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Glossary

This glossary is intended to help you understand some of the most common terms used by the Pensions Dashboards Programme.

Glossary terms starting with the letter A
acceptance testing

The final stage in the testing lifecycle conducted by end users with the purpose of accepting or rejecting the system before release.

API

Application programming interface. A set of programming code, which allows two applications to talk to each other.

asserted data (AS)

Asserted data is the verified identity information that the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) will receive from the identity service for the purpose of sending out to pension providers and schemes to match against their records. This includes their name, date of birth and current address.

authorisation server

The software that manages the authorisation process within the ecosystem.

Glossary terms starting with the letter C
central digital architecture

The group of elements, that PDP is responsible for, that make dashboards work. These include: the consent and authorisation service, the identity service, the pension finder service and the governance register.

code of connection

Sets out the requirements that pension providers and schemes and dashboard providers need to meet to connect to the dashboards ecosystem. The code of connection comprises of security, service and operational standards.

consent and authorisation service

Where users add more details to the asserted data to search for pensions, which the consent and authorisation service then passes to the pension finder service to send out to pension providers and schemes. It also manages the authorisation of view requests.

Glossary terms starting with the letter D
dashboards available point (DAP)

The point at which any user will be able to start using dashboards. The DAP is decided by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who will provide at least 6 months’ notice of the dashboards available point.

data standards

The mandatory standards for dashboards on how data should be provided to match people to their pensions and display pensions to users. Data standards set out the format and structure of how pension providers and schemes will receive the find data and how they must provide the view data.

design standards

The mandatory standards for dashboards on layout, content, messaging and user journeys, to ensure a consistent experience for users regardless of which dashboard they use.

DWP

The Department for Work and Pensions, the government department responsible for the Pensions Dashboards Programme.

Glossary terms starting with the letter E
ecosystem

The overarching system in which multiple parties, technical services and governance connect to make dashboards work. Made up of pensions dashboards, the central digital architecture, pension providers’ find and view interfaces.

ecosystem governance framework

Sets out how the technical components of the ecosystem will work together with dashboards, and pension providers and schemes.

endpoint

An endpoint is the specific location within an API that accepts requests and sends back responses allowing the system components to communicate with each other.

estimated retirement income (ERI)

An estimate of the pension income that an individual may receive at retirement.

Glossary terms starting with the letter F
FCA

Financial Conduct Authority. The organisation that regulates financial services and markets. The FCA regulates personal and stakeholder pensions, and will authorise organisations to create pensions dashboards.

find data

Data used for matching pensions. Users will have to provide information to the identity service, which could include their name and date of birth. The identity service will confirm they are who they say they are and verify these details. Users can also provide additional unverified information, such as previous address, mobile number, email address and National Insurance number.

Glossary terms starting with the letter G
governance register

A technical service to ensure that the elements of the ecosystem operate correctly and securely. Allows access to the ecosystem to be removed if a participant is operating incorrectly.

Glossary terms starting with the letter I
identity service

Allows users to prove who they say they are, so that they can find their pensions. It provides certainty to pension providers and schemes that they are returning data to the correct user.

integrated service provider (ISP)

A third party service allowing pensions information to be connected to the dashboards ecosystem on behalf of pension providers and schemes.

integration testing

Formal testing against the central digital architecture platform to demonstrate that a data provider or dashboard supplier has successfully implemented API messaging standards including error and retry behaviour.

Glossary terms starting with the letter M
MaPS MoneyHelper dashboard

The Money and Pensions Service will develop a pensions dashboard as part of its function to provide information and guidance on pensions.

match

When a pension provider is able to find an individual’s pension information using the find data.

member

An individual who has benefits under an occupational pension scheme.

Glossary terms starting with the letter O
operational testing

Tests carried out when the system has been installed in the operational environment (or simulated operational environment) and is otherwise ready to go live. Intended to test operational aspects of the system eg recoverability, co-existence with other systems and resource consumption.

Glossary terms starting with the letter P
participant

An organisation operating within the ecosystem.

pension identifier (PeI)

Term used to cover all separately identifiable pensions, in which some individuals may have an interest. It is the identifier of a pension, not in itself a statement of ownership. Its format is a text string in the form of a uniform resource name (URN) and provides a pointer to the pension asset. It is capable of being dereferenced by a pension dashboard and resolved into a URL, which provides the view endpoint which can serve the pension details associated with the PeI.

pension provider find interface (PPFI)

This is the means by which pension providers interact with the ecosystem, when they are receiving find data ie the instruction to look for a particular individual’s pensions.

pension providers’ view interface (PPVI)

The means by which pension providers receive view requests from users at dashboards, check their authorisation at the consent and authorisation service, and if authorised return view data to dashboards.

pension scheme

An organisation that offers occupational pension schemes, regulated by The Pensions Regulator.

pensions dashboards ecosystem

See ‘ecosystem’.

permission ticket / token (PMT)

Issuing permission tokens is an important part of the UMA authorisation process. Within the PDP ecosystem, the consent and authorisation service will issue a permission token to the data provider to release the pension information to the user’s dashboard, provided the user has given their consent to do so.

persisted claims token (PCT)

This is part of the UMA authorisation process. A persisted claims token holds on to permissions collected during one authorisation process, so that users can access the system easily in future, without having to provide the same permissions again.

protection API token (PAT)

A long-lived authorisation token, representing a user’s consent at the consent and authorisation service. It is part of the UMA authorisation process and identifies the correct authorisation server to pension providers’ resource server.

public key infrastructure (PKI)

A public key infrastructure allows the secure exchange of online data. It uses public and private cryptographic key pairs to unlock the information to authorised individuals.

Glossary terms starting with the letter R
regression testing

A test activity generally conducted in conjunction with each new release of the system, in order to detect defects that were introduced (or discovered) when prior defects were fixed.

requesting party token (RPT)

These are short-lived authorisation tokens or required access tokens. Within the PDP ecosystem, an RPT is a token that the pension finder service (the requesting party in this instance) will send to data providers, when an individual is trying to find their pensions via a pensions dashboard. RPTs are also used to request view data from providers and represent consent permissions for a specific PeI.

Glossary terms starting with the letter S
scalability testing

A component of non-functional testing, used to measure the capability of software to scale up or down in terms of its non-functional characteristics.

staging

The process of pension providers connecting to the pensions dashboards ecosystem over a period of time. Staging dates are spread out over a period of time and are different for different types of schemes, due to the number of providers.

stress testing

Testing meant to assess how the system reacts to workloads (network, processing, data volume) that exceed the system’s specified requirements. Stress testing shows which system resource (eg memory or bandwidth) is first to fail.

System integration testing

A test level designed to evaluate whether a system can be successfully integrated with other systems (eg that the tested system works well with the HR system). May be included as part of system-level testing, or be conducted as its own test level in between system testing and acceptance testing.

system testing

The internal testing phase a dashboard or data provider supplier performs, connected to the reference environments and ensuring they can evidence conformance to the API standards and are fit to proceed to formal testing.

Glossary terms starting with the letter T
technical standards

The mandatory standards for dashboards on how data and dashboard providers will interface with the central digital architecture and each other.

TPR

The Pensions Regulator. The public body that regulates occupational and public service pensions in the UK. They work with schemes, employers and those running pensions so that people can save safely for their retirement Pensions Regulator. The public body that protects workplace pensions in the UK. They work with employers and those running pensions so that people can save safely for their retirement.

Glossary terms starting with the letter U
user-managed access resource server (UMA RS)

Within the UMA protocol, the resource servers hold the data that needs to be unlocked via the appropriate permissions. So within the PDP ecosystem, these are the pension providers servers, which hold the information about individuals’ pensions.

Glossary terms starting with the letter V
view data

The information about the pension which is displayed on the dashboard where the user can see it. View data will include contact information for the provider, a description of the pension type, date payable, as well as accrued value and the estimated retirement income (ERI).

volunteer participants

Pension providers and schemes that volunteer to help PDP test the processes and systems as we build and develop the ecosystem.