HANDLING

The coordination and integration of all operations embracing packaging, protection, and movement of material by available equipment for short distances.

HARDWARE

1) A generic term used to describe equipment such as, airplanes, missiles, electronic systems, support equipment, and virtually anything else that is manufactured. 2) For Computers, the physical equipment which makes up a computer system, i.e., terminals and storage devices, as opposed to programming Software.

HARDWARE COST

1) The Cost of the Hardware in a particular system. 2) The cost of the major system equipment items in a Work Breakdown Structure, including contractor, subcontractor, supplier, and Government equipment costs. If only a portion of these costs is included, the term should be qualified accordingly.

HARDWARE GUARANTEE

An arrangement under which a contractor accepts the responsibility to correct any Failure or Defect in Hardware which occurs during a specified time or measured amount of operation.

HEADCOUNT

An actual accounting of the number of individuals carried on a company's payroll records, as opposed to a measure of equivalent persons developed from monthly conversions of employee working hours. An organization's headcount is equal to the number of employees assigned by company personnel records.

HETEROGENEOUS

1) Consisting of or involving parts, Data, or items that are unlike or without interrelation. 2) Having dissimilar Elements. 3) The opposite of Homogeneous.

HEURISTIC

Pertaining to a trial and error method of obtaining solutions to problems. Contrast with Algorithm.

HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION

The classical or traditional type of organization with one person in charge of Functional Areas (financial management, Engineering, logistics, etc.), which can be further broken down into sub-Elements.

HISTORICAL COST (DATA)

An Estimating term used to describe a set of Data reflecting Actual Costs or past experience of a product line.

HOMOGENEOUS

1) Of a similar or like and, therefore, comparable, nature. Homogeneous Data may be used for Estimating purposes, through the measurement of differences or dissimilarities in otherwise homogeneous data, and the Extrapolation of the effect(s) of those differences on the variable being estimated. 2) The opposite of Heterogeneous.

HOST NATION SUPPORT

Civil and military assistance provided by host nations to allied forces and organizations in peace, transition to war, and wartime.

HUMAN ENGINEERING

The area of Human Factors which applies scientific knowledge to the Design of items to achieve effective man-machine integration and utilization.

HUMAN ENGINEERING DESIGN

The application of scientific principles concerning human physical and psychological Characteristics to the Design of equipment, so as to increase speed and precision of operations, provide maximum maintenance Efficiency, reduce fatigue, promote safety, and simplify operations.

HUMAN ENGINEERING DESIGN CRITERIA

The summation of available knowledge which defines the nature and limits of human capabilities, as they relate to the Checkout, operation, maintenance, and/or Control of systems or equipment, and which may be applied during engineering Design to achieve optimum Compatibility between equipment and human performance.

HUMAN FACTORS

A body of scientific facts about human Characteristics. The term covers all biomedical and psychosocial considerations, and includes, but is not limited to, principles and applications in the areas of Human Engineering, personnel selection, training, life support, job performance aids, and human performance Evaluation.

HUMAN PERFORMANCE

1) A measure of human functions and actions in a specified environment. 2) The ability of actual users and maintainers to meet a system's performance standards, including reliability and maintainability, under the conditions in which the system will be employed.