Commanding your IM workflows – Part 1: Introduction and scope

Software Terminology

I have a software background, and I am concerned about software things, consequently, I use many software terms.  If you ever have a question about the definition of a term or concept, either leave me a comment or send an email to craig.champlin@me.com and I will post its definition here.  The same u

TIP: Use <cntrl>+f  to search for a term

TIP: Copy the term in question the then paste into “find” dialog

Business intelligence
Data warehouse
Data cube
OLTP (?)
et al
A giant database which is intended to capture intermittent snapshots of a live database and freeze those snapshots in time.  Often multi-dimensional analyses will be performed on this data using specialized tools.  These activities are usually motivated by a need to examine operational trends in data across spans of time.  Example:  An application for using historical risk model data to demonstrate program improvement.

Client application
Client interface
End-user application
GUI (pronounced “gooey”)
User interface A software program which relies on another application for its primary functionality.  This type of program provides an interface (GUI) for a user to interact with.  Often, a client application will rely on software running on a central server.  Example: Thin client application for Apple iTunes Store.  Fat client interface for ESRI ArcView.

Client-server application
Two-tiered application Related: Fat client
Software program that directly uses a central database instead of a localized one.  Often implies a fat client.  Compare with a web-application where data is accessed by a server-based application which is accessed by a client.

Modern uses include:

Software requiring lots of data post-processing, as in GIS

Analytical processing of historical data in a data warehouse.

Software that has extreme security concerns

End-user
Stakeholder
User
Ted A group of individuals who share identical job responsibility for a task.  Each unique job responsibility in a workflow would be addressed by different end-users. Examples: Aligning ILI inspection data and  Performing remaining life calculations would each be discrete tasks with different end-users.

Fat client
Related: Client-server application
Software application which directly uses a database server for real-time exchange of data.  Usually implies enterprise-level software (vs personal software).  Example: ESRI ArcView when using a central PODS database.

Server application An software program which typically runs at a central location.  A server application will not have a user interface, instead it fulfills requests from one or more remote client applications. Typically a server application will be associated with software programs which have 3 or more tiers, or discrete functional layers.

Server-based application

Standalone application An end-user