Glossary

Below is a list of terms and definitions used in this documentation.

A

• ASM: abbreviation for asset management.
• Admin: a special user type. The admin may: perform basic configuration and create other users for the administered company. For more information, have a look to the admin page.
• Application language: one of the languagesfor which itmSUITE® makes available the user interface (forms to interact and messages).
• Asset: any element, physical or virtual, which can contribute to the successful management of the business area supported by itmSUITE®. An asset can be, for example, a PC, a printer, a software component, a table a machine, etc.
• Asset management: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is ASM - Asset Management. It allows to manage assets,
• Attribute: a configuration item information (e.g. its name, location, date of purchase, etc.).

C

• Change: according to ITIL®, a change is the addition, modification or removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services. Changes are managed through the change management process and a workflow cartridge is available for the SM module which supports its execution according to the guidelines provided by ITIL® and ISO/IEC 20000.
• Change management: according to ITIL®, the process responsible for controlling the lifecycle of all changes, enabling beneficial changes to be made with minimum disruption to IT services. A workflow cartridgeis is made available for the SM module which supports the execution of the change management process according to the guidelines provided by ITIL® and ISO/IEC 20000.
• CI: abbreviation for configuration item.
• CMS: abbreviation for Configuration Management System.
• Configuration management database: (CMDB) organized repository of all elements of IT structure which undergo the configuration management process.
• Configuration management system: a set of tools, data and information that is used to support service asset and configuration management. A dedicated module of ItmSUITE®, CMS - Configuration Management System, is dedicated to this.
• Configuration item: a specific type of asset which contributes to the delivery of an IT service.
• Company: a business organization (legal entity or simply a business unit or a department) which is defined and used for the aim of segregating data. Only users and super admin may be cross company while all the other information are managed at company level in itmSUITE®.

D

• DE: abbreviation for discovery engine.
• Discovery engine: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is DE - Discovery Engine. By installing its agents on IT components, it allows to gather information on hardware, software components and their relationships. The result of the discoveries may be imported in the CMS.

E

• EEM: abbreviation for external event management.
• External event management: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is EEM - External Event Management. It facilitates the integration of events occurring in systems external to itmSUITE® with the functionalities of itmSUITE® itself or viceversa (e.g. the opening of an itmSUITE® ticket based on the content of an incoming email).
• Event type: predefined types of occurring activities or outcomes in the domain of itmSUITE®. Examples of event types are the following: change of the status of a ticket activity, assignment of a project activity to a resource, a change of status of a ticket, etc. Event types are associated to an event type template and sent according to the specified schedule (notification). See also Notifications management page.

• Event type template: the message template (an html file) related to an event type which is used when a notification for the event type is triggered.

F

• FM: abbreviation for financial management.
• Financial management: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is FM - Financial Management. It allows to manage financial aspects (budget, balance data and forecasting) of projects, services and their related entities (project activities, tickets, and ticket activities).

I

• Impact analysis: a functionality of CMS. Starting from a configuration item, it allows to find the impact of its failure on other configuration items of type IT service.
• Incident: according to ITIL®, an incident is an unplanned interruption to an IT service or reduction in the quality of an IT service. Failure of a configuration item that has not yet affected service is also an incident – for example, failure of one disk from a mirror set. Incidents are managed through the incident management process and a workflow cartridge is available for the SM module which supports its execution according to the guidelines provided by ITIL® and ISO/IEC 20000.
• Incident management: according to ITIL®, the process responsible for for managing the lifecycle of all incidents. Incident management ensures that normal service operation is restored as quickly as possible and the business impact is minimized. A workflow cartridge is made available for the SM module which supports the execution of the incident management process according to the guidelines provided by ITIL® andISO/IEC 20000.
• ISO/IEC 20000: an international standard for the quality of IT service management. See also the ISO website for more information.
• ITIL®: a set of best-practice publications for IT service management. Owned by Axelos limited, ITIL® gives guidance on the provision of quality IT services and the processes, functions and other capabilities needed to support them. The ITIL® framework is based on a service lifecycle and consists of five lifecycle stages (service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation and continual service improvement), each of which has its own supporting publication. See also the ITIL® official site for more information. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of Axelos limited.
• IT Service Management: the implementation and management of quality IT services that meet the needs of the business. IT service management is performed by IT service providers through an appropriate mix of people, process and information technology.

K

• Key business entity: one of the key entities managed by itmSUITE® (resources, projects, timesheets, tickets, etc.).

L

• License: the activation key enabling the use of itmSUITE® modules by users. The license articulation is per module and per user type. View the License details page for more information.
• Log info: the information about the access of users to itmSUITE® automatically recorded by the system. See Log management page for more info.

M

• Master data: the set of data agreed and shared across itmSUITE® which supports the management of the key business entities. For the list of master data tables refer to cross master data configuration.
• Message system: TBD
• Module: one of the components of itmSUITE® which makes avaiable a specific sets of functionalities. Modules may be core or complementary. Core modules can be installed and activated autonomously. Complementary modules require the presence of at least one core module. For a list of core modules and a description of their features refer to itmSUITE® - Core modules. For a list of complementary modules and a description of their features refer to itmSUITE® - Complementary modules.
• Model: a set of configuration items and their relationship represented according to specific modelling conventions which includes the definition of the entities, relationship types among them and graphical appearance.
• MURM (Managers User Rights Management); the functionality used to grant rights to users of type "Manager". This functionality can be accessed from General/Company/MURM.

N

Notification: the configured schedule to communicate the event type template message related to an event type. Notifications are sent via the itmSUITE® message system. See also Notifications management page.

P

• Pm: abbreviation for project manager.
• PM: abbreviation for project and portfolio management.
• Problem: TBD

• Project: a temporary organization that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed Business Case. For this purpose, in itmSUITE® a set of entities, their attributes and related management functionalities are made available to the users which play a role in the project.
• Project activity: an activity scheduled for a project. This is one of the information managed by itmSUITE® for a project.
• Project and portfolio management: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is PM - Project and Portfolio Management. This module enables to manage projects and portfolios of projects.
• Project manager: this is a special role on a project, automatically inheriting specific rights and visibility of data for it.

R

• RE: abbreviation for reconciliation engine.
• REP: abbreviation for reporting management.
• Reconciliation: a process performed by the reconciliation engine which allows to import information from a data source into the CMS in a controlled way (deciding which information for which configuration item to import).
• Reconciliation engine: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is RE - Reconciliation Engine. This module enables the reconciliation process.
• Relationship: a relationship between two configuration items.
• Reporting management: one of the modules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is REP - Reporting Engine. This modules enables to define and embed new reports in addition to those predefined in itmSUITE®.
• Resource: term used to refer to a human resource and his/her associated information managed in itmSUITE®. A resource may or may not have an account and, therefore, be a user.

S

• Sm: abbreviation for service manager.
• SM: abbreviation for service desk and service management.

• Service: a mean to provide value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers wants to achieve using resources and capabilities. For this purpose, in itmSUITE®, a set of entities, their attributes and related management functionalities are made available to the users which play a role in the delivery of the service.
• Service desk and service management: one of themodules of itmSUITE®. The full name of it is SM - Service Desk and Service Management. This module enables to manage services.
• Service activity: an activity scheduled for a service. This is one of the information managed by itmSUITE® for a service.
• Service manager: this is a special role on a service, automatically inheriting specific rights and visibility of data for it.
• Superadmin: a special user type. A superadmin user is created with predefined access credentials when itmSUITE® is initially installed. The superadmin may: create new companies, create other users (either superadmins or users with user type "Admin" enabled to configure the companies to which they are associated) and perform some key essential settings in order to enable other users to complete company configurations. For more information, have a lookg to the superadmin page.

T

• Ticket: term used to refer to an instance of a process managed through the workflow engine.
• Ticket activity: an activity scheduled to manage a ticket.
• Timesheet: a record corresponding to a declaration of work done. This work can be related to a project or a a service or to any detailed elements (such as project activities, service activities, or tickets or ticket activities) of them.

• User: the login information which can be associated to one resource per company. A resource with an active user can enter and use itmSUITE® according to the configured grants. Only a user can be associated with a resource per each company (a user may be associated to different resources in different companies). The association of a user to a resource is not mandatory. Users should have one or more user type.
• User type: there are different types of users ("Requester", "Resource", Project/Service Manager", "Manager", "Admin" and "Superadmin"). one or more user types may be associated to a user. The association of a user type also enables some related functionalities: see itmSUITE® - Users and resources configuration for additional information.

W

• Workflow cartridge: TBD
• Workflow engine: the component of itmSUITE®, part of the SM - Service Desk and Service Management module, which allows to configure and manage a business process.