BAU business as usual – is the continuous process of working towards a business goal, as opposed to an improvement project that will create a step change
BCS BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT – formerly known as the British Computing Society
BI business intelligence is a company function that produces data about business operations
CDO Chief Data Officer – a senior managerial role that is tasked with looking after the company’s data
CPD continuous professional development – an official requirement of many professional bodies for their members to document continuous individual development of skills and competencies
CPU central processing unit – the main processing hardware in typical computers
DPA Data Protection Act – a law in the United Kingdom designed to protect personal data in electronic or paper form
ER entity-relationship – a type of modelling usually associated with relational databases which focus on the connections (relationships) between things or concepts (entities)
ETL extract, transform and load – a sequence of data manipulation activities normally associated with data warehousing
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation – a regulation in European Union law that protects the privacy and data of all residents of the union
GPU graphical processing unit – a processing unit specifically built to deal with graphical data, but increasingly used for advanced data processing
HNC Higher National Certificate – a UK further educational qualification that covers the equivalent of 1 years full time study
HND Higher National Diploma – a UK further educational qualification that covers the equivalent of 2 years full time study
ICO Information Commissioner’s Office – an official independent regulatory body in the United Kingdom that has been tasked by Parliament with ensuring the protection and privacy of personal data
IDE integrated development environment – an application that offers facilities to make software development easier, such as a code editor with syntax checking, and assistance with debugging
IoT Internet of Things – internet connected network of physical devices, interacting, collecting and sharing data, which can be remotely monitored and controlled
IP Internet Protoco – an IP address is a numerical identity assigned to every device connected to a computer network
JSON JavaScript Object Notation – an open-standard file format that uses human-readable text
KPI key performance indicator – measures put in place to assess job performance
MI management information – data extracted and summarised to assist management in making better strategic decisions
MOOC massive open online courses which are provided on the internet to non-collocated students who learn and interact exclusively with electronic tools
NoSQL non SQL or not only SQL – a set of tools and techniques for dealing with information that is not suitable for traditional relational databases
NVQ National Vocational Qualification – a UK qualification that assesses candidates’ knowledge and skills
ODBC Open Database Connectivity – a programming interface for connecting relational database systems with other systems and languages
OLAP online analytical processing – a tool used to perform multidimensional analyses of data
ONS Office for National Statistics – the independent body in the UK that publishes official statistics
PAF postcode address file – a lookup file from Royal Mail that contains all delivery addresses in the United Kingdom
PCI DSS the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard – an industry standard that covers information security for credit cards
PECR The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 – a UK law implementing EU regulations and gives individuals specific privacy rights
PII personally identifiable information – data items that could be used to identify an individual
PRINCE2 Projects IN Controlled Environments – a structured project management method
RDBMS relational database management system – a software system designed to manage storage, access and processing of data so that it can be accessed according to the relational model
SDE software development environment – programming tools with features to assist in writing code
SFIA Skills Framework for the Information Age – a framework for skills and development of IT professionals that is promoted by BCS
SLA service level agreement – an agreement between a service provider and a customer that defines the level of service, such as the time it should take to complete a task
SME subject matter expert – a person that is generally considered or officially nominated to be the expert in a specific area of knowledge
SQL Structured Query Language – a programming language for extracting and processing information from relational databases
SWOT strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – a technique used to identify relevant factors that can help a company or an individual to achieve their objectives
UML Unified Modelling Language – a standard for modelling and describing software systems, components and behaviour
XML Extensible Markup Language – a markup language that defines rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human- and machine-readable