Your one-stop source for terms and acronyms associated with data intelligence by Blue Margin
Aderant legal software offers a suite of legal business solutions that enable agility within law firms of all sizes around the globe, and a choice for law practice management software among the Am Law 200.
ADP Workforce Now is cloud-based HR management software that drives greater value for midsized businesses. Easily manage all of your HR functions payroll, HR services, workforce management, talent and benefits and gain insights across your organization.
Allscripts electronic health records (EHRs) are industry-leading solutions that meet and exceed the needs of today’s healthcare organizations
Amazon Redshift is a data warehouse product which forms part of the larger cloud-computing platform Amazon Web Services, red being an allusion to Oracle, whose corporate color is red and is informally referred to as "Big Red."
Amazon Web Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of Amazon providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis.
American HealthTech is one of the nation's leading EHR providers for LTC facilities.
An accounting practice that calculates how the value of a loan or intangible asset is lowered over time. For instance, amortization of a loan calculates how the principal and interest of that loan are paid down by installment payments. Similarly, amortization of an intangible asset typically calculates the costs of capital expenses related to that asset in incremental amounts spread over the course of its useful life.
A Microsoft app store that sells add-on business extensions for Microsoft software.
AS/400 architecture is often used for ERP and other mission-critical tasks, particularly in industries that require extreme reliability, such as manufacturing. IBM Power Systems are popular with SAP users, as well as competing database management systems, such as Oracle Database.
An acronym that stands for "Assets Under Management." It refers to the amount of client money that a private equity firm or other financial institution is holding, managing, and/or investing.
Microsoft cloud services system that enables businesses to build, manage, and deploy applications.
Azure’s universal platform to manage and secure identities
Azure Analysis Services is a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) that provides enterprise-grade data models in the cloud. Use advanced mashup and modeling features to combine data from multiple data sources, define metrics, and secure your data in a single, trusted tabular semantic data model.Mar 29, 2021
Azure Data Factory is Azure's cloud ETL service for scale-out serverless data integration and data transformation. It offers a code-free UI for intuitive authoring and single-pane-of-glass monitoring and management. You can also lift and shift existing SSIS packages to Azure and run them with full compatibility in ADF
Azure Data Lake Storage is a secure cloud platform that provides scalable, cost-effective storage for big data analytics.
Azure Synapse Analytics is a limitless analytics service that brings together data integration, enterprise data warehousing, and big data analytics.
Azure DevOps Server is a Microsoft product that provides version control, reporting, requirements management, project management, automated builds, testing and release management capabilities. It covers the entire application lifecycle, and enables DevOps capabilities
Axiom Software (formerly Axiom EPM) is an enterprise performance management tool that arms FP&A professionals and executives with the best tools for budgeting, forecasting, planning, reporting, scenario modeling, and more.
Short for “Business Development Group” At Blue Margin, it refers to our consulting and marketing group.
An acronym that stands for "Business Intelligence."
An acronym that stands for "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color."
Similar to “Vendor Lock,” in data management, this refers to information that’s deliberately blocked from the information’s owner as a means of obtaining leverage by a third party.
The process of making corporate data actionable for decision-making through collection, storage, and analysis of a company’s important information.
The Private Equity practice of buying a top-performing platform company as a core business, and then using that company’s strengths to grow and build the platform through additional mergers and acquisitions.
An aggregated method of payment to healthcare providers where an insurer pays a fixed annual fee per covered patient that's intended to reimburse providers for all services rendered. This method is typically used in place of the conventional "fee-for-service" reimbursement structure.
A request for existing shareholders to invest additional money into a company.
A key metric in a SaaS business, churn represents the percentage rate at which customers cancel their software subscriptions within a certain time period. Churn is used primarily to forecast future losses in a SaaS subscriber base.
An internet-based network of remote servers that store, manage, and process large amounts of data.
Component Control offers a broad array of ERP Solutions for the Aviation Aftermarket including MRO, Parts & Logistics, Manufacturing, and Aircraft Services. The solution sets offered are modular, broad and deep, providing the capability to service small, medium and large businesses
An acronym that stands for “Customer Relationship Management.”
An acronym that stands for “Call to Action.”
An acronym that stands for “Data As A Service.”
A data visualization tool that aggregates and displays KPIs (key performance indicators) and other data all in one place. Microsoft Power BI is the primary Dashboard tool used by the engineers at Blue Margin Inc.
The groundbreaking business intelligence book by Blue Margin Inc. founders, Jon Thompson and Brick Thompson. Learn more here.
A technology engineer who designs and builds structures for data movement, storage, and service, such as a data warehouse.
A business strategy in which decisions are informed and influenced primarily by analysis of key, factual data points rather than by intuition or personal opinion.
In Power BI, the process of displaying data from multiple sources in a single dashboard interface.
A system for organizing data structures and relationship within a given database or data warehouse that shows how information is stored, processed, and accessed. In Microsoft Power BI this indicates a map of the data’s organization presented in table format.
A strategy for improving the performance of a database by putting certain data sets in groups or by including duplicate copies of data sets in the database architecture.
A strategy for data management that emphasizes the removal of redundancies and a logical organization of data storage that facilitates flexible use.
The updating of information in a database according to a predetermined schedule in order to report current data in a timely way.
An image-based representation of information, such as data presented in the form of a chart, graph, picture, diagram, and so on.
A technology engineer who designs and builds reporting dashboards for image-based representations of data, for instance, information presented in charts, pictures, diagrams, and more.
A centralized management system for organizing, storing, and retrieving data from disparate sources. Blue Margin uses Microsoft Azure SQL for building data warehouses.
A reference to slides in a PowerPoint™ presentation.
A term used to refer to inaccurate, or unusable data files. This can include data that is duplicated, that is incomplete, that is erroneous in some way, that is incorrectly formatted, that is not integrated or mis-integrated into a data management system, that violates business rule functionality, and so on.
An acronym that stands for “Distributions to Paid in Capital.” It’s a key performance indicator for Private Equity firms.
The ability in a Power BI data dashboard to move to the next detail level (either up or down) in a BI report or visualization.
The ability in a Power BI data dashboard to access a separate page that shows data specifically filtered to the original visual or report element.
In Private Equity, refers to cash in reserve at a PE fund that can be spent when an investment opportunity presents itself.
An acronym that stands for “Data Warehouse.”
An acronym that stands for “Data Warehouse.”
An acronym that stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.”
eClinicalWorks primarily targets physician practices and allows physicians to view and use as much or as little personal wellness data, with the patient's consent, as they want. The EHR is also interoperable with any hospital system that uses the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise standards.
An acronym that stands for “Enterprise Data Warehouse.”
In healthcare, an acronym that stands for "Electronic Health Record."
An acronym that stands for “Entrepreneurial Operating System” Coined in the business management book, Traction by Gino Wickman.
An acronym that stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning.” It typically refers to a software service that facilitates management of complex business functions within a larger company.
ESG stands for “environmental, social, and governance.” It’s is a standard rating model that investors use to make an at-a-glance assessment a company’s performance in areas of social impact, such as carbon footprints, labor policies, BIPOC representation, and so on.
Epicor ERP system is modular, industry-specific software used to manage business processes company-wide. Epicor software works well for managing accounting and finance, human resources, customers, the supply chain, inventory, distribution, and manufacturing production management.
An acronym that stands for “Extract, Transform, and Load” It’s the Power BI process of taking data from a source, transforming it into a shape that’s useful for reporting, and using it to generate data-driven Tooltips.
An acronym that stands for "Free Cash Flow to Firm." It refers to money generated by a company that's potentially available for distribution to investors (equity and debt) after certain expenses and operating costs are deducted. It's also called "Unlevered Free Cash Flow."
A common method of payment to healthcare providers where each individual service provided is billed and paid for as it occurs. This method is typically used instead of a capitation reimbursement structure.
In Power BI, a Filter is a tool that removes data that doesn’t apply.
An abbreviation for the phrase, “Financial Technology.”
FrameworkLTC is designed for long term care pharmacies. This solution primarily assists with workflow management and billing. FrameworkLTC also helps pharmacies manage inventory efficiently and monitor cost of goods. The software allows you to see the true profit margin on every prescription that is dispensed.
An acronym that stands for "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles"—a cluster of standards used for responsible financial tracking in business.
In the Legal Services industry, GC is an acronym that stands for "General Counsel." This is the lead lawyer for a specific company or governmental department.
Centricity is a brand of healthcare IT software systems from GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric. It includes software for independent physician practices, academic medical centers, hospitals and large integrated delivery networks
When referring to data, governance is the process of managing the accessibility, accuracy, consistency, and security of data in the way that it’s used within a system.
An acronym in private equity that stands for "General Partner." It refers to the PE firm's leaders who manage their investment funds and portfolio companies.
An acronym that stands for “Identify, Discuss, Solve.” Part of the EOS management system created by Gino Wickham and discussed in his business management book, Traction.
IFS Standards are uniform food, product and service standards. They ensure that IFS-certified companies produce a product or provide a service that complies with customer specifications, while continually working on process improvements.
An acronym that stands for "In My Humble But Accurate Opinion."
A “top-down” approach to the organization and management of data. Originated by Bill Inmon, it generates multivariate reports generated from a centralized data warehouse that’s created first.
Innovaccer connects and processes healthcare data to create unified patient records, and actionable insights in combination with tools to enable real-time and collaborative care.
Refers to a company’s attempts to bring previously-outsourced tasks in house, using its internal resources and employees to accomplish the tasks instead.
Insperity Performance Management's full-featured software offers customized performance reviews, job descriptions, employee handbooks, company policies and more.
Sage Intacct is a provider of cloud-based financial management and accounting software.
A designation for a business asset that’s not a physical asset. For instance, this would include intellectual property (IP), trademarks, copyrights, brand awareness, customer goodwill.
QuickBooks is an accounting software package developed and marketed by Intuit. QuickBooks products are geared mainly toward small and medium-sized businesses and offer on-premises accounting applications as well as cloud-based versions that accept business payments, manage and pay bills, and payroll functions
Invenias is the leading platform trusted by professionals responsible for executive search software and strategic hiring globally.
An acronym that stands for "Intellectual Property."
An acronym that stands for “Internal Rate of Return.” It’s the net percentage rate of return earned by a limited partner in a Private Equity fund over a particular period of time.
An acronym that stands for “Information Technology.”
An acronym that stands for "Job-Integrated Access." It's a corporate transparency metric for measuring how effective a company’s internal communication vehicles are at reaching employees in specific job functions.
A manufacturing strategy designed to increase cash flow that works to align the timeliness of supply orders, parts, and inventory so they are delivered only when they’re needed rather than stockpiling such inventory in advance.
A “bottom-up” approach to the organization and management of data. Originated by Ralph Kimball, this method creates reporting and analytics first, then combines them to build the data warehouse.
A term referring to the sharing of information, abilities, and ideas among various stakeholders within a corporation.
An acronym that stands for “Key Performance Indicators.”
In hospital administration, this refers to how many days a patient is cared for within a hospital’s premises. As such, Length of Stay is a critical metric used to determine the efficiency of a healthcare facility.
An acronym that stands for “Length of Stay.”
An acronym in private equity that stands for "Limited Partner." It refers to investors in a PE fund.
An acronym used in the SaaS industry that stands for customer “Lifetime Value.”
A strategic plan created by Blue Margin Inc. in consultation with a client that identifies and articulates key goals and processes for a company’s data architecture and reporting success.
An acronym that stands for “Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate.”
An acronym that stands for “Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert.”
Also known as “Middle-Market,” this refers to a company that generates between $50 million to $500 million in annual revenue.
A Power BI construct that integrates data at any scale, from various sources, and can quickly produce data visualization dashboards, reports, and advanced analytics.
An acronym that stands for “Multiple On Invested Capital.” It’s a means used by Private Equity for assessing the cash return on investment. MOIC is calculated as the cash return divided by the invested capital.
An acronym that stands for "Monthly Recurring Revenue."
An acronym that stands for “Microsoft Developer Network”
An acronym, that stands for, "Mean Time Between Failure." Used primarily in the manufacturing industry, it refers to the predicted amount of time lost due to mechanical failures that are typical in machinery use.
Open-source SQL.
Microsoft Dynamics GP is a mid-market business accounting software or ERP software package marketed in North and South America, UK and Ireland, the Middle East, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. It is used in many additional countries with partner-supported localizations.
Microsoft Azure SQL Database is a managed cloud database provided as part of Microsoft Azure. A cloud database is a database that runs on a cloud computing platform, and access to it is provided as a service. Managed database services take care of scalability, backup, and high availability of the database
An acronym that stands for “Non-Disclosure Agreement.”
The company develops and sells electronic health record (EHR) software and practice management systems to the healthcare industry. NextGen Healthcare also provides population health, financial management, and clinical solutions for medical and dental practices.
An acronym that stands for “Net Promoter Score.”
Shorthand for the Office 365 suite of software.
An acronym used primarily in the manufacturing industry that stands for "Overall Equipment Effectiveness."
Short for “On Premises,” meaning “on-site.”
Structured Query Language (SQL) is the set of statements with which all programs and users access data in an Oracle database. Application programs and Oracle tools often allow users access to the database without using SQL directly, but these applications in turn must use SQL when executing the user's request.
An acronym for the United States governmental workplace safety agency, the "Occupational Safety and Health Administration."
Refers to a company’s attempts to hire outside resources and employees to accomplish tasks relevant to the business.
In the Fintech industry, P2P is an abbreviation that refers to "person-to-person" or "peer-to-peer" payments. For instance, when one individual transfers money electronically to another through a service like PayPal, or directly from one bank account to another.
An acronym that stands for “Pay for Performance.” Used primarily in the healthcare industry to refer to a value-based purchasing philosophy.
An acronym that stands for “Platform As A Service”
An acronym that stands for “Private Equity”
Fictional representations of a business’s target customers.
An acronym that stands for “Project Management Office.”
An acronym that stands for “Proof of Concept.”
PointClickCare is a cloud-based healthcare software provider helping long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers navigate the new realities of value-based healthcare.
Shorthand for “Portfolio Company.”
Similar to a “sponsored company,” this typically refers to a single company owned by the investors at a Private Equity firm.
A suite of apps by Microsoft that provide means to build custom business add-ons and applications for various, individualized data platforms.
A Microsoft software service for business intelligence that enables a user to connect to and visualize any data in a unified, scalable platform.
A data modeling tool in Microsoft Excel that allows a user to work with large amounts of data for analysis and reporting.
PostgreSQL, also known as Postgres, is a free and open-source relational database management system emphasizing extensibility and SQL compliance. It was originally named POSTGRES, referring to its origins as a successor to the Ingres database developed at the University of California, Berkeley.
An acronym that stands for "Property, Plant, and Equipment." It refers to a company's fixed (tangible) assets that are difficult to convert into cash.
Money borrowed from, and owed to, a non-government entity.
A corporate investment and ownership structure funded by private investors who acquire equity ownership in a company.
A cloud based electronic health records management software
A research methodology that uses non-numeric data as its basis for critical examination, such as interviews, text notes, images, and so on.
A research methodology that uses raw numbers as its basis for critical examination.
An acronym that stands for “Revenue Cycle Management.”
In Microsoft Power BI, this is a tool for creating paginated reports according to user-defined data parameters.
A management process in healthcare which tracks all administrative and clinical functions of patient billing cycles from beginning to end. This includes billable events such as appointments, admissions, tests administered, treatments, and payments.
An acronym that stands for “Return On Investment.”
A strategy for technological security that restricts and enables access to systems based on the roles assigned to each user.
A strategy for technological security that restricts and enables user access to specific rows or groups of rows in a data table.
An acronym that stands for “Software As A Service.”
Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management service and also provides a complementary suite of enterprise applications focused on customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development.
SAP is one of the world's leading producers of software for the management of business processes, developing solutions that facilitate effective data processing and information flow across organizations.
An acronym that stands for “Selling, General, and Administrative” expenses of a business. It’s all selling-related costs along with the management expenses of a company.
The practice of organizing information and data models so that all data components are mastered and updated in only one central repository.
SimpleConnect is a solution for MDS and PBJ transmission to CMS, plus CASPER report management.
Smartsheet is a software as a service offering for collaboration and work management, developed and marketed by Smartsheet Inc. It is used to assign tasks, track project progress, manage calendars, share documents, and manage other work, using a tabular user interface.
A system or file that keeps relevant data available for use.
An acronym that stands for “Statement of Work.”
Similar to a “portfolio company,” this typically refers to a single company owned by the investors at a Private Equity firm.
An acronym that stands for “Single Source of Truth.”
An acronym that stands for “Structured Query Language,” a methodology used in data server management.
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications—which may run either on the same computer or on another computer across a network.
A designation for a business asset that is physical in nature. For instance, land, buildings, equipment, inventory, stocks, bonds, and so on.
An acronym that stands for The Dashboard Effect business intelligence book. Learn more here.
Medical and health-related services accessible remotely through telecommunications technology such as online video chat or phone call.
The amount of materials (such as data or parts or other products) that pass through a system or machine in a specified time period. Throughput is a particularly important measure in manufacturing and in computer technology.
Databases that track a company’s ongoing transactions, such as CRM (customer relationship management), HRM (human resources management), and ERP (enterprise resource planning).
Microsoft’s brand of SQL.
In Information Technology (IT), this refers to a user’s ability to successfully access and use meaningfully an IT system designed to achieve key results.
Also known as “Value-Based Healthcare” and “Pay for Performance (P4P),” this is a system in which an insurer requires a healthcare provider to meet specific performance standards in order to receive payment.
Similar to “Black Box,” in data management, this refers to information that’s deliberately blocked from the information’s owner as a means of obtaining leverage by a third party.
A situation where the same file or software app is obscured by the use of different, incompatible versions, usually as a result of previous version obsolescence.
The science of decision-making that uses visual displays of data to facilitate problem-solving efforts, particularly in a business setting.
A verb derived from the last name of Bill Watterson, creator of the popular Calvin & Hobbes cartoon strip. A watterson refers to the imaginative reinvention of otherwise common data elements.
When referring to data warehousing, this is a “placeholder” model to help stakeholders visualize, edit, and manage how data will be represented and displayed in dashboard reporting.
