Knowledge Base Glossary of Terms

Overview

This article is designed to act as an appendix to the Knowledge Base Style Guide for clarifying the spelling and usage of any commonly used terms within IT specifically. This glossary should be referenced for any documentation review process for articles in the service portal or the USS Confluence space.

This glossary will grow over time as to account for the wide range of services and associated terminology.

Please reach out to Knowledge Management Support if there are any questions, suggestions, or feedback pertaining to this list.

List of Terms

This glossary is in alphabetical order according to how the term is to be used in the service portal. Each entry will have a definition and example of its proper usage and links to any knowledge base articles or service pages using the term.

Duck ID

Definition: The username portion of a UO email account (e.g., duckid@uoregon.edu; emphasis added for definition).

  • When referring to this in documentation, please use Duck ID and its corresponding knowledge base article for clearing up any confusion with its counterpart, UO ID.

For more information, please consult the UO Accounts: Duck ID & UO ID Number article.

Duo

Definition: The primary service provider for the university's two-factor authentication (2FA; two-step login) service. It is referred to as DUO by some groups due to the stylization of its wordmark found on both its mobile applications and branded hardware tokens.

  • If you need to use the service provider's name in documentation, please use the name Duo.
  • If you are referring to the service generally, please use two-step login, or Duo as a shorthand.

For more information, please consult the Getting Started with Two-Step Login (Duo) article.

KB Article/KBA

Definition: An article that resides in a knowledge base or an article that resides in the UO Service Portal.

  • If you are referring to an article, you may refer to it as a KBA or KB article
  • If you are referring to the knowledge base generally, please use the service portal or the UO Service Portal
Note: If you're referring to multiple articles, you may refer to them as KBAs or KB articles.

Lists/Mailing Lists/Mailman

Definition: A mailing list (also called an electronic mailing list) is a method of communicating with a group of people using email. At the university, mailing lists are managed through the software application, Mailman.

  • If you are referring to the Mailman software and its functionality, you may refer to it as Mailman.
  • If you are referring to the service, please use ListLists or Mailing Lists.

Network Shares or Network File Shares

Definition: A storage location (like a hard drive) that is connected to a computer by way of controlled network access that is not a part of the physical computer on which it is accessed. Other terms used to refer to this are file shares and share folders.

  • When documenting the service function generally, please use the term network share or network file share.

Sponsored accounts vs. courtesy and campus associate appointments

Definition: Sponsored accounts provide access to computing resources that can be obtained by departments for individuals who are not formally affiliated with the University of Oregon but are involved in university-related activities. Examples include practicum supervisors, guest lecturers, consultants, contractors, visiting scholars, and vendors.

Sponsored accounts differ from courtesy and campus associate appointments due to their duration and who issues them.

Sponsored accounts

  • Issued by Information Services
  • Can last up to 100 days and can only be granted with approval from an executive position or their authorized delegate.

Courtesy appointment

  • Issued by UO Human Resources
  • May be offered to persons who visit the university from other institutions or who work outside the university and contribute without compensation to a unit's program. They are not provided to university employees and does not grant the right to sit on graduate committees or principal investigator (PI) status

Campus associate appointment

  • Issued by UO Human Resources
  • Primarily used to allow access for independent contractors to campus buildings requiring key access, and other UO services needed for them to perform the agreed work.

For more information about sponsored accounts, please consult the Sponsored Duck ID Account article. For more information about courtesy and campus associate appointments, please consult the Courtesy, Campus Associate, and other Unpaid Appointments page on the UO Human Resources site.

TeamDynamix/TDX

Definition: The software suite where the UO Service Portal resides.

  • When referring to the software suite and its functionality, you may use the terms TeamDynamix or TDX.
  • When referring to the service portal, please refer to it as the service portal or the UO Service Portal.

UO ID number/95#

Definition: The identification number assigned to all UO faculty, staff, and students, that begins with the number 95. Also referred to as a 9-5 number (spoken as nine-five number) or in print as 95# or 95_.

  • When referring to this in documentation, please use UO ID or UO ID number with a link to its knowledge base article to clear up any confusion with its counterpart, Duck ID.
  • Only use 95# in conjunction with UO ID. For example, UO ID, UO ID (or 95#), UO ID (e.g., 95#) or UO ID/95#

For more information, please consult the UO Accounts: Duck ID & UO ID Number article.

UOmail

Definition: The brand name applied to the university's instance of Microsoft Exchange online email service.

  • When referring to the software and its functionality, you may use the term Outlook
  • When referring to the service, please use UOmail 

For more information, please consult the All About Email at UO article.

User Support Services (USS) regional units

Definition: USS regional units are the groups that represent some of the distributed IT resources across the University of Oregon's Eugene campus (the main campus). These units also oversee IT services for UO satellite locations at the UO Portland in Portland, the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) in Charleston, and the Pine Mountain Observatory near Millican. They are comprised of four distinct groups that represent the different regions and responsibilities within USS.

These regional units are defined by the USS Director as:

Note: These are USS regional units and not zones.
Regional Unit Name Permitted secondary Names
USS-Academic North Academic North, North (within the USS Confluence space only)
USS-Academic Central Academic Central, Central (within the USS Confluence space only)
USS-Academic South Academic South, South (within the USS Confluence space only)
USS-Admin Admin (within the USS Confluence space only)

Although part of USS, the Technology Service Desk and Enterprise Device Management groups are defined differently though they will follow the same nomenclature as the regional units.

USS Name Permitted Secondary Names
USS-Technology Service Desk USS-TSD, USS-Tech Desk
USS-Enterprise Device Management USS-EDM, USS-EDM team
Note: With any of these names, please spell out the name of the regional unit or other group before using any of the permitted secondary names. For example, User Support Services (USS) is comprised of four USS regional units, the USS-Technology Service Desk (TSD), and the USS-Enterprise Device Management (EDM) team.

Videoconference

Definition: the holding of a conference among people at remote locations by means of transmitted audio and video signals (from Merriam-Webster)

In the past, videoconference was written as the two-word term, video conference. As the term became more mainstream, the term was adjusted to a compound word.

  • When referring to the general term as a noun or adjective, please use the compound spelling — videoconference or videoconferencing — moving forward.

For more information, please consult the UO Videoconference Standards article.

Wi-Fi

Definition: the technology used to wirelessly connect computers, tablets, smartphones and other devices to the internet. It is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

  • When referring to wireless internet connectivity, you can use Wi-Fi as its shorthand. It must be capitalized and hyphenated.

Additional resources

University Communications maintains brand guidelines and an editorial style guide for the University of Oregon. The knowledge base style guide, article rubric, and this article are all based upon their work and resources. If you do not see a term that you think should be in this article, please consult their Brand and Style or the Editorial Style Guide for more information.

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Details

Article ID: 131709
Created
Tue 4/20/21 12:24 PM
Modified
Mon 2/5/24 1:07 PM

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