The terms, models, and acronyms used across this site, in one place. Core concepts, the four HERM models, local extensions to the model, and the disciplines in "Extending the model."
A local extension marking whether a system uses no AI, is AI-assisted, or is agentic, with its autonomy and what it acts on.
Application Reference Model — HERM's application capabilities.
Business Reference Model — HERM's capabilities.
Something the institution does (e.g. Student Enrolment), named in mission language and durable across the systems that deliver it. The organizing spine.
Configuration Management Database — the systems and their dependencies as a configuration model.
ISACA's framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT — the framework that filters frameworks.
The Data Management Body of Knowledge — the discipline of managing data well, around data governance.
A sensitivity level (Public → Restricted) setting how carefully a system's data must be handled. A local extension.
Lean Six Sigma's core roadmap: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.
Data Reference Model — HERM's data topics and source-of-record.
A higher-ed reference taxonomy of IT services, product-agnostic, for comparison and collaboration.
CAUDIT Higher Education Reference Models — the capability, data, application, and technology reference model this site is built on.
The most widely adopted framework for ITSM, covering the service lifecycle.
IT Service Management — running technology as defined services with ownership and quality.
A UX/service-design practice visualizing a person's end-to-end experience — actions, thoughts, emotions.
A process-improvement discipline joining Lean (waste removal) and Six Sigma (variation reduction).
The end-to-end path of a student, faculty member, researcher, or staff member through the institution.
NIST Cybersecurity Framework — organizes security into Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover.
A platform is the licensed product; the capabilities are what it delivers. One platform can host several distinct capabilities.
A diagram of the steps a piece of work goes through. On this site, process maps are the workflows, with each step tied to a capability and system. Swimlane, BPMN, SIPOC, and value-stream maps are more detailed forms.
A criticality ranking that sets how fast a system must be restored after failure, and in what order. A local extension.
Recovery Time Objective — the target time to restore a system after an outage.
A journey map extended to the back-stage systems, staff, and processes behind each step.
The single system designated authoritative for a kind of data, so everyone knows which copy is the truth.
A HERM business capability a system delivers, with its own code and definition in the BRM.
Technology Business Management — a discipline and taxonomy for the cost and value of technology (TBM Council).
Technology Reference Model — HERM's technology capabilities.
A HERM top-level grouping of capabilities — Learning & Teaching, Research, or Enabling.
The path a task takes end to end across systems — ordered steps, each exercising a capability and touching systems.
HERM terms are from the CAUDIT Higher Education Reference Models v3.2.0. Extension disciplines are stewarded by their respective bodies (TBM Council, ISACA, DAMA International, NIST, EDUCAUSE); see each extension page for sources.