Glossary of Terms
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- Acquirer
- An organization that acquires or procures a system, software product or software service from a supplier. (Note: The acquirer could be one of the following: buyer, customer, owner, user, purchaser.)*
Acquisition- The process of obtaining a system, software product, or software service.*
Actual cost- The cumulative actual cost incurred on the project to date.
ACWP- Actual Cost of Work Performed.
Agreement- The definition of terms and conditions under which a working
relationship will be conducted.
- Architecture
- The structure and interrelation of a system's components,
including the relation of the interface to its operational environment.
- Audit
- Conducted by an authorized person for the purpose of providing
an independent assessment of software products and processes
to assess compliance with requirements.*
- Baseline
- A formally approved version of a configuration item, regardless of media, formally designated and fixed at a specific time during the configuration item's life cycle.*
BCWP- Budgeted Cost of Work
- BCWS
- Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled.
Black-box testing- Testing validating that the integrated software configuration satisfies the requirements contained in a CM-controlled requirement or external interface specification.
Budget at Completion (BAC)- The total original budget for a project, which is the maximum
value on the Control Panel Earned Value gauge.
- Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)
- Cumulative earned value to date.
- Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)
- The cumulative planned value, which is the total value of
work that was originally scheduled for completion by the end
of a reporting period.
- CASE
- (Computer-Aided Software Engineering). The industrialization
of software engineering techniques and computer technology to
improve and automate the practice of information systems development.
- CIO
- Chief Information Officer.
- Component
- The collection of programs and modules that perform a single, identified technical or business function. Examples of components include the scheduler of an operating system or the parser of a compiler.
Configuration item (CI)- An entity within a configuration that satisfies an end use
function and that can be uniquely identified at a given reference
point.
- Configuration Management (CM)
- The process of identifying and defining the deliverable product set in a system, controlling the release and change of these items throughout the system life cycle, recording and reporting the status of product items and change requests, and verifying the completeness and correctness of the product items.
Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO)- A closely related family of software cost estimating models
developed by Dr. Barry Boehm of TRW.
- Contract
- A binding agreement between two parties, especially enforceable
by law, or a similar internal agreement wholly within an organization,
for the supply of software service or for the supply, development,
production, operation, or maintenance of a software product.*
- Cost Performance Index
- (CPI) The Control Panel gauge that shows how efficiently the project team has turned costs into progress to date.
COTS- Commercial off-the-shelf (often used in reference to software).
- Critical path
- The set of activities that must be completed in sequence and on time if the entire project is to be completed on time.
CSCI- Computer Software Configuration Item.
- Cumulative earned value
- The sum of the planned values for all completed tasks.
- Defect
- A problem or "bug" that, if not removed, could cause a program to either produce erroneous results or otherwise fail.
Defect removal- Activities that are aimed at removing defects from software,
including walkthroughs, reviews,inspections, editing, and all
forms of testing. For military projects, defect removal is the
second most expensive activity, with paperwork being the most
expensive. A synergistic combination of defect prevention and
defect removal can yield dramatic improvements in the quality
of delivered software.
- Defect removal efficiency
- The number of defects removed by a specific operation, such
as a code inspection, review, or test phase, compared to the
total number of defects found during software development and
the first year of operation.
- Deliverable
- A tangible, physical object that is the output of a software
development task. Examples of deliverables include requirements
documents, specifications, test cases, and source code. There
are also synthetic deliverables such as Function Points or Feature
Points.
- Design
- The tasks associated with specifying and sketching out the
features and functions of a new application prior to formal coding.
- Developer
- An organization that performs development activities (including
requirements analysis, design, testing through acceptance) during
the software life cycle process.
- DII COE
- Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment.
- Earned Value (EV)
- A means of evaluating budgetary performance by relating actual expenditures to technical achievement as measured by a milestone accomplishment scheme. EV may be used interchangeably with BCWP.
- Effort
- A means of evaluating budgetary performance by relating actual expenditures to technical achievement as measured by a milestone accomplishment scheme. EV may be used interchangeably with BCWP.
- The person-months or person-years of work by all job classifications
on the software product (design, coding, inspection, testing,
documentation, and supervision).
- Embedded software
- Software for an embedded system. An embedded system is integral
to a larger system whose primary purpose is not computational;
for example, a computer system in an aircraft or a rapid transit
system.
- Estimate at Completion (EAC)
- The maximum value on the Control Panel Actual Cost gauge,
which represents the current best estimate for total cost of
the project.
- Evaluation
- A systematic determination of the extent to which an entity
meets its specified criteria.
-
- F
- Firmware
- F
- The combination of a hardware device and computer instructions
or computer data that reside as read-only software on the hardware
device. The software cannot be readily modified under program
control.
- Gantt chart
- A chart (named for Henry Laurence Gantt) that consists of
a table of project task information and a bar chart that graphically
displays project schedule, depicting progress in relation to
time and often used in planning and tracking a project.
- GOTS
- Government off-the-shelf (often used in reference to software).
- GUI
- Graphical User Interface.
- I
- Inspections
- Visual examinations to detect errors and standards violations
in requirements, design, code, user documentation, test plans
and cases, and other software development products.
- Interface
- The boundary between two programs, two pieces of hardware,
or a computer and its user.
- Interoperability
- The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange
information and to use the information that has been exchanged.
- IT
- Information Technology.
- JTA
- Joint Technical Architecture.
- Life cycle model
- A framework containing the processes, activities, and tasks
involved in the development, operation, and maintenance of a
software product, spanning the life of the system from the definition
of its requirements to the termination of its use.
- LOE
- Level of Effort.
- Maintainer
- An organization that performs maintenance activities.
- Metrics
- Means by which software engineers measure and predict aspects
of processes, resources, and products that are relevant to the
software engineering activity.
- Monitoring
- An examination of the status of the activities of a supplier
and of their results by the acquirer or a third party.
- MOA
- Memorandum of Agreement.
- Non-deliverable item
- Hardware or software product that is not required to be delivered
under the contract but may be employed in the development of
a software product.
- NDI
- Non-Developmental Item.
- Off-the-shelf product
- Product that is already developed and available, usable either
"as is" or with modification.
- Operator
- An organization that operates the system.
- PERT chart
- A chart (resembling a flow chart) in which a box represents
each project task, and a line connecting two boxes represents
the relationship between two tasks.
- PM
- Program Manager.
- Process
- A set of interrelated activities, which transform inputs
into outputs. (Note: The term "activities" covers use
of resources.)
- Productivity
- A measure of the amount of Source Lines of Code that can
be delivered per person-month.
- Prototyping
- A process in which partial versions of a program are created to aid in designing the final product.
- Qualification
- The process of demonstrating whether an entity is capable
of fulfilling specified requirements. [See ISO 8402 - 1994, 2.13.1
ISOMEC 12207 - 1995 (E).]
- Qualification requirement
- A set of criteria or conditions that have to be met to qualify
a software product as complying with its specifications and being
ready for use in its target environment.
- Qualification testing
- Testing, conducted by the developer and witnessed by the
acquirer (as appropriate), to demonstrate that the software product
meets its specifications and is ready for use in its target environment.
- Quality
- The totality of features and characteristics of a product
that bear on its ability to satisfy given needs.
- Quality assurance (QA)
- All the planned and systematic activities implemented within
the quality system, and demonstrated as needed, to provide adequate
confidence that an entity will fulfill requirements for quality.
- Quality gate
- A predefined completion criterion for a task including audits, walkthroughs, and inspections, that provides an assessment of progress, processes used, and project products.
- Release
- A particular version of a configuration item that is made
available for a specific purpose (for example, test release).
- Request for proposal [RFP]
- A document used by the acquirer as the means to announce
its intention to potential bidders to acquire a specified system,
software product or software service.
- Requirements growth
- The increase between baselined and current documented requirements.
- Requirements traceability
- Tracking that links system requirements to derived requirements
for hardware and software modules, which implement the system
requirements to help ensure that system requirements are implemented.
- Retirement
- Withdrawal of active support by the operation and maintenance
organization, partial or total replacement by a new system, or
installation of an upgraded system.
- Reuse
- The ability to make additional use of standard parts or components
such as reusable code, design, architectures, and test cases.
- Review
- An examination (formal or informal) of the specification,
code, or another deliverable from a software project.
- Risk
- The probability that a software project will experience potential
hazards that will affect the schedule or completion of the project.
- Risk officer
- A senior member of the management team responsible for risk
management.
- Risk reserve
- Money and time held in reserve to be used in the event that risks occur.
- SAC
- Schedule at Completion.
- Security
- The protection of information and data so that unauthorized
persons or systems cannot read or modify them and authorized
persons or systems are not denied access to them.
- Silver bullet
- A single tool or method expected to significantly improve
software productivity.
- Size
- Delivered, executable SLOCs. Comment statements or blank
lines are excluded from the size.
- Slip
- The amount of time that a deliverable or product is late
from its originally scheduled date.
- SLOC
- Source Line of Code.
- Software product
- The set of computer programs, procedures, and possibly associated
documentation and data.
- Software service
- Performance of activities, work, or duties connected with
a software product, such as its development, maintenance, and
operation.
- Software unit
- A separately compilable piece of code.
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- A document used by the acquirer as the means to describe
and specify the tasks to be performed under the contract.
- Supplier
- An organization that enters into a contract with the acquirer
for the supply of a system, software product or software service
under the terms of the contract. (Note: The term "supplier"
is synonymous with contractor, producer, seller, or vendor.)
- System
- An integrated composite that consists of one or more of the
processes, hardware, software, facilities, and people that provides
a capability to satisfy a stated need or objective.
- T
Test coverage - The extent to which the test cases test the requirements
for the system or software product.
- Testability
- The extent to which an objective and feasible test can be
designed to determine whether a requirement is met
- To-Complete Performance Index
- (TCPI)The Control Panel gauge that shows the future projection
of the average productivity needed to complete the project within
an estimated budget.
- User
- An individual or organization that uses the operational system
to perform a specific function. (Note: The user may perform other
roles such as acquirer, developer, or maintainer.)*
- Validation
- Confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence
that the particular requirements for a specific intended use
are fulfilled.
- Verification
- Confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence
that specified requirements have been fulfilled.
- Version
- An identified instance of an item.
- White-box testing
- Testing verifying that the software design is valid and that
it was built according to the specified design.
- Work Breakdown Structure
- (WBS) The product- or activity-oriented hierarchy tree depicting
the elements of work that need to be accomplished in order to
deliver an end product to the customer.
