Glossary of ITS Acronyms

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

ADRs: Assistant Directors for Research

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

ALEKS: Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces is an AI (artificial intelligence) tool that WVU uses to assess incoming students for placement in math courses

ALFI: Animal Lab Facilities Inspection, a custom app developed in RAA (Research Application Administration)

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.

APT: Advanced Persistent Threat, an attack in which an unauthorized user gains access to a system or network and remains there for an extended period of time without being detected

Author: Fitness Information Technology Author Certification (http://fitinfotech.com)

AVD: Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop/WVD)

AWS: Amazon Web Services

B2B: Business to Business, or a kind of commerce transaction between businesses such as a wholesaler and a retailer

B2C: Business to Consumer, a kind of commerce in which companies sell products directly to consumers 

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

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)

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.

DID: Direct Inward Dialing (DID) is a telephone service that allows a number to ring through directly to a specific phone at a business instead of going to a menu or a queue and needing to dial an extension. 

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

DNS: Domain Name System, the internet’s system for converting alphabetic names into IP addresses

DoS/DDoS: Denial of Service/Distributed Denial of Service 

DR: Disaster recovery

DSEE: Directory Server Enterprise Edition provides a core directory service with embedded database, directory proxy, Active Directory (AD) synchronization and a Web administration console

DYD: Defend Your Data, our cybersecurity awareness slogan 

EAB: Educational Advisory Board - vendor for Navigate system supported by Provost Office

EBS: eBusiness Suite 

ECO: Export Control Office

EHS: Environmental Health and Safety

ENOD: Electronic Notice of Deposits

EOD: End of Day, sometimes used in place of Close of Business (COB)  

EOL: End of Life 

ERA: Electronic Research Administration, typically used to refer to the WVU+kc (Kuali) platform and its coming replacement, Huron Research Suite

ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning

eRS: eCampus course 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

F5: F5 is a load balancer that prevents service disruption by redirecting traffic to redundant servers when there is a surge in load (demand).

FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, federal law governing disclosure of students’ educational records

FISMA: Federal Information Security Management Act

FO: Fill Out; a student task for filling out the Student Perception of Training (SPoT) survey.

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

GUI: Graphical User Interface

HCM: Human Capital Management; HCM consists of a core HR database, skills intelligence foundation, configuration tooling, process automation, workforce management, recruiting, talent, learning, benefits and more.

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

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.

JAWS: Job Access With Speech is a screenreader tool for people with visual challenges.

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

LUN: Logical Unit Number (LUN) is a unique identifier for designating an individual or collection of physical or virtual machines.

LVM: Logical Volume Mirror (LVM) is a system for managing network file shares that lets you mirror content from old disks to new disks, then discard the old disk.

MAP: Mountaineer Administrative Processes, the WVU-branded name for the financial and HR application Oracle eBusiness Suite (EBS)

MDM: Mobile Device Management 

MDM: May refer to Mobile Device Management OR Microsoft Dynamic Marketing OR Master Data 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

NCIT: Non-Central IT, an email group (non-centralit@groups.wvu.edu) used to communicate with decentralized IT staff in colleges and department across WVU 

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.

NSC: National Student Clearinghouse is a service students use to confirm their enrollment at a college or university and get various discounts.

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 365, often refers specifically to Outlook (Microsoft 365) email

OAM: Oracle Access Manager

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 

OD: Oracle Database

ODS: Operational Data Store, part of Banner/STAR 

OEM: Oracle Enterprise Manager

OGC: Office of General Counsel 

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).

OHRP: Office of Human Research Protections

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

OO: Object-Oriented

OOO: Out of Office

OPMN: Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

OS: Operating System, such as macOS Monterey  

OSP: Office of Sponsored Programs 

OSS: Open Source Software

OST: Offline Storage Table, an offline cache file

OTT: Office of Technology Transfer

OU: Organizational Unit, or a folder in directory

OUR: Office of the University Registrar

PAM: Privileged Access Management.  

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 

RAA: Research Application Administration, a custom platform on which ALFI and IRB Billing live

RCR: Responsible Conduct of Research

RDP: Remote Desktop Protocol 

REU: Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) is a program that supports active participation in science, engineering, and education research by undergraduate students. Some WVU faculty participate in this, engaging students from other institutions. 

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

ROADS: Research Office Administrative Data System

RoboReg: Online transcription request tool 

RPO: Recovery Point Objective is the age of files that must be recovered from backup storage for normal operations to resume if a computer, system or network goes down as a result of a hardware, program or communications failure

RSAM: Relational Security Assessment Manager, a tool the ITS compliance team uses to record exceptions granted from security standards

RTO: Recovery Time Objective is the maximum tolerable length of time that a computer, system, network or application can be down after a failure or disaster occurs

SaaS: Software as a Service. SaaS allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps over the Internet. Common examples are email, calendaring, and office tools (such as Microsoft Office 365).

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

SCCM: System Center Configuration Manager

SCOM: System Center Operations Manager

SD: Shorthand for Service Desk 

SDLC: System Development Life Cycle

SEI: Student Evaluation of Instruction (aka Blue)

SFS: Student Financial Services 

sFTP: Secure File Transfer Protocol

SIEM: Security Incident and Event Monitoring 

SIP: Session Initiation Protocol, used for handling telephone calls 

SIS: Student Information System

SLA: Service Level Agreement

SLI: Scheduling Listing Index (SLI) Coordinators are contacts in the colleges responsible for helping with class scheduling, rooms, faculty role assignments, and other tasks. 

SME: Subject Matter Expert, an individual with in-depth knowledge of a system, process, etc.

SOA: Services Oriented Architecture, or the architecture behind many systems (one version we use is Oracle SOA Suite)

SOLE: Study Observe Learn Engage is the learning management system used at the Health Sciences Center

SOW: Statement of work

SPoT: Student Perception of Teaching (SPoT) is the new name the Provost’s office has given what was previously called SEI (Student Evaluation of Instruction). Both instruments are in a platform called Blue, which WVU also uses for employee performance evaluations. SEI and SPoT collect student feedback for instructors’ promotion and tenure files.  

SRE: Secure Research Enclave

SRF: Shared Research Facilities 

SSB: Self-Service Banner

SSC: Shorthand for Shared Services Center 

SSL: Secure Socket Layer, protocol that encrypts communications to provide security

SSH: Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell

SSM: Student Systems Management 

SSO: Single Sign-On

STAR: Students and Technology Achieving Results is the branded name for Banner, the student information system of record

STS: Secure Token Service is a component that supports authentication of services that use ADFS such as portal.wvu.edu, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft cloud platforms such as Azure Virtual Desktops

SVM: Subject View Management; an instructor task to manage the course (subject) for the Student Perception of Teaching (SPoT) survey.

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

TACO: Teaching and Assessment Committee, part of Faculty Senate

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

WRAP: West Virginia University Research Administration Portal (WRAP) is the WVU branded name of Huron Research Suite, a new platform being implemented as part of the WVU Modernization Program. 

WVU+kc: Research compliance, award administration and funding notification tool also called Kuali Coeus, KC or just Kuali

WVUCA: WVU Certificate Authority, a central location to import and request certificates for your web server

WVCTSI: West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute 

WVUID: A unique nine digit identifier given to every employee and students

XSS: Cross-site scripting