Glossary of Terms

Since many terms used in this document are used in many different ways depending on context and audience, this glossary defines the intended meaning of each term within the context of this document:

• Behavioural Competencies refers to non-specific skills (often referred to as “soft skills”) such as communication and individual problem-solving and critical thinking ability.

• Functional / Technical Competencies refer to role-specific skills necessary to carry out a particular job or function, such as database analysis, risk management, stakeholder mapping, etc.

• Professional Competencies refer to competencies that enable and accelerate individual and/or team performance and are not specifically related to a “skill” / technical competency. Examples would be team / organisational guidelines and standards, clearly defined roles & responsibilities, etc.

• Goals here are used to mean specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) statements of future aspirations. Goals specify the desired outcome/end state rather than outlining how the outcome will be achieved.

• Objectives here are used as the “stepping stones” to achieve a particular goal. They are implementable and individually trackable/measurable.

• Lagging indicators refer to metrics that validate whether or not a particular objective or goal has met its success criteria. As validation tools, they can only be measured after the implementation of a particular objective or achievement of a goal.

• Leading indicators refer to metrics that verify whether or not a particular objective or goal is on the right path based on the assumptions made when establishing goals and associated success criteria. As verification tools, they can be used continuously throughout the implementation of objectives to get feedback throughout the process and adapt as necessary.

• Delivery lifecycle refers to the entire process from scheduling a piece of work to realising the expected benefits.

• Deliverable refers to any measurable, valuable piece of work regardless of whether it is delivered in teams, divisions or troops and irrespective of the nature of the work (e.g. project, enhancement, defect, technical improvement, etc.)

• WYSIATI - What you see is all there is

• Change - The addition, modification, or removal of anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services. (From ITIL v4.0 Section 5.2.4)

• Change Authority A person or group responsible for authorising change (From ITIL v4.0)

• Change Control The boundaries of the change management practice are defined as internal and external providers, as service providers often make changes with minimal customer involvement, and almost no customer approval. Products and services built on top of cloud services will need to make far greater use of standard changes to unlock the benefits that cloud platforms (and associated business models) provide (From ITIL v4.0)

• Change Control Practice The practice of ensuring that risks are properly assessed, authorising changes to proceed and managing a change schedule in order to maximise the number of successful service and product changes (From ITIL v4.0)

• Change Model A repeatable approach to the management of a particular type of change (From ITIL v4.0)

• Change Schedule A calendar that shows planned and historical changes (From ITIL v4.0) FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis) A specific risk treatment method which ranks risks by probability and consequence.

• Opportunity A positive effective of uncertainty Risk A negative effect of uncertainty

• Risk Assessment A systematic investigation and analysis of potential risks, combined with the assignment of severities of probabilities and consequences. These are used to rate risks in order to prioritize the mitigation of high risks

• Risk Mitigation A plan developed with the intent of addressing all known or possible risks and preventing their occurrence

• Uncertainty A deficiency of information related to understanding or knowledge of an event, its consequence, or likelihood (Not to be confused with measurement uncertainty)