The enterprise software world is full of acronyms, terms, and jargon. This page explains the meaning of those items you might find when researching software to purchase.
Some of the terms below contain links to example products. These are included for illustration only, and Wayferry does not endorse or offer any opinion on these products.
3
3PL
Third party logistics vendor, an organization used by a business to outsource elements of its distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment services. See Wikipedia.
A
Acceptance Testing
See User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
AI
Artificial Intelligence
ALM
Application Lifecycle Management.
API
Application Program Interface. A way for one application to communicate with another application. Common with cloud applications.
APM
Application Performance Management
Application Portfolio Management (see Wikipedia). Typically used in mid to large size IT organizations, APM software measures the financial benefits of each application in comparison to the costs of the application's maintenance and operations. This information is used to decide which applications to invest in, upgrade or retire.
App
Short for “software application”. May be in the cloud or on a phone.
ATS
Applicant Tracking System. Used by HR departments to recruit candidates for jobs.
B
C
CAD
Computer Aided Design. Examples: AutoCAD, Solidworks, OrCAD
Computer-Assisted Dispatch. Used by cities to dispatch emergency services like police, fire etc.
CCP
Content Collaboration Platforms (previously called EFSS). Examples: Box and Dropbox. See Gartner peer insights.
Change order
Used to change the scope of a project and increases costs to the software purchaser.
CLM
Customer Lifecycle Management
Contract Lifecycle Management
Cloud native
Cloud-native is a way of designing, coding and running software applications to take advantage of the cloud delivery model. From the software buyer perspective advantages include “elastic” applications that scale automatically with load, superior up-time and avoiding the dreaded upgrade to a new version every few years.
CMMS
Computerized Maintenance Management System
CMS
Content Management System
Configuration
The practice of setting initial values and parameters in software so that it can be used. This ranges from things like setting up charts of accounts in an ERP system down to placing a company logo on invoices. Note that configuration settings usually survive upgrades to new versions of the software.
Containers
A container is a way to isolate code and its dependencies from its environment and ensure the code starts quickly and runs reliably in different environments. Containers are a fast and efficient way to spin up additional services when demand peaks, and then retire them when the demand drops. Containers also allow new releases of code to be pushed into production without noticeable interruption to the user. Docker is an example of an open source container system.
COTS
Commercial Off-The-Shelf software. Standard software that is sold by a vendor to multiple customers without any customization. Typically refers to software that will be run in an organization’s data center.
CPM
Corporate Performance Management. Examples: Kepion, Onestream, SoftExpert CPM.
CPQ
Configure, Price, Quote. Refers to the workflow related to configuring a product to a customer’s requirements, calculating the price and then quoting the customer for that product configuration.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management. Software designed to help salespeople manage the relationship with their customers, for example, scheduling follow up calls etc.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets. A type of code used to control the layout of a web page in a browser.
CTMS
Clinical Trials Management System
CTSM
Customer Ticket Service Management. Also known as helpdesk or service desk software.
Customer Acceptance Testing
See User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
Customization
The practice of editing the source code of a software product to make it conform to the needs of the organization. Customization requires access to the source code and underlying tables, which is why it is limited to COTS or open-source software. The chief problem with customizing software is that those changes make it much more expensive to upgrade to the latest version, and may even prevent upgrades. Customization is usually the reason why you find companies running very outdated software, which exposes them to security and business risks.
D
DBMS
Database Management System
Denormalized data
The same data existing in more than one place, for example, the same customer data repeated in the CRM, accounts payable and customer support systems. In practice, it is impossible to keep this data in sync manually.
Decision latency
Decision latency is the time taken to get decisions made, and is a primary source of implementation project delays. Well written requirements that describe what is wanted, who wants it, how important it is to them and why it is wanted reduce decision latency and help keep implementation projects on schedule.
DMS
Document Management System (Also EDMS)
DOM
Distributed Order Management
Document object model (as used in software development)
Downtime
A measure of the unavailability of a software system. This can be unplanned, e.g. caused by a system crash or planned, e.g. when a system is taken down on schedule for maintenance. See also Up-time.
E
EAM
Enterprise Asset Management. Examples: SoftExpert EAM
ECM
Enterprise Content Management.
EDC
Electronic Data Capture
EDI
Electronic Data Interchange. A standard format for exchanging documents between business computer systems. EDI reduces costs by automating the exchange of standard business documents like purchase orders, invoices etc. and replaces postal mail, fax and email.
EDM
Enterprise Data Management
EDMS
Electronic Document Management System (Also DMS)
EDR
Endpoint detection & response (used in securing workstations).
EFSS
Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing services (See CCP: Content Collaboration Platforms)
EHR
Electronic Health Records
EHSM
Environmental Health and Safety Management.
EMM
Enterprise Mobile Management
EMR
Electronic Medical Records
EMS
Emergency Management System
Emergency Medical System
Energy Management System
EOQ
Economic order quantity. Used in ERP inventory management.
EPM
Enterprise Performance Management
EPM
Enterprise Portfolio Management.
ERM
Enterprise Risk Management
EQM
Enterprise Quality Management.
ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning. Software designed to manage all aspects of a business. Originally, ERP started in manufacturing where it managed the product orders to delivery cycle and the financial side of the business. ERP has grown to include things like HRIS, CRM and time tracking. Today ERP is used by many industries other than manufacturing.
ETL
Extract, Transform, Load
eTMF
Electronic Trial Master File. Used to manage clinical trials of drugs.
F
Fit score
A number that estimates how well a software product meets a particular set of requirements. Usually, this number is normalized so that 100 percent would mean that a product fully meets every requirement.
FSM
Field Service Management. FSM software supports field service providers, whose technicians usually travel to customer sites to install, repair, and maintain equipment and systems. Customers can be consumer, commercial, or industrial. FSM software may also manage, maintain and monitor assets under a service or maintenance contract.
G
Gap analysis
A measurement of how well potential software products meet a specific set of requirements.
GRC
Governance, Risk and Compliance Management. Example: SoftExpert GRC
H
HCM
Human Capital Management
HDM
Human Development Management.
HRIS
Human Resources Information System
HRMS
Human Resources Management System
HTML
A form of code used to create web pages in browsers.
I
IAM
Identity and Access Management
IP
Intellectual Property. For example, copyrights, patents etc.
ITSM
Information Technology Service Management.
L
Legacy software
A general term for software that has been used for many years, is outdated, uses old methods or technology, and may need replacement.
LIMS
Laboratory Information Management System
LMS
Learning Management System
M
MDM
Master Data Management
MES
Manufacturing Execution System. Used to manage the transforming of raw materials into finished goods. MES works in real time to optimize current factory floor conditions to improve output. See Wikipedia.
Microservices
Microservices are a software development technique that structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled services rather than as an integrated monolith. Benefits include more robust systems, e.g. a microservice can fail and automatically restart without taking down the whole system. See Wikipedia.
MMIS
Medicaid Management Information System
MOM
Manufacturing Operating System. See Wikipedia.
MRP
Materials Requirements Planning. See Wikipedia.
Multi-tenant software
Software that is designed so multiple companies can simultaneously use the same instance of the application software. Multi-tenant software uses specific techniques to avoid tenants from ever seeing each other’s data. Google’s gmail is a good example of multi-tenant application software. See Wikipedia.
N
NDA
Non-Disclosure Agreement
NPD
New Product Development
O
OCM
Organizational Change Management. The process of preparing employees to change over to new software as that software goes live in production. Inadequate OCM is a leading cause of business disruption when taking new software live.
Operational life
The time that the software is used in production after implementation and before retirement. For software like ERP, you can expect an operational life of at least 10 years. For other major software purchases, you can expect at least 5 years.
OS
Operating system. For example iOS, Android, or Windows.
Out-of-the-box
An out-of-the-box feature or functionality (also called OOTB) is a feature or functionality of a software product that works immediately after installation without the need for any configuration or modification.
P
PaaS
Platform-as-a-Service
PIM
Product Information Management
PLM
Product Lifecycle Management
PMS
Patient Management Software
Project Management Software
POS
Point of Sale
PPM
Project and Portfolio Management.
Procure-to-pay
Refers to the supply chain workflow used to purchase products or raw materials and then pay the suppliers.
Product appraisal rating
A measure of how well a software product meets a requirement, e.g. “fully meets” or “partly meets” etc. Sometimes abbreviated to “product rating.”
PSA
Professional Services Automation. Could be called ERP for professional services companies like Architects, IT Consulting, etc. Examples: Accelo, BigTime, Mavenlink, Workday PSA.
Q
QMS
Quality Management System. Examples: Arena QMS.
R
Reality distortion field
The ability of a charismatic salesperson to influence a potential client. (See Wikipedia )
Requirements profile
A comprehensive list of requirements that have been weighted for importance to the organization.
Reverse engineering
The process of examining the features of multiple potential software products and writing them as requirements. See blog article: Find unknown software requirements with reverse engineering
RFB
Request For Bid
RFI
Request For Information. In the context of selecting enterprise software, an RFI is used to assess how well a software product meets requirements.
RFI response
An RFI where a vendor has evaluated how well their software meets the requirements on that RFI.
RFP
Request For Proposal
RFP responder
The person or organization responding to an RFP. This could be a systems integrator, a software vendor, a software reseller, etc. We use this term because it is clear that the RFP responder is the person (or organization) that is responding to the RFP.
RFQ
Request For Quote
RFx
Request For something: information, proposal, quote, bid, etc.
RMM
Remote monitoring and management. Examples: Atera.
ROA
Return On Assets
ROI
Return On Investment
RTIM
Real-Time Interaction Management
S
SaaS
Software-as-a-Service. Refers to software supplied as a service over the internet, as opposed to software that is installed and run on a local server. Example: Google’s gmail is SaaS, while Microsoft’s Outlook email client that is installed on a computer is not.
SAM
Software Asset Management
SCM
Supply Chain Management
Scope creep
The tendency of a project to grow after it has been initially defined, which causes schedules to slip and costs to increase. When scope creep is not properly managed it can cause a project to fail.
Sandbox account
A user account set up to allow a potential customer to examine a software product in detail. This is quite common with cloud software products.
Seat
A software license for one person
SFA
Sales Force Automation
SIEM
Security Information and Event Management
SME
Subject Matter Expert. A person well versed in the type of software being considered, and the business domain in which that software operates. Typically, this person will have been through several implementations of different software products that involve their area of expertise. A key role for the subject matter expert is to help the organization think through scenarios they might not otherwise consider when weighting requirements.
Software agreement
The same as a software contract.
Software application
Another name for a software product. May be abbreviated to “app”.
SOP
Standard Operating Procedure
SOW
Statement of work. A project plan expressed as a contract. In the context of implementing enterprise software, the SOW typically includes things like:
Purpose - the reasons for undertaking the project.
Scope of work – What work will be done, and what work will not be done.
Resources - who will be doing what work.
Tasks - What tasks must be completed (deliverables), by when and by whom.
Work location – where the work will be done: onsite, in the US or offshore.
Acceptance criteria - used by the software buyer to determine if the implementation is acceptable. Takes the form of UATs (user acceptance tests).
Payment schedule – The costs and payment deadlines.
SRM
Supplier relationship management
SSMS
Software Selection Maturity Scale. A measure of software evaluation and selection process maturity.
T
TAMS
Track Access Management System
TCO
Total Cost of Ownership. The total cost of software to an organization, the TCO includes the costs of the software licenses, implementation, operation, and retirement.
Technical debt
Updating software takes time and money. When many updates to a software product are skipped, the costs of doing an upgrade to the latest version of that product will be substantially higher. That extra cost is called the technical debt.
TMS
Transportation Management System
TPL
Third party logistics vendor, an organization used by a business to outsource elements of its distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment services. See Wikipedia.
Traceability matrix
A document that can trace all requirements back to who wants them, why they are wanted and how important they are to those people.
U
UI
User Interface. The screens that a user sees when working with the software. A well designed user interface means software that is much easier to use, takes less time to get work done and results in fewer user errors.
UAT
User Acceptance Tests. These are the final set of tests done before taking a software implementation live. They start by verifying individual requirements specified on the RFP are met by the software as configured. There can be several other layers of testing which eventually conclude with a round of tests called the Conference room pilot where the users take the software through common business scenarios, e.g. purchase to pay, order to cash, hire to rehire etc. Once all the tests are passed the new software is ready to go live.
Up-time
A measure of the overall availability of a software system. An up-time of 99.9% corresponds to a system that is unavailable for less than 8.75 hours per year. This can be expressed as an average of 44 minutes per month, or 10 minutes per week. See also Downtime.
V
VM
Virtual Machine
VMS
Vendor Management System. An application (usually on the web) used to manage and procure staffing services like temps, contingent labor, and outside contractors.
VNA
Vendor Neutral Archive
VoIP
Voice-over-IP. A form of telephony that uses the internet instead of dedicated phone circuits.
W
WBS
Work breakdown structure. A method of organizing project work into manageable sections. The WBS is organized hierarchically where a task contains subtasks that contain sub-subtasks, going as deep as is necessary.
WCM
Web Content Management
WCS
Warehouse Control System
WEM
Workforce Engagement Management
WMS
Warehouse Management System. Examples: Highjump WMS