Consistent with ISO vocabulary standards, each technical committee is responsible for standard terminology in its area of specialization. This International Standard provides a common vocabulary applicable to all systems and software engineering work falling within the scope of ISO JTC 1/SC 7.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;. multi-word terms whose meaning could be inferred from the definitions of the component words;. terms whose meaning in the information technology (IT) field could be directly inferred from their common English meaning.1.1 Relationship of the print and internet-accessible versionsThe 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 24765 is issued periodically as a formal, published International Standard 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.1.2 Vocabulary structure Entries in the vocabulary are arranged alphabetically. Blanks precede all other characters in alpha betizing.Hyphens and slashes (- and /) follow all other characters in alphabetizing.An entry can consist of a single word, such as "software"; a phrase, such as "test case"; or an acronym, such as "CDR". Phrases are given in their natural order (test plan) rather than in reversed order (plan, test).Acronyms can be listed separately as well as in parentheses following the source term. Terms that are verbs are shown without the infinitive marker "to".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 International Standard 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, Fourth Edition. Sources are listed in Annex A. 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 illustrations taken from the source standards have been included to clarify selected definitions.The following cross-references are used to show a term's relationship to other terms in the dictionary.. Syn refers to a synonym: a term with the same meaning. Synonyms are listed under the preferred term and can be located by searching.. cf. refers to related terms that are not synonyms.1.3 PMI Glossary provisionsThe Project Management Institute (PMI) Glossary definitions have been included without alteration inaccordance with the copyright agreement. Many of these definitions include explanatory material. For other terms and other definitions that have ISO/IEC and IEEE standards as their source, explanatory matter is shown in the Notes and Examples.Many of the definitions from the PMI Glossary begin with a word or phrase in brackets, such as [Process], [Output/Input], [Technique]. These bracketed entries refer to the schema of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Fourth Edition, which provides further explanation.