The Authorization
Open Service Interface Definition (OSID) is an
O.K.I.
The Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) is an organization responsible for the specification of software interfaces comprising a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based on high level service definitions. The OKI specifically focuses on educatio ...
specification
A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.
There are different types of technical or engineering specificat ...
which provides the means to define who is authorized to do what, when. OSIDs are programmatic interfaces which comprise a
Service Oriented Architecture
In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. By consequence, it is also applied in the field of software design where services are provided ...
for designing and building
reusable and
interoperable
Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
.
Authorizations associate
Agents, which represent the user or another actor in the system, with ''Functions'' and ''Qualifiers''. One can think of Authorization in terms of a
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
where an
Agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...
is a
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Organism, Living creatures (including people ...
, Functions are operations or
verbs
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
, and Qualifiers are objects of the
operation
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. An
authorization
Authorization or authorisation (see spelling differences) is the function of specifying access rights/privileges to resources, which is related to general information security and computer security, and to access control in particular. More f ...
can then be read as a sentence.
For example, Jeff (an Agent) can write checks (a Function) on the Department account (a Qualifier). Since a system may have many Qualifiers they might be represented using a
Hierarchy
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
. For example, the Software Engineering Department account (a Qualifier) can have sub-accounts for Web Development (another Qualifier) and Database Development (a third Qualifier). If Jeff (our Agent) is explicitly authorized to write checks (the Function) on the Software Engineering account (the explicitly stated Qualifier), he is implicitly authorized to write checks on the Web and Database Development accounts.
An Agent in the Authorization OSID is represented using a unique identifier which can be examined via the
Agent OSID.
References
{{Reflist
Software architecture