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VA Technical Reference Model v 24.3

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Categorization Help File

VA Categorization Framework

The following table identifies the domains, areas, and categories of the VA Categorization Framework.
Domain Area Category Description
Application Technology Application and Web Server Software Application Server Software System software used to host the business logic tier of applications, or to host application services. Application servers reside between the OS on one side, external resources (such as a database management system, communications and Internet services) on another side, and the user application(s) on the third side. The function of the application server is to act as host or container of the user's business logic while facilitating access to and performance of the business application. An application server is typically used for complex transaction-based applications.
Web Server Software Software for servers that centrally host and serve web pages. The web server software uses the client/server model and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and serves the files that form web pages to web users (whose computers contain HTTP clients that forward their requests).
Application Testing Software Debugging Test Tools Software used to debug other programs. When the program "crashes" or reaches a preset condition, the debugger typically shows the location in the original code if it is a source-level debugger or symbolic debugger, commonly now seen in integrated development environments. If it is a low-level debugger or a machine-language debugger it shows the line in the disassembly (unless it also has online access to the original source code and can display the appropriate section of code from the assembly or compilation).Typically, debuggers also offer more sophisticated functions such as running a program step by step (single-stepping or program animation), stopping (breaking) (pausing the program to examine the current state) at some event or specified instruction by means of a breakpoint, and tracking the values of variables. Some debuggers have the ability to modify program state while it is running. It may also be possible to continue execution at a different location in the program to bypass a crash or logical error.
Functional Testing Tools Software used to conduct functional testing of applications in development. Functional testing is a type of black box testing that bases its test cases on the specifications of the software component under test. Functions are tested by feeding them input and examining the output.
Load and Performance Testing Tools Software which simulates or models the expected usage of a software application by simulating multiple users accessing the program concurrently.
System Testing Tools System testing of software or hardware is testing conducted on a complete, integrated system to evaluate the system's compliance with its specified requirements.
Unit Testing Tools Standards and software for unit testing. Unit testing is a method by which individual units of source code, sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures, are tested to determine if they are fit for use. Intuitively, one can view a unit as the smallest testable part of an application. In procedural programming a unit could be an entire module but is more commonly an individual function or procedure. In object-oriented programming a unit is often an entire interface, such as a class, but could be an individual method.
Development Tools Analysis, Design, and Modeling Tools Tools that support the analysis and design phases of the traditional software development life cycle. Includes business process analysis software.
Application Development Tools Tools that support the construction of applications. Includes stand-alone code editors and compilers, plug-ins for IDEs, reference libraries to extend programming frameworks, and software development kits (SDKs).
Build and Deployment Tools Tools that support the transition of new applications from developmental to operational status
Defect Tracking Tools Tools that support the managing, evaluating, and prioritizing of fixes to bugs and defects in software under development. Does not include debuggers.
Development Frameworks Universal, reusable software pattern or library providing generic functionality which can be selectively changed by users to develop customized applications, products and solutions. Includes programming languages for source code, markup languages, and server-side application frameworks.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Software applications that provide comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of, at minimum: a source code editor and a debugger. Some IDEs contain compiler, interpreter, or both. Sometimes a version control system and various tools are integrated to simplify the construction of a GUI. Many modern IDEs also have build automation tools, a class browser, an object inspector, and a class hierarchy diagram, for use with object-oriented software development. Typically they are dedicated to just one programming language, but multiple-language IDEs do exist.
Legacy Modernization Standards and software for accessing legacy systems through the web and exposing them as services in a modern architecture. Includes terminal emulators, service facades, etc.
Process Management Tools Business Process Management (BPM) services and tools provide for explicit process management (that is, process analysis, definition, execution, monitoring, and administration), including support for person-to-person and application-to-application interactions. BPM tools analyze and model existing and new processes using a graphical process designer; a run-time execution engine executes the designed process flows and stores data on the state of each process instance so they can be monitored and evaluated.
Requirements Management Software requirements management applications streamline the development teams' analysis of requirements, captures requirements in a database-based tool to enable collaborative review, ease the creation of use cases and test cases, provide traceability, and facilitate software documentation and versioning/change control.
Software Change and Configuration Management Tools Tools that provide automated support for managed change, configuration or version control of software assets.
User Interface Design Tools Tools for designing presentation services. Includes tools to ensure websites are accessible by the visually handicapped.
Web Authoring Tools Includes technologies that allow a document creator to mark up (that is, annotate in a machine-readable way) a document to allow the document content to be presented in a format suitable for the Internet. This domain typically refers to standalone authoring suites. Authoring suites integrated into content management systems would normally appear in the content management category.
Integration Software Device Integration Standards for messaging protocols and interfaces for medical devices
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) An integration framework composed of a collection of technologies and services which form a middleware to enable integration of systems and applications across the enterprise. Includes Enterprise Service Buses and adapters. An ESB provides an abstraction layer on top of an Enterprise Messaging System, supporting both MOM and Web services.
Messaging Oriented Middleware (MOM) Standards, software or hardware infrastructure supporting sending and receiving messages between distributed systems. Messaging Oriented Middleware allows application modules to be distributed over heterogeneous platforms and reduces the complexity of developing applications that span multiple operating systems and network protocols. The middleware creates a distributed communications layer that insulates the application developer from the details of the various operating system and network interfaces. APIs that extend across diverse platforms and networks are typically provided by MOM. With MOM, transactions or event notifications are delivered between disparate systems or components by way of messages, often via an enterprise messaging system. Messages sent to the client are collected and stored until they are acted upon, while the client continues with other processing. This is a large category and includes asynchronous store and forward application messaging capabilities as well as integration brokers that perform message transformation and routing or even business process coordination.
Service Registry Standards and technologies for making software services discoverable and accessible in a Service Oriented Architecture
SOA Governance Standards which determine the "common ground" of enterprise SOA integration, e.g. message format and content, data standardization, application integration agreements, service characteristics and design approaches, and tools for management for SOA governance mechanisms and SLAs.
Software Engines Business Process Management Engines Software engines for the execution of business processes defined in models. Products in this domain generally comprise a set of services and tools that provide for process management, workflow and application integration. It has evolved from the merging of process technology covering three kinds of interaction - people to people, system to system, and system to people - from a process-centric perspective.
Business Rules Engines Software engines used to record, track, manage and revise enterprise business processes, without having to modify the software application itself. Rules are set to stipulate and outline processes and the Business Rule Engine (BRE) externalizes these rules for quick and easy modification. BREs (also known simply as rule engines) are tools which manage rules which define processes. BREs can be used in conjunction with other business oriented tools such as Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), workflow engines and Business Process Management (BPM) tools.
Context Management Context management is a dynamic computer process that uses 'subjects' of data in one application, to point to data resident in a separate application also containing the same subject. Context Management allows users to choose a subject once in one application, and have all other applications containing information on that same subject 'tune' to the data they contain, thus obviating the need to redundantly select the subject in the varying applications. An example from the healthcare industry where Context Management is widely used, multiple applications operating "in context" through use of a context manager would allow a user to select a patient (i.e., the subject) in one application and when the user enters the other application, that patient's information is already pre-fetched and presented, obviating the need to re-select the patient in the second application. The further the user 'drills' into the application (e.g., test, result, diagnosis, etc.) all context aware applications continue to drill-down into the data, in context with the user's requests.
Geographic Information System (GIS) Engines Server and desktop engines that combine relational databases with spatial interpretation and produce outputs in the form of maps. GIS engines capture, store, integrate, analyze and display data that is spatially referenced.
Search Engines Standards and software tools to support both searching and indexing capabilities. A search engine is a tool used to help find information on the internet, intranet or in databases and file servers. Each search engine has its own way of gathering, classifying, and displaying information to the user. Approved search engines may be embedded in web browsers (toolbars) on VA desktops, and/or used by VA websites and web-based applications to enable internal search capabilities.
User Interface Mobile Framework Software frameworks installed on small form factor mobile devices to support running mobile applications.
Portlets Standards for interfacing portals
Rich Internet Application (RIA) Framework Software frameworks installed on client side computers to support running Rich Internet Applications (RIA). An RIA is a web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software, typically delivered as a compiled program by way of a site-specific browser, a browser plug-in, an independent sandbox, extensive use of JavaScript, or a virtual machine.
Web UI Framework Web-based user interfaces or web user interfaces (WUI) are a subclass of GUIs that accept input and provide output by generating web pages which are transmitted via the Internet and viewed by the user using a web browser program. Newer implementations utilize Java, AJAX, Adobe Flex, Microsoft .NET, or similar technologies to provide real-time control in a separate program, eliminating the need to refresh a traditional HTML based web browser. Administrative web interfaces for web-servers, servers and networked computers are often called control panels.
Collaboration and Electronic Workplace Collaboration Software Computer Based Training (CBT) Standards and software tools for delivery of all or part of a course of instruction via the computer. Includes testing, monitoring trainee progress, providing feedback, assessing final results, certificate granting, training requirements management and scheduling, completion statistics reporting, and related functions.
Content Management Applications for managing content intended to be published, typically over the Web or to the processes and workflows involved in organizing, categorizing and structuring information resources so that they can be stored, published and reused in multiple ways. A Content Management System (CMS) is used to collect, manage and publish content, storing the content either as components or whole documents, while maintaining the links between components. A CMS may include integrated authoring tools that support the design, creation, capture, editing, and integration of information from discrete multi-media components, often to produce a web site.
Electronic Messaging Standards and software for creating and exchanging text messages in real time (chat), either peer-to-peer bidirectional or with multiple users in a chat room. May include additional features like presence data, geolocation, and attached audio or video recordings.
E-mail and Calendaring Standards and software tools to support electronic mail, including composing, sending and receiving messages, managing messages and managing electronic mail address lists. Calendaring tools provide support for the managing of calendars (diaries), creating appointments and events, and organizing and scheduling of meetings.
Process and Schedule Synchronization Applications to manage and synchronize work activities within a project or program team.
Real-Time and Team Collaboration Software tools to support people working together even though they may be separated physically and geographically. Workers can work with each other, with clients, or with partners from their desktop, swapping ideas, resolving ideas, sharing information, marking up files or collaborating with whiteboards.
Shared Whiteboard Software allowing the placement of shared files on an on-screen shared notebook or whiteboard for viewing and annotation by multiple users at the same time, each seeing changes the others make in near-real time.
Unified Messaging Unified Messaging (or UM) is the integration of different electronic messaging and communications media (e-mail, SMS, Fax, voicemail, video messaging, etc.) technologies into a single interface, accessible from a variety of different devices. While traditional communications systems delivered messages into several different types of stores such as voicemail systems, e-mail servers, and stand-alone fax machines, with Unified Messaging all types of messages are stored in one system. Voicemail messages, for example, can be delivered directly into the user's inbox and played either through a headset or the computer's speaker. This simplifies the user's experience (only one place to check for messages) and can offer new options for workflow such as appending notes or documents to forwarded voicemails.
Productivity Software Accounting and Finance Applications and standards for cost estimating and accounting, tax preparation, and financial management.
Desktop Publishing Includes software that creates high-quality publications combining text and graphics in a sophisticated layout following design standards. Desktop publishing often allows a single individual to create publications that would have previously required expensive printing equipment and a full team of publishing staff.
File Manager and Viewer Includes software products that enable users to open and display contents of files originally stored in a variety of formats including text as well as multimedia file formats such as sound, video images, photographic images, still images or animations.
Graphics Design Software Software that enables users to produce and edit still images.
Health Care Standards and software for providing health care-related information and services such as medical device fitting and calibration applications, medical reference tools, patient ID systems, informed consent form processing applications, and other COTS products. Does not generally include VistA packages or modules, or other VA-developed systems.
Miscellaneous Productivity Tools and Utilities All other end-user productivity software. Includes tools and utilities used to accommodate disabled users (Section 508).
Multimedia Software Includes products that enable users to produce and edit content in a variety of presentation formats including sound, still images, video images and, animations.
Standard Office Suite Includes core desktop productivity software which is made up of a number of tools such as a word processor and a spreadsheet. Some degree of integration usually exists between the separate tools.
Web Browsers Software programs used to locate and display information on the internet or on an intranet. Most browsers can display graphics, photographs and text; multimedia information (such as sound and video) may require additional software, known as plug-ins.
Health Care Administrative Health Administration This category contains capabilities that are specific to managing/administering a medical facility and not any other type of industry.
Health Delivery Support This category contains capabilities that are specific to supporting delivery of health care.
Operational Support This category contains capabilities that are not specific to health care but are (usually) required to operate any significant 'facility' or business.
Quality Systems This category contains capabilities that are focused on ensuring appropriate quality care is delivered.
Health Services Dentistry Tools related to conditions that affect the teeth and gums (dental implants, dental surgery, oral reconstruction, etc...)
Geriatrics and Extended Care Tools related to the health of elderly persons (nursing home care, respite care, hospice care, etc...)
Imaging Tools that assist in the process of creating visual representations of the interior of the body (mammography, MRI, Ultrasound, X-Ray, etc...)
Medicine Services Tools related to a full spectrum of medical services (Cardiology, Diabetes, Hematology, Neurology, Pulmonary, etc...)
Mental Health Services Tools related to the mental well-being of individuals (Psychiatry, PTSD, Substance Abuse Services, etc...)
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Services Tools related to causes and effects of diseases, including laboratory work (Autopsy, Chemistry, Microbiology, etc...)
Pharmacy Tools related to the creation or distribution of medicinal drugs
Primary Care Tools related to basic health care (women's health care, contraception management, wound care)
Radiation Oncology Tools related to the care and study of tumors (Brachytherapy, Radiation Therapy, etc...)
Rehabilitation Services Tools related to services designed to enable individuals with physical or mental disabilities (Chiropractic, Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology, etc...)
Specialty Services Tools related to additional health services not included within general or primary care services (Anesthesia, Nutrition, Optometry, Podiatry, etc...)
Surgery Tools related to treatments of injuries or disorders by incision or manipulation (Amputation, Reconstruction, etc...)
Standard Health Care Standards This category contains specifications that have been sanctioned or recognized externally by standards development organizations, have been widely used and accepted by industry, have been mandated by government policy, or have been internally sanctioned or mandated for use by the VA.
Information Management Technologies Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Platforms Business Intelligence Platforms BI Platforms offer complete sets of tools for the creation, deployment, support, and maintenance of BI applications. They combine database access capabilities, SQL, OLAP data manipulation, what-if analysis, statistical analysis, and charting to create data-rich applications, with custom end-user UIs organized around specific business problems, with targeted analyses and models.
Clinical Environment and Tools Tools used in clinical settings to ensure hygiene, track patients, and manage hospital resources. Includes Clinical Decision Support Systems.
Dashboard/Scorecard Tools Software tools supporting dashboards and scorecards. A dashboard is easy to read, often single page, real-time user interface, showing a graphical presentation of the current status (snapshot) and historical trends of an organization's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to enable instantaneous and informed decisions to be made at a glance. A scorecard is a business utility designed for designing and structuring organizational KPIs.
Data Analytics (Statistical Analysis, Prediction, and Modeling) Mathematical tools that provide an environment for statistical analysis, predictive and descriptive modeling, data mining, forecasting, optimization, and simulation. Includes modeling and simulation software that helps manipulate information to study patterns and create and test changes.
Data Mining Tools Tools used to replace or enhance human intelligence by scanning through massive storehouses of data to discover meaningful new correlations, patterns, and trends by using pattern recognition techniques and statistics.
Data Warehouses "Meta-DBMS" software that extracts and copies diverse databases from operational systems to a single location for use by other systems and services. Also called Data Marts. Includes Federated DBMS.
Geospatial Tools Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to data which has a geographical or geospatial aspect. Such analysis would typically employ software capable of geospatial representation and processing, and apply analytical methods to terrestrial or geographic datasets (such as data from a GIS engine).
PoC Analytical Applications Standards, hardware, and software for analyzing patient data at the bedside (often from point-of-care testing).
Unstructured Data / Natural Language Processing Standards and software enabling a computer information system to extract meaningful information from natural human language input, such as English text in a document or a user query, and/or producing output in natural human language.
Web Reporting Tools Reporting software is used to generate human-readable reports from various data sources.
Data Integration Data at Rest Data at Rest is an IT term referring to inactive data which is stored physically in any digital form (e.g. databases, data warehouses, archives). This category includes technologies for federated data storage and governance standards on what data should be stored where.
Data in Motion (Common Message Terminology and Semantics) Messaging standards which enable the reliable, context-sensitive management and delivery of semantically-interoperable information and terminology. Includes standards-based clinical terminology and detailed clinical information models used in the Common Information Interoperability Framework (CIIF).
Database Replication and Clustering includes DBMS architectures that support high-availability and fault-tolerant systems. In general, clustering means that multiple servers are arranged to access a single copy of the database. Each server is able to carry part of the application workload - if one fails, the workload is shared across the remaining servers. Replication achieves similar objectives by implementing multiple instances of the database; database objects are copied and maintained in multiple databases that make up a distributed database system.
Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) packages extract data residing in different authoritative sources, transform it to fit operational needs, and load it into the end target (data warehouse, ordinary database, or in-memory working database for a business logic process) and provide users with a unified view of the data. Includes tools which support the conversion and transformation of data and its associated metadata from one source to another. Often used for migrations from an old system to a new one, or for moving data from an operational system to a data warehouse or other analysis repository.
Data Management Columnar DBMS Columnar DBMS's store data tables as sections of columns of data rather than as rows of data, like most are relational databases. This has advantages for online analytical processing like data warehouse applications.
Data Quality Management Includes tools to support the analysis, cleansing and standardisation of data to improve its utility for data mining by identifying and rectifying problems such as duplicate records, erroneous data, redundant data, inconsistent data and different instances of names and addresses for the same data entity.
Database Connectivity Software and standards for applications to communicate with databases.
Database-Related Management Tools Software tools for building and managing databases in DBMS's.
Desktop Database Management Systems (DBMS) DBMS that run on a desktop operating system such as Microsoft Windows. To be classified as a desktop DBMS, a product would need to be designed for single-user access only and, in particular, not for remote access.
Embedded DBMS Software that is embedded within an application or a device and acts as a component of that application or device. Typically, embedded DBMSs are high-performance, have a small footprint and require no administration. The DBMS is transparent to the user, and customers for the embedding application or device do not have to purchase a separate DBMS license.
In-memory Database DBMSes that primarily rely on a computer's volatile main memory (RAM) for data storage, instead of a disk drive. In-memory DBMSes are much faster than DBMSes that employ a disk storage mechanism, but they can lack durability (persistence).
Master Data Management Standards and tools that define and manage non-transactional data and reference data, finding and removing duplicates to create an authoritative source of master data. Master data are the products, accounts and parties for which the business transactions are completed. MDM has the objective of providing processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure consistency and control in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information.
Non-relational Database A broad class of DBMS's identified by its non-adherence to the widely used relational database management system model; that is, non-relational databases are not primarily built on tables, and as a result, generally do not use SQL for data manipulation. Non-relational database systems are often highly optimized for retrieve and append operations and often offer little functionality beyond record storage (e.g. key-value stores). The reduced run time flexibility compared to full SQL systems is compensated by significant gains in scalability and performance for certain data models. In short, non-relational DBMS's are useful when working with a huge quantity of data and the data's nature does not require a relational model for the data structure. The data could be structured, but it is of minimal importance and what really matters is the ability to store and retrieve great quantities of data, and not the relationships between the elements.
Object-Oriented DBMS DBMS that apply an Object-Oriented (OO) paradigm to the storage, retrieval and management of data and are usually used to support object-oriented programming languages.
Relational DBMS DBMS in which the data is organized according to relationships between data entities as defined in a relational data model--that is, data is stored in tables and the relationships among the data are also stored in tables. The data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without having to change the table forms. Relational DBMS systems normally support a Structured Query Language (SQL) application programming interface.
Network and Telecommunications Network Infrastructure Load Balancing and Failover Load balancing is a computer networking methodology to distribute workload across multiple computers or a computer cluster, network links, central processing units, disk drives, or other resources, to achieve optimal resource utilization, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload. Using multiple components with load balancing, instead of a single component, may increase reliability through redundancy--if one component fails, another takes over automatically (failover). The load balancing service is usually provided by dedicated software or hardware, such as a multilayer switch or DNS server.
Network Name and Address Includes components that manage the database of names and addresses for potential network destinations and perform the function of translating network addresses from human-readable form to machine-readable form and back again. This category also includes the software that assigns network addresses to devices on request.
Switching and Routing Switches and routers are networking devices that connect computers or computer network segments at OSI Layer 2 and 3. Routing protocols enable switches and routers to forward data packets to the correct network addresses.
Transport Local/Campus Area Network (LAN/CAN) Standards, hardware and software for operating a local area network (LAN) or a campus network made up of an interconnection of LANs within a limited geographical area. The networking equipment (switches, routers) and transmission media (optical fiber, copper plant, Cat5 cabling etc.) are almost entirely owned by the VA.
Telecommunications Standards, hardware devices, and software that support voice and video communications
Wide Area Network (WAN) Computer networking technologies used to transmit data over long distances, and between different LANs and other localized computer networking architectures.
Wireless and Mobile Networks Cellular Networks Includes standards for cellular network devices. A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver, known as a cell site or base station. In a cellular network, each cell uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to avoid interference and provide guaranteed bandwidth within each cell. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area. This enables a large number of portable transceivers (mobile phones) to communicate with each other and with fixed transceivers and telephones anywhere in the network, via base stations, even if some of the transceivers are moving through more than one cell during transmission.
Radio and Satellite Systems using HF, VHF, UHF, SHF, XHF terrestrial or satellite radio signals.
Short-range Wireless Networks Includes standards for personal area network devices (less than 3 meters range) and radio frequency ID tag scanning systems.
Wireless Networks Includes devices that perform some intrinsic function for a wireless computer network, and standards for wireless. Wireless networks usually run over IP, and can provide LAN, MAN and even WAN functionality.
Platforms and Storage Cloud Services/Server Virtualization Cloud Technologies Standards and software for the provision of private cloud services (infrastructure, platform, or software) to VA or other Government customers. If VA wishes to utilize public cloud services (e.g. Terremark or Amazon Web Services), these would not be recorded in the TRM. Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
Virtualization Software Virtual machines (sometimes called hardware virtual machines) allow the sharing of the underlying physical machine resources between different virtual machines, each running its own operating system. The software layer providing the virtualization is called a virtual machine monitor or hypervisor. A hypervisor can run on bare hardware or on top of an operating system.
End User Computer Devices Personal Computers (PCs) Microcomputers designed primarily for individual use
Small Form Factor Mobile Devices Lightweight individual computing devices designed especially for portable use, usually with reduced functionality as compared to PCs.
Miscellaneous Other Miscellaneous Hardware
Telepresence VTC Telepresence via video deploys greater technical sophistication and improved fidelity of both sight and sound than in traditional videoconferencing. Telepresence in mobile collaboration have also extended the capabilities of videoconferencing for use with hand-held mobile devices, enabling collaboration independent of location. This includes audio, video, and web conferencing solutions, coupled with time tested quality installation, training and maintenance services. Telepresence allows the user's position, movements, actions, voice, etc. to be sensed, transmitted and duplicated in the remote location.
Operating Systems Application and OS Deployment Facilities that are designed to allow the distribution and deployment of software and the associated upgrades, from a central site to a number of remote installations. This is done in a managed way so that the central site has tight control over the particular software configurations and versions loaded onto the remote machines.
OS - Desktop/Laptop Operating systems for fully-featured desktop PCs, laptops, and capable netbook/ultrabook devices
OS - Mainframe Operating systems for mainframe computers.
OS - Mobile Device Stripped-down operating systems designed to run on memory-limited handheld devices.
OS - Server Operating systems for networked servers.
OS Cluster and Availability Software systems that manage a group of loosely-coupled servers so as to maximise availability or up time and/or share the workload; the clustered servers often share common disk storage.
OS Tools Tools that work together with the core operating system to provide certain functions to users of a computer.
Peripherals Input Devices Devices which allow users to input information to the computer
Multifunction Devices Devices which combine input and output functions
Output Devices Devices which allow the computer to convey information to the user
Physical Servers Blade Servers, Chassis, and Racks Blade servers are self-contained all-inclusive computer servers with a design optimized to minimize physical space. A blade enclosure or chassis, which can hold multiple blade servers, provides services such as power, cooling, networking, various interconnects and management. Blade enclosures are usually rack-mounted. Includes the cable types, patch panels, racks and cabling management systems.
Extreme Low Energy Servers "Green" servers optimized to use as little electricity as possible. Also includes systems to dissipate or reuse heat generated by computer systems with minimal electricity used for cooling.
Terminal Servers Desktop or workgroup servers that provide services to desktop workstations including the hosting of email, hosting of directories and authentication mechanisms, provision of application and operating system development infrastructure, provision of file storage services and provision of print services. These are server class machines that typically feature multiple high-throughput processors, large memory capacity, large capacity high speed storage, redundant components for high availability, fast bus speeds and high transfer rates.
Storage Long Term Backup Standards, hardware and software for data archiving, including tape drives and archiving software
Operational Recovery Standards, hardware, and software for creating copies of data which may be used to restore the original after a data loss event.
Security Data Security Data Loss Prevention Data loss prevention solutions are systems designed to detect potential data breach or "leakage" incidents in timely manner and prevent them by monitoring data while in-use (endpoint actions), in-motion (network traffic), and at-rest (data storage). In data leakage incidents, sensitive data is disclosed to unauthorized personnel either by malicious intent or inadvertent mistake. Includes systems for Information Leak Detection and Prevention (IDLP), Information Leak Prevention (ILP), Content Monitoring and Filtering (CMF), Information Protection and Control (IPC), and Extrusion Prevention Systems.
Identity and Access Management Authentication Hardware and software systems that accept proof of identity presented by a credible person. Authentication is the mechanism whereby systems may securely identify their users. Authentication systems provide answers to the questions: Who is the user? and Is the user really who he/she represents himself to be? Includes multi factor authentication, whereby at least two different factors are used in conjunction to authenticate. Factors include: human (something you are), personal (something you know) and technical (something you have).
Authorization Authorization is the mechanism by which a system determines what level of access a particular authenticated user should have to secured resources controlled by the system. For example, a database management system might be designed so as to provide certain specified individuals with the ability to retrieve information from a database but not the ability to change data stored in the datbase, while giving other individuals the ability to change data. Authorization systems provide answers to the questions: Is user X authorized to access resource R? Is user X authorized to perform operation P? Is user X authorized to perform operation P on resource R? Authorization software, also called access management services, provides an enterprise with the ability to separate out authorized users of their IT systems from potentially unauthorized users and, in the case of the former, allocate to the user the pre-determined levels of access and capability. The system also provides management functions such as adding new authorized users, deleting and modifying others, and changing the levels and types of permissions associated with each user. Authentication and authorization are somewhat tightly-coupled mechanisms -- authorization systems depend on secure authentication systems to ensure that users are who they claim to be and thus prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to secured resources.
Identity Management Software, appliances, and services used to create and manage user identities. Includes systems that allow an enterprise to keep track of the many user accounts throughout the enterprise - not only on in-house-designed applications but also on purchased COTS packages. Sophisticated identity management systems contain middleware that gives the ability to interoperate with many types of directory systems. Identity management is tightly coupled to access management, since access permissions are often role-based.
Network Security Antivirus and Anti-malware Software designed to prevent, detect, remove, and otherwise protect computer systems from the effects of computer viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and adware.
Content Filtering Software Includes components that will filter content based on organizationally defined rules. Filtering can include preventing the transmission of inappropriate language or images, malware, or security-classified information.
Encryption Includes components that encode data in such a way that an unauthorized party cannot decode it, yet it can be readily decoded by the receiver. Encryption capability is often provided as an embedded capability in electronic messaging software. Includes PKI.
Network Access Control Policies, standards and software for checking and updating networked computers' security settings and installed software prior to allowing access to network resources.
Network Auditing Network Auditing includes network security tools that audit and monitor remote network computers for possible vulnerabilities. Network auditing solutions include utilities for scanning, sniffing, enumerating and gaining access to machines, a database of known network security vulnerabilities, and a report generator. Network auditing can reveal and catalog a variety of information, including installed software, shares, users, drives, hotfixes, NetBios, RPC, SQL and SNMP information, and open ports.
Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Hardware and software that monitor events occurring in a computer system or network for signs of intrusion or other malicious activity, logs and reports any suspicious activities or policy violations, and takes measures to protect the system or network from such intrusions or activity.
Security Administration Software Software that supports an enterprise in protecting its information assets by consolidating management of accounts, passwords and resources across a broad range of intranet and extranet platforms as well as allowing applications to be centrally managed.
Security Event and Information Management Includes tools that support an enterprise in reporting and analyzing the multitude of security alerts and event alarms that can be generated by tools from several vendors.
Vulnerability Management Vulnerability scanning software seeks out security flaws based on a database of known flaws, tests systems for the occurrence of these flaws, and generates a report of the findings that security managers can use to tighten the network's security. Includes security patch management tools as well as corporate security policy compliance products. This domain also includes vulnerability assessment tools such as penetration testing tools. Tools in this domain typically compare the configuration of network and security devices and compare these with known updates and either recommend or automatically deploy changes.
Platform Security Application Security Standards and Software tools to scan application code for vulnerabilities and/or embedded malicious logic. Includes static code analysis tools.
Secure OS Boot Standards, software, and hardware that permit a clean, known-good copy of the desktop operating system to be loaded (usually from a portable hard drive) every time the PC is booted up.
Systems Management Facilities and Infrastructure Management Power Management Software for controlling electric power consumption by IT hardware, such as remote shutdown
Operations Management Emergency Management Includes standards, hardware and software for emergency notification and communication that enable designated individuals to communicate critical information to many others across multiple devices.
Human Resources Includes software aligned to support the Human Resources Line of Business, including Compensation Management, Employee Benefits Management, and Personnel Actions.
Systems Management Tools Alert Management Includes software that plans and monitors the entire alert management process, designates resources, arranges vacations, escalation plans and keeps track of all events as they occur. The alarming service has to give certainty that, if a message is issued, it will be received, acknowledged and acted upon.
Application Management Includes software that supports the management and administration of enterprise applications across a diverse, distributed environment. The software monitors application availability and performance, collects performance data and allows predictive analysis.
Asset Management Includes systems that support the management of an enterprise's IT assets (including PCs, servers, networks, and software) throughout the lifecycle of the asset from acquisition, through servicing and support, to disposal.
Data Center Automation Software Software which automates common, repetitive tasks associated with managing servers, networks, storage, databases, and application servers, such as provisioning, patching, configuration, and release management.
Disaster Recovery Standards, hardware, and software that increase IT system availability and enhance service restoral corrective capabilities.
IT Service Desk Includes software to support call management and logging activities of the IT service desk. The IT service desk is a single point of contact for end-users who need help. Having a single point of contact prevents significant losses in time spent by individual users looking for ways to fix problems and get help. The IT service desk does the following: receives all calls and emails on problems, records, classifies and prioritizes them, seeks a solution and keeps users updated.
Knowledge Management Standards and software that support the organization's ability to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences, embodied in individuals as ideas or habits, or embedded in organizations as processes or practices, collectively called knowledge. Includes systems for knowledge capture, knowledge categorization and classification, information retrieval, and knowledge distribution and delivery.
Mobile Device Management Mobile Device Management (MDM) software secures, monitors, manages and supports mobile devices deployed across mobile operators, service providers and enterprises. MDM functionality typically includes over-the-air distribution of applications, data and configuration settings for all types of mobile devices, including mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers, ruggedized mobile computers, mobile printers, mobile POS devices, etc. This applies to both company-owned and employee-owned (BYOD) devices across the enterprise or mobile devices owned by consumers. By controlling and protecting the data and configuration settings for all mobile devices in the network, MDM can reduce support costs and business risks. The intent of MDM is to optimize the functionality and security of a mobile communications network while minimizing cost and downtime.
Monitoring Includes software and hardware platforms that continuously reports and records response times, capacity use, throughput, and other performance metrics of computer hardware, software and/or networks in order to enable operational staff to monitor and track resource usage, measure network and application performance, manage availability, and provide insight on service level management.
Network Performance Optimization Performance and availability management software whose purpose is to enhance the quality and speed of data transfer. Network Performance Optimization products evaluate and report on the behavior of telecommunications equipment and the effectiveness of the network or network devices. End-to-end performance management measures performance across an internetwork. Component performance measures the performance of individual links or devices. Performance management gathers statistical information, maintains and examines historical logs, determines system performance under natural and simulated conditions. Includes software utilities and hardware devices whose purpose is to act as sensors to enable monitoring and/or improvement of activity levels (particularly traffic) on a network and its components.
Project Management Project management software includes estimation and planning software, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, communication, quality management and documentation or administration systems, which are used to deal with the complexity of large projects.
Remote Desktop Management Includes software that supports the management of an enterprise's IT desktop from a central location. By and large, it obviates the need for support staff to attend on-site to service a desktop device. From the central location, support professionals can scan desktop devices, check the status of software licenses, download and update software and perform diagnostics.
System Change and Configuration Management Includes tools that allow an enterprise to manage and control all of the configurable elements of its ICT systems, including servers, operating systems, as well as networks and their elements.

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

The Operating Systems section lists the VA-assessed operating system(s) for which the technology is supported by the vendor.

Technologies/Standards Relationships

The Technologies/Standards Relationships section lists all the dependent, comparable, and companion technologies/standards associated with the technology/standard. Hyperlinks are provided to each approved technology/standard VA TRM entry.
Relationship Type Description
Runtime Dependencies The Runtime Dependencies section lists the technologies that are required for the identified technology to function properly [Applies to Technology entries]
Implemented By/Verified With The Implemented By/Verified With section lists all the approved technologies that implement the standard and/or are used to verify conformance to the standard [Applies only to Standard entries]
Comparable Technologies/Standards The Comparable Technologies/Standards section lists technologies/standards that provides functionality similar to the identified technology/standard
Companion Technologies/Supported Standards The Companion Technologies/Supported Standards section lists technologies/standards that are bundled (packaged) with the identified technology [Applies only to Technology entries]
Associated Standards The Associated Standards section lists standards that the selected standard is dependent upon or is associated with [Applies only to Standard entries]