The words we use, defined once.
NovusLens is the product. Conway+ is the name of the framework behind it. This page defines the terms you will meet in the product, in its manuals and in the framework. Terms are in alphabetical order. Where a term has its own concept page, the definition links to it.
Critical path length (CPL) and Complexity, Agility and Recoverability (C/A/R) are expanded here and on their own pages. C/A/R is only ever the three structural measures. The agentic questions are always written out as Capability, Authority and Responsibility.
A
Accountable owner. The person recorded as answerable for a team, service or agent. NovusLens does not assume that this person is also the one who runs it day to day.
Acquirer. A program that reads a customer's operational records, calculates quantities from them and records the results in NovusLens.
Advisory. A published report of a security problem in a software package.
Advisory lock. A database lock that cooperating programs take to prevent conflicting work at the same time. They must explicitly use the lock.
Agent. A program that takes actions for an organisation. NovusLens records what it is allowed to do and what its activity reports show.
Agent estate. The collection of AI agents an organisation operates, together with the systems and providers they use.
AgentFacts. A signed statement from an agent about its allowed work, its permissions and the person answerable for it.
Agentic accountability. Keeping separate records of what an AI agent can do, what it is allowed to do and who answers for its actions.
Agentic Readiness Assessment. An advisory review of whether an organisation is prepared to use AI agents, including who may authorise actions and who answers for the results.
Allow-list. A list of permitted actions, resources or destinations. It excludes everything else only when its issuer says the list is complete.
API. Application programming interface: a defined way for one program to request data or actions from another.
ARIA. Accessible Rich Internet Applications: labels and state information that help assistive tools understand interactive web controls.
Artifact. A stored source file or evidence body that a record can cite. Keeping the exact content lets a reader check what supported the record.
Ask. The tab that composes an answer to a question in your own words, from the records, with each statement pointing to its sources. Ask answers only as far as your role can see.
Atomic operation. An operation whose changes succeed together or fail together, rather than leaving only some of them applied.
AWS. Amazon Web Services: a cloud platform whose account and resource exports NovusLens can read.
B
Backoff. A delay before retrying a failed operation. The delay usually grows after repeated failures to avoid making an outage worse.
Base64. A way to write bytes using ordinary text characters, so a key or signature can be carried in a text field.
Bearer token. A secret value sent with a request to prove that the caller holds it. Anyone who obtains it can use it, so it must be protected.
Binary. A program file built to run on a particular kind of machine. A program built for one processor may not run on another.
Boundary feed. Records supplied by the customer’s own systems about activity at the edge of an agent or service. NovusLens reads those records; it does not watch the agent.
Brief. The management brief: a printable summary of the differences to review, with their sources, observation dates and limits. It is a snapshot taken when it is printed.
Buffered. A handoff that takes more than one day and up to four days. It adds 1 point to the dependency-chain index.
C
C/A/R. Three separate scores for a team or service: Complexity, Agility and Recoverability. Each uses current evidence and the customer’s stated scoring rules. See C/A/R.
Calibration. The customer's own rule that turns raw figures, such as a gauge, a workflow history or an incident log, into a C/A/R score. A score moves when the calibration moves, and the change is recorded.
Canonical JSON. A fixed way to write data: sort the field names and omit spaces between fields. Do not use infinity or invalid numbers. Sender and receiver can then sign and check identical content.
Canonical log. The permanent history of changes to an organisation’s model. New entries are added at the end. Earlier entries stay when the database is rebuilt.
Capability. What a team can provide or an agent can do. NovusLens records the claim and the evidence that supports it. See Capability, Authority and Responsibility.
Cedar. A language for writing rules about who may perform an action on a resource. NovusLens can generate files in this format for the customer to review.
Cell. A box on the map that stands for a team, service, supplier or AI agent. It is a unit you can inspect, not necessarily a department or a person.
Challenge. A recorded dispute of a value. Both the original and the disputed version are kept, and the challenge is listed under Findings.
CIDR. A way to name a range of network addresses, such as 10.42.1.0/24. The number after the slash defines how much of the address identifies the network.
CLI. Command-line interface: commands you type into a terminal to operate software.
Client component. An interface component whose interactive code runs in the browser.
Cloud resource container. A cloud account, project, folder, resource group or business service that holds other resources. Its position in the hierarchy determines which tags the importer reads.
Cluster. A group of computers running together as one installation. Each regional NovusLens installation keeps its own records.
CMDB. Configuration management database: an inventory of systems and the relationships recorded between them.
CNI. Container Network Interface: the standard used by software that connects containers to a network.
Connector. Software that reads records from a source system, such as an incident tool. A customer-written file connects those records to teams or services in NovusLens.
Consensus. A process in which connected services agree on one result before accepting it as a shared decision.
Container. A running program with its own packaged software and isolated environment, managed by Docker on the host.
Container image. A packaged application and the software it needs. Docker starts a container from this package.
Content address. An identifier calculated from a record's contents. It lets the program check that the retrieved bytes are the same bytes originally stored.
Context manager. A Python construct that runs setup when entering a block and cleanup when leaving it, including when an error occurs.
Continuous integration. Automated checks run when code changes, usually including building the code and running tests.
Correction. A change to a recorded value or record. The earlier version stays in the history, and any conclusion that depended on it is checked again.
Correction epoch. The highest correction token already applied for one organisation. An observation with a lower token belongs to an older correction pass and is refused.
Corrector. The NovusLens component that compares measurements with recorded statements and adds observations and differences to the log.
Coupling. A link where one team or service depends on another. Its Loose, Buffered or Rigid class describes the time needed for a handoff.
Coverage. What the available records cover, and what is missing. A count such as “3 of 5 dependencies measured” names the measured portion and the gap.
CPL. Critical path length. The total coordination weight of the longest chain of dependencies in the model. NovusLens reports it as index points, not elapsed time. See CPL.
CQRS. Command query responsibility segregation: keeping the record of changes separate from the tables used to answer questions. NovusLens writes to its log and reads from database tables built from it.
Critical path. The dependency chain with the greatest total coordination weight in the map. It identifies a structural constraint. It does not state elapsed time.
CSS. Cascading Style Sheets: the rules that control a web page's colours, type and layout.
Current evidence. A view that uses only measurements recent enough to count. The “What we were told” view uses recorded statements instead.
Cursor. A saved position in a sequence of records. A program uses it to continue from where it stopped.
Cytoscape. The library that draws the interactive boxes and dependency lines in the organisation map.
D
Dataclass. A Python class declared mainly to hold named fields. A mutable one can change after creation; a frozen one cannot.
DCIM. Data centre infrastructure management: records and tools describing physical data centre equipment and its use.
De-facto. What an agent actually does, according to activity reports from the customer’s systems. NovusLens reads those reports. It does not intercept the agent’s actions.
De-jure. What an agent is declared to be allowed to do. NovusLens compares that declaration with activity reports and lists differences for review.
Deadlock. Two or more operations are each waiting for a lock held by another, so none can continue until one is stopped.
Deep sweep. An on-demand review that uses AI models to look for contradictions between written entries and the organisation model, or between written entries.
Dependency. A link where one unit needs something from another. A dependency is not a reporting line: it shows where work relies on something else.
Dependency cycle. A loop in the dependencies: one unit needs another, which eventually needs the first unit again. For example, Sales waits on Finance and Finance waits on Sales.
Deployment profile. A setting that selects customer or development behaviour. Customer mode refuses development credentials and uses the signed-in session as the identity.
Digital signature. A check calculated with a signing key that can detect whether a record has changed. Identifying the signer also requires a trusted link between that key and its owner.
Distributed lock. A lock that coordinates programs running in separate processes or on separate machines, so only one holder is recognised at a time.
Docker Compose. The Docker tool that starts and connects the services listed in one configuration file.
Domain. A business area defined by the work it does, such as purchasing or customs. It may involve several teams, and one team may serve several areas.
Domain taxonomy. The list of business areas, their owners and the teams or services that do the work in each area.
DORA metrics. Software delivery measures associated with the DevOps Research and Assessment programme, including change speed, failure rate and recovery time.
E
Ed25519. The digital-signature method used to sign evidence. The private key signs the exact content; the public key checks that signature.
Egress. Traffic leaving a system or network for another destination.
ELK. The layout library that decides where the map boxes and lines are placed. It runs in the browser from code included with the application.
Endpoint. A particular address on a service that accepts a defined kind of request.
Enrolment. The operator's recorded permission for a source to send specified record types about named agents, using an identified signing key.
Envelope. The surrounding fields that identify a message, its sender, its type and its time, alongside the message's data.
Environment variable. A named setting made available to a running program. The customer launcher reads these settings from the installation environment file.
Epoch. For timestamps, the starting point is 1 January 1970 at midnight in the shared world time reference. For evidence policy, it is the recorded version number.
Eventual consistency. Connected copies of data may briefly differ after a write. They move towards the same state as updates reach them.
Evidence ladder. The three levels of support a record can have, in order: told, shown and measured. See the evidence ladder.
Evidence policy. The operator’s rules for which agent reports count and for how long. The default period for grouping related events is fifteen minutes.
Evidence request. A request for a document to support something somebody stated. The Findings tab lists it as Evidence requested.
Expired measurement. A measurement that has passed its observation window. It stays in the history and is counted as expired. It is never erased.
F
Federation. Sharing selected signed facts and summaries between separate regional twins, while their detailed records stay in their own regions.
Fencing token. A number that identifies a turn to update shared data. NovusLens rejects an earlier correction’s writes after a newer correction is applied.
Find. The tab that lists the records whose names match a word. Use it when you want the records themselves rather than an answer.
Finding. A difference in the records that needs a decision. It includes its sources and can describe a slow handoff, disputed fact or missing owner.
Fixture. A prepared set of records used for a test or demonstration. A fixture is sample data, not a live customer's records.
Fleet. A group of AI agents considered together. Related activity can be grouped only when the records establish what the agents share.
Fleet incident. A finding about several agents that completed the same operation above their recorded limits in one period. The agents must share something recorded in the model.
Foreign key. A database rule requiring a reference in one record to point to an existing record in another table.
fsync. An operating-system call that asks for pending file changes to be saved to disk before the program carries on.
G
Gateway. A service that accepts requests and passes them into another system. The Mycelium gateway gives NovusLens access to the mesh.
GCP. Google Cloud Platform: a cloud platform whose project and resource exports NovusLens can read.
Git commit. A recorded set of changes. In a software repository it identifies a code version; in the twin log it records a change to the model or its evidence.
GitHub Container Registry. GitHub’s service for storing and downloading packaged applications used by Docker.
Gossip. A way for connected services to pass updates to one another until the updates spread through the group.
Graph. A model made of units and links between them. In NovusLens it records teams, services and their dependencies.
Group fidelity. The group view’s counts of recorded facts at each evidence level: told, shown and measured. The counts describe the records, not the organisation’s performance.
Guide. The help pages inside NovusLens. They explain the pages, input formats and tasks in the version you use. They are product instructions, not evidence about the organisation.
H
Handoff. Work or information passed from one team or service to another. Its measured or stated completion time determines the dependency class.
Hash. A fixed-length fingerprint calculated from content. Comparing fingerprints helps detect changes and match records.
HMAC-SHA256. A method that combines a secret key with content to make a checkable signature. The session cookie uses it to detect changes.
HR. Human resources: the organisation's people records and the team that maintains them.
HTML. Hypertext Markup Language: the format used to describe a web page's content and structure.
HTTP. Hypertext Transfer Protocol: the rules a browser or program uses to send a request to a web service and receive its response.
HTTPS. HTTP carried over an encrypted connection, so the contents are protected while travelling between the caller and the server.
Hybrid logical clock. A number attached to a log entry to order it against other entries. It combines clock time with a counter, so entries can be ordered even when clocks do not agree exactly.
I
Idempotent. Repeating the same operation has the same effect as doing it once: it creates no extra copies or repeated changes.
Identity salt. A secret value added before employee identifiers are turned into fingerprints. Keep the same value so later imports can still match existing people.
Index points. The unit of the dependency-chain index. Index points are structural weights, not hours or money, and every answer and what-if reports the index in them.
Indicative. The label on a scenario or what-if. An indicative result shows one possibility under stated assumptions. It is never a measurement of the future.
Inference. The work a language model does to produce an answer from its instructions and input.
Infrastructure as code. Files that declare the computing resources an organisation intends to run. Comparing them with a provider export can reveal differences.
Infrastructure code. Files that describe the computing resources an organisation intends to create and how they should be configured.
Ingest. Read supplied records or documents and add their information to NovusLens, after the required checks.
Installation journal. A saved record of setup steps, their attempts and whether they started, completed or failed. It records progress, not a backup of application data.
Instant vector. A set of measurement values selected for one point in time, rather than a series of values over a period.
J
JSON. JavaScript Object Notation: a text format for data, using named fields, lists and values. Configuration files and service messages use it.
JSON-RPC. A message format for asking another program to run a named method and return a result or an error. Messages use JSON.
K
Key-person risk. A finding about a team on the measured critical path with one to four people represented in the records. It never names those people.
Key-value store. Storage where a named key points to a value. Reading that key retrieves the value currently stored under it.
KiB and MiB. Binary size units: one KiB is 1,024 bytes; one MiB is 1,048,576 bytes. Evidence limits use these units.
Knowledge library. The organisation’s written procedures and definitions. Each entry records its source, date and who can read it. NovusLens cites these entries as supplied information.
L
Language model. Software that produces text from instructions and supplied context. NovusLens checks its answers against the records retrieved for the question.
Last-write-wins. A rule for competing updates in which the update with the latest ordering stamp supplies the stored value.
Layer A and Layer B boundary. The division between advice and action. NovusLens records and explains evidence in Layer A. The customer’s systems run and control agents in Layer B. See the layer boundary.
Lead time. The elapsed time between starting a request or handoff and completing it.
Linearisability. Accepted operations behave as if they happened one at a time in a shared order. That order respects operations that already finished.
Loopback. A network address that refers to the same host, such as 127.0.0.1. Other hosts cannot reach a service through that address.
Loose. A handoff that takes about one day or less. It adds 0.5 points to the dependency-chain index.
M
Map. The view of teams, services and their dependencies for the selected part of the organisation. Details appear beside the map.
Mapping. A customer-written file that connects names in a source system to teams or services in NovusLens. For scores, it also specifies the scoring rules.
Materialiser. The component that reads recorded changes in order and updates the database. It records its place so it can continue after a restart.
MCP. Model Context Protocol: a standard way for an AI application to discover and call named tools supplied by another program.
Meaning canon. The organisation’s supplied written descriptions of its operations, systems and terms. NovusLens stores these separately from records of teams, dependencies and measurements.
Meaning contradiction. Two written accounts, or a written account and the organisation model, appear to disagree about the same subject, scope and time.
Meaning entry. A stored written account supplied by the organisation, such as a policy or definition. Answers can cite it without treating it as a measured fact.
Meaning-graph incoherence. A written entry names a team or service that the organisation model does not contain.
Measured. The top evidence level: a connected source recorded the observation within a stated period. A measurement shows what was observed on that occasion, not that it always holds.
Meridian Grid. The fictional demonstration organisation used by the demonstration walk and its sample data. Nothing about Meridian Grid describes a real company.
Mesh. A set of connected Mycelium services that exchange updates and keep the NovusLens log.
Migration. An ordered change to a database's tables or rules. Applied migration files are recorded so the same file is not run again.
Model runtime. The software that loads and runs an AI model so it can answer requests.
Model temperature. A setting that controls how much a language model varies its choice of words. Lower values usually produce less varied answers.
Mycelium. The application infrastructure underneath NovusLens. Its connected services exchange updates and keep the ordered structural log.
N
Named volume. Storage managed by Docker under a fixed name. It survives the removal of a running container until explicitly deleted.
Namespace. A naming area that keeps one set of records apart from another. NovusLens uses the conway/ prefix so its keys do not occupy Mycelium's reserved names.
Next.js. The web framework used to build and run the NovusLens interface. It provides pages, server code and request handlers.
Not recorded. A blank value that says no source states it. It does not mean that the answer is no.
O
Observation window. The period in which a measurement counts as current. The default is 30 days. After it passes, the measurement remains as history and is counted as expired.
Operational owner. The person who runs a team or service day to day. This is not automatically the accountable owner, and NovusLens records the two separately.
Outbox. A database list of saved messages waiting to be published. A message stays on the list until its progress is recorded.
P
Partial inventory. A list that records some permitted actions, resources or destinations. Missing items do not establish that those items are forbidden.
Payload. The data carried inside a message, apart from the surrounding fields that identify and date it.
PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256. The password-storage method used here. It repeatedly mixes the passphrase with extra random data to make guessing stored passphrases more expensive.
PDF. Portable Document Format: a file format that preserves a document’s page layout for reading, sharing and printing.
Pin. A recorded choice of one exact dependency version. It prevents an update from changing that dependency without a deliberate decision.
Policy export. A file of rules generated from an agent’s recorded permissions, in Cedar or Rego format. NovusLens generates the file. The customer decides whether to use it.
Postgres. The database software that stores the tables read by the NovusLens screens, along with document bodies, access records and protected personnel records.
Principal. The account or service identity that made a request. It identifies the caller, which may differ from the person who authorised the action.
Privacy floor. The rule that a unit with fewer than five mapped people is shown as a small team, never as a number. The key-person finding says fewer than five and never says who.
Private key. A secret value used to create digital signatures. The source keeps it so others cannot sign evidence in its name.
Process id. The number the operating system assigns to a running program. The launcher stores it so it can check or stop that program.
Projection. The regular pass that brings the read model up to date with the canonical log. It runs every 30 seconds by default.
PromQL. Prometheus Query Language: the language used to select and calculate values from Prometheus measurements.
Props. Values a parent component supplies to another component, such as the organisation identifier or records it should display.
Provenance. The record of where a value came from, who stated it and when. Every value keeps this record.
Proxy. A service that receives a request and forwards it to another service. The NovusLens web proxy adds the signed-in identity and service token.
Public key. A value used to check a digital signature. Sharing it lets others check signatures but does not let them create new signatures.
Purge. Removing a stored document’s contents while keeping a record that it was removed and why. Conclusions that used it must be checked again.
Q
Quarantine. A holding area for a log entry that could not be applied. The entry keeps its error and waits for a retry or an operator.
R
React. The library used to build the interface from reusable pieces called components.
Read model. The database tables used by the map, Ask and Find. NovusLens rebuilds these tables from its history of recorded changes.
Receipt. A recorded acknowledgement of a request or action, with its identity, time and result. An evidence intake receipt confirms storage. It does not establish acceptance or prove that an agent acted.
Recoverability. The R in C/A/R: how well a team or service restores acceptable service after a failure. Recovery times and tested alternatives can supply evidence.
Rego. A language for writing rules that a control system can check. NovusLens can generate files in this format for the customer to review.
Release manifest. The file recording the exact software versions and fingerprints used for a NovusLens release candidate. Installation checks compare files against it.
Remit. A written list of an agent’s allowed actions, resources and destinations for information. The list states whether it is complete.
Remit drift. Reported agent activity that breaks a recorded exclusion or falls outside a list declared complete. An incomplete list alone does not prove that activity is forbidden.
Repeatable read. A database mode that lets a group of reads use the same saved picture, even if another program changes the records while those reads run.
Responsibility. The work or result that a team or agent answers for. NovusLens records the person answerable for it. See Capability, Authority and Responsibility.
Retraction. The withdrawal of a finding or meaning entry, with the reason recorded. The record keeps who withdrew it, when and why; it is not deleted.
Rigid. A handoff that takes more than four days. It adds 3 points to the dependency-chain index.
Rung. One of three levels of support for a recorded value: told, shown or measured. The level appears beside the value.
Runtime. The software that runs a model or agent. A model runtime answers model requests; an agent runtime carries out the customer's agent actions.
Runtime control plane. The customer’s software for allowing, refusing, stopping or undoing an agent’s actions. NovusLens reads its records but does not operate it.
S
Salt. Extra data mixed into a value before its fingerprint is calculated. It makes matching or guessing the original value harder.
Schema. The declared structure of data: which fields or tables exist and which values they accept.
Scope. The work, data, activity or access that a rule, statement or calculation covers. For access, it names the records an account can see. For team measures, “Own operations” covers the selected unit. “Including descendants” adds the units beneath it.
SDK. Software development kit: a package of code that helps another program use a service. NovusLens uses mycelium-py to talk to Mycelium.
Sealed identity join. Stored links between employee fingerprints and teams or services. The fingerprints replace readable employee identifiers. Product pages do not show the links for individual people.
Server component. An interface component prepared on the server before the resulting page is sent to the browser.
Service token. A secret value sent with requests between NovusLens services. The receiving service refuses requests with a missing or wrong value.
SHA-256. A method that turns content into a fixed-length fingerprint. Comparing fingerprints helps check whether content changed.
Shown. Evidence that a document supports a value. A recovery plan that states a target shows the target, but it does not show that the target was achieved.
Sidecar. A separate supporting process that runs beside the application. Here it runs Mycelium and exposes the gateway that NovusLens calls.
Signing key pair. Two related keys: the private key makes a signature and the public key checks it. The sender must keep the private key secret.
Simulated estate. A set of example agents supplied for testing and demonstrations. Their findings carry the label “(simulated estate)”. Real customer reports do not carry that label.
SLA. Service-level agreement: a recorded service commitment, such as a target percentage of availability. A declared target is kept separate from measured attainment.
Source. A document, interview statement, measurement or export that supports a value. Each source has a date and a stated scope.
SQL. Structured Query Language: the language used to read and change records in a database.
SSO. Single sign-on: signing in through an organisation's existing identity service instead of a separate product account.
Stewardship. Care of recorded information, such as correcting or withdrawing entries. The action allowed depends on the record type and the reader’s role.
Substrate. The shared Mycelium software beneath NovusLens. It stores records and lets NovusLens components exchange them.
Subtree. One unit and every unit nested beneath it in the organisation's hierarchy.
Supply-chain audit. A check of the software packages the product depends on against reported security problems. An incomplete report cannot pass.
T
Telemetry. Measurements and activity records sent by a running system, such as ticket timings, network traffic or workflow results.
TLS. Transport Layer Security: the technology that encrypts a connection and helps check the identity of the service at the other end.
TLS-terminating proxy. A service that receives an encrypted HTTPS connection and forwards the request to the application. The customer supplies and configures it.
Told. Evidence that somebody stated the value. It is the weakest level, and it is always attributed to its speaker.
Tombstone. A retained record that says content was removed, when it was removed and why. The removed content itself is no longer available.
Transaction. A group of database changes that is saved together. If the group fails, its changes are not saved.
TTL. Time to live: the period after which a temporary record or lock is no longer treated as current.
Twin. NovusLens’s model of one organisation, built from records about its teams, services and how they rely on one another. It is only as current as those records.
Twin fidelity. Counts of the model's sourced facts at the told, shown and measured evidence levels. It describes the available support, not whether the claims are true.
U
Unknown. A score or value that cannot be calculated from current evidence. It is shown as unavailable, never as zero.
Upsert. Add a record if its identifier is new, or update the record with that identifier if it already exists.
UTC. Coordinated Universal Time: a shared time reference that does not change with daylight-saving time.
UTF-8. A standard way to represent written characters as bytes, including characters outside the English alphabet.
UUID. Universally unique identifier: a standard identifier intended to distinguish one record from other records, even across separate systems.
V
VPC. Virtual private cloud: a private network defined inside a cloud provider's infrastructure.
W
Webhook. A web address that receives a message automatically when an event occurs. NovusLens notifications send record identifiers there.
What-if. A scenario that changes one or more dependencies in the model and reports the result. A what-if changes nothing in the records, and its result is indicative.
Wheel. A packaged Python library ready to install. A vendored wheel is stored in this repository so its exact bytes can be checked.
Withdrawal. A source’s removal of a value or record from current use. Its history stays, and NovusLens checks conclusions that depended on it again.
Write-ahead log. A file that records changes before they are reflected in stored data, so the changes can be restored after a restart.