M

Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC)

A standard for representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form, created by the U.S. Library of Congress.

macro

A stored sequence of commands or instructions which, when invoked, will execute a series of commands or keypresses. Commonly used to automate repetitive tasks within applications such as word or number processors.

Magic Quadrant

SEE chart, Magic Quadrant.

magnetic north

The point on the earth's surface at which the magnetic field points vertically down from the northern hemisphere. Not the same as true north.

mainframe

A centralized computer architecture, once dominant but still widely used and supporting a very large number of applications.

majority classifier

A modeling technique that includes rules that result in non-outlier data directly into the model calculations. SEE ALSO predictive modeling.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

An award given by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology to recognize total quality management achievements of U.S. business, health care and educational organizations. It was established in 1987 and named for Malcolm Baldrige, who was U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1981 until his 1987 death in a rodeo accident. The purposes of the award are to promote quality awareness, recognize quality achievements of the US companies, and publicize successful quality strategies.

manageability

1. The possibility of something being controllable and supportable.
2. Describes the ability to create and maintain an effective environment. (DAMA-DMBOK Guide, 1st edition, pg. 134.)

managed availability

The ability to deliver consistent, predictable access to data whenever users need it.

Managed Meta-data Environment (MME)

The operational implementation of a meta-data architecture, including a meta-data repository, meta-data sources, integration procedures, management processes, delivery procedures to meta marts, and access interfaces.

managed replication

Planning for and control of replicated data, ensuring there is a master record and that copies of that record are consistent, and that minimal redundant and non-productive replication occurs.

Management Information System (MIS)

A reporting or Business Intelligence system. SEE ALSO Information System.

Management of Information Systems (MIS)

SEE Information Technology.

mandatory

1. Adjective. Required, not optional. A dependency must be fulfilled.
2. In SQL, and many DBMSs, mandatory equates to “NOT NULL” or “NOT NULLABLE” constraints.

mandatory relationship

SEE relationship, mandatory.

Many-to-Many (M:N)

Alternate form: M-N, M-M

The characteristic of a relationship in which a member of one population can be related to multiple members of the other population, and vice versa. (Everest 2010) SEE ALSO cardinality; relationship.

Many-to-one (M:1)

The reverse of one-to-zero-or-Many or one-to-one-or-Many.

map

Verb. To associate mathematically every member in a given set with at least one member of another set.

mapping

A list of source and target entities and attributes linked by a set of instructions.

marimekko chart

SEE chart, marimekko.

Mario chart

SEE chart, waterfall.

market basket analysis

The use of a fixed list of items used specifically to track the progress of inflation in an economy or specific market. The list used for such an analysis would contain a number of the most commonly bought food and household items. The variations in the prices of the items on the list from month to month give an indication of the overall development of price trends.

market segmentation

The process of identifying groups of potential customers with similar needs and/or characteristics who are likely to exhibit similar purchase behavior.

market share

A company’s sales expressed as a percentage of the sales for the total industry.

Marketing Resource Management (MRM)

Software that helps with the upfront planning of a marketing function and the coordination and collaboration of marketing resources.

markup

Verb. To annotate documents by inserting tags to offset and identify sections.

markup language

A set of symbols or rules that describe format, structure, or display of a document or file separate from the actual contents.

mashup

A combination of application outputs, content objects, or data attributes that create new structures from the parts.

mashup, content

Content that collects from multiple external sources to create a new object.

mashup, data

A display of non-integrated data attributes from multiple sources that can be combined to form new display objects.

mass customization

The definition and delivery of customized products and services on a wide-scale and cost-effective basis, typically by leveraging information technology. A concept defined and developed by Joseph Pine of IBM.

Massively Parallel Processing (MPP)

In computer architecture, the “shared nothing” approach to parallel computing. Describes a distributed memory computer system of multiple nodes where each node has data, processors, memory, a network link so that each node may process a part of a task independently on its data, and then send the results back to a collector. Growth is achieved by adding more nodes. Possible bottlenecks include network bandwidth. Requires specialized partitioning to spread the data effectively and efficiently across the nodes based on expected usage. Contrast with Symmetrical Multi-Processing.

master data

The data that provides the context for business activity data in the form of common and abstract concepts that relate to the activity. It includes the details (definitions and identifiers) of internal and external objects involved in business transactions, such as customers, products, employees, vendors, and controlled domains (code values).

Master Data Management (MDM)

Processes that control management of master data values to enable consistent, shared, contextual use across systems, of the most accurate, timely, and relevant version of truth about essential business entities. (DAMA-DMBOK Guide, 1st edition, pg. 171.)

master data, financial

Master data about an organization's financial configuration including business units, cost centers, profit centers, general ledger accounts, budgets, projections, and projects.

master data, location

Master data about locations specifically related to a business, in the form of geographic data, such as business party addresses and facility locations. (DAMA-DMBOK Guide, 1st edition, pg. 180.)

master data, party

Master data about individuals, organizations, and the roles they play in business relationships. May include customer, employee, vendor, partner, and competitors; citizens; suspects, witnesses, and victims; members and donors; patients and providers; or students and faculty. (DAMA-DMBOK Guide, 1st edition, pg. 178.

master data, product

Master data that focuses on an organization's internal products or services, or an entire industry's shared products or services, including competitor products and services.

master file

An old term for database, used before relational databases were commonplace. Now used as a concept in Master Data Management regarding the official version of master data.

matching

The process of comparing rows in data sets to determine which rows describe the same thing and are therefore either complimentary or redundant. SEE ALSO similarity analysis.

match-link rule

SEE rule, match-link.

match-merge rule

SEE rule, match-merge.

materialized view

A view that is actually stored as a separate object in order to optimize performance.

matrix

A set of arrays of the same type, where each array is seen as a dimension. Matrices are used to analyze and document the linkages and relationships between the occurrences of one dimension with the occurrences of the other dimensions. SEE ALSO array; scalar.

maturity model

A structured collection of characteristics of effective processes at progressive levels of quality and effectiveness. A maturity model provides a common language and a shared vision for process improvement, a standard for benchmarking, and a framework for prioritizing actions. A maturity model assumes a natural evolutionary path for organizational process improvement.

mean

The result of dividing the sum of all values within a set by the count of all values included.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTF, MTBF)

The predicted elapsed time (arithmetic mean) between system failures. Used to evaluate system stability.

Mean Time To Recover (MTR, MTTR)

The predicted elapsed time (arithmetic mean) between a failure and restoration of a system. Used to evaluate system support efficacy.

measure

Alternate form: measurement

1. Loosely used, a metric.
2. In data modeling, a quantified characteristic; the unit used to quantify the dimensions, capacity, or amount of something.
3. Verb. To quantify one or more dimensions, capacity or amounts of something.

median

The center-most value in an ordered set of values. If the set quantity is even, then the average of the two center-most values.

Medical Subject Heading (MeSH)

A comprehensive set of descriptors used to index medical and life sciences journal articles.

Megabyte (Mb)

A million bytes of storage; a thousand Kilobytes.

member

An individual instance of a population.

membership

The state of belonging to a set.

memory block allocation

A system and method for placing, locating, and indexing blocks of data.

message

An electronic request or reply expressed in data. Messages can be expressed in the form of XML documents.

message broker

A software intermediary function that dispatches messages to the correct sites.

Message Oriented Middleware (MOM)

Software that enables inter-component communication through messages and message routing through a message broker.

meta muck

An environment created when meta-data exists in multiple products and repositories (DBMS catalogs, DBMS dictionaries, CASE tool encyclopedias, BI information directories).

meta-data

Alternate forms: meta data, metadata

Literally, “data about data”; data that defines and describes the characteristics of other data, used to improve both business and technical understanding of data and data-related processes. Because the term ‘metadata’ is a trademark of The Metadata Company, DAMA specifically uses the term meta-data.

meta-data architecture

SEE architecture, meta-data.

meta-data integration

The process of joining differing attributes in multiple meta-data repositories to allow for easier access.

Meta-data Management (MM)

Processes that create, control, integrate, access, and analyze meta-data. One of ten data management functions identified in the DAMA-DMBOK Functional Framework. (DAMA-DMBOK Guide, 1st edition, pg. 7.)

meta-data repository

1. Generally, any structured database of meta-data, often in support of a particular tool.
2. Specifically, an integrated database of meta-data, considered the official representation of meta-data in an enterprise. A repository contains business and technical meta-data from multiple sources. It may be updated in real time or in batch.

meta-data synchronization

The process of consolidating and relating data attributes with the same or similar meaning from different systems.

meta-data, administrative

Meta-data that records lifecycle attributes of a resource, including acquisition, access rules, locations, version control/differentiations, lineage, and archival/destruction.

meta-data, business

The names and business definitions of entities and tables, attributes and columns, and defined domain data values that establish the consistent shared meaning of data. Non-technical meta-data of interest to business professionals, ideally defined by business data stewards. Business meta-data includes the names and definitions of business entities and their data attributes in a conceptual or logical data model, as well as the equivalent business definitions for tables and columns in a physical data model or implemented database. Business meta-data also includes the descriptions of business relationships between business entities, the business rules that govern those relationships, the logical business names and definitions of domain values (code values), and the descriptions of rules governing use of these code values.

meta-data, data stewardship

Data stewardship meta-data is data about data stewards, stewardship processes, and responsibility assignments.

meta-data, descriptive

Meta-data that characterizes and catalogs the actual resource.

meta-data, preservation

Meta-data that describes the physical condition of stored resources, and changes to that physical condition over time (such as copying to different media).

meta-data, process

Meta-data is that defines and describes the characteristics of other systems (processes, business rules, programs, jobs, tools, etc.).

meta-data, rights management

Meta-data that represents rules regarding the use of that resource with respect to intellectual property rights.

meta-data, structural

Meta-data that describes resources at atomic levels, and at higher levels including how the atomic data attributes are related.

meta-data, technical

The physical characteristics of data found in a database, including physical names, datatypes, lengths, precision and scale of numeric data attributes, statistics, source locations (lineage), and code values. It may also include data about programs and other technology.

meta-data, usage

Meta-data that represents how the resource is accessed, processed, and output.

metamart

Alternate forms: meta mart, meta-data mart, meta-data mart

A data store for meta-data fed from a meta-data repository, created for a specialized audience or tool, such as an information directory.

metamodel

1. Generally, a model that specifies one or more other models.
2. In Meta-data Management, a model of a meta-data system or a data model for a meta-data repository.

method

1. Generally, a formalized system of principles, practices, and procedural methods used to build systems, perform a process, or solve a problem, including organizational arrangements, deliverables, and time lines.
2. In object-oriented design and programming, a function bound to a class as part of its overall behavior, executed in response to a message.

methodology

The study of methods.

metric

1. Generally, a unit of measure selected used to monitor and control a process.
2. In Business Intelligence, a calculated value based on measurements used to monitor and control a process or business activity. Most metrics are ratios comparing one measurement to another.

metro map

SEE chart, metro map.

microdata

SEE atomic data.

middleware

Software that allows applications to interact across hardware and network environments.

milestone

Used in project management, marking the end of a task or set of tasks, usually accompanied by some sort of event or a record of approval.

Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS)

A measurement of processing speed. The concept is mistakenly considered a relative measure of computing capability among models and vendors. It is a meaningful measure only among versions of the same processors configured with identical peripherals and software.

minimart

Alternate forms: mini mart, mini-mart

A data store presenting a small subset of a Data Warehouse used by a small number of users. A minimart is a very focused slice of a larger Data Warehouse. SEE ALSO Data Mart.

MINUS

SEE EXCEPT.

MIP-o-suction

The consumption of a high percentage of CPU cycles by a database query.

mirror

Alternate form: mirroring

An exact copy of a data set, kept up-to-date in real time. SEE ALSO data replication.

misclassification

Erroneous classification of a subject into a category in which the subject does not belong

mobile Business Intelligence

Alternate form: Mobile BI

SEE Business Intelligence, mobile.

mode

The value occurring most frequently in a range of values.

model

An abstract representation of how something is built (or is to be built), or how something works (or is observed as working).

model management

The storage and configuration management of models (including change control).

model, conceptual

A model of any kind that is independent of implementation and usage context, consisting solely of basic entities and relationships at a high level.

model, contextual

Generally, a very high-level block diagram listing the main terms and definitions for a business or system.

Model-Driven Development (MDD)

A software development process that creates models or abstractions of a system or data in order to increase basic compatibility between systems.

Model-View-Controller (MVC)

An application design paradigm for object-oriented applications that separates the underlying “model” of business objects from the “view” presentation interface objects and the “controller” events that users perform. By overlaying the controller functions on the view, it creates the illusion of direct manipulation.

morals

In general, a person's internal rules of behavior. Contrast with ethics. SEE ALSO professional ethics.

morphological box

Alternate form: Zwicky box

A problem-structuring and problem-solving technique that reduces the parameters to a finite number with a finite number of possible values, and then compares them to each other. Similar to construction of a dense cube with each parameter being a dimension.

Motivation Configuration

Zachman Framework cell name, intersection of Why/Motivation Reasons and Component Assemblies/Technicians as Implementers.

Motivation Definition

Zachman Framework cell name, intersection of Why/Motivation Reasons and Business Concepts/Executive Leaders as Owners.

Motivation Identification

Zachman Framework cell name, intersection of Why/Motivation Reasons and Scope Contexts/Strategists as Theorists.

Motivation Instantiation

Zachman Framework cell name, intersection of Why/Motivation Reasons and Operations Instance Classes/Workers as Participants.

motivation model

In architecture, describes reasons for establishing organized business plans, their attributes, priorities, and inter-relationships.

Motivation Reasons

Zachman Framework column name, matches Why.

Motivation Representation

Zachman Framework cell name, intersection of Why/Motivation Reasons and System Logic/Architects as Designers.

Motivation Specification

Zachman Framework cell name, intersection of Why/Motivation Reasons and Technology Physics/Engineers as Builders.

multi-dimensional

1. Adjective. In physics and mathematics, describes an item that has a greater-than-two minimum number of coordinates necessary to specify it.
2. Adjective. In data analysis, describes a data attribute that must be described by two or more distinct parameters.

multi-dimensional array

A group of data cells arranged by the dimensions of the data. For example, a spreadsheet exemplifies a two-dimensional array with the data cells arranged in rows and columns, each being a dimension. A three-dimensional array can be visualized as a cube with each dimension forming a side of the cube, including any slice parallel with that side. Higher dimensional arrays have no physical metaphor, but they organize the data in the way users think of their enterprise. Typical enterprise dimensions are time, measures, products, services, geographical regions, etc.

Multi-Dimensional DataBase (MDDB)

SEE database, multi-dimensional.

Multi-Dimensional DataBase Management System (MDDBMS)

SEE DataBase Management System, Multi-dimensional.

Multi-Dimensional eXtensions to SQL (MDX)

A language used to access a multi-dimensional data structure.

Multi-dimensional OLAP (MOLAP)

SEE OnLine Analytical Processing, Multi-dimensional.

Multi-dimensional Query Language (MQL)

A computer language that allows one to specify which data to retrieve out of a multi-dimensional structure. The user process for this type of query is usually called slicing and dicing. The result of a multi-dimensional query is a cell, a two- dimensional slice, or a multi-dimensional sub-cube.

multi-file data structure

A data structure consisting of multiple files that may also include the explicit definition of relationships between/among the files. SEE ALSO data model, physical.

multimedia storage

Storage devices for multimedia files that also contain applications to display or play the multimedia files.

multiplicity

Characteristic of a relationship as either at most one (exclusive) or more than one. (Everest 2010)

multi-tier architecture

SEE architecture, multi-tier.

multi-valued attribute

SEE data attribute, multi-valued.

multi-valued dependency

SEE dependency, multi-valued.

multi-variable model

A model showing evaluation based on multiple variables.

munge

To transform data such that the original data is unrecognizable without knowing the transformation rules and sequence, which is unpredictable or inconsistent. Sometimes accomplished with substitution of characters in order to obfuscate the original data. Occasionally explained as “modify until not guessed easily”.