Data Glossary: C

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Data Glossary - C

Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
The Capability Maturity Model for Software (also known as the CMM and SW-CMM) was developed at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University as a model for judging the maturity of the software processes of an organization and forentifying the key practices that are required to increase the maturity of these processes. The model defines five level of maturity and specifies what processes must by in place to achieve those levels, although CMM does not define the processes themselves. In 2000, the SW-CMM was upgraded to CMMI® (Capability Maturity Model Integration). The SEI no longer maintains the SW-CMM model, its associated appraisal methods, or training materials. (Baseline ITIL definition)

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Melon University. CMMI provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes. See http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/ for more information. (Baseline ITIL definition)

Cardinality
In a data modeling context, cardinality refers to the number of entities in a relationship: One-to-One, One-to-Many, Many-to-Many. See relationship.

Cardinality Notation
see Crow's Foot Notation

CDI
acronym for Customer Data Integration

CDM
acronym for Customer Data Management

CDQM
acronym for Continuous Data Quality Management

CEO
see Chief Executive Officer

CFO
see Chief Financial Officer

Chairman of the Board
Highest-ranking director in a corporation's board of directors. (TheCorporateLibrary.com definition)

Change Control
A formal process used to ensure that a process, product, service, or technology component is modified only in accordance with agreed-upon rules. Many organizations have formal Change Control Boards that review and approve proposed modifications to technology infrastructures, systems, and applications. Data Governance programs often strive to extend the scope of change control to include additions, modifications, or deletions to data models and values for reference/master data.

Change Management
A broader term that encompasses Change Control, it's the discipline, process, and efforts designed to ensure that change to systems, processes, and applications are beneficial.

Chief Executive Officer
The chief executive officer or CEO is the highest ranking officer of the company, and is often Chairman of the Board as well. (TheCorporateLibrary.com definition)

Chief Financial Officer
The corporate executive responsible for the financial planning and record-keeping of a company. (TheCorporateLibrary.com definition)

Chief Information Officer
The corporate executive responsible for corporate communications. (TheCorporateLibrary.com definition)

Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)
The executive with overall responsibility for knowledge management, including protection and control of intellectual property, enablement of professional development, collaboration, mentoring and organizational learning.

Chief Operating Officer
The corporate executive responsible for the day-to-day management of a company. (TheCorporateLibrary.com definition)

CIF
acronym for Corporate Information Factory

CIO
see Chief Information Officer

Class Word
The root part of the attribute/column name that classifies the type of information represented by the attribute/column. A Class Word defines the content and role of an attribute/column. For a complete list of standard Class Words, refer to the section titled Class Words in the Corporate Naming Standards document as part of Information Management's Data Administration Standards.

Clean
see data cleansing

Cleanse
see data cleansing

Cleansing Rule
A rule for how data is cleansed. See Data Cleansing.

Client
Client has three meanings that apply in a data environment. In the first, a Client is a customer (as opposed to the organization providing a service or product). In the second definitin, a Client is a computer that is used directly by a user. Examples would be PCs, handheld computers, or workstations. In its third usage, the term Client mean the part of a Client-Server Application that the user directly interfaces with (for example, an email Client).

Client/Server
The splitting of an application into tasks performed on separate computers connected over a network. In most cases, the "client" is a desktop computer or a program "served" by another networked computing device.

Clockwise Dammit
Coined by psychologist Melville Thomas, this refers to a decision made when protracted discussion of all available options is unneccessary or deemed cumbersome, and when the decision-maker has determined that the results of the decision are not likely to present an unreasonable burden to any stakeholder group. Usage example: "Which set of data definitions should we load into the repository first? Let's just invoke the Clockwise Dammit Rule and go with Name & Address fields."

CM
configuration management

CM (Content Management)
The disclipline, processes, and technologies used to manage Web content, document content and e-commerce-focused content.

CMDB
see Configuration Management Database

CMM
see Capability Maturity Model

CMMI
see Capability Maturity Model Integration

COBIT
Control Objectives for Information and related Technology, Technology, first released by the Information Systems Audit and Control Foundation (ISACF) in 1996 and now published by the IT Governance Institute. (COBIT definition)

Coding
The development of segments of application logic. Application development starts with architecture (the design of the application at a macro level) and then concludes with application coding (the writing of of software functionality).

Commercial Off the Shelf
Descriptive term for software that can be purchased from an external supplier, as opposed to that which is developed within the enterprise.

Completeness
A characteristic of data. It means the degree to which values are present for data elements.

Compliance
A disclipline, set of practices, and/or organizational group that deals with adhering to laws, regulations, standards, and contractual arrangements. Also, the adherence to requirements. Data Governance programs often support many types of compliance requirements: Regulatory compliance, contractual compliance, adherence to internal standards, policies, and architectures, and conformance to rules for data management, project management, and other disciplines.

Compliance Review
A process intended to ensure the appropriate approvals have been obtained and documented to ensure that all compliance requirements have been adequately addressed.

Comprehensiveness
A characteristic of data. It means that all required data items are included.

Conceptual Data Model
A data model that represents the data needed to run an enterprise or a business activity and the relationships between the data. A conceptual data model is independent of any software or data storage structure. Information in a conceptual model is used to create a logical data model, which in turn is used to create a physical data model.

Confidentiality
Concerns the protection of sensitive information from unauthorised disclosure. (COBIT definition)

Configuration Baseline
Information about the configuration of a product or system at a specific point in time, which captures both the structure and details of that product or system, so that -- if needed -- that product or system can be rebuilt at a later date.

Configuration Item (CI)
In the context of Configuration Management, a configuration item is a unit of configuration that can be invidually managed and versioned.

Configuration Management
In a general context, the process of controlling and administrating the components of configurations. Configuration management includes the freezing (baselining) of configurations. This term has special significance in the context of IT Service Management (ITSM).

Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
The term Configuration Management Database (CMDB) stems from ITIL, where a CMDB represents the authorized configuration of the significant components of the IT environment. It stores a special type of metadata needed to manage IT operations and to help an organization understand the relationships between these components and track their configuration. The CMDB is a fundamental component of the ITIL framework's Configuration Management process.

Conflict Of Interest
A situation where a person's may have a personal/professional/political stake in the outcome of an action that they are to undertake in an official capacity. Conflicts of interest are managed through controls, specifically segregation of duties (also known as separation of duties). In fidiciary or legal situations, conflicts of interest are taken seriously, and people experiencing them may be asked to recuse themselves from the situation. Data-related decisions, on the other hand commonly put individuals in positions where there are conflicts of interest that can be managed through governance. For example, a Project Manager who is incented to finish a project on time experiences a conflict of interest when asked to explore the consequences of a data issue, if the "best" solution would make the project late. The organization, anticipating this situation, may have policy that prescribes how the manager should act (or even whether an impartial group would be called in to make the decision).

Conformance
An affirmative indication or judgment that a product or service has met the requirements of a relevant specification, contract or regulation.(ASQ definition)

Consistency
A characteristic of data, where different values conform to a similar style or pattern.

Consolidate
see Data Consolidation

Constraint
A limitation imposed on a project or effort.

Context Diagram
A data flow diagram of the scope of an organizational system that shows the system boundaries, external entities that interact with the system, and the major information flows between the entities and the system.

Contingency Plan
As used in risk management,a contingency plan is a plan created to provide the steps to be taken in the event the risk does become a problem.

Control
A means of managing a risk or ensuring that an objective is achieved. Controls can be preventative, detective, or corrective and can be fully automated, procedural, or technology-assisted human-initiated activites. They can include actions, devices, procedures, techniques, or other measures.

Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT)
See COBIT.

COO
see Chief Operating Officer

Corporate Governance
The set of organizational structures, policies, agreements (such as charters, bylaws, and rule), and practices affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled.

Corporate Governance
The relationship between the shareholders, directors and management of a company, as defined by the corporate charter, bylaws, formal policy and rule of law. (TheCorporateLibrary.com definition)

Corporate Information Factory
The Corporate Information Factory (CIF) is a logical architecture whose purpose is to deliver business intelligence and business management capabilities driven by data provided from business operations. The CIF has proven to be a stable and enduring technical architecture for any size enterprise desiring to build strategic and tactical decision support systems (DSSs). The CIF consists of producers of data and consumers of information. (Claudia Imhoff definition)

Corrective Action
Acts or deeds used to remedy a situation, remove an error, or adjust a condition.

Corrective Action
A activity or other type of solution meant to reduce or eliminate anentified problem.

Cost Benefit Analysis
A type of analysis used to assist in determining the value and strategic priority of an action/tool under consideration. It's a tool for clarifying objectives, modeling financial impacts, and communicating project results throughout an organization.

Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
The costs associated with providing poor quality products or services. There are four categories: internal failure costs (costs associated with defects found before the customer receives the product or service), external failure costs (costs associated with defects found after the customer receives the product or service), appraisal costs (costs incurred to determine the degree of conformance to quality requirements) and prevention costs (costs incurred to keep failure and appraisal costs to a minimum). (ASQ definition)

COTS
acronym for Commercial Off-The-Shelf

Countermeasure
A synonym for Control. The term Countermeasure can be used to refer to any type of control, but it is most often used when referring to an action taken to offset another action.

Crisis Management
Crisis Management is the Process responsible for managing the wider implications of Business Continuity. A Crisis Management team is responsible for Strategic issues such as managing media relations and shareholder confidence, and decides when to invoke Business Continuity Plans. (Baseline ITIL definition)

Critical Success Factor (CSF)
Something that must happen if a program, project, process, or service is to succeed. Alternately, something that influcences whether another effort will meet its objectives.

CRM
Customer Relationship Management

Cross Functional
A term used to describe a program, process, or an activity that crosses the boundary between functions. A synonym is "boundary-spanning" A cross-functional team consists of individuals from more than one organizational unit or function.

Crow's Foot Notation
A type of cardinality notation used in data modeling. In crow's foot notation, a single bar indicates one, a double bar indicates one and only one (for example, a single instance of a product can only be stored in one warehouse), a circle indicates zero and a crow's foot indicates many.

CRUD
Pronounced as a word - crud - rather than as a series of letters. This acronym stands for "Create, Read, Update, Delete." It is used to describe access rights for data.

C-Suite A term used to describe an organization's executives (CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, etc.) A C-Suite Decision is one that must be made at the highest levels within an organization.

Cube
A name for a dimensional database, a simple case of which is product, practitioner, and time.

Culture
A set of values that is shared by a group of people, including expectations about how people should behave,eas, beliefs, and practices. (Baseline ITIL definition)

Currency
A characteristic of data. It means the extent to which data is up-to-date.

Customer Data Integration
An approach to managing multiple records containing information about an organization's customers. In this approach, instead of combining all information into a single repository, a combination of technologies, processes and services are used to align information in multiple repositories.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A strategy for learning more about customers' needs and behaviors to develop stronger relationships with them. It brings together information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. It helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers.(ASQ definition)

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