A

AAA

American Automobile Association

AASHTO

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

Acceptance

An action by an authorized representative of the acquirer by which the acquirer assumes ownership of products as a partial or complete performance of contract.

Acceptance criteria

The criteria a product must meet to successfully complete a test phase or meet delivery requirements.

Acceptance test

Formal testing conducted to determine whether or not a system satisfies its acceptance criteria and to enable the acquirer to determine whether or not to accept the system.

Acquirer

An organization that procures products for itself or another organization.

AIAA

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

ANSI

American National Standards Institute

Appraisal

In CMMI, an examination of one or more processes by a trained team of professionals using an appraisal reference model as the basis for determining, at a minimum, strengths and weaknesses. (See also assessment.

Approval

Written notification by an authorized representative of the acquirer that the developer’s plans, design, or other aspects of the project appear to be sound and can be used as the basis for further work. Such approval does not shift responsibility from the developer to meet contractual requirements.

Architecture

The organizational structure of a system, identifying its components, their interfaces, and a concept of execution among them.

Assembly

A number of parts or sub-assemblies, or any combination thereof joined together, to perform a specific function and capable of disassembly.

Assessment

In CMMI, an appraisal that an organization does internally for the purposes of process improvement.

ASTM

American Society for Testing and Materials

ATIS

Advanced Transportation Information System

ATMS

Advanced Transportation Management System

Audit

An independent examination of a work product/process or set of work products/processes to assess compliance with specifications, standards, contractual agreements, or other criteria.

Authentication

The procedure [essentially approval] used by the approval authority in verifying that specification content is acceptable. Authentication does not imply acceptance or responsibility for the specified item to perform successfully.