Glossary

Actor network:
a concept used in actor–network theory (ANT) to refer to the imbrication of humans and objects in a world regulated by techniques.
Agile methods:
a set of practices for planning and carrying out projects, more pragmatic than traditional development methods. Agile methods claim to be closer to the end user and aim to build the project by iterations and increments in line with user need.
American form (A-form):
an organizational structure that includes unitary form and multi-divisional form.
Business function:
a set of activities performed by a structure within the company designed to achieve a specified result.
Business to Administration (B2A):
a technical and informational environment enabling direct communication between a business and its contact persons in administrative bodies.
Business to Business (B2B):
a technical and informational environment enabling direct communication between businesses.
Business to Consumer (B2C):
a technical and informational environment enabling direct communication between a business and its customers.
Business to Employees (B2E):
a technical and informational environment enabling direct communication between a business and its employees.
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI):
a repository of good practices developed to measure the quality of software suppliers.
Chains of translation:
concept used in actor-network theory (ANT) to refer to the imbrications between humans and technical objects that facilitate an understanding of the world and interactions.
Client/Server:
a computing environment that combines two approaches: customer-centric (where resources are managed locally) and server-centric (where resources are centralized).
Cloud computing:
leveraging the processing power and storage of remote servers via the Internet, on request and on a self-service basis.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA) criteria:
criteria used, in information systems security, when looking at the protection of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.
Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT):
a repository of good practice focusing on information systems governance.
Cooperative Information System (CIS):
an information system in the mesoeconomics system, where inter-business relationships are conceived as collaborations that generate relational rents.
Decision Support Systems (DSS):
an information system at the management level that provides basic information to department managers so that they can take decisions on medium-term policies.
Ecosystem:
a set of relationships (vertical, horizontal and transverse; direct and indirect; formalized and unformalized) between heterogeneous actors steered by the promotion of a common resource and an ideology that leads to the development of shared skills.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI):
computerized exchange of data regulated by standardized communication protocols between two organizations (often a business and its supplier). This exchange of information has the dual purpose of data fluidification and cost reduction.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Integrated Management Software (IMS), Enterprise Systems (ES):
management application that meets the needs of the whole of the business, with modules for the various departments: accounting, finance, production and procurement.
Executive Information Systems (EIS):
information systems at the executive level that provide highly synthesized information on the business’ macro-activities but with the potential to go into greater detail on specific elements using aggregated data, to support strategic decision-making.
Extended information system (EIS):
an information system in the mesoeconomics system, where inter-business relationships are conceived as quasi-automatic adjustment mechanisms within a market, activated in line with transaction costs.
Extranet:
a computer network based on public Internet protocols giving access to its services to the partners of a private organization.
Free software:
software giving the freedom to execute the program, inspect its functioning, adapt it to need, distribute copies, improve it and share the enhancements. To do this, access to source code is assured by a public license.
Functional silo:
a strong separation between the functions of an organization, each with its own set of rules for apportioning authority, tasks, controls and the coordination of an organization.
Gantt chart:
a tool to assist with planning, scheduling and updating complex project management by enabling real-time visualization of the various project tasks.
Global Technology Audit Guide (GTAG):
a repository relating to the information system for setting up internal audits.
Hardware structure:
physical components, in the form of a technological base and infrastructure, supporting the software applications.
Hierarchy:
a social structure that establishes relationships of subordination and graduated levels of power, position and responsibility.
Horizontal Network Firm:
an organizational structure whose organizational territory is extended through inter-organizational cooperation in carrying out business processes, with no recognized leader firm and pursuing a common objective.
Host-centric:
a computing environment where work stations act as slaves to a central computer that hosts centralization.
Information asymmetry:
a situation where some participants have access to information that others do not. For example, corporate governance is characterized by directors who have privileged access to accounting and financial data that is not shared with shareholders.
Information content:
basic descriptions of realities recorded, in the wider sense, by the organization and that is available to it.
Information systems function:
a set of activities available in a defined information system, giving a specified result.
Information systems planner:
a function whose aim is to ensure that the complete information system develops consistently in line with the corporate goals, the functional domain, external and internal constraints, and to exploit technical opportunities to the full.
Information systems security:
a field of activity that includes technical, behavioral, managerial, philosophical and organizational approaches addressing protection against and mitigation of threats to informational assets.
Information systems territory:
an arrangement of material and symbolic resources capable of structuring the practical conditions of the existence of an information system.
Information systems urbanization:
a process that provides a framework of analysis for rationalizing, transforming and improving the information system.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL):
a repository of good practices for information systems management focusing on the improvement of IT services.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):
a commercial solution accessible on a remote server. The service provider provides access to a machine and manages all the technical processes associated with this service. The client is responsible for installing their operating system, middleware and software.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27000:
the information systems security standard, published by the International Standards Organization.
Internet:
a worldwide network, accessible to the public, connecting private information networks with many key services like messaging, the World Wide Web, social networks, etc.
Intranet:
a computer network based on public Internet protocols, giving access to its services to the members of a private organization.
IT Framework for Management of IT-Related Business Risks (RiskIT):
a repository relating to IT risk management.
IT Scorecard:
a dashboard to align information systems management to the rest of the organization.
IT standard:
a common, documented repository to harmonize IT activities.
Japanese form (J-form):
an organizational structure whose organizational territory is extended through inter-organizational collaborations in carrying out business processes.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI):
indicators to monitor the performance of services included on the list of facilities management contracts.
Managed services:
the handing over of all or part of the information system to a specialist subcontractor.
Management information system:
an information system linking the organizational functions and the hierarchical levels of a hierarchical-functional territory.
Mapping:
the process of creating a graphic representation.
Mesoeconomics:
a branch of economics, between macroeconomics and microeconomics, that models the behavior of small clusters of economic actors, in the same business sector, the same industry or the same region.
Microeconomics:
a branch of economics that models the behavior of economic actors (consumers, households, businesses, organizations, etc.).
Middleware:
third-party software, the purpose of which is to enable the exchange of information between different applications. The EDI is an example of middleware.
Multi-divisional form (M-form):
an organizational structure where control is shared by business units.
Network-centric:
a computing environment where organizations interact by means of complex interfaces. The development of this kind of environment is linked to Internet usage.
On premise:
management and production of computer services internally within an organization. On premise is the opposite of Software as a Service (SaaS).
Open-source data:
electronic data that allows users free access and use.
Organizational boundary:
a border that determines the organization’s territory.
Organizational chart:
a blueprint of the organizational structure showing its various elements and also the relationships that exist between them.
Organizational information system:
an information system of a business system incorporating a multitude of processes.
Organizational structure:
set of rules for apportioning the authority, tasks, control and coordination of an organization.
Organizational territory:
an arrangement of material and symbolic resources capable of structuring the practical conditions of the existence of an organization and, conversely, informing this organization of its own identity.
Platform as a Service (PaaS):
a package providing access to virtualized computers with the operating system already installed, upon which customers can install applications.
Prince:
Prince is a structured project management method and a practitioner certification program.
Process:
a set of sequenced operations, designed to achieve a specified result.
Production chain:
a set of production process phases that enable the progression from raw materials to finished product sold on the market, including all the processing stages.
Program:
a strategic effort aimed at business transformation. It requires the coordination of many interrelated projects. Envisioning a program as one large project often leads to failure.
Project:
a temporary system aimed at completing a specified task at a fixed cost in a fixed timescale. Information systems projects are considered more complex than traditional projects, involving a diverse range of stakeholders and various layers (infrastructure, software and human aspects).
Project management:
brings together the functions that deal with the organizations’ computing services projects.
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK):
a repository of good practices focusing on project management.
Project manager support:
the stakeholder who supports the project manager in the definition of the project owner’s needs and of the specification sheet.
Project owner:
brings together the functions that deal with the organization’s core business activity and defines the needs and expectations that the project manager will work on.
Project owner support:
the stakeholder who supports the project owner in defining their needs and writing the specification sheet for the project manager.
Proprietary software:
software that does not legally or technically allow execution of the software for any purpose, or inspection of the source code, or distribution of copies, or any modifications and thus enhancements to the source code.
Protocol:
specification of several rules for a particular type of communication.
Service Level Agreements (SLA):
agreements that establish a link between service levels and the expectations of the information system’s customer.
Service Level Management (SLM):
management of information systems service levels.
Service Level Requests (SLR):
requests in terms of requirements and service levels.
Software:
the applications installed on the hardware and each application’s incoming/outgoing information flows.
Software as a Service (SaaS):
a commercial solution accessible on a remote server. The service provider provides access to a machine and manages all the technical processes associated with this service. The customer uses the software without having to worry about the infrastructure or the operation of the service.
SSADM:
stands for Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methods, which is an application development method that was developed in the UK. It divides an application development project into modules, stages, steps and tasks.
Territory:
an arrangement of material and symbolic resources capable of structuring the practical conditions of the existence of an individual or a social collective and, conversely, informing the individual or collective of their own identity.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):
a method perfected by the Gartner Group to approach the total cost of ownership of computer infrastructures.
Transaction cost theory:
a theory developed by Coase to explain the existence of businesses. This theory posits that certain transactions on markets can lead to punitive costs for economic operators who then resort to the use of a hierarchical organization.
Transaction Processing Systems (TPS):
an information system at the operational level of an organization that integrates execution procedures and records transactions.
Unitary form (U-form):
an organizational structure where control is shared by functions.
Urbanism:
the study of the urban phenomenon, the action of the urbanization and the arrangement of the city and its territories.
Urbanization:
a historic movement defining the increase in the numbers living in the city relative to the general population.
Value chain:
all the steps in determining the capacity of a strategic business unit (SBU) within an organization to gain a competitive advantage.
Value Information Technology (ValIT):
a repository for information systems management, with a risk window and a performance window.
Value network:
economic activities and resources distributed within and across organizations, with organizations as nodes and interactions between them as links.
Vertical Network Firm:
an organizational structure whose organizational territory is extended through inter-organizational cooperation in carrying out business processes, with a leader firm that develops a network with partner firms upstream and downstream of its business activity.
World Wide Web (WWW):
a service that can be accessed on the Internet using a web browser. It works with a multimedia offering and is based on a hypertext-type navigation mode.
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