Glossary: Breaking the Buzzwords
| 2FA | Security process in which authentication will require 2 of 3 possible security checks. Namely: ‘something you know’, ‘something you are’ and ‘something you have.’ |
| Air | Cost or mode of travel via aircraft, i.e. plane. |
| Back-Office | Refers to Accounting, Processing, Support or other Administrative areas. |
| Central Billing | Any account used for consolidating Transactions from one or more other Accounts for centralized corporate billing purposes. |
| Central Reservation System (CRS) | A platform used in the hotel industry to centralize reservations, distribution, rates and inventory in real time. |
| Direct Bill | An arrangement whereby guest charges are transferred to an Accounts Receivable account for payment. Typically, when a guest uses direct billing, an invoice is sent directly to the guest's company or other sponsoring organization. |
| eFax |
Both a brand and a term used to describe online or “electronic” faxing, i.e. faxing over the internet. |
| Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) | Forms the backbone of a business’ IT architecture. The solutions consist of multiple modules that supports all the major business processes in one system. |
| Folio | An account showing charges or payments made during a hotel guest's stay. |
| Global Distribution System (GDS) | A computerized network system owned or operated by a company that enables transactions between travel industry service providers, mainly airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and travel agencies. |
| Ground |
Mode or cost of transportation via rental car taxi, rideshare, shuttle, or public transportation (bus, train). |
| Lodging | Temporary dwelling or costs associated with the accommodations when traveling, i.e. hotel, rental property. |
| Merchant Category Code (MCC) | Used to identify the type of business in which a merchant is engaged. Payment brands use merchant category codes (MCCs) to classify merchants and businesses by the type of goods or services provided. Payment brands, issuers and acquirers can use MCCs to categorize, track and restrict transactions. |
| Mid-Office | Refers to IT, Finance, Risk and other Operational functions. |
| New Distribution Capability (NDC) | A set of new technical communication standards for distributing airlines’ fares and services. Launched by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), NDC will give airlines greater flexibility to differentiate and sell their products via third – party intermediaries (like global distribution systems, aggregators and travel management companies) or direct to consumers. |
| Online Booking Tool (OBT) | A web-based platform allowing travelers to make self-service reservations. |
| Payment Card Industry (PCI) | Security standards set to help protect consumers' account data information. |
| Property Management System (PMS) | Computer-based system for controlling hotel inventory, check-in and -out and billing. |
| Request for Information (RFI) | A medium through which an organization can collect information about prospective suppliers, their solutions, and how their products and services can help a company. It is a request for information from the suppliers during the procurement and sourcing planning stage, intended to narrow down a list of potential vendor candidates. |
| Request for Proposal (RFP) | A document that enables a company to identify business travel needs and invite potential solutions from suppliers or vendors. |
| SI Field |
Special Instructions or Supplemental Information Field within the Global Distribution System. |
| Stakeholders | Individuals with a vested interest in a company who can either affect or be affected by a business' operations and performance. Typical stakeholders are employees, customers, suppliers, or associations. |
| Tail Spend | Commonly, tail spend refers to spending that makes up a large number of a company's transactions by volume but only a small portion of total costs; often challenging to manage because it consists of a large amount of low-value transactions that are generally ill-defined in procurement processes because they don’t fall under strategic spend categories. Also known as ad hoc spending and uncategorized supplier purchases that are low in volume, frequency or value |
| Travel Management Company (TMC) | Company that provides corporate travel booking solutions, typically flights, hotels, rail and ground transportation. |
| Tokenization | The process of translating a credit card number into a random sequence of numbers as a method of encryption, to enhance credit card security during a transaction. |
| Travel Payment Systems (TPS) | Software platforms that capture and transfer your travel payment data from the customer to your business, allowing for a more efficient booking and payment experience and data-tracking. |
| Traveler | End User; the individual utilizing the mode of travel. |
| User Defined Fields (UDF) | Also known as CDF (Custom Data Fields); A feature that allows corporations to create various types of data labels or “fields” within a system to capture specific information required for reconciliation. |
| User-Defined Interface Data (UDID) | UDID remarks are standard and contain predefined reporting information such as lost hotel night reason codes, merchant billing codes or additional traveler data fields; pieces of information attached to a booking for reporting purposes |
| Virtual Card Number (VCN) | Virtual card numbers have a 16-digit number, which is generated and assigned for use by an individual user. Uniquely, virtual card numbers can be used immediately, providing just-in- time funding that could help to better manage an individual or business’ cash flow. |
