Glossary

ACL / Access Control List

ACLs define permissions for a group of contacts to perform an operation (e.g. edit, view, delete...) on a set of data or a type of record. For example, you could set up a group "Administrators" that allows people to view and edit all contact records. Those in the "Volunteers" group can view contact records but can not edit them.

Accidental Techie

Someone who has inherited the role of IT technical support but whose primary role maybe something else; often has little or no formal IT training (which is not always a bad thing!).

AGPL - Affero General Public License version 3.0

A software license. CiviCRM uses this license - it gives you the right to do with the software as you like and guarantees the source code will always protect your rights in this way.

Activities

An activity in CiviCRM is a record of any scheduled or completed interaction with one or more contacts. Examples include meetings, phone calls, emails, event attendances and contributions. You can define additional types of activities in CiviCRM as needed.

Admin / Administrator

The person or persons that maintain a server or a web-based software like CiviCRM.  Administration includes maintenance, configuration, backup, security, creating and deleting user accounts etc.

AGM

Annual General Meeting. An AGM is generally held every year to inform members of previous and future activities. Certain types of organizations are required by law to hold an AGM.

Alpha Version

A version of the software that contains very new source code with new functionality and bug fixes. Alpha versions are there for people wishing to see where the development is going, and for testing, but they are not considered to be any where near ready for general release or use.

Apache

The most popular web server software. Apache is Free and Open Source.

Backup

Protecting your data by doing periodic copies and storing them independently of the original files so they can be restored if necessary.

Bandwidth

The speed at which you can transfer information through a network or internet connection. If a connection can transfer a lot of information it is said to be 'high bandwidth'.

Beta Version

A version of the software that is in good condition but still needs testing to make sure it functions as intended before general release.  Testing beta versions is a helpful way to participate in the CiviCRM community.

Blog

Short for web-log. A website which is updated with news and views from one or more individuals.

Bug

An error that prevents software from behaving as the user would expect.

Bug Reporting / bug Fixing

The process of reporting bugs to people that wrote the software, and then fixing the bugs so the software operates as intended.

Bug Tracker

The official repository for recording bugs. http://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM

Captcha

see reCaptcha

Cache

Cache is a recent copy of frequently used data.  Data is cached so it can be quickly and easily accessed and is especially useful if the data is complicated or takes a large effort to generate.  The disadvantage of cache is that they can often be out of date, though often this isn't a problem.  Even caching data for 5 minutes might be useful in certain circumstances.  If a page is accessed 1,000 times in 5 minutes, then having a cached version means the data will only need to be generated once.

A Web cache holds copies of Web page files.

CiviCase

The case management component of CiviCRM.  CiviCase provides organizations which provide human services with tools for structuring, scheduling and recording case activities.  

CiviContribute

CiviContribute is an online fundraising and donor management component which enables you to track and manage contributions to your organization. 

CiviCRM

What this whole manual is about!  CiviCRM is web-based, open source software that allows you to record and manage information about your various constituents including volunteers, activists, donors, employees, clients, vendors, etc.

CiviEvent

CiviEvent provides integrated online event registration and management for paid and free events.

CiviDog

See Scout.

CiviMail

CiviMail is a mass-mailing component which allows you to engage constituents with personalized email blasts and newsletters.

CMS

Content Management System. A CMS is an application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital content (text and other media such as pictures and videos). Web-based CMS allow organizations to add and manage content on their website without requiring advanced technical skills. CiviCRM is often integrated with a CMS (commonly Drupal and Joomla!) which helps you interact with clients.

Cron Job

A cron job is a way of automatically scheduling a program to run at certain intervals.  Crons are often used in CiviCRM to handle once a day, or once a month events like sending membership renewal reminders, processing ongoing payments, etc.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a way to define the style of a website  by defining what tables headers, etc. to use.  The advantage of CSS is that you only need to define the style once and it is repeated throughout the website.  So you can change the style of a heading once and it will be repeated throughout the website.

CSV

Comma Separated Values. A simple format for a spreadsheet.  CSV files are actually just text files where each cell is seperated by a comma, and each row is seperated with a return.  CSV files are useful because they are a very simple format that many different programmes can understand.

Closed Software

See proprietary software.

Constituent

See also Contact.  A constituency is usually defined as a group of people bound by shared identity, goals, or loyalty. In CiviCRM, 'constituent' is used to broadly describe all of the supporters, potential and current of given organization.

Contact

See also Constituent.  In CiviCRM a contact is either an individual, an organisation or a household.  You can use CiviCRM to store information about contacts and their interactions with your organisation.

Contact Summary Screen

The page that displays at a glance all the data about an individual, organization or household that's stored in the CiviCRM database.

Component

see module

Comma Separated Values

see CSV

Community Advisory Group

A representative group of people from CiviCRM community who work with the CiviCRM team on project development.

Cookie

A file stored on your computer that a website uses to identifiy you.  Some Web sites cannot be used without accepting and storing a cookie.

Core Code

Also called core. The source code that constitutes the official code of CiviCRM.

Core Data Field

A field that is included in a record structure "out-of-the-box". For example, the CiviCRM contact record includes First Name as a core field.

Core Team

The people most closely involved with CiviCRM development.

CRM

Constituent (or Customer or Contact) Relationship Management. CRM (or eCRM) software was originally developed to help companies track and organize their interactions with current and potential customers from a sales perspective. CiviCRM is oriented specifically toward the needs of non-profits, advocacy and non-governmental organizations, so the term "Customer" is replaced with "Constituent". Outside the US it is often referred to as Contact Relationship Management.

CRUD

Create, Read, Update and Delete.  The basic functions performed on databases.

CSV

see comma separated values

Custom Data Field

A field that is added to the data structure of a CiviCRM record by your organization. Custom data fields extend the information that can be stored in that type of record. For example, your organization might need a custom field to record each contacts' ethnicity, or food preferences for an event attendence.

Data Centralisation

Storing all your data in one place.

Demo Sites

A website that allows you to test and explore the functionality of a piece of software. CiviCRM maintains three demos sites; one integrated with Drupal, one integrated with Joomla! and one in standalone mode.

Dedupe

dedupe refers to the task of finding and merging multiple entries for one contact.

Developer

Someone who develops software.

Domain

see DNS

Donor

Someone that makes a donation, i.e. voluntarily gives money.

DNS (Domain Name System)

The Domain Name System (DNS) converts domain names, made up of easy-to-remember combinations of letters (example.com), to IP addresses (123.456.123.234) which are hard-to-remember strings of numbers. Every computer on the Internet has an unique address (a little bit like an area code+telephone number).

Drupal

A Content Management System (http://drupal.org).

Encryption

A way of disguising data when it is being transferred from one computer to another so that it is unreadable by any computer that it may pass through on the way.

Environment

The specific hardware and software on which you are running your software.

Event Listing Feed

A RSS feed containing the list of events defined in CiviEvent.

Firefox

Firefox is a popular free and open source web browser, developed by the Mozilla Foundation.

FLOSS

Free/Libre Open Source Software, licensed so as to guarantee the essential freedoms of software users to source code and reuse. A combination of Free Software and Open Source Software, with Libre added in to emphasize that software freedom is essentially a matter of rights, not price.

FOSS

Free and Open Source Software - see FLOSS.

Forum

A web based tool to for discussions (see http://forum.civicrm.org/).

Free Software

Software that is licensed so that you can use it, distribute, it, and change it without restriction. CiviCRM is Free Software.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

The FTP protocol is used for file transfers. Many people use it for downloads; it can also be used to upload files to web servers. A popular free and open source FTP client for Windows is FileZilla. There are also some Web-based FTP clients that you can use with a normal Web browser like Firefox.

Functionality

The set of tasks that a piece of software can perform.

Geocoding

The process of finding associated geographic coordinates (often expressed as latitude and longitude) from other geographic data, such as street addresses, or zip codes (postal codes).

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

User interface offering windows, icons, mouse control, multiple fonts, and so on. The opposite is a command line interface with only text.

Hosting Service

A service (usually a commercial service) that provides server space for your web site. Hosting services also can provide physical space to put your own server in so that it is connected to the internet.

Internationalization: I8n

The process of making software ready for adoption in different countries and different cultures, without the need to modify it technically. Also see Localization

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A business that provides services such as internet access, email, and website hosting.

Intranet

A network of computers that are connected through a home or office but not accessible from outside the network.

ICT

Short for Information and Communication Technology.

IT

Short for Information Technology.

Joomla!

A Content Management System. ( http://www.joomla.org  )

Linux

A type of Operating System. Linux is popular as a web server but it is also gaining popularity on laptops and Desktop computers. Linux is Free Software.

Localization: L10n

The process of translating a product into different languages or adapting a language for a specific country or region.

Local Computer

A computer that runs CiviCRM but is not publicly available via the internet. This is often your personal or home computer or it can be in your office.

Mail Server

A computer that transfers email from one computer to another.

Mapping Provider

A service provider that allows displaying contact locations on maps - Google Maps or Yahoo Maps in CiviCRM.

Module

A part of a system, also named as "component". CiviCRM includes a number of modules, each of which adds functionality to the basic contact management features. For example, the CiviEvent module provides event management functionality. Organizations using CiviCRM can turn modules on or off based on their needs.

MySQL

A popular database engine. CiviCRM uses MySQL to hold its data.  MySQL is Free Software. ( http://mysql.com)

NGO

Non-governmental organization. A legally constituted non-business organization with no participation or representation from government. In the United States, this type of organization is more often referred to as a Non-profit. They may be also called civil society organizations.

Non-Profit

see NGO

Numeronym

A word where the number is used to form an abbreviation

Online Contribution Page

A function of CiviCRM which allows creating a page on the website, which provides visitors with ability to make online donations using credit cards.

Open ID

OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet.

Open Source

See FLOSS

Payment Instrument

Medium or Method that is used for payment.

Payment Processor

A payment processor is a company (often a third party) appointed by a merchant to handle credit card transactions for merchant banks.

Permissions

Allow you to limit access for different users to different parts of the system.

Personal Campaign Pages

A feature that you can enable and allow your constituents to create their own fundraising pages.

PHP

The language in which the majority of CiviCRM is written.

Ping

Sending and receiveing a small amounts of data to a server.  Often used to measure the response time.

Point Person

Someone given the responsibility to keep their eye on a certain issue.

Premium

A gift that can be offered to contributor in exchange for donation. CiviCRM allows offering premiums as a part of the donation gathering process.

Price Sets

A way of storing and re-using complicated price structures for events.  You can charge for different elements of an event.

Primary Location

The contact information that someone wants to use as their main point of contact.  Used for mailings etc.

Profiles

A central concept in CiviCRM. In essense a subset of fields.  See Collecting and Sharing Data chapter for a full explanation.

Proprietary Software

Also called closed software. Software licensed so that you cannot access the source code and modify it without first coming to an agreement with the authors.

Radio Button

An element of web-based application user interface, allows you to choose only one of a predefined set of options.

reCAPTCHA

reCAPTCHA is a common way to test whether a user is a human or a computer.  Useful to prevent spam.

Rich Text Editor

An editor that allows you to add formatting, like bold, italic and underline to text (as oppoosed to just plain text).

Root Domain

The 'raw' URL of a website without 'www' or any other subdomain eg. (http://mysite.com is the root domain while http://www.mysite.com  is not).

RSS Feed

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way to publish frequently updated information, either for including on websites or being read by RSS readers.

RSVP

"Répondez s'il vous plaît", a French phrase that translates to "please respond". Commonly used for request for confirming or declining attendance in the event.

Sendmail

Sendmail is one of the most popular mail transfer agents (MTA), software used for handling email on a server. Sendmail is Free and Open Source.

Script

A script is a short program that does one specific thing. Many Web pages include scripts to manage user interaction with a Web page, so that the server does not have to send a new page for each change.

Scout

The CiviCRM Book Sprint official dog. Scout likes dog biscuits, rolling on the ground, eating snow and proof-reading.

Shared Hosting

A website hosting service, where multiple websites reside on single computer.

Server

Usually used to refer to a computer connected to the internet that delivers (serves) web pages.  Most computers can become servers.  It just depends on how they are set up.

Smart Group

A group in CiviCRM to which contacts are automatically assigned.  Smart groups are created by running a search and then saving the search.  They are useful for groups that might change frequently, for example 'Expired members in Kenya'.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. A standard used by email software to transfer (send) email.

Software

Programs that enable specific functionality on your computer. There are many broad categories of software such as 'Web Browser', 'Word Processor' etc'. Within each category there are many available softwares that perform the functions you require. For example, Firefox and Internet Explorer are two softwares you may be familiar with, both of these examples are Web Browsers.

Soft Credit

Allows you to credit a seperate contact for a donation that someone made. i.e. the person that inspired the actual donor to make a donation.See Personal Campaign Pages.

Software License

The terms you must accept before using a piece of software.

Source Code

Software is created by writing instructions that a computer understands. These lines of instructions are known as code or source code.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

SSL (or Secure Sockets Layer), is one way of making internet communication secure.  You can easily see if you are using SSL by looking at the URL in your browser.  If it starts with https instead of http, your connection is using SSL.

SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is provided by the server to proove its identity, in the same way that a person carries a passport or driving license. See also SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).

Stable Version

A version of the software that has been tested and is considered to be ready for general use.

Standalone

An installation of CiviCRM which is not integrated with a Content Management System (CMS) such as Drupal or Joomla!.

String

A string is a sequence of characters for example "Hello, World", the URL "http://www.flossmanuals.net/", and  the text message "No such file or directory." Different character sets allow different strings.  Unicode strings can include any combination of languages, such as "Japan (日本) a nd Korea (대한민국)".

Subdomain

A domain that is a part of larger larger domain. For example: crm.mysite.com  is a subdomain of mysite.com domain.

Requirements

The things that you require a particular application to do.

Token

Tokens are used in CiviCRM to insert elements like name or greeting into emails being sent out. In the message sent out to a group of people, a token {first.name} will be replaced with actual names of each message recipient.

Upgrade

When a new version of a software is available you may wish to replace your old version with the new one. (see also Version)

URL

Unique Resource Locator. The technical convention that identifies the location of a resource on a network. The 'resource' might be a web page, in which case the URL refers to the location of that webpage on the internet (eg. www.cnn.com  is the URL for the CNN webpage).

Use Case

A use case is a central concept in software development.  Think of it as a story that documents the experience of performing a specific task.  When writing a use case, avoid technical or database specific language like 'fields' or 'record', and instead concentrate on the real world objects and scenarios.

Version

Updates to software are released periodically, these releases are referred to as a version of the software. There are different applications of the term, for example the most recent release of a software which has been tested and is intended for general use is referred to as the stable version. 

VPN

Virtual Private Network. A technical method of sharing information between members of an organisation over encrypted connections.

Web Application

A software that provides a website which has functionality you require. CiviCRM is a web application.

Webmail

Webmail is e-mail service through a Web site. The service sends and receives mail messages for users in the usual way, but provides a Web interface for reading and managing messages, as an alternative to running a mail client like Outlook Express or Thunderbird on the user's computer. For example a popular and free webmail service is https://mail.google.com/

Wiki

A web based software that enables anyone to edit the content via a web browser. Wikipedia is the best known example of a wiki.

Wildcard

A character that can match an any number and collection of characters.

Work Station

A computer used for working.

WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get. A visual tool for editing web content.  See rich text editor.