A

 

API –  stands for Application Program Interface. It is a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications. They specify how software components should interact. They are used by client applications and components.

 

Automated Data Discovery – The use of an open source tool, OpenAudIT, to automatically discover devices, computers and servers on a network and associated data sources, connect to data sources and “raw” indexes on these sources, and utilize these indexes to profile, identify, secure and map data to a business data view. Future options will automatically cleanse, transform and standardize “raw” data to initially build indexes for subsequent application query processing.

 

 

B

 

Bitmap – a representation of a collection of records in which each bit represents a record. The bit value (0 or 1) represents a match or non-match for the operation that generated the collection.

 

Boolean – denoting a system of algebraic notation used to represent logical propositions. Boolean algebra is used on bitmaps of collections as part of query processing.

 

Business Data Dictionary – a feature in the EIQ Product Suite that can be imported from a Standard Data Model of some form – typically, an industry Standard Data Model, e.g., ACORD for insurance, HL7 for healthcare and NIEM for the federal government. It has very specific data types and definitions for each of the attributes and the Business Data View would inherit these. Typically, but not always, the Business Data Dictionary would in-turn inherit very specific data types and definitions from an industry Standard Data Model. The Business Dictionary can be created without an industry Standard Data Model, e.g., from an Enterprise Data Warehouse, an ERP system or just a list that evolved or evolves over time.

 

Business Data View – a typically denormalized, i.e., single table, list of entities and their associated attributes. Business Data Views are created from a drop-down Business Data Dictionary, inheriting the specific data types and definitions for each of the attributes therein. The entities in the Business Data View are designated for keeping track of Link Indexes and for Master Data Management (MDM). The attributes associated with the entities in the Business Data View are designated for use by MDM for a complex (more than one attribute) entity match and merge process.

 

Business View – an additional view that can be configured in conjunction with the default views on an EIQ Indexed Adapter. These views are specified as a join clause in a SQL SELECT statement giving EIQ Indexed Adapter admin users the flexibility to specify the join rule among the native tables when needed to answer particular business questions. Business Views are queryable on the EIQ Indexed Adapter level or on the EIQ Federation Server under which the particular EIQ Indexed Adapter resides.

 

 

C

 

Content Index – one of two types of indexes utilized by the EIQ Index. It uses the data content from data sources as opposed to Link Indexes formed on the basis of links between content data.

 

CDI – Customer Data Integration or CDI is the process of consolidating and managing customer information from all available sources through various interactions with the customers.

 

 

D

 

Data federation – a process where data is collected from distinct databases by using on-demand data integration without ever copying or transferring the original data itself.

 

Data integration – the process of combining data from a set of distinct data stores to create one unified view of the data.

 

Data virtualization – the process of offering data consumers an access interface that hides the technical aspects of stored data such as location, storage structure, API, access language and storage technology.

 

Denormalization – the process of trying to improve the read performance of a database, at the expense of losing some write performance, by adding redundant copies of data or by grouping data.

 

Distributed Data Virtualization Platform (DDVP) – While many data federation, integration, and virtualization solutions are centralized where most processing occurs, DDVP attempts to differentiate by processing on the edge, close to data sources. In most cases, only results are consolidated in a central location. Also see SmartData Fabric^®.

 

 

E

 

EIQ – External Index and Query, is the concept used by various EIQ Products™ offered by WhamTech that make up the majority of the SmartData Fabric^®.

 

EIQ Edgeware – The collection of EIQ adapters that interface with data sources on the ‘edge’ as opposed to Federation Server which sits above the adapters. EIQ Indexed Adapter™, EIQ Hybrid Adapter™, EIQ Conventional Adapter™.

 

Enterprise search – the practice of making content from multiple enterprise-type sources, like databases and web pages on intranets, searchable to a defined audience. Used to describe the software of search information within an enterprise. Usually based on text search technologies as opposed to structured database search using query languages such as SQL.

 

ETL – The process data goes through when put in a database. Data is extracted from multiple sources, transformed and loaded for copying, cleaning, standardizing and storing in the database. This usually takes place in a data warehouse.

 

Event Processing – The capture, enrichment, formatting and emission of events. The subsequent routing and further processing of emitted events, sometimes in combination with other events, and the consumption of the processed events.

 

 

F

 

Foreign Key - a field (or collection of fields) in one table that uniquely identifies a row of another table or the same table. It is defined in a second table, but it refers to the primary key in the first table.

 

Fuzzy Matching – a technique used in computer-assisted translation as a special case of record linkage. It works with matches that may be less than 100% perfect when finding correspondences between segments of a text and entries in a database of previous translations.

 

 

I

 

Indexes – a data structure defined on columns in a database table to significantly speed up data retrieval operations. WhamTech uses balanced binary trees as indexes with Boolean operations on virtual and physical bitmaps to execute queries. This low-level approach provides high performance and scalability to indexing and query processing. WhamTech also offers a wide range of indexes and indexed views to significantly improve and extend queries on data source systems without loading up source systems.

 

Interoperability – The ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of information.

 

Internet of Things (IoT) – Refers to the ever-growing network of physical objects that feature an IP address for internet connectivity and the communication that occurs between these objects and other Internet-enabled devices and systems.

 

 

L

 

Link Index – one of the main indexes used by indexed EIQ Adapters. It’s formed to link records in and across data sources based on specific criteria. These indexes work with normal content indexes to enable accelerated database joins, link mapping, degrees of separation queries, link analysis, virtual CDI-MDM (Master Data Management), physical data, and logical and ontology model discovery among other capabilities.

 

Logical Data Warehouse (LDW) – A data warehouse that virtually adds new data sources to an existing/physical data warehouse. This is different from a Virtual Data Warehouse where there is no existing/physical data warehouse.

 

 

M

 

Master Data Management (MDM) - a comprehensive method of enabling an enterprise to link all of its critical data to one record called a master record. This record then provides a common point of reference. Typically, enterprises create master records for business-critical data such as customers, patients and products.

 

 

O

 

OpenSSL – a third party application that compliments the EIQ Product Suite by creating a secure connection over networks that is immune to eavesdropping and ascertaining the identity of the party at the other end of the connection.

 

P

 

Primary Key - a key in a relational database that is unique for each record. It is a unique identifier, such as a driver license number, telephone number (including area code) or vehicle identification number.

 

 

Q

 

Query language – a language for the specification of procedures for the retrieval (and also modification) of information from a database.

 

 

R

 

Revenue Cycle Management – All administrative and clinical functions that contribute to the capture, management and collection of patient service revenue.

 

Row-Level Security – a security feature that enables administrators to control access to specific rows in a database table based on the user executing the query. Users can still access all of the tables, but specific rows are hidden to them defined by a view that preforms a security check based on user attributes from the Active Directory or LDAP Security Group.

 

RTI – Read, Transform and Index processes data for reading, cleaning, transforming, standardizing and indexing data in WhamTech EIQ Indexes. Typically, the data is discarded and not stored in EIQ Indexes.

 

 

S

 

Schema – the organization or structure of a database. The activity of data modeling leads to a schema.

 

Shared-nothing – a distributed computing architecture in which each node is independent and self-sufficient, and there is no single point of contention across the system. None of the nodes share memory or disk storage.

 

Single Patient View – Refers to the ability to consolidate all patient information into one single view.

 

SmartData Fabirc^® (SDF) – A synergistic combination or EIQ adapters, federation servers and other software tools that are WhamTech-owned or third-party. Together these components comprise a software “fabric” designed and built to plug-and-play in existing IT architectures and complement and leverage existing IT systems, tools and applications. SDF assumes a very data-centric approach, plugs gaps, and enhances and enables many applications from basic operations to advanced analytics – discovery to insight (d2i).

 

SmartData Fabric^® MAT – WhamTech’s merger and acquisition tool (MAT) uses the SmartData Fabric^® to run across fragmented and often siloed data sources. It successfully integrates multiple systems without copying or moving any of the original source data.

 

Standard Data Model – a data model that is widely applied in a particular field, facilitating and accelerating information sharing through a standard vocabulary and pre-negotiated semantics, format, and quality standards for the data being exchanged.

 

 

T

 

Tokenization – the process of substituting a sensitive data element with a non-sensitive equivalent, referred to as a token that has no extrinsic or exploitable meaning or value.

 

 

V

 

Virtual Data Warehouse (VDW) - a virtual data warehouse combines access to multiple sources to create a single view of data usually with data quality and master data management addressed. This is different from a Logical Data Warehouse where existing/physical data warehouses are extended.

 

Virtual Index/Virtual Key (VK) – an index that contains no data, just index trees and corresponding record number lists.

 

Virtual Master Entity Index (VMEI) – An interactive and highly intuitive visualization index of quality Business Intelligence (BI) and advanced analytics of all persons, organizations, devices and more associated with a healthcare system – (data and content). This is related to MDM.

 

 

W

 

WhamEE™ Entity Extraction – an add-on software component that provides entity extraction feature from all types of data sources including sources with unstructured, structured, and semi-structured data. Use of the add-on requires the open-source text analytics software GATE.

 

WhamSearch™ Text Indexes – Searches for data, metadata and text in databases, files, email, Web documents, blogs, social media and more. A content and context-directed Intelligent Spider™, it is used as an add-on for other EIQ products for structured, unstructured and semi-structured data search.