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0001 (Governance) - Enterprise Architecture Standards Process. Documents the EA standards process. Defines the stages in the standardization process, the requirements for moving a document between stages, and the types of documents used during this process.

0002 (Standard) - Person Name. A standard for describing a person’s name, including various views of the data model.
View the standard.

0003 (Governance) - Instructions to NIHRFC Authors - How to Write a Standard. This document is a guide for NIH IT and architecture standards writers. It defines those characteristics that make standards coherent, unambiguous, and easy to interpret.

0005 (Standard) - Unique Identifier for People, the NIH ID Number. Establishes an architecture standard for the NIH ID Number, which provides a public representation of the identities of individuals who use NIH resources and services.

0007 (Standard) - NIH Group Naming Standard. Documents the standard for the creation of groups as part of NIH directories and defines the group naming convention that conveys the group’s scope and purpose for NIH staff.

0008 (Best Community Practice)1Active Directory Attribute Data Content and Management. Documents a set of principles for the creation and maintenance of AD attributes.  Describes how the NIH Active Directory attribute administration should occur and presents recommended practices for NIH business managers, application designers/developers, and security officers. Additionally, enables application owners to decide which attributes will best meet their specific application requirements.   

0009 (Governance) - NIH Request for Comments Template. NIHRFC authors must use this template to submit an NIHRFC in any track. OCITA will not accept any other format.

0011 (Standard) - Server Bricks. Updates 2 Server Bricks: 'Enterprise and Mid-Range Server Platform Processor Brick' and 'Enterprise and Mid-Range Server Operating System Brick.'

0012 (Standard) - Web, Database, and Application Server Bricks. Updates 4 server bricks: Web Server, OLTP Database Server, Data Warehouse Database Server, and Application Server.

0014 (Standard) - Staff Digital Certificate Brick. Establishes a Staff Digital Certificate Brick as part of the NIH Enterprise Architecture 
View the brick.

0015 (Governance) - Decision Criteria for Selecting NIH Standards. Documents the baseline decision criteria to be used in NIH Enterprise Architecture processes for selecting and gaining consensus on the architecture standards to be recommended to the Architecture Review Board for approval.

0016 (Governance) - Enterprise Architecture Exception Process. Specifies the NIH Enterprise Architecture exception process.
 View the process.

0017 (Best Community Practice) - Unique Identifier for People: Best Community Practice. Documents the implementation of a Unique Identifier for People, the NIH ID Number, which provides a convenient, public representation of the identities of individuals who use NIH resources and services. Describes how the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) manages NIH ID Numbers, and presents recommended practices for NIH business managers, application designers/developers, and security officers.

0018 (Best Community Practice) - Terminal Server Services Pattern. Documents a terminal services design alternative for the Division of Extramural Activities Support (DEAS) access to IC file systems to allow for cross-leveling of DEAS resources.

0019 (Best Community Practice) - Central File Store Pattern. Documents a central file store design alternative for the Division of Extramural Activities Support (DEAS) remote access to IC file systems  to allow for cross-leveling of DEAS resources.

0022 (Informational Only) - Federal Authentication and Identity Management. Provides a concise guide to Federal authentication and identity management requirements and shows how these requirements interrelate.

0023 (Best Community Practice) - Enterprise Architecture Alignment Process. Prescribes the process whereby NIH solution implementation and operations efforts are aligned with the NIH Enterprise Architecture.

0024 (Standard) - NIH Budget Entities. Defines the major budget entities within the Accounting Code Structure (ACS) that are managed within the developing NIH Business System (NBS).
 
0025 (Standard) - NIH Enterprise Conceptual Data Model. Provides a specification of the key data entities that support NIH’s business processes, an overarching framework to organize more detailed data architecture efforts, and a common taxonomy for describing data assets across NIH.
View the model.

0026 (Standard) - NIH Grants Conceptual Data Model. Provides a specification of the key data entities and relationships that support NIH’s grants business processes and provides an overarching framework to organize more detailed grants data architecture efforts and a common taxonomy for describing grants data assets across the NIH. 
View the model.

0027 (Standard) - Business Process Modeling. Establishes a standard that current and future state business models for new and existing systems shall be submitted to the Office of the Chief IT Architect (OCITA) for verification.

0028 (Standard) - NIH Federated Identity Bricks and Pattern. Establishes a standard for the evolving Federated Identity service solutions that will affect the NIH Enterprise Architecture with respect to possible identities and secure access. This standard includes the Identity Provider Brick, Authentication/Authorization Brick, Protocols Brick, and Federation Pattern.

0029 (Standard) - This standard Obsoletes NIHRFC0044. Web Content Management Systems Standards.  Web Content Management Systems (WCMS) consist of applications used to create, manage, store and deploy content on the Web, including text, graphics, video or audio, and application code. The purpose of these standards is to provide implementation guidance to NIH project teams who are undertaking new WCMS projects or investments or are undertaking major upgrades / migrations to existing WCMS implementations. Includes a revised Web Content Management Service Pattern and a revised Web Content Management Systems Brick.

0030 (Standard) - NIH Login to Support Single Sign-On Technologies for Web-Based Applications.  Establishes a standard for single sign-on and prescribes the use of NIH Login for all new web-based applications requiring authentication.

0032 (Informational Only) - Video Teleconferencing (VTC) Technology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Provides information on the VTC practices at NIH, a background on the International Telecommunication Union -Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendations and the business drivers for utilizing NIH’s VTC infrastructure.

0033 (Standard) - Video Teleconferencing (VTC) Technology Brick and Pattern. Establishes a set of standards, including a pattern and a Video Teleconferencing (VTC) Technology Brick, for implementing video teleconferencing (VTC) technology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

0034 (Standard) - NIH Primary Email Address. This standard defines a standard syntax for the primary reply-to email address for a person as represented by Central Email Service (CES) at NIH as:
givenName.Surname[numeric-qualifier]@nih.gov (E.g., John Smith: John.Smith@nih.gov or John.Smith2@nih.gov)

0036 (Standard - Workflow / BPM Tools Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Workflow / Business Process Management Tools for the NIH community.
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0037 (Standard)1 - Web Conferencing Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Web Conferencing Tools for the NIH community.
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0038 (Standard) -  Web Browsers Standard instantiates four new web browser standards, differentiated based on the type of application and the type of end user client. It also acknowledges recent changes in the web browser market and the continued growth of the mobile Web. The four new standards include: the Internet/Extranet Desktop Client Web Browsers Brick, the Intranet/Employee Desktop Client Web Browsers Brick, the Internet/Extranet Mobile Client Web Browsers Brick, and the Intranet/Employee Mobile Client Web Browsers Brick.

0039 (Standard) - Campus Area Network (CAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), and Wide Area Network (WAN) Brick. This standard OBSOLETES the CAN/MAN/WAN Optical Networking Brick (no NIHRFC number), dated February 8, 2005. This NIHRFC is an update to the Technical Architecture Standards for the CAN Brick, MAN Brick, and WAN Brick as well as the CAN/MAN/WAN Pattern. The standard is being updated to reflect NIH’s expanded use of the Dense Wave Division Multiplexer (DWDM) technology, which will increase bandwidth and reduce costs for NIH for the foreseeable future.

0040 (Best Community Practice) - SharePoint Center of Excellence Best Practices and Recommendations.  Proposes Best Practices and Usage Recommendations for SharePoint as identified by the SharePoint Center of Excellence Domain Team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

0044 (Standard) – OBSOLETED by NIHRFC0029.  

0045 (Standard) - NIH Geographic Information System Standards. Recommends a set of standards and technologies, including bricks and patterns, for implementing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  This includes the GIS PatternGIS Desktop Brick, GIS Internet Mapping Server (IMS) Brick, GIS Virtual Globe Brick, and the GIS Web Service Brick

0046 (Standard)1 - Network Access Control states criteria which authoritative sources must meet, as well as a step-by-step process for stakeholders to arrive at the specification of an authoritative source for a given data element, such as Person Name, and applicable rules and states for the data. The document is primarily focused on a business audience.

0047 (Standard) - R&D Contracts Conceptual Data Model. The Research and Development (R&D) Contract Conceptual Data Model (CDM) was developed to support the need for better organization of information assets and reporting on the research efforts conducted and supported at NIH.  This document identifies the major R&D Contracts data objects and critical business rules.  The result of implementing these objects and rules will be flexible information systems that more fully support business needs.

0048 (Standard) - Intrusion Detection Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Intrusion Detection Tools for the NIH community.
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0049 (Standard) - Vulnerability Management Tools Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Vulnerability Management Tools for the NIH community.
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0050 (Standard) - Enterprise Directories Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Intrusion Detection Tools for the NIH community.
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0051 (Standard) - Identification and Authentication Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Identification Authentication Tools for the NIH community.
View the brick.

0052 (Standard) - NIH External Researcher Conceptual Data Model. The External Researcher Conceptual Data Model (CDM) provides a consistent and flexible data structure for the National Institutes of Health to store information about researchers external to NIH. An External Researcher is any person not working with NIH as an employee or contractor that takes part in research processes. NIH needs to provide permissions and allow access to processes for an External Researcher when doing business with NIH. A consistent approach to managing External Researcher data will facilitate tracking every NIH interaction over a person’s career.

0053 (Standard) - Retirement of Access Control Brick. Proposes the retirement of the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Access Control for the NIH community.

0054 (Standard) - Retirement of Confidentiality Brick. Proposes the retirement of the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Confidentiality for the NIH community.

0055 (Standard) - Retirement of Event Monitoring Brick. Proposes the retirement of the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Event Monitoring for the NIH community.

0056 (Standard) - Retirement of Integrity Brick. Proposes the retirement of the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Integrity for the NIH community.

0058 (Standard) - Availability - Database Management Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Database Management Tools for the NIH community.
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0059 (Standard) - Availability - Application Management Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Application Management Tools for the NIH community.
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0060 (Standard) - Availability - Server Management Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Server Management Tools for the NIH community.
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0061 (Standard) - Email Server Software Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Email Server Software Tools for the NIH community.
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0062 (Standard) - Email Client Software Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Email Client Software Tools for the NIH community.
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0063 (Standard) - Document Management Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for the NIH Document Management Brick for the NIH community.
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0064 (Standard) - IT Service Desk Tools Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Service Management Tools for the NIH community.
View the brick. 

0065 (Standard) - Remote Network Access Technology Brick. Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Remote Access Infrastructure technology for the NIH community.
View the brick. 

0066 (Standard) - Wireless LANs Brick- Updates the NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Wireless​ Local Area Network (WLAN) Infrastructure for the NIH community.
View the brick.

0068 (Standard) - Real Property Unique Identifier - recognizes and adopts the GSA-mandated and prescribed unique identifier for buildings NIH-wide. 

0069 (Standard)1 - Group Policy for Server Security - Provides a configuration baseline for Windows 2008 and 2003 Servers. This standard lists all security settings that are deployable through group policy for Windows 2008 and 2003 Servers. The goals for this document are to standardize Windows 2008 Server configurations and eliminate potential Information Technology (IT) security risks caused by a number of weaknesses resulting from a non-uniform implementation.

0070 (Informational) - NIH At a Crossroads - An Application Architecture for Research Funding and Management provides a foundation for discussion of a proposed enterprise application architecture for research funding and management systems. The NIHRFC describes the business challenges NIH currently faces, discusses current opportunities for evolution and proposes a high level software application architecture.

0072 (Standard) - Email Client/Server OS Bricks Retirement -  This document initiates the retirement of NIH Technical Architecture Standard for Email Client Operating Systems (OSs) Brick and Email Server Operating Systems (OSs) Brick. The bricks are being replaced by the Email Client Software Brick and the Email Servers Software Brick respectively. 

0074 (Standard)1 - MAC OS Security Configuration proposes a standard for the NIH regarding security configuration for Macintosh OS X Network devices. It provides security settings for receiving and issuing standard configurations of Mac OS X desktop computers, laptop computers and servers within the NIH.

0075 (Best Community Standard) - Change Management provides a model for IT Change Management & Control within NIH's diverse and federated technology environment. Organizations utilizing this model in implementing their own Change Management and Control Processes will find themselves better able to integrate these processes into the larger NIH IT environment. 

0076 (Standard)1 - Network Segmentation Specification presents a holistic view of the network from a segment organization perspective, describing individual and compensating controls for multiple segment types (including both resource and user segments) and introducing a series of controls for the Networks, Firewalls, Hosts, and Management within each of these segment types.


1Documents are available for review on the NIH Portal. Access requires NIH Login.
2Access requires NIH Login.

Last Updated: June 15, 2012