100 Words Every Operations Analyst Should Know

No.	Item	Definition
1.	accuracy	closeness to correct value
2.	allocation	assignment of resources
3.	anomaly	unexpected data pattern
4.	assumption	accepted premise for analysis
5.	audit	formal review of records
6.	availability	readiness for use
7.	backlog	accumulated unfinished work
8.	bandwidth	available capacity or time
9.	baseline	starting reference point
10.	benchmark	standard for comparison
11.	billing	charging customers for services
12.	bottleneck	point limiting overall flow
13.	budget	planned spending limit
14.	capacity	maximum output possible
15.	capex	capital spending on assets
16.	compliance	meeting rules or standards
17.	constraint	factor that restricts performance
18.	control	measure to manage risk
19.	correlation	relationship between variables
20.	cost	amount spent
21.	cycle time	time to complete one cycle
22.	dashboard	visual summary of key data
23.	dataset	collection of related data
24.	defect	fault or imperfection
25.	demand	amount requested by customers
26.	distribution	delivery across locations
27.	downtime	time when operations stop
28.	efficiency	output relative to input
29.	error rate	frequency of errors
30.	escalation	raising an issue upward
31.	ETL	extract, transform, load process
32.	exception	case outside normal process
33.	expense	money spent on operations
34.	field	single data attribute
35.	forecast	prediction based on data
36.	FTE	full-time equivalent worker
37.	fulfillment	completing customer orders
38.	governance	oversight and control framework
39.	granularity	level of data detail
40.	handoff	transfer between teams
41.	headcount	number of staff
42.	implementation	putting a plan into action
43.	incident	unplanned disruptive event
44.	integration	combining systems or data
45.	inventory	stored goods or materials
46.	invoice	bill for payment
47.	KPI	key performance indicator
48.	latency	delay before response begins
49.	lead time	time from start to finish
50.	logistics	movement and storage management
51.	margin	difference between sales and cost
52.	mean	average value
53.	median	middle value in data
54.	metric	a measurable performance value
55.	migration	moving data or systems
56.	mitigation	action reducing harm
57.	model	simplified representation for analysis
58.	normalization	standardizing data structure
59.	opex	ongoing operating expenses
60.	optimization	making best possible use
61.	outage	period of service unavailability
62.	outlier	value far from others
63.	owner	person responsible for something
64.	percentile	relative standing in data
65.	policy	official guiding rule
66.	procedure	approved way to perform
67.	process	series of operational activities
68.	procurement	acquiring goods or services
69.	productivity	rate of useful output
70.	quality	degree of excellence
71.	query	request for data
72.	queue	waiting line of tasks
73.	RCA	root cause analysis
74.	reliability	consistency of performance
75.	reorder point	level triggering replenishment
76.	resilience	ability to recover quickly
77.	revenue	income from business activity
78.	risk	possibility of loss
79.	ROI	return on investment
80.	root cause	underlying reason for a problem
81.	sample	subset used for study
82.	scenario	possible future situation
83.	scheduling	planning times and resources
84.	sensitivity	response to changing inputs
85.	simulation	test using a model
86.	SLA	service level agreement
87.	stockout	running out of inventory
88.	supply	amount available to provide
89.	throughput	amount processed over time
90.	ticket	tracked service request
91.	trade-off	balance between competing goals
92.	trend	general direction over time
93.	uptime	time when systems run
94.	utilization	extent resources are used
95.	validation	checking correctness or quality
96.	value stream	steps delivering customer value
97.	variance	difference from expected result
98.	vendor	external supplier
99.	workflow	sequence of work steps
100.	workload	amount of assigned work