
Checking of embedded statements that assert relationships between elements of a program. [NIST]* |
| Assertion Testing |
A dynamic analysis technique which inserts assertions about the relationship between program variables into the program code. The truth of the assertions is determined as the program is executed. [NBS] |
| Assessment |
A formal evaluation of a particular set of processes. [ISO 9126]* |
| Assessment Constraints |
Restrictions placed on the freedom of choice of the assessment team regarding the conduct of the assessment and the use of the assessment outputs. [ISO 15504] |
| Assessment Coordinator |
TBD. [ISO 15504] |
| Assessment Instrument |
Tool or set of tools that is used throughout an assessment for evaluating processes, recording observations and findings, analysing data and reporting the results. [ISO 15504]* |
| Assessment Model |
|
| Assessment Record |
An orderly, documented collection of that information which is pertinent to the assessment and adds to the understanding and verification of the process ratings generated by the assessment. [ISO 15504]* |
| Assessment Scope |
A definition of the boundaries of the assessment, provided as part of the assessment input, encompassing the organisational limits of the assessment, the processes to be included and the context within which the processes to be investigated operate. [ISO 15504] |
| The individual, internal or external to the organisation being assessed, who requires and authorises the assessment to be performed, defines its goals and constraints, provides financial and other resources to carry it out and commits to the use of the assessment results. [ISO 15504]* |
| Asset |
An item, such as design, documentation, specifications, source code, documentation, test suites, etc., that has been designed for use in multiple contexts. [IEEE 729] |
| Asset |
Component of a business process. Assets can include people, accommodation, computer systems, networks, paper records, fax machines, etc. [www.ogc.gov.uk/ ITIL]* |
| Asset Management Plan |
Defines the strategy, management and technical processes for asset management. It defines an asset classification scheme, the asset storage and retrieval mechanism; and asset acceptance, certification and retirement procedures. [FCD 15289]* |
| Asset Management Plan |
Identifies the short and long term requirements of an organisation and provides a framework for managing its asset portfolio. These needs are driven by goals defined in the corporate plan and service delivery strategies. [www.deh.gov.au/parks/best-practice/reports/asset/glossary.html]* |
| Assignment |
|
| Assignment Statement |
A statement that assigns a value to a variable; for example, Y := X - 5. [IEEE 610]* |
| Assumption |
A condition that is generally accepted, but without proof. [ITIL] |
| Assurance |
All the planned and systematic activities implemented and demonstrated as needed, to provide adequate confidence that an entity will fulfil its requirements. [ECSS-P-001] |
| Assurance |
Those activities, independent of the organisation conducting the activity, that demonstrate the conformance of a product or process to a specified criteria (such as a design or a standard). [NASA-2100] |
| Attribute |
A piece of information stating a characteristic, property or feature of an entity that can be distinguished quantitatively or qualitatively by human or automated means. [ISO 15939] |
| Attribute |
A single-valued characteristic of an entity or relationship. [ISO 15474-1] |
| Audience |
Category of users sharing the same or similar characteristics and needs (e.g. purpose in using the document, tasks, education level, abilities, training, experience) that determine the content, structure and use of the intended document. [ISO 15910]* |
| Audit |
An objective evaluation of products or processes to ascertain compliance to contracts, plans, standards, guidelines, specifications, requirements and procedures by one or more qualified persons. [IEEE 1028]* |
| Audit Plan |
Used by the auditor to record the auditor's plans to conduct an audit, what deviations were made from the plans and the results of the audit activities. [www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/audit/auditfun/glossary.htm]* |
| Audit Plan |
Sometimes used interchangeably with Audit Schedule (annual plan) or Audit Program (individual audit plan; the plan of the audit of a particular topic, subject, project, department, process or function.) - so watch for contextual clues. [www.mc2consulting.com/riskdef.htm]* |
| Audit Plan |
Used by the auditor to record the auditor's plans to conduct an audit, what deviations were made from the plans and the results of the audit activities. [www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/audit/auditfun/glossary.htm]* |
| Audit Report |
(1) Demonstrates that the QA requirements are implemented and correctly applied for activities within a defined scope.
(2) A signed, written document which presents the purpose, scope, and results of the audit. Results of the audit may include findings, conclusions (opinions) and recommendations.
(3) A quality engineering work product that documents the results of an audit. |
| Audit Report |
Provides audit results and is delivered to the audited party. It identifies participants, certification of auditor’s independence, agreement on resources involved in the audit, audit schedule, list of items to be audited, audit scope, audit procedures, entry and exit criteria, reference to any problem resolution records, action item responsibilities and closure criteria and compliance. It may include the names of organizations audited, product or service being audited, name of auditor, date and location of audit, audit criteria, status of previous audit action items, new action items (including responsible person or organisation and due date); and findings. [FCD 15289]* |
| Auditable System |
The degree to which a system records information concerning transactions performed. [SEI-STR-W] |
| Auditor |
Qualified person with the competence to conduct an audit. [ISO 9000] |
| Authentication |
The ability of each party in a transaction to verify the identity of the other parties. [ITIL] |
| Authorisation |
(1) Official permission or approval.
(2) The power or right to give orders or make decisions. [WordReference] |
| Auxiliary Storage |
Storage device other than main memory; e.g. disks and tapes. [FDA] |
| Availability |
The degree to which a system, component or service is in a state to perform a required function under given conditions at a given instant of time or over a given time interval, assuming that the necessary external resources are provided. [IEC 50]* |
