ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017
(Main)Systems and software engineering — Vocabulary
Systems and software engineering — Vocabulary
ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017 provides a common vocabulary applicable to all systems and software engineering work. It was prepared to collect and standardize terminology. ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017 is intended to serve as a useful reference for those in the information technology field, and to encourage the use of systems and software engineering standards prepared by ISO and liaison organizations IEEE Computer Society and Project Management Institute. ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017 includes references to the active source standards for definitions so that systems and software engineering concepts and requirements can be further explored.
Ingénierie des systèmes et du logiciel — Vocabulaire
General Information
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Standards Content (Sample)
INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC/
STANDARD IEEE
24765
Second edition
2017-09
Systems and software engineering —
Vocabulary
Ingénierie des systèmes et du logiciel — Vocabulaire
Reference number
ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2017
©
IEEE 2017
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
Contents Page
Foreword . v
Introduction .vi
1 Scope .1
1.1 General .1
1.2 Relationship of the print and internet-accessible versions .1
1.3 Vocabulary structure .1
1.4 PMI Glossary provisions .2
2 Normative references .2
3 Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms .2
Annex A (informative) List of References . 513
Bibliography . 514
iii
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
List of Figures
Figure 1 — Activity group . 10
Figure 2 — Bathtub curve . 42
Figure 3 — Block diagram . 47
Figure 4 —Box Diagram . 50
Figure 5 —Bubble chart . 52
Figure 6 —Call graph . 56
Figure 7 —Case construct . 59
Figure 8 — Category . 60
Figure 9 — Data flow diagram .1 16
Figure 10 — Data structure diagram . 119
Figure 11 — Directed graph .1 40
Figure 12 — Documentation tree .1 44
Figure 13 — Flowchart .1 85
Figure 14 — If-then-else construct . 212
Figure 15 — Input-process-output chart . 225
Figure 16 — Modification request.2 78
Figure 17 — Structure chart .4 40
Figure 18 — UNTIL construct .4 87
Figure 19 — Waterfall model .5 06
Figure 20 — Website .5 07
Figure 21 — WHILE construct .5 08
iv
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission)
form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC
participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the
respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees
collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and nongovernmental, in
liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have
established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
IEEE Standards documents are developed within the IEEE Societies and the Standards Coordinating Committees of
the IEEE Standards Association (IEEESA) Standards Board. The IEEE develops its standards through a consensus
development process, approved by the American National Standards Institute, which brings together volunteers
representing varied viewpoints and interests to achieve the final product. Volunteers are not necessarily members
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promote fairness in the consensus development process, the IEEE does not independently evaluate, test, or verify
the accuracy of any of the information contained in its standards.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the
ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the different types of document
should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2
(see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is called to the possibility that implementation of this standard may require the use of subject matter
covered by patent rights. By publication of this standard, no position is taken with respect to the existence or validity
of any patent rights in connection therewith. ISO/IEEE is not responsible for identifying essential patents or patent
claims for which a license may be required, for conducting inquiries into the legal validity or scope of patents or
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a Letter of Assurance or a Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration Form, if any, or in any licensing agreements
are reasonable or nondiscriminatory. Users of this standard are expressly advised that determination of the validity
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information may be obtained from ISO or the IEEE Standards Association. Any trade name used in this document is
information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.
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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, SC 7, Software and
systems engineering, in cooperation with the IEEE Computer Society Systems and Software Engineering Standards
Committee, under the Partner Standards Development Organization cooperation agreement between ISO and IEEE.
Certain material contained in ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765 is reproduced, with permission, from A Guide to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide — Fifth Edition, copyright 2013, Project Management Institute.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2010), and has been editorially
revised. Revisions in terms and definitions published in this second edition have been previously approved through
the vocabulary maintenance procedures of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC7, in cooperation with the IEEE Computer Society.
These revisions have been made available through the online vocabulary database used for this standard,
maintained by the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC7/SWG 22 Vocabulary Validation Team in cooperation with the IEEE Computer
Society at www.computer.org/sevocab
v
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
Introduction
The systems and software engineering disciplines are continuing to mature while information technology
advances. New terms are being generated and new meanings are being adopted for existing terms. This
document was prepared to collect and standardize terminology. Its purpose is to identify terms currently in use
in the field and standard definitions for these terms. It is intended to serve as a useful reference for those in
the Information Technology field, and to encourage the use of systems and software engineering standards
prepared by ISO/IEC JTC 1 and liaison organizations IEEE Computer Society and Project Management Institute
(PMI). It provides definitions that are rigorous, uncomplicated, and understandable by all concerned.
While it is useful to find the meaning of a term, no word stands in isolation. This document makes it possible to
search for related concepts and to view how a term is used in definitions of other terms.
Every effort has been made to use definitions from established systems and software engineering standards of
ISO JTC 1/SC 7 and its liaison organizations IEEE Computer Society and the PMI. When existing standards
were found to be incomplete, unclear or inconsistent with other entries in the vocabulary, however, new, revised,
or composite definitions have been developed. Some definitions have been recast in a system, rather than software,
context.
The vocabulary is offered in both print and internetaccessible versions for ease of reference and to encourage use
of the source standards for the vocabulary. The online vocabulary database used for this standard is maintained by
the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC7/SWG 22 Vocabulary Validation Team in cooperation with the IEEE Computer Society at
www.computer.org/sevocab
vi
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
Systems and software engineering — Vocabulary
1 Scope
1.1 General
Consistent with ISO vocabulary standards, each technical committee is responsible for standard terminology in its
area of specialization. This document provides a common vocabulary applicable to all systems and software
engineering work falling within the scope of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7, Software and systems engineering, and the IEEE
Computer Society Systems and Software Engineering Standards Committee (IEEECS S2ESC).
The scope of each concept defined has been chosen to provide a definition that is suitable for general application.
In those circumstances where a restricted application is concerned, a more specific definition might be needed.
Terms have been excluded if they were:
— considered to be parochial to one group or organization;
— company proprietary or trademarked;
— multiword terms whose meaning could be inferred from the definitions of the component words; and
— terms whose meaning in the information technology (IT) field could be directly inferred from their common
English dictionary meaning.
1.2 Relationship of the print and internet-accessible versions
The primary tool for maintaining this vocabulary is a database that is modified in a controlled fashion. Hosted by
the IEEE Computer Society, the SEVOCAB (systems and software engineering vocabulary) database is publicly
accessible at www.computer.org/sevocab ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765 is issued periodically as a formal, published
document reflecting a "snapshot" of the database.
The copyright notice provided with the database permits users to copy definitions from the database as long as the
source of the definition is cited. Permitting public use of the definitions in the database is intended to encourage the
use of other ISO/IEC JTC 1 and IEEE systems and software engineering standards.
1.3 Vocabulary structure
Entries in the vocabulary are arranged alphabetically. Blanks precede all other characters in alphabetizing. Hyphens
and slashes ( and /) follow all other characters in alphabetizing.
Preferred terms are shown in bold. Synonyms or admitted terms (terms with the same meaning as the preferred
term), are listed under the preferred term in plain text, and can be located by searching.
Terms, definitions, and notes use spelling preferred in the US. The use of capital letters has been minimized and
generally limited to proper names and acronyms. In some cases, the source standard uses another correct spelling
(such as behaviour rather than behavior, online rather than online). Technical terms in English often change form
from two words to a hyphenated word to a single word as they become more familiar, e.g., real time to realtime to
realtime. Hence, other correct spellings and capitalization of the terms, according to a national standard, an
authoritative general dictionary or accepted style guide, can be used with the definitions.
An entry can consist of a single word, such as "software"; a phrase or compound term, such as "test case"; or an
abbreviated term, such as "CDR". Phrases are given in their natural order (test plan) rather than in reversed order
(plan, test). Abbreviated terms can be listed separately as well as in parentheses following the source term. Terms
that are verbs are shown without the infinitive marker "to".
1
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
After each term, numbered definitions are listed in order of preference, or from the most general to the more specific
usages. The different definitions can show the use of a term as a noun, verb and adjective.
This document includes references to the active source standards for each definition, so that the use of the term
can be further explored. The sources of most of the definitions are ISO JTC 1/SC 7 or IEEE Computer Society
standards and the PMI Glossary, Fifth Edition. Sources are listed in the Bibliography. Additional sources for
definitions drawn from outside the scope of systems and software engineering are in Annex A, List of References.
In some cases, the same definition can also be found in other active or withdrawn standards. No source is shown if
the original source standard has been withdrawn or archived and the definition has been retained in this
vocabulary.
Notes (comments), Examples, and Figures taken from the source standards have been included to clarify selected
definitions.
Crossreferences are used to show a term's relationship to other terms in the dictionary: cf. refers to related terms
that are not synonyms.
1.4 PMI Glossary provisions
The Project Management Institute (PMI) Glossary definitions have been included without alteration in
accordance with the copyright agreement. Some of these terms and definitions are not worded according to
terms and other
ISO/IEC or IEEE styles. Many of these definitions include explanatory material. For other
definitions that have ISO/IEC and IEEE standards as their source, explanatory matter is shown in the Notes
and Examples.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
NOTE The definitions in this document are drawn from normative standards and informative guidance
documents, including ISO/IEC Technical Reports (TR). Where terms have multiple definitions, users should consult
the source standards for further information on appropriate usage within a specific context.
3 Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO, IEC and IEEE maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
— IEEE Standards Dictionary Online: available at http://dictionary.ieee.org
3.1
1GL
1. firstgeneration language
cf. machine language
3.2
2GL
1. secondgeneration language
cf. assembly language
3.3
3D
1. threedimensional [ISO/IEC/IEEE 23026:2015 Systems and software engineering — Engineering and
management of websites for systems, software, and services information
3.4
3GL
1. thirdgeneration language
cf. high order language
2
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ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2017(E)
3.5
4GL
1. fourthgeneration language
3.6
5GL
1. fifthgeneration language
3.7
language
1. definitions of concepts and rules for the specification of an ODP system from the viewpoint
[ISO/IEC 107463:2009 Information technology — Open Distributed Processing — Reference Model: Architecture,
4.2.1.1]
Note 1 to entry: Thus, engineering language: definitions of concepts and rules for the specification of an ODP system from the
engineering viewpoint.
3.8
domain
1. set of objects, each of which is related by a characterizing relationship to a controlling object [ISO/IEC 10746
2:2009 Information technology — Open Distributed Processing — Reference Model: Foundations, 10.3]
3.9
federation
1. community of domains [ISO/IEC 10746-3:2009 Information technology — Open Distributed Processing —
Reference Model: Architecture, 5.1.2]
3.10
group
1. set of objects with a particular characterizing relationship [ISO/IEC 10746-2:2009 Information technology —
Open Distributed Processing — Reference Model: Foundations, 10.1]
3.11
interceptor
1. engineering object in a channel, placed at a boundary between domains [ISO/IEC 10746-3:2009 Information
technology — Open Distributed Processing — Reference Model: Architecture, 8.1.11]
Note 1 to entry: An interceptor performs checks to enforce or monitor policies on permitted interactions between basic
engineering objects in different domains; performs transformations to mask differences in interpretation of data by basic
engineering objects in different domains. An intersubnetwork relay is an example of an interceptor
3.12
pattern
1. abstract specification of a composition of objects that results in any instance of the composition having a given
property, named by [ISO/IEC 10746-2:2009 Information technology — Open Distributed Processing — Reference
Model: Foundations, 9.8]
3.13
A-0 context diagram
1. the only context diagram that is required for a valid IDEF0 model, the A0 diagram contains one box, which
represents the toplevel function being modeled, the inputs, controls, outputs, and mechanisms attached to this box,
the full model name, the model name abbreviation, the model's purpose statement, and the model's viewpoint
statement [IEEE 1320.1-1998 (R2004) IEEE Standard for Functional Modeling Language - Syntax and Semantics for
IDEF0]
3.14
A-profile
1. Application profile [ISO/IEC 10746-1:1998 Information technology — Open Distributed Processing — Reference
model: Overview]
3
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3.15
ABC
1. activitybased costing
3.16
abend
1. abnormal end
3.17
abnormal end (abend)
1. termination of a process prior to completion
cf. abort, exception
3.18
abort
1. to terminate a process prior to completion
cf. abend, exception
3.19
absolute address
explicit address
specific address
1. address that is permanently assigned to a device or storage location and that identifies the device or location
without the need for translation or calculation
cf. relative address, relocatable address, symbolic address, absolute assembler, absolute code, absolute instruction
3.20
absolute assembler
1. assembler that produces absolute code
cf. relocating assembler
3.21
absolute code
specific code
1. code in which all addresses are absolute addresses
cf. relocatable code
3.22
absolute instruction
1. computer instruction in which all addresses are absolute addresses
cf. direct instruction, effective instruction, immediate instruction, indirect instruction
3.23
absolute loader
1. loader that reads absolute machine code into main memory, beginning at the initial address assigned to the
code by the assembler or compiler, and performs no address adjustments on the code
cf. relocating loader
3.24
abstract class
1. class that cannot be instantiated independently [IEEE 1320.2-1998 (R2004) IEEE Standard for Conceptual
Modeling Language Syntax and Semantics for IDEF1X97 (IDEFobject), 3.1.1]
Note 1 to entry: That is, instantiation must be accomplished via a subclass. A class for which every instance must also be an
instance of a subclass in the cluster (a total cluster) is called an abstract class with respect to that cluster.
3.25
abstract data type
1. data type for which only the properties of the data and the operations to be performed on the data are specified,
without concern for how the data will be represented or how the operations will be implemented
4
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3.26
abstract design
1. generic form that needs specialization (further design work) to produce concrete designs2. design aimed at
producing designs
3.27
abstraction
1. view of an object that focuses on the information relevant to a particular purpose and ignores the remainder of
the information [ISO/IEC 19506:2012 Information technology — Object Management Group Architecture-Driven
Modernization (ADM) — Knowledge Discovery Meta-Model (KDM), 4] 2. process of formulating a view 3. process of
suppressing irrelevant detail to establish a simplified model, or the result of that process [ISO/IEC 10746-2:2009
Information technology — Open Distributed Processing — Reference Model: Foundations, 6.3]
cf. data abstraction
3.28
AC
1. actual cost [A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) — Fifth Edition]
3.29
acceptability
1. exposure to loss (financial or otherwise) that an organization is willing to tolerate from a risk
Note 1 to entry: Risk acceptability can apply to an individual risk or to a collection of risks, such as the totality of risks confronting
a project or enterprise. Acceptability can differ for different categories of risk and can depend on the cost of treatment or other
factors.
3.30
acceptability criteria
1. documented set of characteristics of a program's work products that if satisfied, forms a sufficient basis for
judging each product's content to be acceptable to support a successful review or audit [IEEE 15288.2:2014 IEEE
Standard for Technical Reviews and Audits on Defense Programs, 3.1]
3.31
acceptable
1. meeting stakeholder expectations that can be shown to be reasonable or merited
3.32
acceptance criteria
1. criteria that a system or component must satisfy in order to be accepted by a user, customer, or other
authorized entity 2. a set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted [A Guide to the
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) — Fifth Edition]
cf. requirement, test criteria
3.33
acceptance test
1. test of a system or functional unit usually performed by the purchaser on his premises after installation with the
participation of the vendor to ensure that the contractual requirements are met [ISO/IEC 2382:2015, Information
technology -— Vocabulary]
cf. acceptance testing, validation test
3.34
acceptance testing
1. testing conducted to determine whether a system satisfies its acceptance criteria and to enable the customer to
determine whether to accept the system 2. formal testing conducted to enable a user, customer, or other
authorized entity to determine whether to accept a system or component [IEEE 1012-2012 IEEE Standard for
System and Software Verification and Validation, 3.1]
cf. acceptance test, validation test
5
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3.35
accepted deliverables
1. products, results, or capabilities produced by a project and validated by the project customer or sponsors as
meeting their specified acceptance criteria [A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)
— Fifth Edition]
3.36
access
1. to obtain the use of a resource [ISO/IEC 2382:2015, Information technology — Vocabulary]
3.37
access facility
1. set of service primitives that allow a stub objects to negotiate the abstract and transfer syntax to be used for the
operation data to be transmitted over the channel [ISO/IEC 14752:2000 Information technology — Open Distributed
Processing — Protocol
...
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