This section contains
definitions for a number of the
terms used throughout
SupportStep. Different companies
may use different terms to refer
to the same thing. The purpose
of this section is to describe
how the terms are used in
SupportStep.
Application support: This
refers to the general process of
supporting internal business
applications. It may also be
called production support,
systems support, or just support.
(If your company sells software
or services, you may have
external customers as well. The
support of the external
customers that use software that
your company sells does not fall
under the heading of application
support. Application support
refers to internal applications
only.)
Business applications (or
just applications): These
are computer systems that
facilitate or automate one or
more business processes. These
systems can be developed
internally, developed with third
party resources, or they can be
packaged solutions. However,
they have a direct connection
back to business processes that
would otherwise be done manually.
For instance, General Ledger
Systems, Billing Systems,
Marketing Systems, Inventory
Systems, and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM)
Systems are all business
applications. Computer servers,
databases, and facilities are
not considered computer
applications since they are not
associated with specific
business processes. They are
more typically considered a part
of the IT infrastructure since
they enable people and
applications to perform their
functions better. However, they
do not automate a business
process by themselves.
Clients: Everyone has
customers, and in some companies
they are called by different
names. In SupportStep, the term
"customers" refers to the
external customers who purchase
the products and services your
company produces. SupportStep
uses the term "business client"
or "client" to refer to the
internal customers that are the
direct beneficiaries of the
services provided by the support
team.
Support: The term "support"
is the generic name being used
to describe the care and feeding
of production applications,
tools, systems, and processes.
There are other terms that might
be used in your company, such as
"operations", "maintenance” and
"baseline." The term "support"
is used in SupportStep.
Support Analyst: This
term is used to describe the
person or persons responsible
for supporting a particular
application. The primary support
person for an application is
called the Primary Support
Analyst. The backup is called
the Backup Support Analyst. It
is possible (and likely) that a
person could be the Primary
Support Analyst on one or more
applications and be a backup on
others.
