Methodology used in the development of the vocabulary A.1 Introduction The universality of application of the ISO 9000 family of standards requires the use of — a technical description but without the use of technical language, and — a coherent and harmonized vocabulary that is easily understandable by all potential users of quality management systems standards. Concepts are not independent of one another, and an analysis of the relationships between concepts within the field of quality management systems and the arrangement of them into concept systems is a prerequisite of a coherent vocabulary. Such an analysis was used in the development of the vocabulary specified in this document. Since the concept diagrams employed during the development process may be helpful in an informative sense, they are reproduced in A.4. A.2 Content of a vocabulary entry and the substitution rule The concept forms the unit of transfer between languages (including variants within one language, for example American English and British English). For each language, the most appropriate term for the universal transparency of the concept in that language, i.e. not a literal approach to translation, is chosen. A definition is formed by describing only those characteristics that are essential to identify the concept. Information concerning the concept which is important but which is not essential to its description is put in one or more notes to the definition. When a term is substituted by its definition, subject to minor syntax changes, there should be no change in the meaning of the text. Such a substitution provides a simple method for checking the accuracy of a definition. However, where the definition is complex in the sense that it contains a number of terms, substitution is best carried out taking one or, at most, two definitions at a time. Complete substitution of the totality of the terms will become difficult to achieve syntactically and unhelpful in conveying meaning. A.3 Concept relationships and their graphical representation A.3.1 General In terminology work, the relationships between concepts are based on the hierarchical formation of the characteristics of a species so that the most economical description of a concept is formed by naming its species and describing the characteristics that distinguish it from its parent or sibling concepts. There are three primary forms of concept relationships indicated in this annex: generic (A.3.2), partitive (A.3.3) and associative (A.3.4). A.3.2 Generic relation Subordinate concepts within the hierarchy inherit all the characteristics of the superordinate concept and contain descriptions of these characteristics which distinguish them from the superordinate (parent) and coordinate (sibling) concepts, e.g. the relation of spring, summer, autumn and winter to season. Generic relations are depicted by a fan or tree diagram without arrows (see Figure A.1). ISO 9000:2005(E) © ISO 2005 – All rights reserved 21 A.3.3 Partitive relation Subordinate concepts within the hierarchy form constituent parts of the superordinate concept, e.g. spring, summer, autumn and winter may be defined as parts of the concept year. In comparison, it is inappropriate to define sunny weather (one possible characteristic of summer) as part of a year. Partitive relations are depicted by a rake without arrows (see Figure A.2). Singular parts are depicted by one line, multiple parts by double lines. A.3.4 Associative relation Associative relations cannot provide the economies in description that are present in generic and partitive relations but are helpful in identifying the nature of the relationship between one concept and another within a concept system, e.g. cause and effect, activity and location, activity and result, tool and function, material and product. Associative relations are depicted by a line with arrowheads at each end (see Figure A.3). Figure A.1 — Graphical representation of a generic relation Figure A.2 — Graphical representation of a partitive relation Figure A.3 — Graphical representation of an associative relation ISO 9000:2005(E) 22 © ISO 2005 – All rights reserved |