The Support Desk pretty much has a language on their own. Instead of using regular everyday language, they have jargon that is sometimes specific to our company. How are we supposed to naturally know what developers are talking about? Most people that do not work in coding, programming, or anything computer related don’t know what any of these terms mean. Sometimes, we might be hesitant to ask the person, “can you please explain that in layman’s terms?” It might be for reasons such as not wanting to make the process any longer with more emails/messages, being apathetic and just believing the person knows what they’re doing, or just not wanting to admit we don’t know.
Below are terms I’ve collected from our support desk, as well as some of my own that I’ve come across in my own conversations with some of the Alinity staff. Enjoy!
Our Glossary
Web Client – Refers to the web page a member is on.
Staff Client – The desktop interface that the staff uses to review and update the database, has more rights and privileges than the web client. Non-staff users cannot see the staff client.
Audit (Personal) – Annually, a College will have a set items that members need to demonstrate they’ve accomplished. This is to keep track of what members are doing year to year to keep up to date in their practice. The College will decide on the criteria and it can be practice hours, continuing competence, to liability insurance to name a few examples.
Unexpected Error – While launching a new page by clicking a link or clicking “Submit” at the bottom of a form, this is a notification that an error has blocked it from completely loading. In the pop up, it might tell you what to do, or where the error is occurring.
Show Details – this term is usually found on an “Unexpected Error” popup, such as the photo above. If you are not reading an adequate amount of information on the pop up, this is usually added when there is more specific information that has to do with the error, such as in the example in the photo below.
Form Page – A form page is where a staff-client user can enter data that is sent to a server for processing. Form pages can include blank fields for text, drop down menus to select titles, check boxes, etc.
Field and Controls – A field is each data item which you input data in a form page. This could include your name, address, occupation, etc. In the panel, you can change the controls (properties) in the fields. There are different types of controls, they can be dropdown menus, checkboxes, blank space for text, etc. In the photo above there are of these controls.
Ribbon – Refers to the tabs horizontally laid out at the top of the screen, they are a way of grouping shortcuts. In the photo below, the ribbon is highlighted in the red box.
Explorer – The explorer will show you what you click from the tabs in the ribbon. You can click members’ names and expand on various categories within their profile.
Panels – Data relevant to the clicked items in the explorer organized in group boxes to be reviewed or edited by staff. It is part of the form page, and there are different tabs to open different panels.
Let Us Know!
If you have any more terms that you feel should be in our glossary, comment them below!
English 
French