Glossary

Definition

The glossary is the requirements work product that formally defines the abbreviations, acronyms, and important terms used on an endeavor.

Objectives

The typically objectives of the glossary are to:

• Formally document the endeavor’s:
  • Abbreviations and acronyms.
  • Customer organization terms (application-specific terms).
  • Developer organization terms (OPF terms, general application-domain terms).
• Ensure the consistent use of terminology on the endeavor.

Benefits

The typical benefits of the glossary are:

• Improve communication between the organizations involved in the endeavor.
• Improve communication among endeavor’s personnel.
• Improve developer productivity.
• Decrease defect rate.

Contents

The typical contents of the glossary are:

• Abbreviations and Accronyms
• Customer Terms
• Developer Terms
• Appendices:
  • Major Issues
  • TBDs
  • Assumptions

Stakeholders

The typical stakeholders of the glossary are:

• Producers:
  • Business Strategy Team
  • Digital Branding Team
  • Technology Strategy Team
  • Requirements Team
• Evaluators:
  • Strategy Inspection Team
  • Requirements Inspection Team
• Approvers:
  • Technical Leader
  • Project Manager
  • Customer Representative
• Maintainers:
  • Business Strategy Team
  • Digital Branding Team
  • Technology Strategy Team
  • Requirements Team
• Users:
  • Customer Organization, which uses the glossary to understand the developer terms used on the project.
  • Software Development Team, which uses the PG to understand the customer terms used on the project.

Phases

A glossary is typically produced during the following phases:

• BusinessStrategy: Completed
• Business Optimization: Maintained
• Initiation: Started
• Construction: Maintained
• Delivery: Maintained
• Usage: Maintained
• Retirement: Destroyed or Archived

Preconditions

A glossary typically can be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The initation phase is started.
• The requirements team is staffed and adequately trained in how to create and maintain the glossary.
• Domain experts are available.

Inputs

The typical inputs to the glossary include:

• Work Products:
  • Application Vision Statement
  • System Requirements Specification
  • Existing customer documentation.
• Stakeholders:
  • Customer organization domain experts
  • Developer organization domain experts
  • Users

Guidelines

• This is a living document that is developed incrementally and iteratively in parallel with other work products.
• Tailor out the predefined developer organization terms in the template that are not relevant to the project.
• This glossary can be divided into two separate glossaries: one of business domain terms for the development organization and one of development terms for the customer organization. In which case, the glossary of this website can act as the developer term glossary.
• If decomposed into two separate glossaries, the developer term glossary could be treated as a process engineering work product.
• Where practical, avoid circular definitions.
  

Conventions

The glossary is typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML DTD
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Example Project Glossary