Quick-Reference Glossary & Final Check

What you'll learn

Look up any term from the course in plain English
See a real workplace example for each
Prove it with a final knowledge check

Keep this page bookmarked. Every term you met across the course is gathered here in one sentence of plain English, each with a real workplace example — so when a phrase flies past in a meeting, you have somewhere to check. Skim the whole thing once now to see how the pieces fit, then come back to it as a lookup whenever you need it. When you’re ready, the final knowledge check at the bottom pulls from the entire course; passing it completes the last module, and once every module is complete the site issues your certificate.

Five categories of system, one company at the center, joined by APIs — different systems, one connected whole.

Text description of this diagram

At the center is a blue hub labelled “Your company.” Around it sit the five system categories you met in this course: CRM (customers) top-left, ERP (money and orders) top-right, HRIS (people) bottom-left, ITSM (IT work and tickets) bottom-right, and Identity (who gets in, via SSO and MFA) across the top. Each system is joined to the hub by a dashed connector marked “API,” and the moving dots represent data flowing back and forth through those integrations. The green banner that fades in reads “one connected whole” — the takeaway of the whole course: these are separate systems, each owning its own slice of the truth, stitched together so they behave like a single company.

The glossary

Every acronym is spelled out in full. Definitions are recognition-level — enough to follow a conversation, not to run the software.

Systems, data, and everyday work

CRM: Customer Relationship Management — the system of record for customers, deals, and contact history. — Example: a rep checks the CRM before a renewal call to see every past conversation.
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning — the system of record for money, orders, inventory, and suppliers. — Example: Finance confirms in the ERP that an invoice was paid before releasing a shipment.
HRIS: Human Resource Information System — the system of record for people: titles, pay, managers, and time off. — Example: your promotion isn’t official until it shows up in the HRIS.
ITSM: IT Service Management — the system that tracks IT’s own work through tickets and requests. — Example: you log a ticket in the ITSM tool when your laptop won’t connect to the VPN.
Application: a single piece of software built to do a specific job. — Example: the expense app you use to photograph a receipt is one application.
Platform: a larger foundation that many applications, users, or add-ons are built on top of. — Example: Salesforce is a platform because teams build custom apps and reports inside it.
Database: the organized store where a system keeps its data, in tables of rows and columns. — Example: every customer you see in the CRM is really a row in a database behind it.
System of record: the one official source of truth for a kind of data, which wins when systems disagree. — Example: if the ERP says the budget is spent, a spreadsheet saying otherwise doesn’t count.
Workflow: the defined series of steps a task moves through, often with approvals, from start to finish. — Example: a new-hire workflow routes from recruiter to manager to IT before day one.
Ticket: a tracked record of a request or a problem, with a number and a status. — Example: “What’s the ticket number?” means “where can I follow this request?”
Incident: a ticket for something broken that needs fixing to restore normal service. — Example: this morning’s email outage was logged as a single incident.
Service request: a ticket for something you want provided, rather than something broken. — Example: asking for access to a shared drive is a service request, not an incident.

Access and security

Authentication: proving you are who you say you are, usually a password plus a second check. — Example: signing in with your work email and password is authentication.
Authorization: deciding what you’re allowed to do once you’re logged in. — Example: you can open the finance app (authenticated) but can’t approve payments (not authorized).
Permission: a specific right to see or do one thing in a system. — Example: “read-only” permission lets you view a report but not edit it.
Role: a bundle of permissions given to a job type, so people get the right access all at once. — Example: everyone in the “Recruiter” role can post jobs and view candidates.
SSO: Single Sign-On — one login that opens many connected systems without signing in again. — Example: you log in once in the morning and email, HR, and chat all just open.
MFA: Multi-Factor Authentication — a second proof of identity beyond your password, like a phone code. — Example: after your password, the app asks for the six-digit code from your phone.

Building and connecting systems

API: Application Programming Interface — a defined way for one system to ask another for data or actions. — Example: a travel site uses an airline’s API to show live seat prices.
Integration: a connection built so two systems can share data automatically. — Example: an integration copies each new CRM customer into the billing system overnight.
Middleware: software that sits between systems and passes messages, so they don’t connect directly. — Example: middleware translates the CRM’s format into the one the ERP expects.
Webhook: an automatic message a system sends the moment something happens, so the other need not keep asking. — Example: when a deal closes, a webhook instantly pings the finance system.
Batch: processing a big pile of records together on a schedule instead of one at a time. — Example: payroll runs as an overnight batch, so changes appear the next morning.
Development: the environment (and the work) where software is first built and changed, away from real users. — Example: a fix is written in development long before anyone else sees it.
Sandbox: a safe, isolated copy of a system for experimenting without touching real data. — Example: a trainer practices deleting records in a sandbox, not the live system.
Test environment: a near-copy of the real system used to check that changes work before release. — Example: the new report is verified in the test environment first.
UAT: User Acceptance Testing — real business users try a change in a safe copy before it goes live. — Example: Sales spends a week in UAT confirming the new order screen actually works for them.
Production: the real, live system that actual employees and customers use every day. — Example: “it’s in production now” means the change is live for everyone.

Match the term to its example

Drag each item into the category it belongs to — or tap an item, then tap a category. Hit Check placement when you’re done.

Customer and money systemswho we sell to, and the money

People and IT-service systemsstaff records and IT work

Access and securitywho gets in, and to what

Connecting systemshow systems reach each other

Tip: drag with a mouse, or tap an item then tap a category on touch screens. Get one wrong and the answer key appears.

Final knowledge check

This one spans the whole course. Pass it and the last module is complete.

Final check

1. Your spreadsheet shows a customer's credit limit as $50k; the ERP shows $30k. Before the meeting, the safe move is to…

2. You can log into the finance app but can't approve a payment. In plain terms, you are…

3. A colleague says "the fix passed UAT last night, it goes to production Friday." This means…

Answers explained

A is correct — when two sources disagree, the system of record wins by definition, and the ERP owns money fields; you trust it and report the mismatch to whoever owns the data. (If you picked B: recency doesn’t beat the system of record — your edit may just be a fourth version of the truth. If you picked C: averaging invents a number that no system actually holds.)
B is correct — you proved who you are (authentication) but aren’t allowed to do that specific thing (authorization); the two are different gates. (If you picked A: you clearly logged in, so authentication succeeded. If you picked C: this is about your permissions, not a broken connection between systems.)
C is correct — UAT is real users testing a change in a safe copy, and production is the live system, so “passed UAT, goes to production Friday” means tested now, live for everyone Friday. (If you picked A: it isn’t live until it reaches production. If you picked B: a sandbox is for experimenting, and nothing here was deleted or abandoned.)

You did it

You started this course nodding along to “it has to go through SAP” and “it’s still in UAT,” and now you can translate every word of it — the five system categories, who owns the truth, how you get in, how systems connect, and why the seams still show. Your certificate appears once all modules are marked complete. Well earned.