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Accessibility of information
 
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! scope="row" | <div id="Acceptable_Use_Policy">[[#Acceptable_Use_Policy|Acceptable Use Policy]]</div>
| AUP
| A set of terms and conditions applicable to the [[#User|Users]] of an [[#IT_Infrastructure|IT Infrastructure]].
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<br>
4.1 Accessibility of information
Property of information being accessible and usable by an authorized entity
Property of information being accessible and usable by an authorized entity
4.2 Activity
4.2 Activity
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security) connected to a service.
security) connected to a service.


'''''*New terms added or modified'''''
 
 
 
 
 
'''''*New terms added or modified'''''  


=== Concept Map  ===
=== Concept Map  ===

Revision as of 12:57, 21 July 2015

EGI Glossary

EGI Glossary - Version 2 - Editing in progress as of October 10, 2013 (to be approved by the EGI Glossary Coordination Group)

  • Major changes to be the addition of IT service management terms from FitSM-0:2013
  • Minor changes (e.g. acronyms)

Why a Common Glossary

The EGI Community is composed by a large number of heterogenous actors who contribute to providing or consuming services for e-Science. Policy makers produce policies and procedures that govern the EGI processes; dissemination experts write articles for communicating the progress and results in using or evolving EGI; end-users write papers on research results achieved through the infrastructure; technology providers report on the advancement of technology components that enable EGI to operate and so on. From many parties, it has been often expressed the need to identify a common set of terms which definition is agreed and shared so to improve the understanding and consistency of documents. The goal of the EGI Glossary is to address this problem by identifying and maintaining a shared set of terms across all the functional areas of EGI in order to enable a consistent understanding and usage within a well-defined scope. The EGI Glossary is maintained by the EGI Glossary Coordination Group who collect feedback from the whole EGI community through the EGI policy boards.

How to Reference

Terms and Definitions

  • Where a definition of a term includes another term, those related terms are given initial capitals {{
  • The form 'See also Term X, Term Y' is used at the end of a definition where an importan related term is not used with the text of the definition itself


EGI Glossary
Term Abbr. Definition
AUP A set of terms and conditions applicable to the Users of an IT Infrastructure.
An entry in an accounting database identifying the quantitative usage of Resources by Users.
Set of actions carried out within a Process.
A predefined collection of software Products that are deployed together so that it appears as a single undividable Service or application that implements one or more IT Capabilities.
Systematic, independent and documented Process for obtaining Audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled.
The ability of a Service or service component to fulfil its intended function at a specific time or over a specific period of time.
Describes the rationale of how an organisation creates, delivers, and captures Value. The Process of business model construction is part of business strategy. The term business model is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies.
The ability of an IT Service to carry out an Activity.(EGI V1)
The ability or level of effectiveness of a service provider in a specific aspect of service management.
The maximum extent to which a certain element of the infrastructure (such as a Configuration Item) can be used.
Note: This might mean the total disk capacity or network bandwidth. It could also be the maximum ability of a system to process requests or respond to customers.
Alteration (such as addition, removal, modification, replacement) of any element that contributes to the overall service provision, therefore to all Configuration Items.
CRC A Resource Centre that conforms to the requirements specified in the Resource Centre Registration and Certification Procedure.
The act of breaking down a set of items into a set of categories.
Note: In general these will be functional categories (in comparison to the qualitative categorisation seen inThe benefit to a customer and their users delivered by a service. Made up of the aspects of utility (fitness for purpose) and warranty (fitness for use) prioritisation). For instance incoming support requests may be classified into categories such as 'software related, 'network related' etc.
Final status change for an event (such as an Incident, Problem or Change) to indicate no further action is to be taken.
An IT provisioning concept of using remote virtual servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server enabling ubiquitous, easy-to-use (convenient), on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or Service Provider interaction.
A Platform deployed on top of an Infrastructure Platform providing Capabilities useful across multiple (if not all) research communities irrespective of their scientific domain and enabling the collaboration within and across communities.
A Platform that provides a set of Services customised for the needs of a specific community to enable their Users to run specific applications.
A set of expert or technical knowledge, personal skills, and experience that an individual, group or team needs to effectively take on a specific Role.
Extent to which requirements are met in some context.
The state of a specified set of Configuration Items at a given point in time.
CI Element that contributes to the delivery of one or more Services or Service Components, and therefore needs to be controlled.
Note: CIs vary widely and can be anything from technical components (switches, cables, software) to documents (SLAs, Contracts, Procedures).
CMDB Store for data about Configuration Items (therefore configuration data).
Note: The CMDB likely includes attributes of CIs as well as information on relationships between them.
Ability of a Service to operate for extended periods of time and to survive, to the best of a provider's ability, unexpected or even potentially disastrous occurrences.
The organisation or part of an organisation that negotiates the level of services and commissions the Service Provider, doing so on behalf of a number of Users.
Information and its supporting medium.
Note: Examples of documents include Policies, plans, Process descriptions, Procedures, SLAs, Contracts or Records.
Extent to which the goals or expectations connected to a Process or Activity are met.
The degree of ability to accomplish the goal of a Process or Activity with a minimum consumption of Resources.
Note: Resources may be human, technical, informational or financial.
Change of responsibility for an event (such as an Incident or Problem) to another individual or group.
Note: This might be functional escalation (to someone with specific information or responsibility) or hierarchical escalation (to someone with a higher level of authority).
An IT Infrastructure for instant access to data, remote instruments, "In Silico" experimentation, as well as the setup of Virtual Research Communities and/or Virtual Organisations that is composed by one or more autonomous (maintaining their own Policies).
A four-year project, co-funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (contract number: RI-261323), helping to establish a sustainable, reliable e-Infrastructure that can support researchers’ needs for large-scale data analysis.
A non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam established to coordinate and manage the infrastructure (EGI) on behalf of its participants: National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) and European Intergovernmental Research Organisations (EIROs).
EGI A federation of shared computing, storage and data resources from national and intergovernmental resource providers that delivers sustainable, integrated and secure distributed computing services to European researchers and their international partners.
EIRO A legal organisation and member of the EIROforum that has extensive expertise in the areas of basic research and the management of large, international infrastructures, facilities and research programmes.
ERA A unified research area open to the world based on the Internal Market, in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely and through which the Union and its Member States strengthen their scientific and technological bases, their competitiveness and their capacity to collectively address grand challenges.
Individual, organisation or body that works together with other federation members to provide a Service in a federated environment.
Note: Typically, federation members will not necessarily be bound together by strict, financial, legal or hierarchical agreements as they might be in traditional service provision.
Body that acts to coordinate a set of Federation Members in some way.
Note: The ways and extent in which they do so may vary widely, from a very loose central body to a fully integrated system with strong central control.
IT Infrastructure that is concerned with the integration, virtualisation, and management of Services and Resources in a distributed, heterogeneous environment that supports collections of Users and resources (Virtual Organisations) across traditional administrative, trust and organisational boundaries (real organisations). (Source: OGF GFD-I.181)
HPC A computing paradigm that focuses on the efficient execution of compute intensive, tightly-coupled tasks. Given the high parallel communication requirements, the tasks are typically executed on low latency interconnects which makes it possible to share data very rapidly between a large numbers of processors working on the same problem. HPC systems are delivered through low latency clusters and supercomputers and are typically optimised to maximise the number of operations per seconds. The typical metrics are FLOPS, tasks/s, I/O rates.
HTC A computing paradigm that focuses on the efficient execution of a large number of loosely-coupled tasks. Given the minimal parallel communication requirements, the tasks can be executed on clusters or physically distributed resources using grid technologies. HTC systems are typically optimised to maximise the throughput over a long period of time and a typical metric is jobs per month or year.
An expression used to mean 'performed on computer or via computer simulation'. (Source: Wikipedia)
Any event which is not part of the standard operation of a Service and which causes or may cause an interruption to, or a reduction in, the quality of that service. (Source: ISO 20000-1)
Unplanned disruption of operation in a Service or degradation of service quality (versus the expected or agreed level of operation according to Service Level Agreements) (FitSM-0:2013)
Preservation of confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of information.
A means of controlling or managing one or more risks to Information Security.
A Platform that enables flexible and efficient provisioning of IT resources irrespective of the User’s actual use of those Resources. It forms the foundation layer to develop Community and Collaboration Platforms to be built on top of it.
The ability of systems, people and organisations to provide Services to and accept services from other systems, people and organisations and to use the services so exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together.
See Capability.
All of the hardware, software, networks, facilities, etc. that are required to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control or support applications and IT Services. The term includes all of the information technology but not the associated people, Processes and Documentation. (Source: ITIL 2011)
A service provided by an IT Service Provider like a Resource Centre or a Resource infrastructure Provider. An IT service is made up of a combination of information technology, people and Processes. A user-facing IT service directly supports the business processes of one or more Users and its Service Level Targets should be defined in a Service Level Agreement. Other IT services, called supporting services, are not directly used by the business but are required by the service provider to deliver user-facing services. (Source: ITIL 2011 adapted)
KPI Metric that is used to track the performance, Effectiveness or Efficiency of a Service or Process.
Note: KPIs are generally important metrics that will be aligned to critical success factors and important goals. KPIs are therefore a subset of all possible metrics, intended to allow for monitoring and correcting/improving the effectiveness and/or efficiency of a system or Process.
Problem which has not (yet) been corrected, but for which there is a documented workaround or temporary fix to prevent (excessive) negative impact on services.
The overall ability of a Service Provider to manage their Services, made up by the combination of their Capabilities in different specific areas.
MoU An agreement that clarifies the relationships, responsibilities and communication channels between two or more parties that may share Services, clients, and Resources. The MoU is used when both parties do not want to pursue a Contract that is legally binding (generally). Formal contracts can be intimidating therefore MoUs are the better option for some communities. However, it can also be used to regulate the relationship between parties.
NGI The national federation of shared computing, storage and data resources that delivers sustainable, integrated and secure distributed computing services to the national research communities and their international collaborators. The federation is coordinated by a National Coordinating Body providing a single point of contact at the national level and has official membership in the EGI Council through an NGI legal representative.
An organisation that has the exclusive responsibility for strategic decisions and overall management of a National Grid Infrastructure. The organisation can perform or delegate the Role of NGI legal representative.
The legal organisation that has the exclusive mandate delegated through the National Coordinating Body to legally represent an NGI at the national and international level and serves as the NGI representative member in the EGI Council. The NGI Legal Representative may also perform the function of the National Coordinating Body.
A case or situation where a requirement is not fulfilled.
Note: This may also be referred to as noncompliance.
An ICT ecosystem is open when it is capable of incorporating and sustaining Interoperability, collaborative development and transparency, while increasing capacities to create flexible, service-oriented ICT applications that can be taken apart and recombined to meet changing needs more efficiently and effectively.
The umbrella term of the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society, amateur or professional. It encompasses practices such as publishing open research, campaigning for open access, encouraging scientists to practice open notebook science, and generally making it easier to publish and communicate scientific knowledge. (Source: Wikipedia)
A standard is open if meets the following criteria: All stakeholders have the same possibility of contributing to the development of the specification and public review is part of the decision-making process; The specification is available for everybody to study; Intellectual Property Rights related to the specification are licensed on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) or royalty-free terms in a way that allows implementation in both proprietary and open source software.
OLA An agreement between an IT Service Provider and another part of the same organisation. An OLA supports the IT Service Provider’s delivery of IT Services to Users. The OLA defines the goods or Services to be provided and the responsibilities of both parties.(EGI V1)
Agreement between a IT Service Provider or Federation Member and another part of the service provider’s organisation or the Federation to provide a Service Component or subsidiary service needed to allow provision of services to Customers.(FitSM-0:2013)
Values for parameters or measures applied to a service that is listed in an Operational Level Agreement related to it.
Note: typical operational targets might include Availability or resolution time for Incidents, though many hard and soft targets can be considered.
A centre offering operations services on behalf of the Resource Infrastructure Provider.
A structured software unit suitable for automated installation on a computer. A Package may specify dependencies on other packages, so that either a specific version of that package, or a minimum version of that package may satisfy that dependency.
An IT system composed by hardware and/or software components providing a compatibility layer that enables upper-level platforms or user applications to run.
A Service Provider that brings together software components from different Technology Providers or use external services (e.g. from the Collaboration Platform) to meet the needs of a particular consuming research community.
A Service Provider that ensures the Services deployed as part of an Infrastructure or Community Platform are operating effectively on the distributed resources for their consuming community.
Clear, formal and mandatory statement and position of general nature adopted by the IT Infrastructure governance bodies.(EGI V1)
Documented set of intentions, expectations, goals, rules and requirements, often formally expressed by Top Management representatives in an organisation or federation.
Note: Policies are then realised in Processes, which are in turn made up of Procedures that people carry out.(FitSM-0:2013)
PDP The process for the review, approval and revision of Policies and Procedures.
Relative importance of a target, object or activity, based on impact and urgency.
Note: Often Incidents, Problems and Changes are given a priority.
Unknown underlying cause of one or more Incidents. (Source: ISO 20000-1)
The underlying cause of one or more Incidents.(FitSM-0:2013)
Step by step written and approved specification of how to complete a specific task or Process.(EGI V1)
Specified set of steps or instructions to be carried out by an individual or team to perform one or more activities of a Process.
Note: For example, a procedure called “maintain service catalogue” may cover the steps to be carried out to perform the activities of adding, changing or removing services in/from the service catalogue. Alternatively, separate procedures for adding a service, changing a service or removing a service may be defined.(FitSM-0:2013)
A structured set of Activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. A Process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. It may include any of the Roles, responsibilities, tools and management controls required to reliably deliver the outputs. A Process may define Policies, Standards, guidelines, activities and work instructions if they are needed. (Source: ITIL 2011)
Set of activities that bring about a specific objective or set of results from a set of defined inputs.
Note: Generally, a Process is a logical subdivision of a larger set of activities used to provide or manage services.(FitSM-0:2013)
A marketed entity (here: software component) that may provide a Service of its own, or may be re-used as an internal component in another product, or appliance. A Product may consist of one or more deployable packages.
QoS The collective effect of service performance that determine the degree of satisfaction of a User of the Service. Note that the quality of service is characterised by the combined aspects of service support performance, service operability performance, service integrity and other factors specific to each service. (Source: TMF)
Documentation of an event or the results of performing a Process or Activity.
Set of one or more changes to configuration items that are grouped together and deployed.
A storage location from which software packages may be retrieved and installed on a computer. (Source: Wikipedia)
A physical or virtual entity that is consumed from an e-Infrastructure through IT Services.
RC The smallest resource administration domain in an e-Infrastructure. It can be either localised or geographically distributed. It provides a minimum set of local or remote IT Services compliant to well-defined IT Capabilities necessary to make resources accessible to Users. Access is granted by exposing common interfaces to Users.
An individual who is responsible for installing, operating, maintaining and supporting one or more Resources or IT Services in a Resource Centre.
An individual who leads the Resource Centre operations, and is the official technical contact person in the connected organisation. He/she is locally supported by a team of Resource Centre Administrators.
RI A federation of Resource Centres.
RP The legal organisation responsible for any matter that concerns the respective Resource Infrastructure. It provides, manages and operates (directly or indirectly) all the operational services required to an agreed level of quality as required by the Resource Centres and their user community. It holds the responsibility of integrating these operational services into EGI in order to enable uniform resource access and sharing for the benefit of their Users. The Resource infrastructure Provider liaises locally with the Resource Centre Operations Managers, and represents the Resource Centres at an international level. Examples of a Resource infrastructure Provider are the European Intergovernmental Research Organisations(EIRO) and the National Grid Initiatives (NGIs).
A group of scientists or researchers from different universities, institutes or other organisations working together for a common goal.
Documented proposal for a Change to be made to one or more Configuration Items.
Possible negative occurrence that would impact the Service or Service Provider.
Note: Risk is made up of the probability of the threat entailed, the vulnerability to that threat of some asset, and the impact the threat would have, if it occurred.
Set of responsibilities, collected behaviours or actions into a logical unit that can be assigned to an individual, team or group.
Note: An individual may have multiple roles.
A community-specific set of tools, applications, and data collections that are integrated together via a web portal or a desktop application, providing access to Resources and Services.
A means of delivering Value to Users by facilitating outcomes they want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and Risks. (Source: ITIL 2011, adapted)
A way to provide value to a User/Customer through bringing about results that they want to achieve.
Note: Services provide value when taken on their own (unlike the components they are made up of). For instance, for a hotel customer the room cleaning is not a service as it provides value only if you are using the larger service of staying in the hotel.(FitSM-0:2013)
A database or structured document with information about all live IT services, including those available for deployment. The Service Catalogue is part of the Service Portfolio and contains information about two types of IT service: user-facing services that are visible to the business; and supporting services required by the Service Provider to deliver user-facing services. (Source: ITIL 2011)
User/Customer facing list of all live [[#Service|Services"" offered along with relevant information about these services.
Note: The service catalogue can be regarded as a filtered version of the service portfolio that is offered to customers/users.(FitSM-0:2013)
Technical or non-technical element that helps make up a Service.
Note: A component may be a computer, a physical location, an authentication system or any other component that underlies a service, but does not create Value for a customer/user alone and is therefore not a service by itself.
SLA An agreement between a Service Provider and a Customer. The SLA describes the IT Service, documents Service Level Targets and specifies the responsibilities of the Service Provider and the customer. A single SLA may cover multiple IT Services or multiple customers/clients.(EGI V1)
Documented agreement between a Customer and Service Provider that specifies the Service to be provided and the Service Targets that define how it will be provided.(FitSM-0:2013)
SLM The Process responsible for negotiating achievable Service Level Agreements and ensuring that these are met. It is responsible for ensuring that all IT service management processes, Operational Level Agreements and Underpinning Contracts are appropriate for the agreed Service Level Targets. Service Level Management monitors and reports on service levels, holds regular service reviews with customers/clients, and identifies required improvements. (Source: ITIL 2011)
SLT A commitment that is documented in a Service Level Agreement. Service Level Targets are based on service level requirements, and are needed to ensure that the IT Service is able to meet business or organisation objectives. They should be smart and are usually based on key performance indicators. (Source: ITIL 2011)
Overall plan for implementing and operating a service management system.
SMS Overall management system that controls and supports service management of services within an organisation or federation.
The complete set of Services that is managed by a Service Provider. The Service Portfolio is used to manage the entire lifecycle of all services, and includes three categories: service pipeline (proposed or in development), service catalogue (live or available for deployment), and retired services. (Source: ITIL 2011)
Internal list that details all the services offered by the service provider (those in preparation, live and discontinued).
Note: The service portfolio includes meta-information about services such as their Value Proposition, target customer base, cost and price, Risk to the provider, Service Level Agreement offered and operational level agreement supporting them.(FitSM-0:2013)
An organisation supplying Services to one or more internal or external Users. Service provider is often used as an abbreviation for IT Service Provider. (Source: ITIL 2011 adapted)
Organisation or federation or part of an organisation or federation that manages and delivers a service or services to customers.(FitSM-0:2013)
Report that details the performance of a service versus the Service Targets detailed in Service Level Agreements (often based on Key Performance Indicators).
Values for parameters or measures applied to a service that is listed in a [[#Service_Level_Agreement|Service Level Agreement related to it.
Note: typical service targets might include [[#Availability|Availability or resolution time for [[#Incidents|Incidents, though many hard and soft targets can be considered.
See Resource Centre.
A combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on solving a problem (opportunity) that creates and/or drives value (measurable) and can be significantly standardised. The solutions components can be from either the provider and one or more partners, and the solutions implementer can be the provider, the partner, the customer itself, or a combination of the three. (source: SolutionsInsight).
External organisation that provides a Service or Product to the Service Provider, which they need to operate their business and provide services to their customers/users.
Note: In a federated environment there are suppliers to a provider who do not provide their service in a federated manner (distinguishing them from Federation Members). However they might also at the same time be Federation Members.
A document, established by consensus and approved by a Standards Organisation, which provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. Compliance is not compulsory.
SDO A chartered organisation tasked with producing Standards and specifications, according to specific and strictly defined requirements, procedures and rules. Standards developing organisations include recognised standardisation bodies such as : 1) international standardisation committees such as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the three European Standard Organisations: the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), national standardisation organisations such as ANSI; 2) fora and consortia initiatives for standardisation such as the Open Grid Forum (OGF) or the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).
TP Delivers the software, services and/or support required by any client or customer. Technology Providers can be community-specific as organisations or projects that develop or deliver software for specific user communities or customisation for specific requirements. They can also be generic as open-source software collaborations or commercial software providers that deliver technology spanning multiple user communities or domains for general infrastructure purposes.
Senior management within the Service Provider organisation or federation who set Policies and exercise overall control of the organisation or federation.
An IT Capability defined in the UMD Roadmap.
UC A contract between an IT service provider and a third party. The third party provides goods or services that support delivery of an IT Service to a customer/client. The Underpinning Contract defines targets and responsibilities that are required to meet agreed service level targets in one or more Service Level Agreements. (Source: ITIL 2011)
UMD The integrated set of software components contributed by Technology Providers and packaged for deployment as production-quality services in EGI.
A person who uses the IT Service on day-to-day basis. Users are distinct from customers, as some customers do not use the IT service directly. (Source: ITIL 2011)
Individual that primarily benefits from and uses a service.(FitSM-0:2013)
The benefit to a Customer and their users delivered by a service. Made up of the aspects of utility (fitness for purpose) and warranty (fitness for use).
A promise of Value to be delivered and a belief from the customer/client of value that will be experienced. A value proposition can apply to an entire organisation, or parts thereof, or client accounts, or Products or Services.
VMI A representation of the file system of a virtual machine, usually including a pre-configured operating system (OS) environment and a set of pre-installed applications.
VO A group of people (e.g. scientists, researchers) with common interests and requirements, who need to work collaboratively and/or share resources (e.g. data, software, expertise, CPU, storage space) regardless of geographical location. They join a VO in order to access resources to meet these needs, after agreeing to a set of rules and Policies that govern their access and security rights (to users, resources and data).
An individual responsible for the membership registry of a VO including its accuracy and integrity.
VRC A group of large-scale research collaborations, or a number of separate VOs grouped according to research domain or computational technique. The group shares information and experience in achieving their goals through the usage of an e-Infrastructure (e.g., best practices, applications, training material).
VRE Domain specific environments or combination of environments that provide the researcher with easy access to the services deployed to enable their data analysis activities, whether through command line interfaces or higher-level generic tools that simplify the data analysis process.
VT A group of individuals spread across different organisations that are brought together for typically small scale projects, which cut across existing organisational structures.
A series of computational or data manipulation steps in order to use IT resources.
A software system that enables scientific communities to compose and execute a series of computational or data manipulation steps, or a workflow, in a scientific application on IT resources.


EGI Glossary
Term Abbr. Definition
AUP A set of terms and conditions applicable to the Users of an IT Infrastructure.


4.1 Accessibility of information Property of information being accessible and usable by an authorized entity 4.2 Activity Set of actions carried out within a process 4.3 Assessment Set of actions performed to evaluate the level of capability of a process or the overall maturity of a management system 4.4 Audit Systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled Note 1: Typical forms of audit evidence include documented information, information provided during an audit interview, and information gathered through observation. Note 2: Audit criteria may be taken from or based on requirements from a management system (including policies, processes and procedures), agreements (including service level agreements and underpinning agreements), contracts, standards or legislation. Note 3: An audit may be an internal audit, if it is conducted under the direct responsibility of the organisation or federation that is subject to the audit, or an external audit, if it is conducted by an external party. Note 4: Both internal and external audits should be conducted by skilled and experienced auditors, and auditors should not audit their own work or areas of responsibilities to ensure the impartiality of the results. 4.5 Availability The ability of a service or service component to fulfil its intended function at a specific time or over a specific period of time Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 3 Version 2.0 4.6 Capability The ability or level of effectiveness of a service provider in a specific aspect of service management 4.7 Capacity The maximum extent to which a certain element of the infrastructure (such as a configuration item) can be used Note: This might mean the total disk capacity or network bandwidth. It could also be the maximum ability of a system to process requests. 4.8 Change Alteration (such as addition, removal, modification, replacement) of a configuration item (CI) that contributes to providing one or more services 4.9 Classification The act of breaking down a set of items into a set of categories Note: In general these will be functional categories (in comparison to the qualitative categorisation seen in prioritisation). For instance incoming service requests or reported incidents may be classified into categories such as 'software related, 'network related' etc. 4.10 Closure Final status change for an event (such as an incident, problem, service request or change) to indicate no further action is to be taken 4.11 Competence A set of expert or technical knowledge, personal skills, and experience that an individual, group or team needs to effectively take on a specific role 4.12 Compliance Extent to which requirements are met in some context 4.13 Confidentiality of information Property of information not being made accessible or disclosed to unauthorized entities 4.14 Configuration baseline The state of a specified set of configuration items (CIs) at a given point in time 4.15 Configuration item (CI) Element that contributes to the delivery of one or more services or service components, and therefore needs to be controlled Note: CIs vary widely and can be anything from technical components (computer hardware, network components, cables, software) to documents (SLAs, manuals, contracts, license documentation). Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 4 Version 2.0 4.16 Configuration management database (CMDB) Store for data about configuration items (CIs) (therefore configuration data) Note: The CMDB likely includes attributes of CIs as well as information on relationships between CIs, service components and services. 4.17 Continuity Ability of a service to operate for extended periods of time and to survive, to the best of a service provider's ability, unexpected or even potentially disastrous occurrences 4.18 Customer Organisation or part of an organisation that commissions a service provider to receive one or more services, doing so on behalf of a number of users 4.19 Document Information and its supporting medium Note: Examples of documents include policies, plans, process descriptions, procedures, SLAs, contracts or records of activities performed. 4.20 Effectiveness Extent to which the goals or expectations connected to a process or activity are met 4.21 Efficiency The degree of ability to accomplish the goal of a process or activity with a minimum consumption of resources Note: Resources may be human, technical, informational or financial. 4.22 Escalation Change of responsibility for an event (such as an incident or problem) and / or activity to another individual or group Note: This might be functional escalation (to someone with specific responsibility, competence or access to information / knowledge) or hierarchical escalation (to someone with a higher level of authority). 4.23 Federation member Individual, organisation or body that works together with other federation members to provide a service in a federated environment Note: Typically, federation members will not necessarily be bound together by strict financial, legal or hierarchical agreements as they might be in traditional service provision. 4.24 Federator Body that acts to coordinate a set of federation members in some way Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 5 Version 2.0 Note: The ways and extent in which they do so may vary widely, from a very loose central body to a fully integrated system with strong central control. 4.25 Incident Unplanned disruption of operation in a service or service component, or degradation of service quality versus the expected or agreed service level or operational level according to service level agreements (SLAs), operational level agreements (OLAs) and underpinning agreements (UAs) with suppliers. 4.26 Information security Preservation of confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of information 4.27 Information security control A means of controlling or managing one or more risks to information security 4.28 Information security event An occurrence or previously unknown situation indicating a possible breach of information security Note: An occurrence or situation is considered a potential breach of information security if it may lead to a negative impact on the confidentiality, integrity and / or accessibility of one or more information assets. 4.29 Information security incident Single information security event or a series of information security events with a significant probability of having a negative impact on the delivery of services to customers, and therefore on the customers’ business operations 4.30 Integrity of information Property of information being protected from unauthorized modification, duplication or deletion 4.31 IT service A service that is enabled by the use of information technology (IT) 4.32 IT service management (ITSM) The entirety of activities performed by an IT service provider to plan, deliver, operate and control IT services offered to customers Note: The activities carried out in the ITSM context should be directed by policies and structured and organised by processes and supporting procedures. 4.33 Key performance indicator (KPI) Metric that is used to track the performance, effectiveness or efficiency of a service or process Note: KPIs are generally important metrics that will be aligned to critical success factors and important goals. KPIs are therefore a subset of all possible metrics, intended to allow for monitoring and correcting/improving the effectiveness and/or efficiency of a system or process. Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 6 Version 2.0 4.34 Known error Problem which has not (yet) been corrected, but for which there is a documented workaround or temporary fix to prevent (excessive) negative impact on services 4.35 Management system Entirety of policies, processes, procedures and related resources and capabilities aiming at effectively performing management tasks in a given context and for a given subject Note 1: A management system is generally intangible. It is based on the idea of a systematic, structured and process-oriented way of managing. Note 2: While documentation (such as process definitions, procedures and records) and tools (such as workflow support and monitoring tools) can be parts of a management system, management system considerations are not limited to the questions of documentation and tool support. Note 3: In the context of (IT) service management and the FitSM standard series, the idea of a service management system (SMS) is a central concept, where the context of the management system is the organisational context of the service provider, and the subject is to plan, deliver, operate and control (IT) services. 4.36 Maturity The overall ability of a service provider to manage their services, made up by the combination of their capabilities in different specific areas 4.37 Nonconformity A case or situation where a requirement is not fulfilled Note: This may also be referred to as noncompliance. 4.38 Operational level agreement (OLA) Documented agreement between a service provider or federation member and another part of the service provider’s organisation or the federation to provide a service component or subsidiary service needed to allow provision of services to customers 4.39 Operational target Reference / target values for parameters that are used to measure the performance of a service component, and that are listed in an operational level agreement (OLA) or underpinning agreement (UA) related to this service component Note: typical operational targets might include availability or resolution time for incidents, though many hard and soft targets can be considered. 4.40 Policy Documented set of intentions, expectations, goals, rules and requirements, often formally expressed by top management representatives in an organisation or federation Note: Policies are then realised in processes, which are in turn made up of activities that people carry out according to defined procedures. Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 7 Version 2.0 4.41 Post implementation review Review after the implementation of a change that determines if the change was successful Note: Depending on the specific type and complexity of the change, the post implementation review may vary widely in its depth. 4.42 Priority Relative importance of a target, object or activity Note: Often incidents, service requests, problems and changes are given a priority. In the case of incidents and problems, priority is usually based on the specific impact and urgency of the situation. 4.43 Problem The underlying cause of one or more incidents that requires further investigation to prevent incidents from recurring or reduce the impact on services 4.44 Procedure Specified set of steps or instructions to be carried out by an individual or team to perform one or more activities of a process 4.45 Process Structured set of activities, with clearly defined responsibilities, that bring about a specific objective or set of results from a set of defined inputs Note: Generally, a process is a logical subdivision of a larger set of activities used to provide or manage services, if the process is part of a service management system (SMS). 4.46 Record Documentation of an event or the results of performing a process or activity 4.47 Release Set of one or more changes to configuration items (CIs) that are grouped together and deployed as a logical unit 4.48 Request for change Documented proposal for a change to be made to one or more configuration items (CIs) 4.49 Risk Possible negative occurrence that would have a negative impact on the service provider’s ability to deliver agreed services to customers, or that would decrease the value generated through some service Note: Risk is made up of the probability of the threat entailed, the vulnerability to that threat of some asset, and the impact the threat would have, if it occurred. Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 8 Version 2.0 4.50 Role Set of responsibilities, connected behaviours or actions collected into a logical unit that can be assigned to an individual, team or group Note: An individual may have multiple roles. 4.51 Service A way to provide value to a user / customer through bringing about results that they want to achieve Note 1: Services usually provide value when taken on their own – unlike the specific service components they are composed of. Note 2: In the context of the FitSM standard series, when referring to services, usually IT services are meant. 4.52 Service acceptance criteria (SAC) Criteria that must be fulfilled by the time a new or changed service is deployed and made available to customers Note: SAC are defined when a new or changed service is designed, and they may be updated or refined during the development or transition process. They may cover functional and non-functional aspects of the specific service to be deployed. SAC are part of the service design and transition package. 4.53 Service catalogue User / customer facing list of all live services offered along with relevant information about these services Note: The service catalogue can be regarded as a filtered version of and customers’ view on the service portfolio. 4.54 Service component Logical part of a service that provides a function enabling or enhancing a service Note 1: A service is usually composed of several service components. Note 2: A service component is usually built from one or more configuration items (CIs). Note 3: Although a service component underlies one or more services, it usually does not create value for a customer alone and is therefore not a service by itself. 4.55 Service design and transition package Entirety of plans for the design and transition of a specific new or changed service Note: A service design and transition package should be produced for every new or changed service. It may consist of a number of documented plans and other relevant information, available in different formats, including a list of requirements and service acceptance criteria (SAC), a project plan, communication and training plans, technical plans and specifications, resource plans, development and deployment schedules / timetables etc. Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 9 Version 2.0 4.56 Service level agreement (SLA) Documented agreement between a customer and service provider that specifies the service to be provided and the service targets that define how it will be provided 4.57 Service management The entirety of activities performed by a service provider to plan, deliver, operate and control services offered to customers Note 1: The activities carried out in the service management context should be directed by policies and structured and organised by processes and supporting procedures. Note 2: In the context of the FitSM standard series, when referring to service management, usually IT service management is meant. 4.58 Service management plan Overall plan for implementing and operating a service management system (SMS) 4.59 Service management system (SMS) Overall management system that controls and supports management of services within an organisation or federation Note: The SMS can be regarded as the entirety of interconnected policies, processes, procedures, roles, agreements, plans, related resources and other elements needed and used by a service provider to effectively manage the delivery of services to customers. See also: Management system 4.60 Service portfolio Internal list that details all the services offered by a service provider, including those in preparation, live and discontinued Note: The service portfolio includes meta-information about services such as their value proposition, target customer base, service descriptions, technical specifications, cost and price, risks to the provider, service level packages offered etc. 4.61 Service provider Organisation or federation or part of an organisation or federation that manages and delivers a service or services to customers 4.62 Service report Report that details the performance of a service versus the service targets detailed in service level agreements (SLAs) – often based on key performance indicators (KPIs). 4.63 Service request Request for information, advice, access to a service or a pre-approved change Note: Service requests are often handled by the same process and tools as incidents. Part 0: Overview and vocabulary Page 10 Version 2.0 4.64 Service target Reference / target values for parameters that are used to measure the performance of a service, and that are listed in a service level agreement (SLA) related to this service Note: Typical service targets might include availability or resolution time for incidents, though many hard and soft targets can be considered. 4.65 Supplier External organisation that provides a (supporting) service or service component(s) to the service provider, which they need to operate their processes and provide services to their customers / users 4.66 Top management Senior management within the service provider organisation or federation who set policies and exercise overall control of the organisation or federation and their service management system (SMS) 4.67 Underpinning agreement (UA) Documented agreement between a service provider and an external supplier that specifies the underpinning service(s) or service component(s) to be provided by the supplier, and the service targets that define how it will be provided. Note 1: A UA can be seen as a service level agreement (SLA) with an external supplier where the service provider is in the customer role. Note 2: A UA may be referred to as an underpinning contract (UC) in other ITSM frameworks. 4.68 Underpinning contract (UC) See: Underpinning agreement (UA) 4.69 User Individual that primarily benefits from and uses a service 4.70 Value The benefit to a customer and their users delivered by a service Note: Value should be considered as a composition of the utility (fitness for purpose) and warranty (fitness for use, covering sufficient availability / continuity, capacity / performance and information security) connected to a service.




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Concept Map

This concept maps presents the various glossary terms and highlights some of their relationships. Not all relationships are presented for readability issues. It is meant to provide a visual representation of the main relationships among the terms.

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