Rational® Insight glossary

This glossary includes terms and definitions for [product name].

The following cross-references are used in this glossary:
  1. See refers the reader from a term to a preferred synonym, or from an acronym or abbreviation to the defined full form.
  2. See also refers the reader to a related or contrasting term.

To view glossaries for other IBM® products, go to www.ibm.com/software/globalization/terminology.

A

access permission

A privilege that permits the access or use of an object.

adapter

An intermediary software component that allows two other software components to communicate with one another.

aggregation

The process of collecting, interpreting, and sorting data from various locations into a single file.

application server

The target of a request from an application requester. The database management system (DBMS) at the application server site services the request.

attribute

A characteristic or trait of an entity that describes the entity; for example, the telephone number of an employee is one of that employee's attributes.

B

BI

build

The process during which a build program produces one or more derived objects. This may involve actual translation of source files and construction of binary files by compilers, linkers, text formatters, and so on.

business intelligence (BI)

The consolidation and analysis of data collected in the day-to-day operation of a business, which is then used as a basis for better business decisions and competitive advantage.

C

class path

A list of directories and JAR files that contain resource files or Java™ classes that a program can load dynamically at run time.

code churn

A report that shows the volume of changes in a project over time.

content store

The database that contains the data needed to operate, such as report specifications, published models, and security rights.

D

dashboard

An interface that integrates data from a variety of sources and provides a unified display of relevant and in-context information.

data mapping template

A template used for mapping XML elements to relational table columns.

data mart

A subset of a data warehouse that contains data that is tailored and optimized for the specific reporting needs of a department or team. A data mart can be a subset of a warehouse for an entire organization, such as data that is contained in online analytical processing (OLAP) tools.

data model

A common model that faciliates reporting of all types of data from multiple data sources.

Data Movement Service

A service that is used to run and schedule builds and job streams on remote computers.

data source

The source of data itself, such as a database or XML file, and the connection information necessary for accessing the data.

data warehouse

A subject-oriented collection of data that is used to support strategic decision making. The warehouse is the central point of data integration for business intelligence. It is the source of data for data marts within an enterprise and delivers a common view of enterprise data.

database (DB)

A collection of interrelated or independent data items that are stored together to serve one or more applications.

DB

defect aging

A report that helps track patterns in defects, which can be used to take corrective action for reducing both defect resolution time and number of defects.

defect arrival rate

A report that shows the frequency of new defect submissions over time, categorized by severity.

defect density

The ratio of the number of defects to the program length.

dimension build

A build that delivers data to describe a single business dimension, such as a product or a customer. A dimension build has a source dimension table, a hierarchy for the data, a target database, and a target table.

dimension data

Data that is used to describe or qualify facts in a star schema fact table.

dimension mapping category

A set of similar dimension maps. For example, a category can be created for days, weeks, and hours, with different levels of granularity.

dimension mapping table

A table that creates correlations between dimension tables from different data sources. Each data source may use different names for semantically similar elements.

dimension table

A table that contains attributes used to constrain and group data when performing data warehousing queries.

E

enhancement request

A change request for a new feature or functionality.

ETL

extract, transform, and load (ETL)

The process of collecting data from one or more sources, cleansing and transforming it, and then loading it into a database.

F

fact build

A build that delivers fact data and dimension data so the user can construct a private data mart from within a single build.

fact table

A database table that contains the measure and dimensions needed to relate a fact record to dimension tables.

foreign key

In a relational database, a key in one table that references the primary key in another table.

H

health

The general condition or state of the database environment.

I

iteration

A milestone in the software development process for which the development team delivers a working version of the project for testing.

iteration velocity

A report that shows the number of tasks completed in each iteration.

L

look-up build

A simple, single-level reference structure in an extract, transform, and load (ETL) catalogue. Look-ups track the relationships between fact data and the operational data store that contributes to the fact.

M

mapping

The correlation of attributes between specifications. For imports, mappings relate the attributes of the file specification to the attributes of the primary specification of the catalog or hierarchy. For exports, mappings relate the attributes for the primary specification to the attributes of the destination specification.

measure

A value that can be analyzed, such as the number of defects.

metadata

Data that describes the characteristics of data; descriptive data.

metadata model

A set of related dimensions, query subjects, and other objects that represent data for reporting applications.

metric

A measure to assess performance in a key area of a business.

model

A representation of a process, system, or subject area, usually developed for understanding, analyzing, improving, and replacing the item being represented. A model can include a representation of information, activities, relationships, and constraints.

N

namespace

For authentication and access control, a configured instance of an authentication provider that allows access to user and group information. In Framework Manager, namespaces uniquely identify query items and query subjects. Different databases are imported into separate namespaces to avoid duplicate names.

natural key

For data sources that are not in relational databases, the name of an XML file or user name that can be mapped to tables in a data warehouse.

O

ODBC

ODBC driver

A dynamically-linked library (DLL) that implements ODBC function calls and interacts with a data source.

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

A standard application programming interface (API) for accessing data in both relational and nonrelational database management systems. Using this API, database applications can access data stored in database management systems on a variety of computers even if each database management system uses a different data storage format and programming interface.

P

package

1. A product or component that is specifically designed for installation by IBM Installation Manager.

2. A subset of a project that is created to make metadata available to users. Different packages can be created so different user groups can create the reports they need.

physical metadata layer

In the operational metadata model, a layer that contains metadata information from the data source. It also contains query subjects that represent the imported tables and relationships between them.

portal

A single, secure point of access to diverse information, applications, and people that can be customized and personalized.

portlet

A reusable Web module that runs on a portal server. Portlets have predefined roles such as retrieving news headlines, searching a database, or displaying a calendar.

primary key

In a relational database, a key that uniquely identifies one row of a database table.

profile

A set of behaviors, privileges, or capabilities that determine how database objects interact with resources.

project health

The efficiency of a project as reflected through defects, changes, build quality, and work distribution.

Q

query

A specification for a set of data retrieved from a data source.

R

reference dimension

A dimensional framework that holds reference structures and templates used to provide information when merging data and delivering dimension data into data marts.

relational data

Data stored in a relational database management system (DBMS).

report

A set of data deliberately laid out to communicate business information.

report server

An application server that hosts reports and report editors.

report template

A template that is used to create reports. Parameters in the report template are specified when the report is created or run.

Representational State Transfer (REST)

A software architectural style for distributed hypermedia systems like the World Wide Web. The term is also often used to describe any simple interface that uses XML (or YAML, JSON, plain text) over HTTP without an additional messaging layer such as SOAP.

requirement

A condition or capability that a system must provide. This condition is either derived direction from user needs or stated in a contract, standard, specification, or other document.

resource

A specific XML entity in an XML data source. A resource can be associated with an XML schema and can be used to map a data source to a relational database table to create reports.

resource group

A collection of XML sources from a product that share a common base Web address. The Web address determines the connection between the product data and the relational database that is used to create reports.

REST

S

scorecard

A collection of metrics representing the performance of one unit or aspect of an organization.

sign-on

The procedure by which the user starts working at a workstation.

snapshot

A record of the data in the data warehouse that is used for reporting.

star schema

A type of relational database schema that is composed of a set of tables comprising a single, central fact table surrounded by dimension tables.

surrogate key

An artificially created unique identifier column for rows in those tables that have no such natural key column.

T

transformation model

A model within a fact build that is used to manipulate the acquired source data. For example, the transformation model can merge data from different sources or aggregate data.

V

value map

A map that is used to transform source values to a new value during the extraction process in order to standardize common definitions for data from multiple sources.

W

Web application

An application that is accessible by a Web browser and that provides some function beyond static display of information, for instance by allowing the user to query a database. Common components of a Web application include HTML pages, JSP pages, and servlets.

work item

The smallest component of work to be done in a workflow. It is a collection of both data and references to the system information necessary for processing the data. A work item is transitory; once it has been processed as required, it ceases to exist.

X

XDC file

XML data configuration file (XDC file)

A configuration file that defines the relationship between entities in a data source and columns in a relational table.

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