Open Platform 3.0™ Snapshot – Glossary
Actor
A person, organization, or system that has a role that initiates or interacts with activities; for example, a sales representative who travels to visit customers. [TOGAF]
Actors may be internal or external to an organization. In the automotive industry, an original equipment manufacturer would be considered an actor by an automotive dealership that interacts with its supply chain activities.
App
An application program that runs on mobile devices.
“App” is not just an abbreviated form of “application”. An app generally does not use a large amount of computing resource (since mobile devices often do not have large amounts of computing resource) and uses information that is stored on a server rather than holding that information in local storage long-term.
App Store
A web resource from which users can acquire and download apps.
There are a number of app stores on the web. The original examples were operated by mobile device platform vendors. There are now also app stores operated by other enterprises.
Application
A deployed and operational IT system that supports business functions and services; for example, a payroll. [TOGAF]
Applications use data and are supported by multiple technology components but are distinct from the technology components that support the application.
Application Platform
The collection of technology components of hardware and software that provide the services used to support applications. [TOGAF]
Application Programming Interface (API)
An interface that specifies how some software components should interact with each other. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API.)
Authentication
Verification of claimed identity (see ISO 7498-2:1989). [XDSF]
Authorization
The granting of rights, which includes the granting of access based on access rights (see ISO 7498-2:1989). [XDSF]
Big Data
A collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.
The challenges include capture, curation, storage, search, sharing, transfer, analysis, and visualization. The trend to larger data sets is due to the additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing correlations to be found. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data.)
Business Service
A service that supports business capabilities through an explicitly defined interface and is explicitly governed by an organization. [TOGAF]
The defined interface is not necessarily technology-based.
Business User
A person using a resource for business purposes.
Capability
An ability that an organization, person, or system possesses. [TOGAF]
Capabilities are typically expressed in general and high-level terms and typically require a combination of organization, people, processes, and technology to achieve. For example, marketing, customer contact, or outbound telemarketing.
Cloud Computing
A model for enabling ubiquitous, 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. [NIST CLOUD DEFINITION]
This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.
Compliance Officer
A person acting for a business enterprise to ensure that it conforms to regulation and meets its self-imposed standards of operation.
Consumer
A person or organization that maintains a business relationship with, and uses the service from, a provider; e.g., Cloud Consumer as defined in the NIST CCRA.
A service is a resource, and its consumer is the resource operator.
Continual Service Improvement (CSI)
An IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) process that uses methods from quality management in order to learn from past successes and failures continually to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services and processes.
Distributed Computing
The decomposition of a computing problem across a network to individual computers and nodes for processing.
Ecosystem
A network of participating entities, each of which plays one or more roles to achieve targeted objectives.
Ecosystem participants are not necessarily aware of all other entities in the ecosystem but will in general affect or be affected by them. An ecosystem is subject to the effects of both internal and external factors.
Enterprise
A collection of organizations that has a common set of goals. [TOGAF]
For example, an enterprise could be a government agency, a whole corporation, a division of a corporation, a single department, or a chain of geographically distant organizations linked together by common ownership.
First Platform
The application platform provided by traditional computer operating systems as described in the TOGAF Technical Reference Model (TRM). [TOGAF]
HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol defined by the IETF in RFC 2616 or in compatible RFCs that supersede RFC 2616. [IETF RFCs]
HTTPS
HTTP layered over the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
The cloud service model in which the capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. [NIST CLOUD DEFINITION]
The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).
Infrastructure Component
A component of the technology infrastructure that is not part of a platform but may be used by a platform.
Infrastructure Service
An externally visible unit of functionality, provided by one or more nodes, exposed through well-defined interfaces, and meaningful to the environment. [ARCHIMATE]
In this Snapshot, platform services are distinguished from infrastructure services.
Insight
A meaningful pattern of data.
Internet of Things
The collection of uniquely identifiable objects embedded in or accessible by Internet hosts.
The term is generally used to mean the connection of autonomous sensors and controls to the Internet, so that enterprises can monitor the activities and operation of people, machines, buildings, engineering structures, and the natural environment and, in some cases, control that operation.
Internet Protocol
The essential communications protocol of the Internet.
The version in common use currently is version 4 (IPv4). This is gradually being replaced by version 6 (IPv6). This is of critical importance for scalability requirements (especially with the growth of the Internet of Things).
Interoperability
- The ability to share information and services.
- The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange and use information.
- The ability of systems to provide and receive services from other systems and to use the services so interchanged to enable them to operate effectively together. [TOGAF]
IP
The Internet Protocol defined by the IETF in RFC 791 or in compatible RFCs that supersede RFC 791. [IETF RFCs]
KPI
Key Performance Indicator.
Mobile Computing
Computing carried out using portable computing devices that can be connected to servers via the Internet.
Mobile computing can be based on numerous communications technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi, Mobile Telephony, etc.).
Mobile Device
Synonym for Personal Computing Device.
Near Field Communication (NFC)
A set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity, usually no more than a few inches. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Field_Communications.)
Network
A communication medium between two or more devices.
The systems connected to a network that input data from the network or output data to the network for conveyance to other systems are called nodes. A particular network, of fundamental importance, is the Internet. A special instance in the context of the Open Platform 3.0 Standard is a Social Network.
Open Standards
Standards made available to the general public that are developed (or approved) and maintained via a collaborative and consensus-driven process.
Open standards facilitate interoperability and data exchange among different products or services and are intended for widespread adoption. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard for ITU-T definition and others.)
PAP
Policy Administration Point. [XACML]
PDP
Policy Decision Point. [XACML]
PEP
Policy Enforcement Point. [XACML]
Personal Computing Device
One of any of a large class of mobile technology devices including (but not limited to) mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers, ruggedized mobile computers, mobile printers, mobile point-of-sale devices, etc.
PIP
Policy Information Point. [XACML]
Platform
A combination of technology infrastructure products and components that provides the prerequisites to host application software. [TOGAF]
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
The cloud service model in which the capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. [NIST CLOUD DEFINITION]
The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.
Platform Component
A technology component that is part of a platform.
Platform Service
A technical capability required to provide enabling infrastructure that supports the delivery of applications. [TOGAF]
A service performed by a platform.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
An activity whose main goal is the management of all the business processes and associated data.
Data is generated by events and actions of various lifecycle actors (both human and software systems) and it is distributed along the product’s lifecycle phases such as Beginning Of Life (BOL), Middle Of Life (MOL), and End Of Life (EOL).
Provider
A person or organization that is the entity responsible for making a service available to interested parties; e.g., Cloud Provider as defined in the NIST CCRA.
A provider acquires and manages the infrastructure required for providing the services, runs the capabilities that provides the services, and makes arrangement to deliver the services to the consumers through appropriate access. A service is a resource, and its provider is the resource supplier.
Quantum Lifecycle Management (QLM)
A major leap beyond PLM, in order to make possible the management of products on the Internet of Things.
Common, open, and trustworthy information exchange standards for QLM will enable the closing of information loops, allowing information to be shared across the whole spectrum of lifecycle including products, human, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, healthcare, supply chain and logistics, and data governance, among many.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
The wireless non-contact use of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification.)
Role
The responsibility for performing specific behavior, to which an actor can be assigned. [ARCHIMATE]
Second Platform
The combination of the web service platform, the consumer platform, and the web browser.
Sensor
A device that sends to IT systems information obtained from its environment.
Social Computing
Computing related to or using social media.
Social Media
An application of Internet and web technology that provides a means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Media.)
Social Network
A structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a set of the dyadic ties between these actors.
In the context of the Open Platform 3.0 Standard it is those actors utilizing a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of actor-generated content. A social network depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
The cloud service model in which the capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. [NIST CLOUD DEFINITION]
The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.
SSL
The Secure Sockets Layer protocol defined by the IETF in RFC 6101 or in compatible RFCs that supersede RFC 6101. [IETF RFCs]
Supplier
An enterprise or person that supplies a resource to an operator.
The supplier of a resource usually has a business relation with its operator. For example, the operator may purchase or lease the resource from the supplier.
Systems Manager
A person responsible for the configuration and operation of IT systems.
Systems managers include service managers and data stewards.
TCP/IP
The Internet Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol defined by the IETF in RFC 793 and RFC 791, respectively. [IETF RFCs]
TCP
The Transmission Control Protocol defined by the IETF in RFC 793 or in compatible RFCs that supersede RFC 793. [IETF RFCs]
TLS
The Transport Layer Security protocol defined by the IETF in RFC 5246, as modified by RFC 6176, or in compatible RFCs that supersede RFC 5246 and RFC 6176. [IETF RFCs]
TRM
Technical Reference Model as defined in the TOGAF Standard. [TOGAF]
User
A person using a resource.
A user may be a business user acting on behalf of, and possibly an employee of, the operator of the resource. Business users include: business managers and users wanting to design processes, data scientists, and business technologists. A user may be acting on behalf of, and possibly an employee of, a business partner of the operator of the resource. A user may be a member of the general public who is a customer of the operator of the resource. A user may be a member of the general public using the resource but not as a customer of its operator. A user may use non-functional interfaces to configure or provision the application or application service, as well as using its functional interface.
Web Browser
A software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World-Wide Web. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Browser.)
In this Snapshot, a web browser is considered not as an application, but as part of the platform.
Web Service
A software application or component that is web-accessible, which signifies that it provides a network-accessible service interface based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Web Service API
An interface by which another system interacts with a web service using the World-Wide Web.
Web Service Description Language (WSDL)
The web service description language defined by the World-Wide Web Consortium.
World-Wide Web
A system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-Wide_Web.)
There is a single World-Wide Web, which is a common global resource.
World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The main international standards organization for the World-Wide Web. (Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W3C.)
XACML
The eXtensible Access Control Mark-Up Language defined by OASIS.