360 Degree View of the Customer	A term used to describe the ability for virtually anyone in the company to know anything about the customer (products bought, support calls made, web site visits conducted, etc.). A "complete, 306 degree view" of customer information.
3G	Supposedly the ultimate wireless protocol technology that is already being used in areas outside of North America where countries have more readily converged on wireless protocol standards. Believed to be coming to the U.S. in 2002 or 2003. Supports data transmission rates between 384Kbps and 2Mbps.
Accounts Payable - AP	The value of goods and services acquired for which payment has not yet been made.
Accounts Receivable - AR	The value of goods shipped or services rendered to a customer on which payment has not yet been received. Usually includes an allowance for bad debts.
Automated Call Distribution - ACD	An add-on feature to Customer Interaction Center PBX's (phone switches), ACD's intelligently handle and route incoming calls based on defined criteria (such as, next available employee, skillset, workload, group, etc.).
Ad Hoc	"In real time" or "On the spot." We often talk about Ad Hoc Queries, which are database queries that are created by the user in real time.
Advanced Planning and Scheduling - APS	Techniques that deal with analysis and planning of logistics and manufacturing over the short, intermediate, and long term time periods. APS describes any computer program that uses advanced mathematical algorithms or logic to perform optimization or simulation on finite capacity scheduling, sourcing, capital planning, resource planning, forecasting, demand management, and others. These techniques simultaneously consider a range of constraints and business rules to provide real time planning and scheduling, decision support, available to promise, and capable to promise capabilities. APS often generates and evaluates multiple scenarios. Management then selects one scenario to use as the "official plan." The five main components of APS systems are demand planning, production planning, production scheduling, distribution planning, and transportation planning.
Analytical CRM	A subset of Corporate Business Intelligence, which enables the generation of reports and graphs from information stored in databases to help users analyze various aspects of their business. For more details, see the Article CRM is Busting Out of It's Britches: Operational, Analytical, and Collaborative CRM Are Born.
Application Programming Interface - API	Typically, a "set of API's" will be released by the vendor of software, to enable programmers to write new code on top of the application more quickly by making use of pre packaged code within an API set. Often used to either augment functionality, or to link one application to another.
APICS	A nonprofit educational organization consisting of over 70,000 members in the production and operations, materials, and integrated resource management areas. application Software  A program that performs a task or process specific to a particular end user’s needs, or solves a particular problem. Enterprise applications are typically large scale business systems that organizations use to manage their operations.
Application Service Provider - ASP	A third party entity that manages and distributes software  based leased services and solutions to customers across a wide area network from a central data center. In essence, ASPs are a way for companies to outsource some or almost all aspects of their information technology needs.
Architecture	A structured set of protocols that implements a system’s functions. available to promise (ATP) The uncommitted portion of a company’s inventory and planned production, maintained in the master schedule to support customer order promising.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange - ASCII	It represents the set of common characters that are typically recognized in America, including letters, numbers, and symbols. Each ASCII character is represented by a 7 bit number, from 0 to 127. For example, the ASCII code for uppercase 'M' is 77. Most computers use the ASCII text set, which makes it possible to transfer data from one computer to another.
Application Service Provider - ASP	In its simplest form, an ASP is a third party service firm which deploys, manages, and remotely hosts a pre packaged application or suite of applications in a "rental" or "lease" agreement. No software or hardware typically reside at the customer's site.
Available To Promise - ATP	This represents what product is currently in inventory and not claimed by another order; hence, available to promise to the current customer who is inquiring about availability.
Automated Request Routing	The ability of CRM software to route incoming requests based on defined criteria such as: person's name, skillset, group, availability, knowledge, or geographical location.
Business to Business - B2B	Represents business that is conducted primarily between two businesses.
Business to Customer - B2C	Represents business that is conducted between a business and end users or customers.
Back Scheduling	A technique for calculating operation start dates and due dates. The schedule is computed starting with the due date for the order and working backward to determine the required start date and/or due dates for each operation.
Bill of Material (BOM)	A listing of all the subassemblies, intermediates, parts, and raw materials that go into a parent assembly showing the quantity of each required to make an assembly.
Bill of Material (BOM)	A listing of all the subassemblies, intermediates, parts, and raw materials that go into a parent assembly showing the quantity of each required to make an assembly.
Bluetooth	A wireless protocol that allows two objects to communicate with each other, transferring data and transmitting information without having to "point" at each other as today's devices equipped with IrDA technology do.
BPR "Business Process Reengineering"	Includes business process analysis, design, and/or re  design, in advance of technology purchase decisions. For an in depth discussion, reference two TEC Articles: CPR on BPR: Long Live Business Process Reengineering. Part I: A Primer and CPR on BPR: Practical Guidelines for Successful Business Process Analysis.
Browser	Software used on the Web to retrieve and display documents on screen, connect to other sites using hypertext links, display images, and play audio files.

Business to Business e Commerce - B2B  Business being conducted over the Internet between businesses. The implication is that this connectivity will cause businesses to transform themselves via supply chain management to become virtual organizations, reducing costs, improving quality, reducing delivery lead time, and improving due date performance.   Call Me Now  A Web-based electronic Service (or "eService") feature which enables the customer to immediately request that a support representative call them over a POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) line for discussion.   Capable to Promise - CTP)  The process of committing orders against available capacity as well as inventory. This process may involve multiple manufacturing or distribution sites. Capable to promise is used to determine when a new or unscheduled customer order can be delivered. Capable to promise employs a finite scheduling model of the manufacturing system to determine when an item can be delivered. It includes any constraints that might restrict the production, such as availability of resources, lead times for raw materials or purchased parts, and requirements for lower level components or subassemblies. The resulting delivery date takes into consideration production capacity, the current manufacturing environment, and future order commitments. The objective is to reduce the time spent by production planners in expediting orders and adjusting plans because of inaccurate delivery date promises.   Capacity Requirements Planning - CRP  The function of establishing, measuring, and adjusting limits or levels of capacity. The term CRP in this context refers to the process of determining in detail the amount of labor and machine resources required to accomplish the tasks of production.   Channel  Shorthand for Sales Channel; represents other companies that aid a company in the sale, and often implementation, of its products.   Customer Interaction Center - CIC   The term has supplanted the age   old term Customer Support Center. Meant to represent a more global view of the services this department conducts, including not only Service, but potentially Sales (via Telesales) as well as Marketing (via distribution of Marketing literature, running Outbound campaigns and the like). It's meant to represent a centralized Sales, Marketing, and Service organization that is co located and cross trained.   Clickstream Analysis  The analysis of the path that a user took through your website (as they clicked hyperlinks to access various areas). The data is used to understand such things as what areas of the site are popular, and, in turn, what products or services are being most inquired about, etc.   Client Server  The 1980's model of corporate computing, where application processing was split (often haphazardly) between servers and client, or desktop, machines. For example, if a user were to run a query on a database, the database server might simply run the query and push all the data to the client; then, it's up to the client to do all the manipulation on the data (organization, summarization, formatting, etc.).   Client/Server System  A distributed computing system in which work is assigned to the computer best able to perform it from among a network of computers. client  In information systems, a software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a server program on another computer. Each client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of server programs, and each server requires a specific kind of client. A Web browser is one type of client.   Collaborative CRM  Those pieces of CRM software that interact directly with the customer. Typically refers to web components, like web conferencing, web forms handling, automated email handling, and unified message handling and intelligent message routing; web assistance tools such as Live Chat facilities, and Voice over IP (VoIP), and collaborative web browsing. For more details, see the Article CRM is Busting Out of It's Britches: Operational, Analytical, and Collaborative CRM Are Born.   Collaborative Web Browsing  The ability for a Service Representative to "push" web pages to a customer's screen, or to lead the customer's browser with his or her own browser. Often used in the shopping process, when users are confused about next steps.   Computer Assisted Software Engineering - CASE  The use of computerized tools to assist in the process of designing, developing, and maintaining software products and systems.   Computerized Maintenance Management Systems - CMMS  Automated software systems for handling maintenance work orders, as well as associated inventory, purchasing, accounting, and human resources functions. In some industries—particularly process production, in which manufacturers look to optimize use of capital intensive equipment—maintenance management systems play a leading role as the enterprise system. Maintenance management systems have similar basic functionality, including 1) use of work orders for preventive and predictive maintenance, 2) equipment recording and tracking, 3) inventory control, 4) scheduling labor and resources, and 5) purchasing.   Context-Sensitive Help  Help information that is specific to the location of your cursor on the screen. For example, if you had a question about a particular field on the screen, you could place your cursor in the field, and then request Help, and the Help system would be intelligent enough to provide information about that particular field (how to fill it out, in what format, etc.)   Corporate Performance Management - CPM  An overarching term that describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise. Applications that enable CPM translate strategically focused information to operational plans and send aggregated results.   Cost of Goods Sold - COGS  An accounting classification useful for determining the amount of direct materials, direct labor, and allocated overhead associated with the products sold during a given period of time.   Customer Relationship Management - CRM   Software is defined as: software that promotes the direct interaction between customers and the company through support of the people and processes involved in the entire customer lifecycle. CRM software fosters a comprehensive, integrated approach to the customer, putting the customer at the center and integrating such corporate functions as Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, and Field Sales and Service, all in an effort to increase Customer Satisfaction, improve internal morale, increase sales, and differentiate the company from its competitors. (It can also mean "Corporate Records Management," but not in the context of TEC research.)   Customer Support Representative - CSR    The term for the employees who staff the Customer Interaction Center. Computer Telephony Integration - CTI Links incoming phone call information with information that already exists in the database related to that phone number, auto populating Service Requests with basic information such as Contact Name, Address, Company Name, etc.   Dashboard  A member of the Business Intelligence family that represents near real time data feedback about particular performance measures. Called a "Dashboard" because the visual implementation of the functionality often looks like the dashboard of a car, with dials and gauges representing the "pulse" of the organization.   Data Mart  A Data Warehouse on a departmental level (for more information, see Data Warehousing).   Data Mining  A general term that represents exploring data sets and finding the valuable nuggets of information which help companies make better informed decisions.   Data Warehouse  A repository of data that has been specially prepared to support decision making applications.   Data Warehousing   The collection of information from multiple, disparate databases into one database, against which Data Mining tools can be run to gather corporate wide business intelligence.   Database  A data processing file management approach designed to establish the independence of computer programs from data files. Redundancy is minimized, and data elements can be added to, or deleted from, the file structure without necessitating changes to existing computer programs.   Database Management System -DBMS  The software designed for organizing data and providing the mechanism for storing, maintaining, and retrieving that data on a physical medium (i.e., a database). A DBMS separates data from the application programs and people who use the data and permits many different views of the data.   DataBase Administrator - DBA   The engineer in the IT organization that keeps the corporate databases running at peak efficiency, maintains data backups, and ensures the accuracy and "cleanliness" of the data stored in the databases.   Discrete Manufacturing  Production of distinct items such as automobiles, appliances, or computers.   Decision Support System - DSS   An automated system that enables an employee, typically a manager, to make better decisions based on the analysis of collected data. The TESS (Technology Evaluation Support System) database system offered by TEC is an example of a DSS.   e Business  The generic name given to any type of business conducted using the Internet from online trading to self service.   Enterprise Application Integration - EAI   Represents the efforts that often need to be made to link data between disparate applications running on different databases. CRM packages are trying to avoid external EAI requirements by building in and automating the links between their application components and data.   EBusiness  An umbrella term for a total presence on the Web including the E Commerce component.   ECommerce  Sales and Service via the Internet.   ECRM  Another vague term, but understood here at TEC to mean, any Sales, Marketing, or Service functionality that is automated electronically, typically via the Web.   Electronic Data Interchange - EDI   The precursor to XML (eXtensible Markup Language). EDI represents, if you will, a common language that two databases can use to speak to one another directly, without human intervention. For example, if one company wanted to send a Purchase Order to another company via EDI, it could do so if both it and the receiving company follow EDI conventions and pre establish EDI links between the two companies.   Enterprise Marketing Automation - EMA   A key component of most CRM packages, EMA enables the automation of typical marketing tasks, such as the compilation of campaign lists, and the qualification of leads.   Engineer to Order - ETO  Products whose customer specifications require unique engineering design, significant customization, or new purchased materials. Each customer order results in a unique set of part numbers, bills of material, and routings.   Enterprise Application Integration - EAI  The unrestricted sharing of data and business processes throughout the networked applications or data sources in an organization, since early software programs in areas such as inventory control, human resources, sales automation and database management were designed to run independently, with no interaction between the systems. There are four major categories of EAI  1) database linking databases share information and duplicate information as needed; 2) application linking the enterprise shares business processes and data between two or more applications; 3) data warehousing data is extracted from a variety of data sources and channeled into a specific database for analysis; and 4) common virtual system the pinnacle of EAI; all aspects of enterprise computing are tied together so that they appear as a unified application.   Enterprise Asset Management - EAM  A term used by maintenance management software vendors to connote the wide ranging functionality that their systems include, for example inventory management and financials. A company’s total assets might include labor, tools, equipment, materials, and information. The goal of asset management is to optimize asset use and manage all maintenance efforts involved in making assets as reliable, accurate, and efficient as possible. A further crucial element in enterprise wide asset management is integration with financial, human resources, and purchasing functions, as well as production, material requirements planning, and enterprise resources planning systems.   Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) System  An accounting oriented information system for identifying and planning the enterprise wide resources needed to take, make, ship, and account for customer orders. An ERP system differs from the typical MRP II system in technical requirements such as graphical user interface, relational database, use of fourth generation language, and computer assisted software engineering tools in development, client/server architecture, and open system portability.   Extraction, Transformation, and Loading - ETL A term used with Data Warehouses. Part of the Data Warehouse functionality set, where data is pulled (Extracted) from disparate databases, Transformed into more easily understandable, and better linked form, and then Loaded into the Data Warehouse for Data Mining.   Extranet  That part of a company's own Intranet that is shared with a subset of external users. Typically protected by password or some other means.   Fail Over Capability  The ability for a server, when it fails, to "fail over" to a machine that is running in parallel and provide seamless, non stop processing for users.   Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs   A list of questions that are repetitively asked of Customer Support Representatives. If a user views the FAQ list, they will find answers to the most commonly asked questions, saving the Support organization time and effort in handling repeat questions or problems.   Field Force Automation - FFA   Automating tasks and delivering content to employees, typically both Sales and Service Staff, who are in the field visiting customers.   Field Level Validation  The ability of a software package to validate what a user has entered into a particular field on a screen either in real time (usually when the user tabs out of the field), or in batch (typically when the user attempts to leave the screen). Types of validation include: checking for the existence of data, and checking for data that is entered in a particular format.   Finite Scheduling  A scheduling methodology where work is loaded into work centers such that no work center capacity requirement exceeds the capacity available for that work center.   Flow Manufacturing  A form of manufacturing organization, in which machines and operators handle a standard, usually uninterrupted, material flow. The operators generally perform the same operations for each production run. A flow shop is often referred to as a mass production shop or is said to have a continuous manufacturing layout. Each product, though variable in material specifications, uses the same flow pattern through the shop. Production is set at a given rate, and the products are generally manufactured in bulk.   Fourth Generation Language - 4GL  A general term for a series of high level nonprocedural languages that enable users or programmers to prototype and to code new systems. Nonprocedural languages use menus, question and answer combinations, and a simpler, English like wording to design and implement systems, update databases, generate reports, create graphs, and answer inquiries.   Global Positioning System - GPS   Starting to be incorporated in CRM Field Force Automation systems, so that the home office knows the location of its field resources (either people or vehicles or the like), and can use that data for more intelligent routing of field personnel.   Graphical User Interface - GUI  A connection between the computer and the user employing a mouse and icons so that the user makes selections by pointing at icons and clicking the mouse.   Graphical User Interface - GUI <