TeamDynamix Glossary of Terms

TeamDynamix Glossary of Terms

Overview

This glossary will help you get familiar with terms specific to the TeamDynamix system. The application section includes every application that a member of your organization may be using, and the terms section covers features found within your TeamDynamix interfaces.

Applications 

  • Analysis – Provides the tools to generate reports and analyze the organization's portfolio from any angle. The data is pulled directly from projects, tickets, requests, and resources throughout the TDNext suite. Includes:
    • Portfolios - Allows users to manage and view portfolios. 
    • Programs - Allows users to manage and view programs. 
       
  • Assets/CI - Allows users to easily add and categorize assets, configuration items, vendors, contracts, and locations allowing an institution to track and maintain hardware and software assets, in addition to other configuration items, cost-effectively. 
     
  • Briefcase – The briefcase document storage system allows projects to keep a secure repository of all project documents. Users can upload into, download out of, and view documents in the briefcase. TeamDynamix has also added check in and check out, workflow and search functionality to prevent versioning issues and to capture document revisions.
     
  • Calendar - The calendar application allows each project to keep a project calendar. Users can create personal appointments and project meetings. Users can also view other project member's schedules to arrange group meetings. In addition, the user can view tasks by due date and issues by due date on the calendar, making it the one place that the project manager can get a holistic view of project activity.
     
  • Chat - Instant messaging capability in TDNext suite
     
  • Client Portal – End user-facing portal that contains organization information presented in  a user friendly manner. Includes:
    • Service Catalog – Found within TDClient and allows individuals to browse the contents of the Service Catalog and submit service request, incidents, project requests, etc.
    • Knowledge base - Found within TDClient and serves as Knowledge Management for common resolutions to support items. Articles in the Knowledge Base can be browsed within the Client Portal or when viewing a ticket within TDNext suite. 
  • Community - Gives users a direct link to the TeamDynamix Community through secure integration in the TDNext application menu. The TeamDynamix Community provides downloads, articles, webinars and discussion forums.
     
  • Contacts – The Contacts application shows contatcs you have viewed the most, ordered by most viewed, will show up in the left navigation bar. You can go directly to one of these contacts by clicking a contact name link.
     
  • Document Workflows – A list of all Document Workflows for an organization can be viewed in the Admin tool by locating Projects/Workspaces > Document Workflows. Users are then able to create new document workflows by clicking the +New toolbar button. A name must be provided for the document workflow and a description/purpose can optionally be provided.
     
  • Downloads – Use this application to download the TDX Import Utility and Teams Integration.
     
  • File Cabinet - Allows users to post and access project knowledge cataloged in the File Cabinet database. Users may search the File Cabinet according to custom file classifications as defined by your institution. In addition to posting and accessing data, the dashboard gives users a profile of user activity within the File Cabinet.
     
  • Finance - Generate invoices based upon billable time and expenses tracked in Time & Expenses. The Finance application allows managers to create invoices and integrate them with an accounting system. 
  • My Work – A comprehensive application built for TeamDynamix licensed users. Users can easily see the tickets, tasks and issues to which they are assigned, make updates, track time, manage projects (when applicable) and access briefcase files. 
     
  • News - A page on the Client Portal to display desired RSS feeds.
     
  • People – Allows for the creation and modification of all People records (including those who are not necessarily licensed users) as part of a database that can be used for the purposes of Asset Management and Service Desk Tickets. 
     
  • Plans – Use this application to view all your project plans in one place.
     
  • Portfolio Planning – Manage project requests through request workflows additionally analyze project requests alongside other requests and existing projects to allow for planning and what-if scenarios. Includes:
    • Project Requests - Allows users to submit project requests into the Portfolio Planning application from Client Portal.
       
  • Project Templates - Allows users to create templates for projects, including briefcase files, contacts, issues, links, and project plans, which can then be applied to new or in-flight projects. 
     
  • Projects/Workspaces - The Projects/Workspaces application allows individuals to be members of projects and/or workspaces. TDNext users also receive access to the Plan Manager for project plan build out, as well as management capabilities and reporting at the project level.
     
  • Questions – Much like a web forum, Questions enable users to share knowledge and/or ask questions of other users.
  • Resource Management – Allows users to review and manage resource requests and overall resource allocation.
  • TDNext - TDNext is the foundational application suite upon which most other TeamDynamix applications run, allowing executives, project managers and project team members to work more effectively and report on data.
  • Tickets - Ticketing applications allow users to track transactions about services an area provides. Chose to track tickets of each classification (incident, problem, change, release, or service request). 
  • Time & Expenses - Time & Expenses is the route to account for users’ time and expenses on tickets and/or projects. Time & Expenses allows for manager approval or rejection of user submitted time and expense entries.  

Terms

 

  • Account Attribute Sections-A section used to organize Account Attributes into one section, likely because the attributes are related in some form. 
     
  • Account Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to Acct/Depts
     
  • Acct/Dept-The Acct/Dept field represents the Department for which the project is being requested.
     
  • Alternate Manager-The second manager on a project. The Primary Manager has ability to change the project manager while the Alternate Manager cannot perform that function. 
     
  • Announcement-Project wide communications to the project resources, stakeholders, and/or contacts.
     
  • Application Menu-The route to opening applications in TDNext, often referred to as 'the waffle".  
     
  • Article-A singular entry within the Knowledge Base.
     
  • Article Owner-The individual who manages a Knowledge Base article and is notified of feedback (depending on the Notify Owner of Feedback setting).
     
  • Articles Awaiting Review-An area within Knowledge Base dedicated to all articles in which have been Submitted and are in need of review to be Approved and Published.
     
  • Asset- An asset is any hardware, software, or consumable within an environment. Assets of a service provider include anything that could contribute to the delivery of a service.
     
  • Asset Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to Assets
     
  • Blackout Windows- times during which changes cannot be scheduled or performed
     
  • Briefcase-Files repository of files related to the project, organized into folders.
     
  • Client-A user whom can authenticate to TDClient and access areas such as the Service Catalog, Knowledge Base, and their requests. 
     
  • Community-TeamDynamix centric website serving as place clients can connect with one another, discover helpful industry content as well as access downloads, articles, webinars and discussion forums.
     
  • Configuration Item Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to Configuration Items/Assets.
     
  • Configuration Items-components of an infrastructure that currently is, or soon will be under configuration management. CIs include both Assets of the environment and Services that are provided.
     
  • Contact-A record of contact information (name, phone, email…) of an individual, nothing can be associated to a Contact nor can they authenticate to the environment
     
  • Contacts-People associated with a project. Automatically includes any listed project resources and project stakeholders.
  • Contract Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to Contracts
     
  • Contracts-Documentation of the contract or warranty that is provided for an asset.
     
  • Creator-The individual whom created the request. Depending on the point of entry it is possible for the requestor to also be the creator. 
     
  • Custom Attributes-Custom attributes provide you the ability to create fields for data capture
     
  • Customer-A people record in of an individual at the institution, a customer cannot authenticate into the environment
     
  • Description-The full details of a request, including any appropriate circumstances or supplementary information that may aid in completing it.
     
  • Desktop-A collection of delivered modules and custom reports to give a snapshot view of current activity in the environment.
     
  • Evaluator-The individual person to review, process, and analyze the project request.
     
  • Event-An activity that occurs within a specific project on a certain time and date, this is much like a calendar entry. 
     
  • Expense Account (Expense Type)-The classification of an expense entry, this can range from very high level (i.e, hotel expense) to a very granular configuration (i.e., Holiday Inn Expense).
     
  • Feed-An audit trail, with time and date, of all activity on the entry (ticket, project, issue, etc.). The Feed also supports comments to communicate with resources on the entry.
     
  • File Cabinet Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to the File Cabinet 
     
  • Functional Roles-define the primary and secondary job duties that a user performs. After defining a set of Functional Roles, users will need to be assigned these values as this will help project managers assign users to projects based on his or her capabilities.
     
  • Groups-A collection of users, groups serve the purpose of assigning responsibility, content sharing, and content visibility/permissions. 
     
  • ID-Unique identifier of an item that is a numeric ID, i.e. “12345.” This number does not change as modifications are made to the item.
     
  • Impact-A factor in on determining the priority of a ticket. It is the measure of the effect of an incident on business processes. Criteria to calculate impact include, amount of potential financial losses and amount of affected users. 
     
  • Industries-Industries are tied to accounts to help distinguish between types of Acct/Dept. Also used for to form a grouping of Acct/Dept, for example by institution division. 
     
  • Issue-Issues are problems, gaps, inconsistencies, or conflicts that occur unexpectedly in the lifecycle of a project. 
     
  • Issue Attribute -A version of Custom Attributes specific to project issues
     
  • Knowledge Base-The Knowledge Base is the TeamDynamix solution for Knowledge Management. According to ITIL Knowledge Management aims to gather, analyze, store, and share knowledge and information within an organization. The primary purpose of Knowledge Management is to improve efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge.
     
  • Knowledge Base Category-In the Knowledge Base, a category is a grouping that organizes articles.
     
  • Licensed User-A licensed user refers to a TeamDynamix user whom has a paid license associated to their account. These users can access TDNext.
     
  • Location-The reference to a place, often a building, of which is where an incident or asset is located. 
     
  • Location Room-The reference to the specific room within a Location of which is where an incident or asset is located. 
     
  • Long Description-Defines what each service provides and how it is accessed and used. (Not meant to serve as a way to document policies, procedures, or standards.)  Each service's Long Description must provide a link to a form for submitting requests or reporting a problem.
     
  • Maintenance Window -Period of time designated in advance by the technical staff, during which preventive maintenance that could cause disruption of service, may be performed.
     
  • My Accomplishments-Section within My Work application that lists the authenticated user's completed tasks, tickets, and issues.

    My Approvals-Section within My Work application that lists approvals for resource requests, time reports, project requests, and service requests assigned to the authenticated user.
     
  • My Articles-An area within Knowledge Base dedicated to all articles the authenticated used is the owner of.
     
  • My Assignments-Section within My Work application that lists what has been assigned to the authenticated user.
     
  • My Schedule-Section within My Work application that lists the hours the authenticated user is scheduled for on a project or workspace.
     
  • My Work-Section within My Work application that lists all tickets, tasks, and issues that you are the primary responsible for.
     
  • Order-A means to sort the entry by order value when displayed.
     
  • Person Attribute-A version of Custom Attributes specific to People Records
     
  • Primary Manager-A project can have two managers, Primary Manager and Alternate Manager. The Primary Manager has ability to change the project manager while the Alternate Manager cannot perform that function. 
     
  • Primary Responsibility -The person or group that is listed as responsible for the completion of the ticket.
     
  • Priority -Based on impact and urgency, and is used to identify required times for actions to be taken
     
  • Product Model Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to Asset Product Models
     
  • Product Models-A listing of the specific model of an Asset. 
     
  • Product Types-Classify Asset product models into types such as “Laptop”
     
  • Project Attribute-A version of Custom Attributes specific to People Records
     
  • Project Attribute Sections-A section used to organize Project Attributes into one section, likely because the attributes are related in some form.
     
  • Project Name-The project name is the title to identify this project
     
  • Project Request Status: Approved-Request has completed the project request workflow and is waiting staff the request and graduate to a project.
     
  • Project Request Status: Declined-This project request was declined i.e. it will not be moving forward.
     
  • Project Request Status: Not Submitted-Still waiting on the requestor to complete the request. Or, the request was returned to the requestor, perhaps for more information.
     
  • Project Request Status: Other Status- The status is the same as the name given to the current workflow step.
     
  • Project Request Status: Submitted-Request has been submitted, however it is not yet assigned a project request workflow for review.
     
  • Project Templates-Predefined elements (briefcase, contacts, issues, links, and plans) that can be applied to an existing project.
     
  • Project Type-A project type is a main (and required) component of a project and is meant to classify the nature of the project.
     
  • Project Type Categories -Used for organization and for reporting (if desired), it is a grouping of alike Project Types. 
     
  • Related Articles-Relationships to other Knowledge Base articles that display when users view the article.
     
  • Related Processes-Identify which processes would be impacted if this project were to occur.
     
  • Relationship Types-A descriptor of the type of relationship between two Assets. Each Relationship Type also has an 'reverse description', for example "Is powered by" and "powers". 
     
  • Request Form-The custom form associated with a service that the requestor will complete on the Client Portal.
     
  • Requestor-The individual that is asking for service to be preformed. 
     
  • Resource-A user whom is added as a member of a project to add value by completing tasks and/or managing the project
     
  • Resource Pools-typically classified by functional area or by the Resource Management area responsible for assigning resources to projects
     
  • Response Template-Used to populate the comments field when updating the status of a ticket  
     
  • Response Template Categories-Used for organization within a ticketing application, it is a grouping of like Response Templates. 
     
  • Responsible Group-The group of users that is primarily responsible for the completion of a ticket. 
     
  • Reviewer-An user who can be notified when a ticket comes in, however not made responsible of the ticket. Tickets that one is the reviewer for can be found in the "Awaiting My Review" section in a ticket application.
     
  • Role Forecasts-Identify the skill sets and amount of estimated hours needed to achieve a project. A named human resource will not be assigned until the project request has graduated to a project.
     
  • Score Card-To accurately assess multiple project requests compare them against the same metrics. The score card will generate a score for the project request committee to utilize in prioritizing projects.
     
  • Service-The specific offering or activity performed that achieves outcomes for the customer without the ownership of the costs and risks. Services in TeamDynamix all reside in the Service Catalog on the Client Portal.
     
  • Service Catalog-The TeamDynamix Service Catalog is one of the primary foundational configuration areas of the application. As you've undoubtedly heard by now, the formal definition of a Service (according to ITIL) is "a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks."
  • Service Catalog Category-In the Service Catalog, a category is a grouping that organizes services.
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA)-Contract between a service provider (either internal or external) and the client that defines the level of service expected from the service provider. Configured to achieve Respond By and Resolve By metrics in defined time amounts.
     
  • Service Manager-The individual or group who is primarily responsible for maintaining and updating this service as appropriate. 
     
  • Short Description-An abbreviated description of the service, limited to 1000 characters. It is seen in grey text under the service name when browsing the service catalog.
     
  • Source-An indication of where the ticket request is coming form. i.e. client portal, phone call, etc.
     
  • Sponsor-A key resource that assist with project matters such as funding, scope clarification, progress monitoring and assumes responsibility for the request. 
     
  • Standard Reports-Found in many of the applications, most notably Analysis, these are delivered/out-of-the-box TeamDynamix reports. 
     
  • Status-Represents the state the entity (ticket, project, issue, etc.) is in. 
     
  • Survey-A questionnaire to be sent to the requestor following the completion of a project or ticket.
     
  • Systems Affected-Identify which systems would be impacted if this project were to occur.
     
  • Tags-Labels attached to a service, article, or ticket for the means of identification or improving search results. 
     
  • Task Template-Predefined list of tasks, that are in order and may include predecessors, that can applied to an existing ticket.
     
  • TDAdmin-Administrative setup interface used to configure TeamDynamix
     
  • TDClient-Client/end-user interface accessible by all users.
     
  • TDMobile-An interface designed for devices that cannot access TDClient or TDNext. It provides basic and responsive access to some parts of TeamDynamix.
     
  • TDNext-The application suite interface for licensed users.
     
  • Ticket Classification-The indication of the kind of ticket event. There are six Ticket Classifications: Incident, Major Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Service Request. 
     
  • Ticket ID-Unique identifier of that is a numeric ID, i.e. “12345.” This number does not change even if the ticket classification changes.
     
  • Ticket Type-The type field is used to identify the nature of the work being done on a ticket.
     
  • Ticket Type Categories -Used for organization and for reporting (if desired), it is a grouping of alike Ticket Types.
     
  • Tickets Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to a Tickets Application
     
  • Time Account (Time Type)-The classification of a time entry, this can range from very high level (i.e., ticket time) to a very granular configuration (i.e., research expenses, hotel expenses).
     
  • Title-A short description or name to explain the nature of the request.
     
  • Update-Action to fill in the current condition of the ticket, project, or issue in TeamDynamix. i.e. Update the status 
     
  • Updateable-An option on a custom attribute that will present the attribute on the Update window when updating a ticket, project, or issue status.
     
  • Urgency-A factor in on determining the priority of a ticket. The time it takes to an incident to have a significant impact on business. 
     
  • User-A people record who in which can authenticate in to the environment, depending on the level of access a user can access TDNext and/or TDClient
     
  • Vendor Attributes-A version of Custom Attributes specific to Vendors
     
  • Vendors-The business that serves as the Manufacturer, Supplier, or Contract Provider of an Asset
     
  • Workspace-A collaborative space that provides the ability to track initiatives that are similar but not quite a project. Workspaces can have resources assigned and scheduled, time can be tracked against them, and they can even have specific ticket types associated with them.
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