Glossary

set of cohesive tasks of a process

sources of objective evidence used to support the assessors' judgment in rating process attributes

individual who participates in the rating of process attributes

approved International Standard or Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) Recommendation

specification or product that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, that thereafter serves as the basis for further development, and that can be changed only through formal change control procedures

assessor who has demonstrated the competencies to conduct an assessment and to monitor and verify the conformance of a process assessment

organization or person that receives a product or service

set of artefacts developed to facilitate the implementation of a set of practices of the selected framework

profile group applicable to VSEs that do not develop critical software products and have typical situational factors

document published by ISO or IEC giving rules, orientation, advice or recommendations relating to international standardization

standard that is adopted by an international standardizing/standards organization and made available to the public

evolution of a system, product, service, project or other human-made entity from conception through retirement

set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs

disciplined evaluation of an organizational unit's processes against a Process Assessment Model

model suitable for the purpose of assessing process capability, based on one or more Process Reference Models

characterization of the ability of a process to meet current or projected business goals

point on the six-point ordinal scale (of process capability) that represents the capability of the process, each level building on the capability of the level below

actions taken to change an organization's processes so that they more effectively and/or efficiently meet the organization's business goals

observable result of a process

set of process attribute ratings for an assessed process

model comprising definitions of processes in a lifecycle described in terms of process purpose and outcomes, together with an architecture describing the relationships between the processes

set of one or more base standards and/or profiles and, where applicable, the identification of chosen classes, conforming subsets, options and parameters of those base standards or standardized profiles necessary to accomplish a particular function

collection of profiles which are related by composition of processes (i.e. activities, tasks) or by capability level, or both

endeavour with defined start and finish dates undertaken to create a product or service in accordance with specified resources and requirements

document stating results achieved or providing evidence of activities performed

information item that describes the results of activities such as investigations, assessments, and tests

collection of all software-related artefacts belonging to a system or the location/format in which such a collection is stored

asset that is utilized or consumed during the execution of a process

process or meeting during which a software product is presented to project personnel, managers, users, customers, user representatives, or other interested parties for comment or approval

computer programs, procedures, and possibly associated documentation and data pertaining to the operation of a computer system

software system or element, such as module, unit, data, or document

document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that 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

internationally agreed-to, harmonized standard which describes one or more profiles

requirement, recommendation or permissible action intended to contribute to the achievement of one or more outcomes of a process

classification scheme for referencing profiles or sets of profiles unambiguously

document published by ISO or IEC containing collected data of a different kind from that normally published as an International Standard or Technical Specification

NOTE Such data may include, for example, data obtained from a survey carried out among the national bodies, data on work in other international organizations or data on the “state of the art” in relation to standards of national bodies on a particular subject.

work product that

• identifies requirements to be traced,
• identifies a mapping of requirement to lifecycle work products,
• provides the linkage of requirements to work product decomposition (i.e. requirement, design, code, test, deliverables, etc.)
• provides forward and backwards mapping of requirements to associated work products throughout all phases of the lifecycle
  

NOTE 1 This may be included as a function of another defined work product (example: A CASE tool for design decomposition may have a mapping ability as part of its features).

NOTE 2 Definition taken from ISO/IEC 15504-5:2006, Annex B.

individual or group that benefits from a system during its utilization

confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that the requirements for a specific intended use or application have been fulfilled

confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that specified requirements have been fulfilled

entity (enterprise, organization, department or project) having up to 25 people

artefact associated with the execution of a process