The list below contains acronyms that may be used by ITS technicians. Items with an asterisk (*) identify terms that are specific to WVU.
ACL: Access Control Lists
AD: Active Directory, an identity management tool
ADFS: Active Directory Federation Services, the service that Windows servers use for identity authentication
AITL: Academic IT Leaders, a group of college IT directors who do not report to central ITS
AIX: Advanced Interactive eXecutive, or IBM’s proprietary version of Unix
AOC: Attestation of Compliance (required for credit card security)
API: Application Programming Interface, a software intermediary that allows two applications to communicate with each other.
AppScan: IBM tool used to conduct web application security scans
APT: Advanced Persistent Threat, an attack in which an unauthorized user gains access to a system or network and remains there for an extended time without being detected
Author: Fitness Information Technology Author Certification (fitinfotech.com)
AVD: Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop/WVD)
BA: Business Analyst
BAI: Banner Accounting Interface, a process that takes financial transactions from Banner and exports them into MAP
BDM: Banner Document Management
BGP: Border Gateway Protocol, determines where data goes when it leaves our network (either www or Internet2)
BI: Business Intelligence
BOM: Build of Material, all the components needed for a purchase, including hardware and software
CAA: Campus Applications Administration, a team within the ITS Enterprise Support stack
CAB: Change Advisory Board
CAS: Central Authentication Service, or single sign-on system to verify identity then give access to multiple systems
CIM: Course Inventory Management, software for approving courses and programs online
CIP: Classification of Instructional Programs
Cirrus Identity: The tool used for federated access at WVU, which links a person's electronic identity and attributes, stored across multiple distinct identity management systems.
CITI: Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program), required training for researchers
COB: Close of Business
CoC: Code of Confidentiality, security policy for employees using systems that contain personal information
COE: Center of Excellence, a module within Kuali (WVU+kc)
COI: Conflict of Interest, a module within Kuali (WVU+kc)
COLO: Co-location
CORES: Core Ordering and Reporting Enterprise System
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
CRP: Contractual Readmission Process
CS GOLD – cbord: The system that processes Mountaineer Cards/Mountie Bounty and supports online door locks, meal plans, MyPrinting, and other services requiring a WVU ID card
CUI: Controlled Unclassified Information
CVS: Cloud and Virtualization Services, a part of the ITS Enterprise Infrastructure team
DAC: Digital Access Control, support vendor assigned by printing service Pharos
DAS: Distributed Antenna System (ODAS = outside, IDAS = inside)
Data Miner*: Reporting tool that connects to MAP
DBA: Database Administrator
DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a core service that handles the automatic assignment of IP addresses to computers, printers, phones and other devices
DegreeWorks: Real-time student advising and counseling system
DFS: Distributed File System, a Microsoft protocol used to organize many file servers/shares into one or more name spaces, most notably at WVU, the N: drive and J: drives
DLP: Data Loss Protection
DNS: Domain Name System, tells data from the network where to gothe internet’s system for converting alphabetic names into IP addresses.
DR: Disaster recovery
DSEE: Systems LDAP, formerly referred to as iPlanet
DYD: Defend Your Data, our cybersecurity awareness slogan
EBS: eBusiness Suite
eCampus*: WVU's branded name for Blackboard, the primary online learning management system.
ENOD: Electronic Notice of Deposits
EOD: End of Day, sometimes used in place of Close of Business (COB)
EOL: End of Life
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
eRS*: eCampus Request System
ETL: Extract, Transform and Load, which is a process used to collect data from various sources, transform the data and load it into a destination database.
EULA: End User Licensing Agreement
FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, federal law governing disclosure of students’ educational records
FISMA: Federal Information Security Management Act
FSD*: Facilities Service Desk
GAL: Global Address List in Microsoft Exchange
GLBA: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act or GLBA), also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999. This is a federal law enacted in the United States to control the ways that financial institutions deal with the private information of individuals.
GPO: Group Policy Object, a rule to force a change to a computer or a network
GRC: Governance, Risk and Compliance
GTA: Go-To Assist, or remote tech support (for Service Desk)
GUI: Graphical User Interface
HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
IAM: Identity and Access Management
IACUC: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is also the name of a Kuali module that researchers use to manage animal research protocols
IDEAS*: Information for Decision Enabling and Analysis System (The official statistics & strategic decision-making tool.)
IDF: Identity Finder
IDM: Identity Management
IDR: Identity Repository
INB: Internet Native Banner, or Banner forms
InCommon: A secure identity authentication and sharing tool for research institutions
INVAM: International Culture Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (biological cultures)
IPAM: IP Address Management
IRB: Institutional Review Board
iSD: iService Desk, or the web interface for the TMA database, a service desk software solution used by Facilities at regional campuses (main campus uses FSD)
ISE: Identity Services Engine, the authentication system for WVU’s wireless networks
ITIL: ITIL stands for IT Infrastructure Library and is a set of ITSM (IT Service Management) best practices
ITSM: IT Service management is a framework for planning, designing, delivering, operating and controlling IT services.
JDK: Java Development Kit
JSM: Jira Service Management, or the the system that ITS and other IT units use to track and document our work, including managing changes.
KB: Knowledge Base
KM: Konica Minolta, printer-copier manufacturer
LAN: Local Area Network (then goes up to MAN, metropolitan area network, and WAN, wide area network)
LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or an identity authentication tool
LMS: Learning Management System, such as eCampus or SOLE.
LRS*: Leave Request System
MAP*: Mountaineer Administrative Processes, the WVU-branded name for the financial and HR application Oracle eBusiness Suite (EBS)
MDM: Mobile Device Management
MFA: Multi-factor authentication, a security measure that requires multiple methods of authentication
MI: Major Incident
MIX*: Mountaineer Information Xpress has been replaced by the WVU Portal, but student email (Gmail) is still referred to as MIX and has an @mix.wvu.edu naming convention
MS: Microsoft
MS SQL: Microsoft SQL, a server-based tool for storing and manipulating data using modeling
NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement to protect confidential information
Netvuln: Tennable’s Security Center, the tool used to scan the network for vulnerabilities
NFO: New Faculty Orientation
NHSR: Non-Human Subject Research
NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST 800-171 is the security standard to which WVU seeks to align.
NPAPI Plugin: Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) is an application programming interface (API) that allows plug-ins (more specifically, browser extensions) to be developed for web browsers.
NSO: New Student Orientation
NSX: This is VMWare’s network virtualization solution, used at WVU for the past five year. WVU runs on a version called NSX-V, which will soon be replaced with a more feature rich version, NSX-T.
NTP: Network Time Protocol, used to sync time on computer clocks over a network
O365: Microsoft Office 365, often refers specifically to Outlook (Office 365) email
OASIS: Our Advanced Solution with Integrated Systems, a state system aimed at consolidating administrative services such as payroll, vendor payments, and more
OBIEE: Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, a data-reporting tool being replaced by Microsoft Power BI
ODS: Operational Data Store, part of Banner/STAR
OHM: Occupational Health Manager, an application that the WVU Environmental Health & Safety unit will soon be using. It may also be referenced as UL/OHM (UL is the vendor for the application).
OID: Oracle Internet Directory, single sign-on structure behind MyAccess and MyTime
OIM: Oracle Identity Manager
OLA: Operational Level Agreement
OMCS: Oracle Managed Cloud Services, which houses MAP information
OMCS: Oracle Managed Cloud Services
OO: Object-Oriented
OOO: Out of Office
OS: Operating System, such as macOS Monterey
OSP*: Office of Sponsored Programs
OSS: Open Source Software
OST: Offline Storage Table, an offline cache file
OU: Organizational Unit, or a folder in directory
OUR*: Office of the University Registrar
P2P: Peer to Peer
PCI & PCI DSS: Payment Card Industry, Data Security Standard, security standard for debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards
PCPS*: Procurement, Contracting and Payment Services
Pharos: Known as MyPrinting, the paid printing system for students
PHI: Personal Health Information
PI: Project Insight
PIDM: Personal Identification Master is a unique internal identification number assigned in Banner that links together all records for a person
PII: Personally Identifiable Information, such as Social Security numbers and birthdates
PIQ: Personnel Information Questionnaire, or job description
PL SQL: Procedural Language SQL, or the version of SQL language used on Oracle servers
PM: Project Manager
PMO: Project Management Office
PMP: Project Management Professional
POC: Point of Contact or Proof of Concept demo, depending on the context
POP: Point of Presence, where machines connect to the Internet core in each location
PPM: Project and Portfolio Management
PRS: Patch Release System
PST: Personal Storage Table, an external mail file kept separate from the mail on the server but can be linked to Outlook
QA: Quality Assurance
QoS: Quality of Service
RDP: Remote Desktop Protocol
RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
RMA: Return Merchandise Authorization, used in discussions about inventory and asset management
RDBMS: Relational Database Management System, software for storing and manipulating data using models
RFI: Request for Information
RFP: Request for Proposal
RM: Remote Manager, used to describe servers that allow for communication between Oracle Identity Manager and certain systems
RoboReg: Online transcription request tool
RSAM: A tool that ITS uses to assess information security risks associated with various products
SailPoint: WVU's identity management system, known as WVU Login
SAN: Storage Area Network, or high-end hard drives connected to the network that allow for shared storage between computers (used to house large data sets, high availability clusters and University critical data)
SAO: State Auditor’s Office
SAP: Systems, Applications and Products, also the name of a German company. SAP offers enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, including customer relationship management (CRM), financial management, human capital management, product life-cycle management and supply chain management
SBA: Strategic Business Advisor, previously called Expert Business Officers
SC: Service Catalog section of the IT Self Service site (TeamDynamix)
SD: Shorthand for Service Desk
SDLC: System Development Life Cycle
SEI: Student Evaluation of Instruction, Blue)
Series 25: Also known as 25Live, or the meeting room scheduling tool
sFTP: Secure File Transfer Protocol
Shibboleth: An open-source shared identity and authentication system
SIEM: Security Incident and Event Monitoring
SIS: Student Information System
SLA: Service Level Agreement
SOA: Services Oriented Architecture, or the architecture behind many systems (one version we use is Oracle SOA Suite)
SOLE*: An online learning system like eCampus, but developed and maintained by Health Sciences IT (not a Blackboard product)
SSB: Self-Service Banner
SRF: Shared Research Facilities
SSC: Shorthand for Shared Services Center
SSL: Secure Socket Layer, protocol that encrypts communications to provide security
SSM: Student Systems Management
SSO: Single Sign-On
SCCM: System Center Configuration Manager
SCOM: System Center Operations Manager
SIP: Session Initiation Protocol, used for handling telephone calls
SFS: Student Financial Services
SME: Subject Matter Expert, an individual with in-depth knowledge of a system, process, etc.
STAR*: Students and Technology Achieving Results is the branded name for Banner, the student information system of record
SQL: Structured Query Language, or a special programming language for managing databases that allows a user to read and manipulate the data
T2: Parking application for the University
TBOT: Time-Based One-Time (as in, password)
TCP: Transmission Control Protocol, which is what guarantees a data packet is actually sent over the network
TD: TeamDynamix, the IT Service Management tool preceding Jira Service Management
TMA: Service Desk software solution used by Facilities and purchased from TMA Systems, also called The Maintenance Authority
TMC: Travel Management Company
TMS: Tuition Management System, the new system for WVU E-Refunds OR The Museum System, Collection Management Software hosted by ITS for the Museum Education Center in Evansdale.
T-SQL: Transact SQL, or the language used on Microsoft SQL servers
Uniprint: Software used for paid printing
UAT: User Acceptance Testing
UI: User Interface
UR: University Relations
UREM: University Relations and Enrollment Management
UX: User Experience
VDI: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, which allows deployment of desktop services so people can work seamlessly between devices
VLAN: Virtual network (subnet)
VM: Virtual Machine, or any computer running remotely on virtual hardware
VMWare: System to manage and auto-recover data from virtual machines. VMs now contain about 80% of software used across the WVU system daily.
VPN: Virtual Private Network, used to allow remote access to secure systems
WAP: Wireless Access Point
WBEM: Web-Based Enterprise Management, or a system for managing distributed computer systems
WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. All WVU websites and applications must comply with WCAG 2.0.
WFH: Work from Home
WMI: Windows Management Instrumentation, or Microsoft’s version of a system managing distributed computer systems
WPA: Wi-Fi Protected Access
WVU+kc*: Research compliance, award administration and funding notification tool also called Kuali Coeus, KC or just Kuali
WVUID*: A unique nine-digit identifier given to every employee and students
WVUCA*: WVU Certificate Authority, a central location to import and request certificates for your web server
XSS: Cross-site scripting
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