Jargon Buster: A guide to common terms & acronyms often thrown around in the Shared Services &Outsourcing space

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shared services glossary

If you need a glossary to fight your way through a conversation around services delivery - here's help

As we get back to the serious business of making Shared Services work we could all use a little "Shared Services 101" to get the engines fired back up. To help you, I have dug up the A-B-C of Shared Services jargon, which will get you back on track in a jiffy.

How often do you take part in meetings, or receive a memo, where the acronyms are flying about like confetti? If you need a glossary to fight your way through a conversation around services delivery – here's help: A compilation of keywords, acronyms and general terminology we often use and hear in our day-to-day.


Editor's note: This is an open compendium updated, edited and compiled by our members for our members - if you would like to add, edit or see something on this page, please drop us a line at enquire@ssonetwork.com.

 

Jargon Buster

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Term

Description

Contributor

ACHT Average Call Handling Time
Harshal Ambani
AHT Average Handling Time
Harshal Ambani
AP Accounts Payable (Finance Process): account that contains money that the company owes to suppliers, but hasn't paid yet.
Gary Critchley
AR Accounts Receivable (Finance Process): one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of customers who owe money to the company or organization for goods and services that have been provided to the customer.
Gary Critchley

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B

Term

Description

Contributor

BA

Business Analyst: responsible for analyzing the business needs of their clients and stakeholders to help identify business problems and propose solutions.

Gary Critchley
BAFO Best And Final Offer

Marianne

BC

i. Business Consultant
ii. Business Continuity (Disaster Recovery)
iii. Business Case: is a structured proposal for business change that is justified in terms of costs and benefits. It is a typical prerequisite for the initiation of a large project and is explicitly required by many project management methodologies.

Gary Critchley
BCP Business Continuity Plan

Susan Demo

BCS

i. British Computer Society: a body that represents those working in Information and Communications Technology ICT. Our 15 IT competencies are drawn from the 78 SFIA competencies.
ii. Business Consolidation System (SAP module)

Gary Critchley
BDI

Buying Department Information: used for commitment control (obsolete system)

Gary Critchley
BDW

Business Data Warehouse (DB2 back end part of SAS)

Gary Critchley
BI

Business Intelligence (SAP module)

Gary Critchley
BOT Build, Operate, Transfer
Rick Bertheaud
BPML

Business Process Master List (Finance Process): catalogue of all business processes to be implemented through FTP eg create a new supplier.

Gary Critchley
BPO Business Process Outsourcer (ing): Term used to identify an organisation whose primary function is to handle business processing as a contracted outsourced partner
Heidi Zdrojeski
BPP

Business Process Procedure (FTP): detailed procedural steps for an individual business process eg posting an accrual.

Gary Critchley
BPS

Business Planning System (SAP module)

Gary Critchley
BPT

Business Planning Tool (franchise system)

Gary Critchley
BS&P

Business Solutions and Programmes. One of the five IT leadership streams

Gary Critchley
BW

Business Warehouse (SAP module)

Gary Critchley

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C

Term

Description

Contributor

CAS

Cash Accounting System

Gary Critchley
CBT

Computer Based Training (FTP): use of desktop technology to enable the user to be self sufficient in the training process.

Gary Critchley
Change Control

A formal process used to ensure a product, service or process is only modified in line with the identified necessary change.

Gary Critchley
Change Request

Buying Department Information: used for commitment control (obsolete system)

Gary Critchley
CHDI

Central Handling Delivery and Installation: budget code.

Gary Critchley
CIA

Change Impact Analysis (FTP): assessment of the impact a change will have on the business processes, people and technology, and actions to monitor and track.

Gary Critchley
CPI Critial Process Indicator
Rick Bertheaud
COE Center of Excellence / Expertise
Rochelle Hood
CRA

Change Readiness Assessment (FTP): Regular checking-in with the business to establish readiness for change across various criteria, using tools such as questionnaires.

Gary Critchley
CRM

Customer Relationship Management (or Model)

Gary Critchley
CRR

Current Run Rate

Gary Critchley
CS2

Customer Services: enquiries and complaints.

Gary Critchley
CSM

Corporate Stock Management

Gary Critchley
CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility

Gary Critchley
CTO Chief Technology Office
Gary Critchley

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D

Term

Description

Contributor

DIO Days Inventory Outstanding
Rochelle Hood
DMS Document Management System

Harshal Ambani

DMZ

Demilitarised Zone: firewall preventing hackers over the internet

Gary Critchley
DPMO Defects Per Million Opportunities

Harshal Ambani

DPO Days Payable Outstanding or Document Process Outsource
Paul Nicolaisen
DSO Days Sales Outstanding
Rochelle Hood

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E

Term

Description

Contributor

eComm

E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce

Gary Critchley
EDI

Electronic Data Interchange: system used to transmit information to and from suppliers

Gary Critchley
EDW

Enterprise Data Warehouse

Gary Critchley
EFTPOS Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale

Mike Kitchen

EPOS

Electronic Point of Sale

Gary Critchley
ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning: software which claims to meet all your needs, e.g. SAP

Gary Critchley
ES Enterprise Services
Heidi Zdrojeski

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F

Term

Description

Contributor

FA

Fixed Assets (Finance process and SAP module)

Gary Critchley
FAO Finance & Accounting (F&A) Outsourcing
Rick Bertheaud
FHS

Fire, Health & Safety

Gary Critchley
FI

Financials (SAP module)

Gary Critchley
FM&RE Facilities Management & Real Estate
Rick Bertheaud
FP & A Financial Planning & Analysis
Emma Beaumont
FTE

Full Time Equivalent: term used to refer to full-time hours

Gary Critchley

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G

Term

Description

Contributor

GBS Global Business Services
Rochelle Hood
GDPM

Goal Directed Project Management: a formal technique for determining plans and milestones

Gary Critchley
GSS Global Shared Services
Rochelle Hood

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H

Term

Description

Contributor

H2R Hire to Retire
Emma Beaumont
HRO

Human Resources (HR) Outsourcing

Rick Bertheaud

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I

Term

Description

Contributor

ICR Intelligent Character Recognition
Emma Beaumont
IIS

Internet Information Server (Microsoft product): supports browser access.

Gary Critchley
ITO Information Technology (IT) Outsourcing
Rick Bertheaud
ITT

Invitation to Tender: documents inviting and containing all the information that a potential supplier needs in order to bid for a contract

Gary Critchley
IVR

Interactive Voice Recognition

Gary Critchley

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J

Term

Description

Contributor

JTD

Join The Dots - training sessions/materials on the Op Model.

Gary Critchley

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K

Term

Description

Contributor

KPI

Key Performance Indicator (measure used in evaluating a supplier or service).

Gary Critchley
KPO Knowledge Process Outsourcing
Emma Beaumont

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L

Term

Description

Contributor

LAN

Local Area Network: this links together all PCs in Head Office so they can easily exchange data.

Gary Critchley
LPO Legal Process Outsourcing
Emma Beaumont

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M

Term

Description

Contributor

MAN Metropolitan Area Network

Mike Kitchen

MID

Merchant ID

Gary Critchley
MSA Master Services Agreement

Harshal Ambani

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N

Term

Description

Contributor

NDA

Non Disclosure Agreement

Gary Critchley

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O

Term

Description

Contributor

O2C / OTC

(FTP) Order to Cash

Gary Critchley
ORQ

Operational Requirements Questionnaire

Gary Critchley
OCR Optical Character Recognition
Emma Beaumont

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P

Term

Description

Contributor

P2P

i. Purchase to Pay (Finance Process)
ii. Procure to Pay

Gary Critchley
PIR

Post Implementation Review

Gary Critchley
PM

Project Manager

Gary Critchley
PMO

Programme / Project / Portfolio Management Officer

Gary Critchley
PMO Project Management Office

Susan Demo

PO Purchase Order

Ian McAtamney

PO Procurement Officer
Rick Bertheaud
Point of Sale System

Performs price lookup and records sales and returns at UPC level.

Gary Critchley
Portal

Fashionable buzzword meaning web site giving access to a variety of company applications.

Gary Critchley
POC Point of Contact
Rochelle Hood
POC Proof of Concept

Harshal Ambani

POS

Point of Sale: used to record sales at UPC level

Gary Critchley
PRG

Portfilio Review Group: The forum which reviews all IT projects from a capacity and capability point of view - it makes recommendations regarding project approvals to ITGG and ExCo.

Gary Critchley
PRM

Project and Programme Review Meeting: project status report and meeting held fortnightly and chaired by the head of BS&P. The term is also used to describe the report which is complied by BSMs.

Gary Critchley

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Q

Term

Description

Contributor

QG

Quality Gate: formal quality assurance mechanism to ensure that projects have completed the relevant tasks at a particular point in the project.

Gary Critchley
QRG

Quick Reference Guide (FTP): very condensed training document, typically one page, highlighting key points on a topic

Gary Critchley

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R

Term

Description

Contributor

R2R

Record to Report (Finance process)

Gary Critchley
RACI

Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed (FTP): Project management tool to assign roles and responsibilities, and ensure tasks are completed and receive appropriate sign off

Gary Critchley
RF

Radio Frequency (e.g. RF HHT)

Gary Critchley
RFC Request for Change

Mike Kitchen

RFID

Radio Frequency Identifier. Leading edge technology which enables the identification of individual units.

Gary Critchley
RFP

Request For Proposal: next stage on from RFI (more formal, more commitment) see also ITT.

Gary Critchley
RIDDOR

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurances Regulations

Gary Critchley
RPO Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Emma Beaumont

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S

Term

Description

Contributor

S2P Source to Pay
Rick Bertheaud
SaaS Software as a Service
Rick Bertheaud
SAP

Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP) is a business application and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution

Gary Critchley
SDM Service Delivery Model
Rick Bertheaud
SKU

Stock Keeping Unit

Gary Critchley
SLA

Service Level Agreement

Gary Critchley
SME Subject Matter Expert
Rochelle Hood
SOA

Service Oriented Architecture: fashionable buzzword implying code sharing between applications.

Gary Critchley
SOW Statement of Work

Harshal Ambani

SPOC Single Point of Contact
Rick Bertheaud
SRM

Supplier Relationship Management: the SAP module which acts as the non-merchandise procurement buying system

Gary Critchley

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T

Term

Description

Contributor

TCO Total Cost of Ownership
Rick Bertheaud
TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A communications protocol.

Gary Critchley
Temperature check

Assessment of business unit morale, buy in to the change initiative and how engaged individuals are with the project. Also a useful channel for people to raise risks and concerns.

Gary Critchley
TIA Technical Impact Analysis

Mike Kitchen

TID

Terminal ID

Gary Critchley
TNA

Training Needs Analysis (FTP): Assessment of requirements and envisaged outcomes of the learning process.

Gary Critchley
TOM Target Operating Model
Rick Bertheaud
TOR

Terms of Reference

Gary Critchley
TR

Treasury (SAP module)

Gary Critchley

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U

Term

Description

Contributor

UAT

User Acceptance Testing

Gary Critchley
UNIX

A portable Operating System, standard in the IT industry.

Gary Critchley
UPC

Unique Product Code: identifies merchandise at the lowest level specified by the Department, Stroke, Colour, primary size and secondary size. Currently 7 digits but changing to an 8 digit code in the future.

Gary Critchley
URN

Unique Reference Number (number on outer transit packaging - shows supplier, quantity and UPC).

Gary Critchley

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V

Term

Description

Contributor

VMI

Vendor Managed Inventory (within M&S we had a VMI Planner system which merely shared sales estimates with suppliers, but this has been superseded by Collaborator)

Gary Critchley

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W

Term

Description

Contributor

WAN

Wide Area Network - a communications network over a large geographical area (see LAN).

Gary Critchley
WAY

Usually means stroke-colour level, but can mean UPC (stroke-colour-size level).

Gary Critchley
WWRE

World-Wide Retail Exchange: a trading exchange on the Internet, set up May 2000.

Gary Critchley

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X

Term

Description

Contributor

XML

Extensible Markup Language: Communication protocol, replaces EDI.

Gary Critchley

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Y

Term

Description

Contributor

 

Waiting for First Submission

 

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Z

Term

Description

Contributor

 

Waiting for First Submission

 

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