<s>
The	O
Authorization	B-Architecture
Open	I-Architecture
Service	I-Architecture
Interface	I-Architecture
Definition	I-Architecture
(	O
OSID	B-Architecture
)	O
is	O
an	O
O.K.I.	O
</s>
<s>
specification	B-Application
which	O
provides	O
the	O
means	O
to	O
define	O
who	O
is	O
authorized	O
to	O
do	O
what	O
,	O
when	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OSIDs	B-Architecture
are	O
programmatic	O
interfaces	O
which	O
comprise	O
a	O
Service	O
Oriented	O
Architecture	O
for	O
designing	O
and	O
building	O
reusable	B-Application
and	O
interoperable	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Authorizations	O
associate	O
Agents	B-Architecture
,	O
which	O
represent	O
the	O
user	O
or	O
another	O
actor	O
in	O
the	O
system	O
,	O
with	O
Functions	O
and	O
Qualifiers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
can	O
think	O
of	O
Authorization	O
in	O
terms	O
of	O
a	O
grammar	O
where	O
an	O
Agent	B-Architecture
is	O
a	O
noun	O
,	O
Functions	O
are	O
operations	O
or	O
verbs	O
,	O
and	O
Qualifiers	O
are	O
objects	O
of	O
the	O
operation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
Jeff	O
(	O
an	O
Agent	B-Architecture
)	O
can	O
write	O
checks	O
(	O
a	O
Function	O
)	O
on	O
the	O
Department	O
account	O
(	O
a	O
Qualifier	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
a	O
system	O
may	O
have	O
many	O
Qualifiers	O
they	O
might	O
be	O
represented	O
using	O
a	O
Hierarchy	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
Jeff	O
(	O
our	O
Agent	B-Architecture
)	O
is	O
explicitly	O
authorized	O
to	O
write	O
checks	O
(	O
the	O
Function	O
)	O
on	O
the	O
Software	O
Engineering	O
account	O
(	O
the	O
explicitly	O
stated	O
Qualifier	O
)	O
,	O
he	O
is	O
implicitly	O
authorized	O
to	O
write	O
checks	O
on	O
the	O
Web	O
and	O
Database	O
Development	O
accounts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
Agent	B-Architecture
in	O
the	O
Authorization	B-Architecture
OSID	I-Architecture
is	O
represented	O
using	O
a	O
unique	O
identifier	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
examined	O
via	O
the	O
Agent	B-Architecture
OSID	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
