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Reference · vocabulary

The terms, stated precisely

Every word in this glossary is defined the way the standard or the regulation uses it, not the way marketing does. They come from the pages where the term appears in context, and from here you can jump straight to them.

Where these definitions come from

This glossary is not a separate list somebody maintains by hand: it gathers the definitions that already live on each page of the site, in its vocabulary section. Correct a definition on its page and it changes here on its own. Where a term is defined on several pages, it appears once and all of them are linked.

Content reviewed on

Terms collected
153From every product and standard page

A

Access control
A system that authorises or denies entry to a space. Its purpose is physical security, not time accounting, even where the same reader serves both. Used in: Access control
Accrual
The proportional build-up of holiday entitlement over the year worked. Someone joining in April does not have thirty days from day one: they accumulate them. Used in: Leave and absences
Acknowledgement
The act by which a worker states agreement with the payslip contents. Not essential for delivery, but many employers ask for it and should be able to evidence it. Used in: Payslip delivery
Advanced electronic signature
One uniquely linked to the signatory, capable of identifying them, created with means under their sole control, and able to detect any subsequent change to the document. It is the usual level for employment and commercial paperwork. Used in: Payslip delivery · Tools · Electronic signature
Allocation
Assigning a consumption — hours, material, energy — to the object that generated it. Without real allocation, product cost is a spread rather than a measurement. Used in: X3 integration
Anchoring
Writing a fingerprint onto a blockchain. What is publicly recorded is a string of characters meaningless to anyone without the original document. Used in: Blockchain
Annex SL
The high-level structure common to ISO management system standards. It is what makes integrating several standards into one system technically feasible. Used in: Quality and standards
Anti-passback
A rule preventing the same credential from entering again without having exited. It is what lets you know exactly who is inside in an evacuation. Used in: Access control
Approval
The act by which someone with authority declares a document fit for use. It must be recorded with a name and a date, not assumed. Used in: Document connector (OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint)
ATS
Applicant Tracking System. It records each candidate, their stage and their interaction history from application to the close of the process. Used in: Recruitment
Attendance control
Recording working time. When it uses the same reader as access control, it is worth being clear these are two distinct processing operations with distinct legal bases. Used in: Access control
Audit log
A tamper-evident trail of actions taken in the system. It is a requirement of ISO 27001 and of the Spanish ENS, and the first thing asked for when things get uncomfortable. Used in: Technology
Automated decision
Rejection or selection produced without meaningful human involvement. The GDPR gives the candidate the right to obtain human intervention and to contest the decision. Used in: Recruitment

B

Biometric data
Personal data derived from physical characteristics that uniquely identifies a person: fingerprint, iris, facial geometry. The GDPR treats it as a special category when used for identification. Used in: Access control
Blockchain sealing
Anchoring a document's cryptographic fingerprint on a public network, evidencing its existence on a date and its subsequent integrity. Used in: Tools
BPM
Business Process Management. The management discipline that treats processes as an asset to be designed, executed, measured and continuously improved, rather than as an inherited habit. Used in: Process management
BPMN
Business Process Model and Notation. The standard graphical language for drawing processes, maintained by the Object Management Group and also published as ISO/IEC 19510:2013. Its virtue is that business and IT read the same diagram. Used in: Process management

C

Calendar versus working days
The Statute sets the minimum at thirty calendar days, but most collective agreements translate that into working days. Mixing the two criteria is the source of nearly every mismatch. Used in: Leave and absences
Certificate of analysis (CoA)
A document recording the test results for one specific batch and comparing them with the specification. It is batch-specific and does not apply to another. Used in: Quality certificates
Certified digitisation
A scanning process using software approved by the Spanish tax agency that gives the image the same standing as the paper original, allowing it to be destroyed. Used in: Tools · AI expenses · Invoice digitization
Clause
Each numbered section of the normative body. When an auditor says "nonconformity in 8.5.1", they mean one of these. Used in: Academy
Clearance certificate
Proof of being up to date with tax or social security obligations. It has limited validity, so filing it without tracking expiry achieves little. Used in: Supplier portal
CMMS
Computerised Maintenance Management System. It brings together assets, plans, orders and history: what in many plants is still split between a notebook and a spreadsheet. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)
Company-programmed training
The Spanish arrangement by which an employer organises training for its workforce and offsets it against social security contributions, within the annual credit available. Used in: Training and performance
Competence
The combination of education, experience and skill that lets a person perform a task with the expected result. ISO 9001 requires it to be evidenced, not merely asserted. Used in: Training and performance
Competence matrix
A grid crossing roles with required competences, showing per worker which are evidenced and which are not. It is the view that makes a training plan defensible. Used in: Training and performance
Compliance function
The unit with autonomous powers of initiative and control charged with overseeing how the model works. Its real independence is what a court examines. Used in: Regulatory compliance
Concurrence
The situation where workers from two or more companies coincide in one workplace. It is the fact that triggers the duty to coordinate, whether or not there is a contract between them. Used in: Contractor coordination (CAE)
Contractor coordination
The duty to exchange information on risks and preventive measures when several companies operate in the same workplace. Used in: Supplier portal
Controlled copy
A copy whose updating is guaranteed by the system. In a cloud-linked environment the link itself is the controlled copy, and printouts stop being necessary. Used in: Document connector (OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint)
Controller
Whoever determines the purposes and means of the processing. On a platform like this the controller is the customer company, not the provider. Used in: Security and GDPR
Corrective action
A measure aimed at eliminating the cause of a nonconformity so it does not recur. Distinct from correction, which only repairs the immediate effect. Used in: Quality and standards
Cost centre
The organisational unit to which costs accumulate. One worker may allocate to several over a single day. Used in: X3 integration
Credential
What proves identity to the reader: card, fob, PIN, code on the phone. It can be revoked instantly, which a fingerprint cannot. Used in: Access control
Critical supplier
One whose failure compromises product quality, safety or continuity. It warrants a different level of control from the stationery supplier. Used in: Supplier portal
Criticality
Classification of an asset by what happens if it fails: line stoppage, risk to people, regulatory breach. It decides where preventive effort concentrates, because not everything can get the same attention. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)
Cross-cutting service
Functionality available to any process without integrating it again: signing, sealing, extracting data, notifying. It is what avoids buying four tools that do not talk to each other. Used in: Technology
Cycle time
The time between two consecutive units leaving the line. Compared with the routing's theoretical time, it reveals where the loss is. Used in: X3 integration

D

Data protection impact assessment
A prior analysis of the risks a processing operation poses to individuals' rights, required by art. 35 GDPR where there is systematic large-scale monitoring. Used in: Real-time geolocation
Decision traceability
A record of what data went in, what the model proposed and what the person decided. Without it the automation cannot be audited or sensibly corrected. Used in: AI automation
Declaration of conformity
The manufacturer's statement that the product meets a specific standard or regulation. Mandatory for food-contact materials and for CE-marked industrial products. Used in: Quality certificates
Documented information
The term ISO 9001:2015 uses for documents and records together. The standard stopped requiring a quality manual, though many organisations keep one out of habit. Used in: Quality and standards · Document connector (OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint)

E

Effective working time
Actual time worked, net of breaks that the collective agreement does not count as working time. It is the basis on which overtime is calculated. Used in: Time tracking
Electronic invoice
An invoice issued and received in a structured electronic format. Not the same as a PDF emailed across: what defines it is that the data is machine-processable. Used in: Invoice digitization
Employee self-service (ESS)
The set of tasks a worker completes without HR involvement. Its measure of success is not how many people log in, but how many queries stop reaching the department. Used in: Employee portal
Encryption at rest
Protection of data while stored, not only while it travels. It is what limits the damage if someone reaches the physical medium. Used in: Infrastructure · Security and GDPR
Escalation
A rule that automatically moves a task to the next owner when the deadline passes with no reply. It is what stops a process from stalling in the inbox of someone on holiday. Used in: Process management
Evaluation of compliance
Periodic, documented verification of whether a requirement is met. ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 require it expressly, with the evidence retained. Used in: Regulatory compliance
Expense report
The settlement of expenses advanced by an employee. With AI, the receipt is interpreted as it is photographed and the expense policy applies before approval. Used in: Tools

F

Facturae
The Spanish XML electronic invoice format, mandatory for invoicing public authorities through the FACe platform. Used in: Invoice digitization
Fitness for work
The conclusion the health surveillance service communicates to the employer: fit, fit with limitations, or not fit for a specific role. The employer receives no clinical data. Used in: Occupational safety

G

Geofence
A virtual perimeter around a workplace. The system only checks whether the device is inside or outside at the moment of clocking, with no need to store continuous position. Used in: Employee portal · Real-time geolocation

H

Hallucination
A model output that sounds plausible but is false. In a business process it is countered by grounding the input in the real document and requiring human verification wherever there are consequences. Used in: AI automation
Hash function
An algorithm turning a file of any size into a fixed-length string. Changing one comma produces a completely different digest, and the digest cannot be turned back into the document. Used in: Blockchain
High availability
A redundant design that keeps the service running when a component fails. Not the same as backup: one covers the outage, the other the loss. Used in: Infrastructure
High-risk system
A category in the European regulation covering uses with significant impact on rights, including recruitment and performance evaluation. It carries documentation, logging and oversight obligations. Used in: AI automation
Hiring funnel
The sequence of stages an application passes through and the share that survives each one. It is what tells you whether the problem is attraction or screening. Used in: Recruitment
Human in the loop
A design where the machine proposes and the person decides. It is what art. 14 of the AI Regulation requires for high-risk systems. Used in: AI automation

I

Idempotency
The property of an operation that can be repeated without duplicating its effect. It is what makes retrying a failed sync safe. Used in: ERP connectivity
Immutability
The practical impossibility of altering a confirmed record. On an established public chain, rewriting the past would demand disproportionate computational effort. Used in: Blockchain
Individual payslip
The legal name for the payslip. It must follow the official template or the one set by the collective agreement, and set out earnings and deductions clearly. Used in: Payslip delivery
Information extraction
Obtaining specific fields — amount, date, reference — from an unstructured document. Different from OCR: OCR transcribes, extraction interprets. Used in: AI automation
Informative annex
A part of the document that guides but does not oblige. Mistaking it for the normative body leads to implementing things nobody was going to require. Used in: Academy
Intermediate database
An exchange area between two systems that do not speak directly. Less elegant than an API, perfectly valid, and often the only option with a legacy ERP. Used in: ERP connectivity
Internal reporting channel
A route by which a person can report regulatory breaches with confidentiality and without retaliation. Spanish Law 2/2023 requires it of employers with fifty or more workers. Used in: Corporate intranet
International transfer
Sending personal data outside the European Economic Area. It requires an adequacy decision, standard contractual clauses or another Chapter V safeguard, plus an assessment of the destination country. Used in: Infrastructure
Intranet
An organisation's internal network of content and services, available only to its staff. Its most common failure is not technical: it competes with email and loses. Used in: Corporate intranet
Invoicing record
A chained, tamper-evident entry the system generates for each invoice issued, carrying the fingerprint of the previous one. It is what prevents deleting an invoice without a trace. Used in: Invoice digitization
ISO 37301
The international standard for compliance management systems, published in 2021 and certifiable. It replaced ISO 19600:2014, which offered guidelines only. Used in: Regulatory compliance

J

Job plan
The list of specific tasks carried out on an asset at each scheduled intervention, with its interval and its expected spares. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)

L

LISOS
The Spanish law on infringements and penalties in the social order (Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000). It is what classifies a missing time record and sets the fine. Used in: Time tracking
Low-code
Building applications through visual configuration rather than programming. Its value is not saving code: it is shortening the distance between whoever knows the process and whoever can change it. Used in: Process management · Technology

M

Management review
Periodic analysis of the system by top management, with inputs and outputs listed in clause 9.3. It is where most systems come unstuck. Used in: Quality and standards
Means of coordination
The instruments listed in art. 11 of RD 171/2004: information exchange, meetings, instructions, presence of preventive resources, among others. The company chooses, but must keep a record. Used in: Contractor coordination (CAE)
Minimisation
The GDPR principle that only data strictly necessary for the stated purpose may be processed. Applied here: if knowing they were on site is enough, do not store where they went afterwards. Used in: Real-time geolocation
Minimum cover
The number of people a team must have available on a given date. Configuring it is what turns holiday approval into an informed decision. Used in: Leave and absences
MTBF
Mean Time Between Failures. It measures asset reliability: how long it keeps running before breaking. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)
MTTR
Mean Time To Repair. It measures the maintenance team's response, not the asset. A high MTBF with poor MTTR still leaves the plant down. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)
Multi-company
The ability of one installation to run several legal entities with separated data and their own users, sharing configuration where that makes sense. Used in: Technology

N

Nonconformity
Failure to meet a requirement, whether of the standard, the customer or the system itself. It is not a problem in itself: failing to detect them is. Used in: Quality and standards

O

Obsolete document
A withdrawn edition that must remain identifiable but not usable. ISO 9001 requires protecting against unintended use, not destroying them. Used in: Document connector (OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint)
OCR
Optical character recognition. It turns the image into text but does not understand what each figure is. Interpreting amount, tax and description is done by the model working on that text. Used in: AI expenses
OEE
Overall Equipment Effectiveness: availability times performance times quality. It is the indicator that summarises whether a line is performing, provided all three components are measured from real data. Used in: X3 integration · Maintenance (CMMS)
Onboarding
Bringing a new person on: contract, paperwork, equipment handover, access rights and initial training. Modelled as a flow, none of those steps gets forgotten. Used in: Employee portal · Recruitment
OpenAPI
A standard specification for describing an API in machine-readable form. It allows clients and documentation to be generated rather than hand-written. Used in: Open connectivity
Organisation and management model
The set of supervision and control measures which, under art. 31 bis of the Spanish Criminal Code, can exempt a legal person from criminal liability if effective and supervised. Used in: Regulatory compliance

P

Paid leave
A justified absence with the right to pay, listed in art. 37.3 of the Statute and extendable by collective agreement. It does not consume holiday. Used in: Leave and absences
Payroll close
The cut-off after which the period is calculated and no longer accepts changes. Anything arriving later carries over to the next month, with the friction that brings. Used in: A3 integration
Payroll file
The output the payroll program produces, usually a PDF containing every payslip for the period. Distributing it means splitting it by worker and attaching each part to their record. Used in: Payslip delivery
Payroll input
Any event in the period that changes the calculation: overtime, absences, variable premiums, advances. It is what must be gathered before closing, and what most often goes astray. Used in: A3 integration
Per diem
The amount the employer pays for meals and accommodation while travelling. It is income-tax-free up to the regulatory limits; above them it is taxed as salary. Used in: AI expenses
Performance appraisal
Periodic assessment of how a person meets their objectives and responsibilities. Distinct from competence: one can be competent and have a poor year, and the reverse. Used in: Training and performance
Permission role
A set of authorisations assigned to a role rather than a person. It means joiners and leavers do not force a rethink of access one by one. Used in: Technology
Personal data breach
A breach leading to destruction, loss, alteration or unauthorised access to personal data. It must be notified to the authority within 72 hours unless a risk is unlikely. Used in: Security and GDPR
Personnel master
The stable data about a worker: identification, contract, grade, site. Having a single owning system stops two versions coexisting. Used in: A3 integration
PPE
Personal protective equipment. The last resort in the prevention hierarchy: first eliminate the hazard, then protect collectively, and only then reach for personal equipment. Used in: Occupational safety
Predictive maintenance
Work triggered by a measurement that anticipates failure: vibration, temperature, power draw. Unlike preventive, it avoids replacing parts that still had life in them. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)
Preventive maintenance
Work scheduled by time or usage to avoid failure, whether or not the asset shows symptoms. Its effectiveness is measured in breakdowns that never happened, which is exactly what is hard to demonstrate without history. Used in: Maintenance (CMMS)
Preventive planning
The set of measures derived from the assessment, each with an owner, a deadline and assigned resources. Without those, it is a list of good intentions. Used in: Occupational safety
Preventive resource
A designated person with sufficient training whose presence is mandatory in certain high-risk situations. Their presence must be evidenced, not merely planned. Used in: Contractor coordination (CAE)
Principal employer
Whoever contracts works or services forming part of their own core activity and carries them out at their site. Beyond informing, they have a duty of vigilance over the contractor. Used in: Contractor coordination (CAE)
Prior information
Express notice to staff and their legal representatives about the system, its purpose and the worker's rights. Without it, the processing is not lawful. Used in: Real-time geolocation
Process instance
Each concrete run of a published process: one particular purchase request, one particular work report. Every instance keeps its own history and can follow the process version it started with. Used in: Process management
Processor
Whoever processes data on the controller's behalf. They may only do so on documented instructions and under the art. 28 GDPR agreement. Used in: Security and GDPR
Production order
The ERP document authorising and scheduling production of a given quantity. It is the unit against which allocating hours and materials makes sense. Used in: X3 integration
Proof of existence
Demonstration that a specific piece of data existed before a given moment. That is what sealing provides; authorship additionally requires an electronic signature. Used in: Blockchain
Public chain
A decentralised network whose records no single organisation controls. That absence of control is what makes the proof useful: nobody can rewrite it to suit themselves. Used in: Blockchain

Q

Qualified electronic signature
An advanced signature created with a qualified device and based on a qualified certificate. It is the only one the Regulation gives, by itself, the legal effect of a handwritten signature. Used in: Electronic signature
Qualified trust service provider
A supervised entity on the national trusted list, authorised to issue qualified certificates and seals. Used in: Electronic signature

R

Rate limit
A cap on requests per unit of time. It protects the system from a badly written integration and forces batch design when volume demands it. Used in: Open connectivity
Re-evaluation
Periodic review of an already-approved supplier based on actual behaviour: incidents, lead times, quality received. Without it, approval is a snapshot from years ago. Used in: Supplier portal
Read receipt
A record proving an identified person opened a piece of content, with date and time. It is what turns "we published it on the intranet" into usable evidence. Used in: Employee portal · Payslip delivery · Corporate intranet
Rechargeable expense
An expense that, by contract, can be billed to the client. If it is not identified at submission, in practice it is lost. Used in: AI expenses
Reconciliation
Periodic checking that both systems say the same thing. Every integration eventually drifts; what marks out a good one is that it notices before the user does. Used in: ERP connectivity
Record of processing activities
An inventory of the processing an organisation carries out, required by art. 30 GDPR. It is the first thing a supervisory authority asks for. Used in: Security and GDPR
Requirement
A sentence in the standard containing a "shall". It is the only auditable part: notes and examples guide but do not oblige. Used in: Academy
REST API
An interface letting two systems exchange data over HTTP with well-defined operations. It is the preferable route where the ERP offers it, because it needs no database access. Used in: ERP connectivity · Open connectivity
Rest between shifts
A minimum of twelve hours between the end of one working day and the start of the next, under art. 34.3 of the Workers' Statute. Used in: Time tracking
Risk assessment
The process of identifying the hazards of each role, estimating their magnitude and deciding whether they are tolerable. Everything else hangs off this document, which must be revised when conditions change. Used in: Occupational safety
Risks and opportunities
The approach introduced in 2015 that replaced preventive action: rather than reacting, the organisation must plan what could go wrong in each process and what it will do about it. Used in: Quality and standards
Root cause
The underlying reason an accident happened, beyond the immediate event. If the investigation stops at "the worker was careless", the corrective action will not prevent a repeat. Used in: Occupational safety
Route history
The sequence of positions recorded during a shift. Its retention needs a defined and justified period; keeping it indefinitely is not defensible. Used in: Real-time geolocation
RPO and RTO
Recovery point objective and recovery time objective: how much data can be lost and how long recovery may take. Without both numbers, a continuity plan is a statement of intent. Used in: Infrastructure

S

Scope
The delimitation of which activities, products and sites the certified system covers. It appears on the certificate and it is the first thing a customer asking for it looks at. Used in: Academy · Open connectivity
Segmentation
The rule deciding who receives what. Without it the intranet fills with noise and people stop looking, which was the problem in the first place. Used in: Corporate intranet
Signature evidence
The data surrounding the act: prior identification, device, IP address, time, the exact document signed. It is what makes a signature defensible against challenge. Used in: Electronic signature
Simple electronic signature
Any data in electronic form used by the signatory to sign, from an acceptance click to a name at the foot of an email. It cannot be denied legal effect, but its evidential weight depends on context. Used in: Electronic signature
Simplified invoice
What people call a receipt. It only supports VAT deduction if it carries the recipient's tax number and address, so it is worth asking for a full invoice when the amount justifies it. Used in: AI expenses
Site occupier
Whoever has the capacity to make available and manage the workplace. They must inform the other companies of the site's own risks and of the emergency arrangements. Used in: Contractor coordination (CAE)
Social security filing
The contribution settlement the payroll program produces. Kimobox does not calculate it: it gives the program the right data so that it calculates it correctly. Used in: A3 integration
Specification
The set of parameters and acceptable ranges agreed with the customer. It is the yardstick against which the certificate declares a batch conforming or not. Used in: Quality certificates
Sub-processor
A third party the processor engages to process data on the controller's behalf. It must be authorised and bound by the same contractual obligations. Used in: Infrastructure
Supplier approval
The process by which a company accepts a supplier as fit to supply, against criteria set in advance. ISO 9001 requires those criteria to be written and applied consistently. Used in: Supplier portal
System of record
The system that wins when two systems disagree about the same record. Declaring it per entity — customers, items, employees — is the decision that prevents ninety per cent of integration problems. Used in: ERP connectivity

T

Tamper evidence
The guarantee that a punch cannot be changed silently. Legitimate corrections exist, but they are logged as such, with author, date and reason. Used in: Time tracking
Technical datasheet
A description of a product's general characteristics: composition, properties, conditions of use and storage. It belongs to the product, not the batch, and has versions. Used in: Quality certificates
Time bank
The accumulated balance of hours worked above or below the agreed schedule, offset according to the collective agreement or the flexibility arrangement. Used in: Leave and absences
Time record
The daily log of the specific start and end time of each person's working day, mandatory in Spain since May 2019 and to be kept for four years. Used in: Employee portal
Time to hire
Days between opening the vacancy and the offer being accepted. Different from time to fill, which runs to the actual start date. Used in: Recruitment
Time tracking
The daily log of each worker's start and end times, with balance calculation and the report the Spanish Labour Inspectorate requires. Used in: Tools
Timestamp
Proof that data existed at a given moment. When qualified, the law presumes the accuracy of the date and the integrity of the document. Used in: Electronic signature
Traceability
The ability to reconstruct what happened, when, who did it and with what data. In a certified system this is not a convenience: it is the evidence the auditor asks for. Used in: Process management
Training effectiveness
Checking the course achieved something: fewer errors, fewer incidents, a better indicator. It is the point most often waved through with a tick, and the one auditors look at hardest. Used in: Training and performance
Transition
The period during which one edition of a standard and its successor coexist. Once it ends, certificates issued against the old edition stop being valid. Used in: Academy
Two-factor authentication
Verification combining something known with something held. It turns a leaked password into an inconvenience rather than a serious incident. Used in: Security and GDPR

U

Upstream and downstream traceability
The ability to know which raw materials a batch came from and which customers received it. The first identifies the source of a problem; the second, its extent. Used in: Quality certificates

V

Variable pay
A pay element that changes each month: commission, bonus, mileage. Unlike fixed pay, it needs a capture and approval circuit before the close. Used in: A3 integration
Verifactu
The mode of invoicing software that submits invoicing records to the Spanish tax agency continuously, governed by Royal Decree 1007/2023. Used in: Invoice digitization
Version control
A mechanism that keeps a document's history and guarantees the reader gets the current edition. In a certified system it is a requirement, not a nicety. Used in: Corporate intranet
Versioning
Keeping a document's history with each edition identified and its approver recorded. Without it you cannot reconstruct which instruction was in force when an incident happened. Used in: Document connector (OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint)

W

Webhook
A call the source system makes to the destination when an event occurs. It inverts the polling model: instead of asking every minute, you get told. Used in: Open connectivity
Working time record
The daily, objective log of the start and end time of each worker's day. A monthly total is not enough, and neither is the contractual schedule. Used in: Time tracking

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Glossary of quality management, ISO standards and compliance

This glossary precisely defines the terms that come up in a management system: nonconformity and corrective action, documented information, competence and the competence matrix, working-time records, geofence, advanced electronic signature, certified digitisation, MTBF, MTTR and OEE, among others.

Each definition comes from the page where the concept is explained in context, so from here you can jump to the section that develops it rather than being left with a stray sentence.