If you find yourself reading one of our articles and a bit lost, here is your road map to industry terms.
SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
Step-by-step, detailed guidelines which outline how to perform specific tasks or processes within an organization.
RCR (Report Completion Rate)
The percentage of scheduled checklists that were completed as planned (discipline/compliance proxy).
IRR (Issue Resolution Rate)
The percentage of issues that get closed or resolved (follow-through / ownership proxy).
IRT (Issue Resolution Time)
Average time to resolve an issue.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
A value that measures how effectively a company is performing towards key business objectives.
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
A contract between a service provider and a customer that defines the service to be provided and the level of performance to be expected.
QTR (Quarter)
A 3-month period used in business reporting, planning, and targets. Most companies split the year into 4 quarters: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4.
FS (Full Store)
A check that covers the entire outlet end-to-end, not just one area.
NCR (Non-Conformance Report)
A formal record when something fails a standard/SOP (quality, food safety, HSE). Usually includes issue, evidence, root cause, corrective action, owner, due date.
BOH (Back of House)
All non-customer-facing areas and work (e.g kitchen/prep, dishwashing, storage, receiving, stockroom, office, staff area).
FOH (Front of House)
All customer-facing areas (e.g dining area, cashier/POS, counter, displays, storefront, queue area).
OBR (Onboarding or Operational Business Review)
Recurring review focused on operational performance (adoption, compliance, issue closure, audit scores, SLA, improvements).
QBR (Quarterly Business Review)
A quarterly client review (often a template/slide deck).
DM (District Manager)
A person assigned to store visits & coverage. (explicit in Task/Check doc: Done by the DM (District Manager).
DCPR (Daily Critical Point Review)
A checklist cadence example in BR (used as fast, frequent checks).
MAU (Monthly Active Users)
Usage metric (MAU / Total Users Registered).
SOC II (Security Compliance)
Security certification that approved by the industry.
PS / PSE / EM / PM / PC
PS (Professional Services) / PSE (Professional Services Engineer) / EM (Engagement Manager) / PM (Project Manager) / PC (Project Coordinator): roles from PS/scoping notes.
CSM / CSS
CSM (Customer Success Manager) / CSS (Customer Success Specialist): A person assigned to help customers get the best value from a product after they sign so they can reach their goals.
SDR (Sales Development Representative)
Lead qualification role.
AE (Account Executive)
Sales closer role; job post and references available.
NPS
Net Promoter Score, Customer loyalty metric.
CSAT
Customer Satisfaction Score
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
The predictable revenue a business expects to earn each month from ongoing subscriptions or recurring contracts.
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
Predictable recurring revenue you expect to earn in a year from active subscription contracts.
ACV (Annual Contract Value)
Annual value of a customer contract (usually the recurring portion per year). It’s often used by Sales to compare deal sizes. Used alongside TCV.
TCV (Total Contract Value)
Used in sales slides (Net TCV calculation shown).
QC / QC Scoring
Quality Control; QC scoring used for Mystery Shopper / audits.
NRM
“NRM maintenance” / “Internal NRM Maintenance ticketing.”
MTC (Maintenance)
Maintenance ticketing/checklists (MTC checklists / MTC issues / MTC SLA).
Algorithm
A set of step-by-step instructions or rules followed by a computer to perform a specific task or solve a problem.
Automation
Use of technology (including AI) to perform tasks/processes without human intervention to reduce manual work and errors.
Bias
In the context of AI, the occurrence of biased results due to human biases that skew the original training data or AI algorithm.
Data Analytics
Examining and analyzing large data volumes to uncover patterns and insights; includes descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics.
Transparency (in Operations)
Openly shares real-time process data and clearly explains how decisions are made by its systems. The data shows what is happening.
Report
Summarizes an organization's financial statements, internal controls, and accounting practices to determine if the financials are accurate, complete, and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or other relevant accounting standards.
Questionnaire
A set of questions supporting various submission types (Yes/No, flags, scoring, checklists), support for media (photo/video), and signature.
Routine
The ability to execute standard tasks consistently and effectively, while staying flexible enough to adapt when conditions change.
Issue Owner
The person who is responsible for adding corrective actions to issues, assigning a corrective action owner, and then submitting the issues to the Compliance Team for review.
Escalation
Talking or referring to a higher authority for a case or issue that could not be resolved satisfactorily.
Frontline
Directly engaging with customers and representing the company daily.
Store Manager
The most senior member of the staff in a store, who is responsible for the overall running of the store.
Area Manager
Responsible for managing the operations of multiple stores or locations within a specific region.
Live Photo
Live Photo means a real time photo taken during an activity, showing the actual condition at that moment, recorded with time and location data.
Operational Excellence
The process of executing a business strategy more reliably and consistently than the competition.
Operations Rhythm
Regular cadence of activities and processes that drive a company forward, ensuring alignment, accountability, and agility.
Flag Statistics
Green = Good, Yellow = Need Attention, Red = Urgent.
Scheduled checklist / scheduled report
A recurring task (opening/closing, hygiene, equipment checks) that should happen on a schedule.
Completed reports
Count of checklist runs that were submitted.
Missed reports
Scheduled checklist runs that didn’t happen (or weren’t submitted).
Reporting cadence
How frequently teams run/submit checks (more cadence = more signal).
Store / outlet
A physical location for a business.
Top performers / bottom performers
Locations that consistently hit KPI bands.
Distribution / performance tier
Bucketing stores into ranges (e.g., 90–99%).
Issue
A recorded problem found during a checklist/audit (equipment, cleanliness, process breach).
Resolved issue / closed issue
Marked as fixed.
Open issue
Not fixed yet.
Issue volume
How many issues exist (absolute count).
Issue category
Grouping of issues by domain (e.g., equipment, facilities).
Critical issues
High-severity problems (e.g., food safety, quality).
Preventive maintenance
Fixing/servicing before breakdown (maintenance program).
Response speed
How quickly teams act on issues once logged.
Spare-part readiness
Having parts available so fixes aren’t blocked.
Targeted improvement
Focusing efforts where most issues are.
Top issue contributor
The biggest source of issues.
Issue ID
A unique identifier for a specific issue record.
