Terminology Services

Exchange Network Glossary

Description:

Terms used by the Exchange Network.

Publishing Organization:

Office of Mission Support/Office of Information Management/Information Exchange Services Division

Last Update:

January 2020

Program Site:

https://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork

Terms & Acronyms

Search Terms

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	Term
	Air Facility System	Definition: An EPA data system that contains compliance and permit data for stationary air pollution sources regulated by EPA, state and local air pollution agencies. Acronym: AFS
	Air Quality System	Definition: EPA's repository of ambient air quality data. The acronym is used for both an EPA database and an Exchange Network data exchange. Acronym: AQS
	Application Programming Interface	Definition: When used in the context of web development, an API is a set of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request messages, along with a definition of the structure of response messages, which is usually in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format. The term web API is virtually synonymous with the term web service. Acronym: API
	Assistance Agreement	Definition: An agreement with the primary purpose of which is to provide appropriated funds to stimulate an activity, including but not limited to, grants and cooperative agreements.
	Authorized Organizational Representative	Definition: The individual who is authorized to sign on behalf of the proposing organization. Acronym: AOR
	Batch Upload	Definition: Upload that submits one "batch" file instead of multiple files.
	Beach Notification	Definition: An Exchange Network data exchange that allows for the reporting of beach metadata, contact information, and beach advisory and closing data as required under the BEACH Act (Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act). Grant recipients are required to submit beach notification data to EPA.
	CAA Stationary Source	Definition: Generally, any source of an air pollutant except those emissions resulting directly from an internal combustion engine for transportation purposes or from a nonroad engine or nonroad vehicle as defined in section 7550 of the Clean Air Act. Stationary sources of air pollution include, for example, factories, refineries, boilers, power plants, gas stations, and dry cleaners.
	Central Data Exchange	Definition: The gateway through which environmental data enters the Agency and is EPA’s point of presence on the Exchange Network and for many EPA shared services. CDX provides the capability for submitters to access their data using web services. CDX enables EPA and participating Program Offices to work with stakeholders - including state, tribal and local governments and regulated industries - to enable streamlined, electronic submission of data via the Internet. Acronym: CDX
	Conference(s)	Definition: A meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, workshop or event whose primary purpose is the dissemination of technical information beyond the non-Federal entity and is necessary and reasonable for successful performance under the Federal award.
	Construction	Definition: The erection, building, alteration, remodeling, improvement, or extension of buildings, structures or other property. Construction also includes remedial actions in response to a release, or a threat of a release, of a hazardous substance into the environment as determined by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.
	Contract	Definition: A legal instrument by which a non-Federal entity purchases property or services needed to carry out the project or program under a federal award.
	Cooperative Agreement	Definition: A legal instrument of financial assistance between a Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and a non-Federal entity that provides substantial involvement in carrying out the Federal award activities.
	Cross-Media Electronic Reporting Rule	Definition: CROMERR provides the legal framework for electronic reporting under EPA’s regulatory programs. The Rule sets performance-based, technology-neutral system standards and provides a streamlined, uniform process for Agency review and approval of electronic reporting. The CROMERR program ensures the enforceability of regulatory information collected electronically by EPA and EPA’s state, tribal and local government partners. Both new and existing electronic reporting programs require EPA approval, and the regulation establishes a process for applying for and obtaining such approval. CROMERR also addresses electronic reporting directly to EPA. Acronym: CROMERR
	Data Access Services (Publishing)	Definition: Network publishing is a term that refers to using Exchange Network technologies, services and specifications for web services to make data available to Network users by querying nodes and returning environmental data in the form of XML or (Json) documents. These services are also called data services. Once these data services are deployed, they can be used in a number of ways such as populating web pages, synchronizing data between sites, viewing data in a web service client, or building new sources of data into an integrated application. In other words, data access services are a specific subset of the many possible types of web services. Other web service types include data submission, security, quality assurance, notification and status.
	Data Element	Definition: A data element is the smallest unit of information stored in and exchanged among Exchange Network partners' information systems. Examples of data elements are the facility name, DUNS number, and inspection date.
	Data Standard	Definition: A data standard documents an agreement on representation, format, and definition for common data exchanged. Exchange Network partners must use data standards that have been approved by the Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC). The ENLC has subsumed the activities of the Environmental Data Standards Council (EDSC). See information at http://www.exchangenetwork.net/knowledge-base/
	Data Universal Numbering System	Definition: A unique, nine-digit series of numerals that identifies a business. Acronym: DUNS
	De Minimus	Definition: The 10% de minimis indirect cost rate is a Federally-recognized rate that non-Federal entities may use to recover allowable indirect costs on grants or cooperative agreements.
	Direct Charges	Definition: Those costs that can be identified specifically with a particular final cost objective. Typical costs charged directly to a Federal award are the compensation of employees who work on that award, their related fringe benefit costs, the costs of materials and other items of expense incurred for the Federal award.
	Direct Costs	Definition: Those costs that can be identified specifically with a particular final cost objective. Typical costs charged directly to a Federal award are the compensation of employees who work on that award, their related fringe benefit costs, the costs of materials and other items of expense incurred for the Federal award.
	Direct Funding	Definition: Funding that is provided to an organization directly by a governmental entity.
	Discharge Monitoring Report	Definition: The EPA uniform national form, including any subsequent additions, revisions, or modifications for the reporting of self-monitoring results by permittees. Acronym: DMR
	E-Enterprise	Definition: A joint initiative of states, tribes and EPA to expand access to environmental monitoring data, streamline regulatory information collections, and achieve performance goals for regulatory burden reduction and cost avoidance. The E-Enterprise program will be institutionalized through policies, supported by shared services, coordinated with governmental partners, and overseen by intra-agency and interagency governance structures.
	E-Enterprise Community Inventory Platform	Definition: A living project inventory with content spanning topics such as IT, process improvement, advanced monitoring, and data management. Users can view partner agencies’ projects and systems, participate in discussion threads, and connect with peers. Acronym: EECIP
	Emissions Inventory System	Definition: EPA's information system for storing all current and historical emissions inventory data. It receives and stores emissions data and generates emission inventories beginning with the 2008 National Emissions Inventory (NEI). Network partners submit emissions inventory data to the EIS using the EIS Data Exchange. Acronym: EIS
	Environmental Information Exchange Network	Definition: An Internet and standards-based information network among EPA and its partners in states, tribes, and territories. It is designed to help integrate information, provide secure real-time access to environmental information, and support the electronic collection and exchange of high-quality data and information. The EN provides a more efficient way of exchanging environmental information at all levels of government. It significantly improves the way EPA and its state, tribal, and territorial partners send and receive information. Acronym: EN
	Equipment	Definition: Tangible personal property (including information technology systems) having a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost which equals or exceeds $5,000.
	Exchange Network	Definition: See the definition for Environmental Information Exchange Network. Acronym: EN
	Exchange Network Discovery Services	Definition: A set of directory services for all nodes in EN. This central catalog approach supports the automated consumption of services using tools such as the EN Browser and the EN Services Center via an XML document that contains the service metadata. ENDS automate both the discovery and retrieval of service metadata for the Network and supports the Administration and export of node services via the web and web Service interfaces. ENDS is composed of two main components: the first, is a set of services that allows EN partners to submit and query the service descriptions stored in the ENDS repository; the second, is a web interface that simplifies the data entry of service metadata into ENDS. The services all accept or return a common XML schema. This XML schema provides a structured, standard way to represent EN services across all EN Nodes. A second ENDS schema defines the Data Element Description Language (DEDL) that can be used by individual Exchange Network nodes for describing acceptable parameters and valid allowable values and making them available as services. DEDL further enhances the ability for EN partners to build rich, user friendly applications using EN services. More information on ENDS is available at: http://www.exchangenetwork.net/exchangenetwork-discovery-service-ends/. Acronym: ENDS
	Exchange Network Services Center	Definition: The ENSC is a browser-based portal that provides Exchange Network partners access to a broad range of Network services. Among the most notable features of the Service Center is the ability to submit data to EPA systems, monitor the status of data submissions, and access a variety of Network administrative data. Essentially, the ENSC offers most of the functionality of a Node, but it is not automated and cannot respond to data requests. It simplifies access to Network services because it requires no software to install or configure. It can be accessed from any computer with a browser and internet access. The ENSC is available at https://enservices.epa.gov/login.aspx. Acronym: ENSC
	Extensible Markup Language	Definition: A flexible language for creating common information formats and sharing both the format and content of data over the Internet and elsewhere. XML is a formatting language recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). For guidance on the development of XML schema for the Exchange Network or related activities of the Network Technical Group, see the Exchange Network website at http://www.exchangenetwork.net. Acronym: XML
	Facility Registry Services	Definition 1: The EPA Data Warehouse for facility information for all environmental areas, consolidated from EPA data systems and state, tribes, and territories. Definition 2: The Exchange Network FRS data flow. This flow is also referred to as the FacilityID Exchange because it is not exclusively used to submit to the EPA FRS warehouse. The exchange is also used for other facility information sharing purposes such as the HERE Exchange. Acronym: FRS
	Flow Configuration Documents	Definition: The principle document that defines the detailed data exchange processing design and roles governing a data exchange using narrative text, diagrams and examples. A standard template for FCDs is available on the Exchange Network Website. For more information, refer to the Flow Configuration Checklist v1.1. Acronym: FCDs
	Foundational Shared Services	Definition: Support many of the current E-Enterprise solutions and are presently shared among the greatest number of E-Enterprise partners.
	Geospatial Data	Definition: Data that identify, depict, or describe the geographic locations, boundaries, or characteristics of the Earth's inhabitants or its natural or human-constructed features. Geospatial data include geographic coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) that identify a specific location on the Earth and data that are linked to geographic locations or have a geospatial component (e.g., socio-economic data, land use records and analyses, land surveys, homeland security information, and environmental analyses). Geospatial data may be obtained using a variety of approaches and technologies, including things such as surveys, satellite remote sensing, Global Position System (GPS) hand-held devices, and airborne imagery and detection devices.
	Goal	Definition: In EPA grant terminology, a goal is a self-contained project (e.g., implementing WQX, implementing an electronic reporting system using shared CROMERR services). This differs from the more common definition of goal—a desired end. An Exchange Network grant application must list one or more goals.
	Grant(s)	Definition: A legal instrument of financial assistance between a Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and a non-Federal entity.
	In-Kind Services	Definition: Services provided by EPA contractors and consultants on specific parts of the project for the recipient. The recipient can request this type of service as part of the grant application, if the in- kind work is directly related to the recipient’s application and the applicant is the primary beneficiary of the work. However, EPA reserves the right to decide whether or not in-kind services will be provided. The recipient may not direct the work provided through in-kind services. These services are managed by EPA.
	Indirect Charges	Definition: Those costs incurred for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted.
	Indirect Costs	Definition: Those costs incurred for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted.
	Instrumentality of the State	Definition: An instrumentality is an organization created by or pursuant to state statute and operated for public purposes. Generally, an instrumentality performs governmental functions, but does not have the full powers of a government, such as police authority, taxation and eminent domain.
	Integrated Compliance Information System	Definition: Supports the information needs of the national enforcement and compliance program. ICIS integrates data that is currently located in several separate data systems. ICIS enables individuals from states and EPA to access integrated enforcement and compliance data from any desktop connected to the Internet. EPA's ability to target the most critical environmental problems will improve as the system integrates data from all media. Acronym: ICIS
	Integrated Compliance Information System-National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System	Definition: The first phase of the Integrated Compliance Information Systems (ICIS) development is to support the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program - ICIS-NPDES, the data for which have been stored in the outdated Permit Compliance system. The main components of the NPDES program are the issuance and enforcement of permits that facilities require before discharging wasterwater into any surface water body. The ICIS-NPDES data exchange allows state, tribe and EPA regional users to provide NPDES data to EPA in an XML format, check the results, and correct common errors that may occur to their submissions. Acronym: ICIS-NPDES
	Integrated Project Team	Definition: A group of individuals comprised of partner and EPA staff, support contractors, and technology vendors organized to design and implement a specific exchange. Acronym: IPT
	Inter-Tribal Consortia	Definition: A coalition of two or more separate Indian tribes that join together for the purpose of applying for a grant. An intertribal consortium is eligible to receive a Cooperative Agreement from EPA only if the intertribal consortium demonstrates that all members of the consortium meet the eligibility requirements for the Cooperative Agreement, and all members authorize the consortium to apply for and receive assistance.
	Maintenance	Definition: The activity necessary to keep an IT asset functioning as designed. Maintenance costs include costs needed to sustain an IT asset at the current capability and performance levels including: corrective hardware/software, voice and data communications maintenance, replacement of damaged or obsolete IT equipment and associated overhead costs. Examples of maintenance projects include operating system upgrades, technology refreshes, and security patch implementations. Maintenance excludes activities aimed at expanding the capacity of an asset or otherwise upgrading it to serve needs different from or significantly greater than those originally intended.
	Management Fees	Definition: Expenses added to direct costs in order to accumulate and reserve funds for ongoing business expenses, unforeseen liabilities or for other similar costs are not allowable under EPA assistance agreements.
	Metadata	Definition: Data or information that describes other data. Examples include data that describe how or where the data were collected, whether or not the data comply with agreed-upon data standards, or how the data will be used.
	Mileage	Definition: An allowance for traveling expenses at a certain rate per mile.
	National Emissions Inventory	Definition: A Clean Air Act (CAA) collection of point, area, mobile and biogenic emissions data periodically submitted to EPA's Office of Air and Radiation by State and local air programs. These data are used for air dispersion modeling, regional strategy development, regulation-setting, air toxics risk assessment, and tracking trends in emissions over time. Acronym: NEI
	National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System	Definition: A permit program that controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States. Data related to this program is exchanged on the Exchange Network using the ICIS-NPDES data exchange. Acronym: NPDES
	Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement	Definition: The documentation that issues the reimbursement rate(s) negotiated between the Federal government and a grantee organization to substantiate its request for the establishment of an indirect cost rate.
	Network Authorization and Authentication Services	Definition: A set of centralized information security services that Exchange Network partners can use to authenticate and authorize their users. NAAS provides an efficient way for EN participants to exchange data, without having to build and maintain their own security system. NAAS supports many levels of security, from PIN/passwords to public Key Infrastructure. All NAAS operations conducted over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) channel using 128 bit encryption. Acronym: NAAS
	Node	Definition: A web service enabled server (hardware and software) that provides a point for exchanging information over the Internet. Exchange Network Nodes can gain access to and transmit information using web services. In order to achieve interoperability among Nodes, all Nodes must be set up according to the EN specifications. Freely available Node software is available at http://www.exchangenetwork.net/exchange-network-products/. Specifications, protocols, tools, code and documentation for building a functioning Exchange Network Node are available at http://www.exchangenetwork.net/knowledge-base/.
	Node Client	Definition: An application (software code) that can generate web service messages for using the Exchange Network. A Node client can do the following: * Submit data in XML format to EPA or other partners using the Exchange Network and * Request data in XML format from EPA or other partners using the Exchange Network. Several Node clients that are very user friendly are available on the Exchange Network website already. More are on the way. A Node client software developer kit (SDK) is also available to help you integrate Node client requests into your applications. Unlike Nodes, Node clients cannot publish data on the Exchange Network (i.e., they cannot listen for or respond to data queries from other EN partners).
	Operations	Definition: The day-to-day management of an asset in the production environment and include activities to operate data centers, help desks, operational centers, telecommunication centers, and end user support services. Operations costs include the expenses associated with an IT asset that is in the production environment to sustain an IT asset at the current capability and performance levels including: Federal and contracted labor costs and costs for the disposal of an asset.
	Operations and Maintenance	Definition: The phase of an asset in which the asset is in operations and produces the same product or provides a repetitive service. Operations and Maintenance (O&M) is synonymous with “steady state.” Acronym: O&M
	Outcome	Definition: The result, effect, or consequence of carrying out a project leading to an environmental or programmatic goal. Outcomes may be environmental, behavioral, health-related or programmatic in nature, may be quantitative or qualitative, and may not necessarily be achievable within an assistance agreement funding period.
	Output	Definition: An environmental activity, effort, or associated work products leading to an environmental goal, that will be produced or provided over a period of time or by a specified date. Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during an assistance agreement funding period.
	Partner	Definition: In the context of the Exchange Network, "partner" refers to an institution that is active on the Network. It can also mean one of the two entities in a Trading Partner exchange. The Partner can either be the information provider or the information requester (client/consumer).
	Per Diem	Definition: The allowance for lodging (excluding taxes), meals and incidental expenses for each day.
	Performance Partnership Grant	Definition: EPA provides financial assistance to states, tribes and territories to help them develop and implement environmental programs in response to Federal delegation of a range of program responsibilities. Under traditional environmental program grants (sometimes called "categorical" grants), states receive funds separately to implement the various water, air, waste, pesticides, and toxic substances programs. States and certain interstate agencies can now choose to combine two or more environmental program grants into a single PPG, which thus becomes a key tool for implementing Performance Partnership Agreements. Acronym: PPG
	Pre-Award Costs	Definition: Pre-award costs are those incurred prior to the effective date of the Federal award directly pursuant to the negotiation and in anticipation of the Federal award where such costs are necessary for efficient and timely performance of the scope of work.
	Regional Exchange Network Coordinator	Definition: Acts as the coordinator and facilitator of the EN and the EN grant program for the region in which they work. In this role, the RENC’s primary responsibility is to serve as the regional project officer for awarded EN grants, which includes providing necessary support and guidance for grantees, performing grant monitoring functions, and reviewing/approving grant reporting forms and extensions. Acronym: RENC
	Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface	Definition: A software architecture that creates rules for data interoperability. Acronym: REST APIs
	Representational State Transfer Web Service	Definition: Software system designed to support machine-to-machine interaction over a network. Representational State Transfer (REST) services do not require XML, SOAP, or WSDL (Web Services Description Language) but rely on the exchange of requests and responses between the resources and on their corresponding states. REST-style services facilitate the aggregation of services into more complex services and the development of mashups. REST services are usually accessed via HTTP (like a web URL or link). Acronym: REST, RESTful Web Service
	Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System	Definition: A national program management and inventory system about hazardous waste handlers. Acronym: RCRAInfo
	Reusable Component Services	Definition: This repository provided a central point of access to a broad range of IT resources, components, and services used in various EPA and partners systems. Scheduled to be retired in 2020, EN grantees previously used this repository to register any newly developed resources and the reuse of existing EN resources in accordance with the Exchange Network Interoperability Policy. These records have since been migrated to the SSRC. Acronym: RCS
	Safe Drinking Water Identification System	Definition: Contains information about public water systems and their violations of EPA's drinking water regulations. Acronym: SDWIS
	Schema	Definition: An XML schema defines the structure of an XML document including data elements and attributes can appear in a document, how the data elements relate to one another, whether an element is empty or can include text, which types of data are allowed for specific data elements and attributes, and what the default and fixed values are for elements and attributes. A set of Network quality assurance web services is available to validate your XML documents against the schemas using a standard parser. A list of procedural and guidance documents related to schema development is available on the Exchange Network website at http://www.exchangenetwork.net/knowledge-base/.
	Shared Service	Definition: A shared service, as defined by the Shared Services Integrated Project Team in 2016, is a service that is: Developed jointly. Usable by multiple partners/users. Managed centrally, meaning that some entity is overseeing the ongoing evolution and maintenance of the service. The entity might be a state, tribe, territory, EPA, or some other interested party. *Addresses a common need/concern.
	Shared Services Resource Catalog	Definition: The SSRC is a catalog of EPA, state, tribal and territory services, which includes a registry related XML schema, widgets, plug-ins, web services and many other resources. SSRC has a searchable interface with which users can search for existing data and IT assets, which is available at https://sscatalog.epa.gov/sharedservicecatalog/search. Any Exchange Network resources that have been registered in prior years in RCS have been transferred and made available in SSRC. Acronym: SSRC
	Simple Object Access Protocol	Definition: SOAP is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information for the implementation of web services on a computer network. It allows machines to interoperate in a loosely coupled manner using simple standard messages over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP or others) and uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the mechanisms for information exchange. Acronym: SOAP
	Subawardee	Definition: A non-Federal entity that receives a subaward from a pass-through entity to carry out part of a Federal program, but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program.
	Subawards	Definition: An award provided by a pass-through entity to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a Federal award received by the pass-through entity. It does not include payments to a contractor or payments to an individual that is a beneficiary of a Federal program.
	Subgrants	Definition: An award provided by a pass-through entity to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a Federal award received by the pass-through entity. It does not include payments to a contractor or payments to an individual that is a beneficiary of a Federal program.
	Subject Matter Experts	Definition: An individual who exhibits the highest level of expertise in a specified topic or field of work. Acronym: SME
	Subrecipient	Definition: A non-Federal entity that receives a subaward from a pass-through entity to carry out part of a Federal program, but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program.
	Supplies	Definition: All tangible personal property. A computing device is a supply if the acquisition cost is less $5,000, regardless of the length of its useful life.
	Toxics Release Inventory	Definition: A publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities. Acronym: TRI
	Toxics Release Inventory - Made Easy	Definition: A software tool to help facilities determine and complete their Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 313 (TRI) reporting obligations. Acronym: TRI-ME
	Unliquidated Obligations	Definition: Obligations incurred by the non-Federal entity that have not been paid (liquidated). Acronym: ULO
	Water Quality Exchange	Definition: An Exchange Network data exchange that allows Network partners to share ambient water quality data with the U.S. EPA. Acronym: WQX
	Web Services	Definition: A software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. They make it easier to conduct work across organizations regardless of the types of operating systems, hardware/software, programming languages, and databases that are being used.
	Widget	Definition: A software tool that uses a small (smaller than a page) graphical interface to provide a function or service and that can be added to a web application or to a web page.
	Workshops	Definition: A meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, conference or event whose primary purpose is the dissemination of technical information beyond the non-Federal entity and is necessary and reasonable for successful performance under the Federal award.

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