Enterprise IT terminology explained

Microsoft directory service for centralized management of user accounts, groups, security policies, and access rights in corporate networks.

A flexible methodology for software development and project management. Features iterative approach, short cycles (sprints), continuous feedback, and adaptation to changing requirements.

Application Programming Interface — a set of rules and protocols that allows different software systems to communicate with each other. The foundation of modern integration architecture.

A single entry point for all API requests. Provides routing, authentication, rate limiting, caching, and API traffic monitoring.

A chronological record of all user actions and system events. Ensures traceability and regulatory compliance.

Data backup and recovery strategy. Includes RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective).

Business Intelligence — technologies and practices for collecting, integrating, analyzing, and visualizing business data to support informed management decisions.

Business Process Management — a systematic approach to optimizing organizational processes: modeling, automation, monitoring, and continuous improvement.

Business Process Model and Notation — a standardized graphical notation for modeling business processes equally understood by business analysts, developers, and managers.

Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery — practices for automating software build, testing, and deployment pipelines.

A model for delivering IT resources (servers, storage, databases, networks) over the internet as a service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).

Configuration Management Database — a centralized registry of all IT assets and their relationships.

A technology for packaging applications with all dependencies into isolated containers (Docker). Ensures consistent execution environment across any infrastructure.

Customer Relationship Management — software for automating sales, marketing, and customer service processes.

A comprehensive set of measures to protect information systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, attacks, and data breaches.

A framework of rules, roles, processes, and metrics that ensures effective and secure data management within an organization.

A centralized repository that stores large volumes of structured and unstructured data in raw format for subsequent analysis.

A specialized database for storing consolidated, cleansed, and structured data from various sources for analytics and reporting.

A culture and set of practices uniting development (Dev) and operations (Ops) to shorten the software delivery cycle and improve quality.

A virtual model of a physical object, process, or system that is updated in real time based on sensor data.

A plan and procedures for restoring IT infrastructure and data after a critical failure or disaster.

Enterprise Resource Planning — an integrated platform for managing business processes: finance, manufacturing, logistics, and HR.

Enterprise Service Bus — a centralized component for message exchange between different IT systems.

Extract, Transform, Load — extracting data from various sources, transforming it, and loading it into a target system.

An architectural pattern where system components react to events instead of direct calls. Ensures loose coupling between services.

Automatic switching to a standby system upon primary system failure. A key mechanism for ensuring business continuity.

The ability of a system to continue operating when individual components fail. Achieved through redundancy and replication.

A software or hardware component that filters incoming and outgoing network traffic according to defined security rules.

General Data Protection Regulation — EU regulation establishing rules for collecting, processing, and storing personal data of EU citizens.

A distributed version control system. Enables development teams to work on code in parallel, track changes, and manage development branches.

A centralized point for receiving user requests regarding IT issues. The first line of support with incident classification and routing.

A system characteristic ensuring continuous operation with minimal downtime (99.9%+ uptime).

IT infrastructure combining a private cloud (on-premise) with public cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) for an optimal balance of security and flexibility.

Infrastructure as Code — managing IT infrastructure through configuration files instead of manual setup (Terraform, Ansible).

Internet of Things — a network of physical devices with sensors and internet connectivity that collect and exchange data.

Integration Platform as a Service — a cloud platform for integrating applications and data with ready-made connectors and visual builders.

IT Service Management — a set of processes and practices for delivering, supporting, and continuously improving IT services.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library — a set of best practices for IT service management (ITSM).

JavaScript Object Notation — a lightweight text-based data exchange format between systems. The de facto standard for REST APIs and web services.

Apache Kafka — a distributed event streaming platform. Used for building real-time data pipelines and event-driven architectures.

Qualified Electronic Signature — an electronic signature with the legal force of a handwritten signature. Mandatory for tax reporting and government procurement.

Key Performance Indicator — a measurable metric demonstrating how effectively an organization achieves its business objectives.

A container orchestration platform for automatic deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol — used for centralized authentication and account management in corporate environments.

An outdated IT system that continues to be used because it contains critical business logic. Replacement requires special strategies.

Distribution of incoming traffic across multiple servers to ensure performance and fault tolerance.

Development platforms with minimal or zero coding. Allow creating applications through visual builders and drag-and-drop interfaces.

Master Data Management — a discipline for creating a single, authoritative source of key business data across the organization.

An architectural approach where an application is broken into small, independently deployable services, each responsible for a separate business function.

Software layer between the OS and applications that provides integration, messaging, and transaction management.

Continuous observation of IT system status: availability, performance, errors, security. Tools: Zabbix, Prometheus, Grafana.

The process of transferring data, applications, or infrastructure from one system/platform to another while maintaining integrity and functionality.

Non-Disclosure Agreement — a legal document protecting confidential information during collaboration between organizations.

Network Operations Center — a centralized unit for 24/7 monitoring, management, and support of IT infrastructure.

An open authorization standard allowing applications to obtain limited access to user resources without sharing passwords.

A deployment model where software and infrastructure are hosted on the organization's own servers rather than in the cloud.

Automatic coordination and management of complex IT processes: service deployment, workflow execution, container management.

The process of identifying, testing, and installing security updates and functional patches for software and operating systems.

Public Key Infrastructure — a system for creating, managing, and verifying digital certificates and electronic signatures.

A technology for analyzing business processes based on digital traces (event logs) from IT systems. Reveals bottlenecks and deviations.

Representational State Transfer — an architectural style for building web services. Uses HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) for resource operations.

Robotic Process Automation — software "robots" that mimic human actions in IT system interfaces.

Recovery Point Objective / Recovery Time Objective — maximum acceptable data loss (RPO) and recovery time (RTO) after a disaster.

Software as a Service — a cloud-based software distribution model via subscription without the need for local installation.

Electronic Document Management System — a platform for creating, storing, approving, signing, and archiving documents digitally.

Security Information and Event Management — collects and analyzes logs from all IT systems to detect security threats.

Service Level Agreement — defines incident response time, recovery time, availability, and support schedule.

Service-Oriented Architecture — an approach to building IT systems where functionality is implemented as a set of interacting services.

Single Sign-On — an authentication mechanism allowing users to access multiple systems with a single set of credentials.

Total Cost of Ownership / Return on Investment — TCO includes all costs: licenses, implementation, support. ROI measures financial effectiveness.

An Infrastructure as Code tool by HashiCorp for declarative description and automatic deployment of cloud infrastructure.

A method of identity verification using two different factors: password + SMS/token/biometrics. Significantly enhances security.

User Acceptance Testing — the final testing phase where end users verify the system meets requirements before go-live.

Unified Modeling Language — a standardized notation for visual software system design: class diagrams, sequence diagrams, state diagrams.

Continuous system operation time, usually expressed as a percentage per year. 99.9% uptime = no more than 8.7 hours of downtime per year.

Virtual Private Network — an encrypted connection over the internet for secure access to corporate resources.

A technology for creating virtual versions of servers, storage, and networks on single physical hardware. Optimizes resource utilization.

A system for tracking changes in files and code. Allows reverting to previous versions and coordinating team work (Git, SVN).

Web Application Firewall — protects web applications from SQL injections, XSS attacks, and other web vulnerabilities.

Software components accessible over a network via standardized protocols (SOAP, REST). The foundation of inter-system integration.

A defined sequence of tasks that automatically flows from one participant to another according to business rules.

A security model where no user or device is trusted by default, even inside the network. Every access request must be verified.

A fundamental change in how an organization creates value using digital technologies. Encompasses processes, culture, and work models.