Using Term Consistency to Identify Glossary Terms

Term Consistency highlights nouns and noun phrases that may be used inconsistently across your requirements. This view is especially useful for Configuration Authors and team leads who want to improve shared vocabulary and reduce ambiguity by building a stronger glossary.

You can use Term Consistency to find terms that should be defined, standardized, or replaced with approved language.

When to Use Term Consistency for Glossary Building

Term Consistency is most helpful when you want to:

• identify terms that different authors use to describe the same concept

• spot project-specific phrases that should be defined for new team members

• standardize acronyms, abbreviations, or capitalization

• catch “informal” terms that should be replaced with clearer language

A good time to review Term Consistency is after running an analysis on a representative set of requirements for a project or initiative.

What to Look For in Term Consistency

As you review the terms listed in Term Consistency, focus on:

Terms that appear frequently

High-frequency terms often represent key system concepts. If they are not defined, different authors may interpret them differently.

Similar terms that may represent the same concept

For example, you may see terms like:

• “vehicle status” and “status of vehicle”

• “operator display” and “user display”

• “distance threshold” and “threshold distance”

These can be good candidates for standardization through glossary entries.

Acronyms and capitalization variants

You may see the same term in different formats (for example, “ECU”, “ecu”, and “Ecu”). If capitalization matters in your standards, add glossary entries to define the preferred form.

Terms that trigger quality warnings or scoring issues

If a phrase is important in your domain but is being flagged by quality indicators, a glossary entry can help preserve the term while providing clarity for authors.

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How to Turn Term Consistency Findings into Glossary Entries

Use the process below to convert Term Consistency results into actionable glossary terms.

1. Pick the “approved” term

Decide what the team should use moving forward. Keep it:

• specific

• consistent with internal naming

• aligned with engineering documentation standards

2. Write a definition that removes ambiguity

A good glossary definition explains:

• what the term means in your project

• what it does not mean, if confusion is common

• any constraints, units, or scope

If helpful, include short guidance such as “Use this term only when…” or “Do not use this term to mean…”

3. Add related terms or variants

If multiple forms of a term appear across requirements, add glossary entries for the variants as well. This is especially useful for:

• acronym vs spelled-out versions

• capitalization variants

• legacy project terminology

4. Confirm case sensitivity

Glossary term matching is case sensitive in many workflows. If you expect authors to use multiple casing styles, add entries for each form you want to recognize.

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Recommended Workflow for Configuration Authors

1. Run analysis on a representative document or requirement set.

2. Review Term Consistency and identify candidate terms.

3. Update the Glossary with the new term and definition. 

For best results, treat glossary updates as part of a regular cadence, such as once per sprint or once per project milestone.

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Tips and Best Practices

• Start with your top 10–20 highest-frequency terms.

• Prioritize terms that could cause design or test ambiguity.

• If possible, avoid overloading the glossary with temporary or one-off phrases.

• Use the glossary to standardize preferred wording, not just define acronyms.

• Review glossary terms per project or initiative to avoid cross-project confusion.