.net
Alternate form: “dot net”
Microsoft’s XML-based framework.
abort
Verb. To terminate a processing activity.
abstract
Adjective. Less specific in representation, or without a relation to a specific instance. Does not mean 'more generalized.' SEE ALSO generalization.
abstraction
abstraction, horizontal
The process of partitioning a model into smaller subparts for presentation. Used in data modeling to show related areas in a more readable scale.
abstraction, vertical
The presentation of all or part of a model detail. Used in data modeling to show higher levels of entities and relationships to illustrate the basic subject area contents.
access
accessibility
The ability to readily obtain data when needed.
accumulating snapshot fact
SEE fact table, accumulating snapshot.
accuracy
Freedom from mistakes or error, conformity to truth or to a standard, exactness, the degree of conformity of a measure to a standard or true value. (Brackett 2011)
accurate
active data warehousing
activity
activity group
In the DAMA-DMBOK Functional Framework, one of four types of activities – either a Planning Activity, Control Activity, Development Activity or Operational Activity. SEE ALSO activity.
acyclic
ad hoc query
Alternate form: ad-hoc query
A query constructed and executed to answer an immediate and unanticipated question or need, in contrast to a planned query. For example, a dynamic SQL SELECT statement against a relational database, constructed by a knowledge worker using an English-like or point-and-click interface of a desktop-resident Business Intelligence tool. The data returned may drive further analysis and reporting.
adequate
Adjective. Sufficient for a specific requirement; sufficient or satisfactory; or lawfully and legally sufficient. (Brackett 2011)
adjective
A type of word that modifies or adds characteristics to a noun.
administrative meta-data
SEE meta-data, administrative.
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)
The world's first operational packet switching network, developed by the U.S. Department of Defense. It became the precursor to the internet, which evolved into the World Wide Web.
affinity analysis
An analysis technique that relates occurrences of activities by individuals or groups. Market basket analysis is a type of affinity analysis.
affinity diagram
age
The length of time that an entity has existed, or in the case of an organic entity, lived.
aggregate data
Data resulting from processes that combine and summarize atomic data.
aggregation
agile software development
A group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams.
alert
The notification of an event, usually exceeding a pre-defined threshold.
algorithm
A set of rules or steps that will result in a defined end from a defined start.
alias
alpha release
The first version of something released to a formal testing team.
alternate key
SEE key, alternate.
alternate primary key
A primary key that is valid and acceptable, but is not the preferred primary key. (Brackett 2011)
ambiguity
Uncertainty in meaning or reference, depending on the context or usage. An ambiguous reference may have multiple meanings in the absence of context or usage specifications.
American Community Survey (ACS)
In the U.S., a large continuous demographic survey that is sent to residents on a monthly basis, rather than decennially. It contains more demographic questions than the old census long form, and provides more up-to-date information than was previously collected.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
A private not-for-profit organization that coordinates the development and use of voluntary consensus standards in the United States and represents the needs of U.S. stakeholders in worldwide standardization forums. Formerly, the American Standards Association from which we get the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. (www.ansi.org)
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
A common code used in transmitting information over networks, using seven or 8 data bits, a parity bit, and a stop bit. SEE ALSO EBCDIC.
amount
A class word, abbreviated usually to amt.
analog signal
A signal that is represented by an oscillating wave rather than digital pulses.
analysis
Separation of the whole into its parts; an examination of a complex, its individual parts, and their relations; the separation of the ingredients of a substance; a statement of the constituents of a mixture. (Brackett 2011) SEE ALSO synthesis.
analyst
A person who performs analysis or is skilled in analysis. SEE ALSO business analyst; business systems analyst; data analyst; systems analyst.
analytic application
Software that packages Business Intelligence technology to support a specific knowledge-driven business process.
analytical data
SEE data, analytical.
analytical framework
The system of criteria and standards within which data are analyzed.
analytics
Business Intelligence procedures and techniques for exploration and analysis of data to discover and identify meaningful information and trends.
anamorphic map
ANSI SQL
The standard form of SQL concurrently defined by ANSI and ISO and first released in 1986. Most recent version of the standard (SQL:2008) dates from 2008.
applet
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets cannot access certain resources on local computers, such as files and serial devices. Applets are also prohibited from communication with most other computers across a network.
applicability
application
In computing, software functions and services implemented together to support one or more related business processes.
application architecture
application component architecture
SEE architecture, application component.
application DBA
SEE DataBase Administrator, application.
application development
application portfolio architecture
SEE architecture, application portfolio.
Application Programming Interface (API)
A published standard format for communicating with applications.
application server
In a three-tier application architecture, the middle tier of software (and possibly hardware) where business logic is performed.
Application Service Provider (ASP)
A company offering network access to application programs and services for other parties. ASPs typically provide the applications, infrastructure, and technical support for a monthly service charge.
approach of no coupling
A programming technique where each module is independent: has no dependency on, is unrelated to, and does not communicate with, all other modules.
appropriate
Adjective. Especially suitable or compatible; fitting. (Brackett 2011)
arc
architect
Architects as Designers
Zachman Framework row name, matches System Logic.
architectural framework
A way of thinking about and understanding architecture and the structures or systems requiring architecture.
architecture
architecture, application component
A set of standard programming structures, design patterns, formats and protocols for how software applications should operate and communicate with each other.
architecture, application portfolio
A master blueprint for an organization’s existing and planned portfolio of software applications, how they support the organization’s processes, and how interface with each other and with the organization’s databases.
architecture, business
The portion of an enterprise architecture that describes organizational goals, roles, reporting structures and locations, but excluding the enterprise data architecture, process architecture, technology architecture and application architecture. The business architecture includes those artifacts identified in rows 1 and 2 of the Zachman Framework, but limited to columns 4, 5 and 6.
architecture, Business Intelligence
The overall design and implementation of components of the Business Intelligence environment, including:
architecture, business process
The future state business process models of an enterprise, used in conjunction with a business data architecture to perform information value chain analysis. Part of an enterprise architecture.
architecture, client/server
A distributed technology approach where application software processing is divided by function. Servers perform shared functions such as processing business rules, managing communications, managing databases, or providing print services. Clients performs individual user functions -- providing customized interfaces, performing screen to screen navigation, offering help functions, etc. Client and server software may reside on the same hardware platform, but each component is designed to be distributed across a networked environment for efficiency.
architecture, closed
An architecture where only the original manufacturer can make add-ons and peripherals.
architecture, data
architecture, enterprise
architecture, information
The analysis and design of the data stored by information systems, concentrating on entities, their attributes, and their relationships.
architecture, information systems
The integrated set of design artifacts defining how data (including the logical data model), applications (including the application portfolio architecture and data integration architecture), and technology (including portfolios of technology products and standards) will integrate to support the business architecture.
architecture, in-memory
An architecture that uses flash memory rather than conventional disk storage.
architecture, meta-data
The design for integration of meta-data across data dictionaries, directories, and repositories.
architecture, multi-tier
Alternate form: n-tier architecture
A form of architecture where the user interface layers, the application processing layers, and the data management layers are all logically separate parts which communicate through services. SEE ALSO architecture, three-tier.
architecture, open
The published specifications for a computer by a vendor, allowing other companies to create add-ons to enhance and customize the machine, and to make peripheral devices that work properly with it. In practice, has been difficult to engage on a corporate basis due to the risk involved in a source that has multiple editors and has little to no assurance of quality when in use. Outsourcing the risk to a second party who then use the open source and accept the liability for the code is then the way to engage with open source code.
architecture, process
Row 1: Objectives/Scope (contextual) – Planner View: a list of processes important to the business (may be a hierarchical list outlining a functional decomposition of processes)
Row 2: Enterprise Model (conceptual) – Owner View: a business process model (process flow diagrams, sometimes called data flow diagrams, showing the flow of data and other business resources between processes as inputs and outputs).
architecture, product
Part of a technology architecture, identifying selected vendor-specific software tools and services. Although not implied in the name, it may also include industry-wide standards and protocols.
architecture, system
Includes applications, software components, interfaces, and projects. DAMA-DMBOK 1st edition, pg. 66.
architecture, technology
The master plan for the IT technical infrastructure depicted in diagrams and specifications of hardware and system software products, locations, configurations, standards and adopted protocols, along with linkages of computing platforms and/or servers to existing and planned applications and databases. Includes diagrams and specifications of the kinds described in Column 3 (“Network”) of the Zachman Framework.
architecture, three-tier
A structure for a database environment consisting of a presentation tier, an application tier, and a data tier. The presentation tier is the one seen and used by the programmers and other users of a DBMS, also called the user schema, or the external schema. Presentation tiers can overlap. The application tier is the combination of all the defined structures in the presentation tier for a given database, also called the logical tier, data access tier, or middle tier. There may be additional data in the application tier that is not in any presentation tier. The data tier is the database administrator's view of the database, also called the internal schema. The data tier is the definition of the physical storage structure of a database.
archival database
SEE database, archival.
archive
area cartogram
area chart
SEE chart, area.
argument
SEE parameter.
argument slide
arity
In object role modeling, the number of objects t a role in a predicate, or relationship. SEE predicate. SEE ALSO n-ary.
array
A grouping of similar items of the same storage type in a sequential pattern, and referenced by a sequential index value. SEE ALSO matrix.
artifact
An object made or modified by a human.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Software that performs a function previously ascribed only to human beings, such as natural language processing.
asset
asset condition
Asset condition describes how an asset or a service will perform in objective and measurable terms. The measurement is sometimes as simple as assigning a number. An example would be a range of 1 to 5, where one = poor and five = excellent.
asset, intangible
Non-physical assets, such as accounts receivable.
asset, tangible
Physical assets, such as equipment.
associate
Verb. To determine relationships between entities, including characteristics of the relationship: dependent or not (optional, orphan), exclusive (at most one) or not (multiple). SEE ALSO relationship.
association
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
The largest and oldest international scientific and educational computer society.
association rule analysis
SEE relationship rule analysis.
associative entity
asynchronous
Adjective. Describes a style of communication in which the initiator does not wait for a reply. Opposite of synchronous.
asynchronous replication
Data replication where the target database is updated as soon as possible after updates occur to the source database, but not as part of a single integrated transaction. Failure to update the target has no impact on the source database. Sometimes referred to as “near real time” replication.
atomic data
Atomicity-Consistency-Isolation-Durability (ACID)
Standard properties of relational databases.
attribute
An inherent characteristic, an accidental quality, an object closely associated with or belonging to a specific person, place, or office; a word ascribing a quality. (Brackett 2011)
attribute class
SEE class, attribute.
attribute generalization
SEE generalization, attribute.
attributed relationship
attributive entity
audit
A formal and official verification of validity, accuracy, and conformance to requirements, regulations, standards, and/or guidelines.
audit trail
Data maintained to trace activity, such as a transaction log, for purposes of recovery or audit.
augmentation
authentication
authoritative source
A source of data or information that is recognized by members of a Community of Interest to be valid or trusted because its provenance is considered highly reliable or accurate. During the life cycle process, the authoritative source (or system of use in which it is housed) can evolve according to use. Subject Matter Experts validate that the data is authoritative, and Data Management assures that data from the authoritative source is provided to users, and that it is current.
authorization
In data security, the granting of authority allowing a person, group, or software agent to access a resource.
authorization request
In data security, a request to grant authority to a person, group, or software agent to access data for which the data consumer does not presently have access privileges.
authorization rule
SEE rule, authorization.
automation
The act of replacing control of a manual process with computer or electronic controls.
availability