Glossary You Are @ Home/ Glossary A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z B Balance To Ship (BTS) 1. (KMART) The quantity needed for a promotion. 2. (KMART) The quantity of inventory or ATS that will be shipped out to the stores for a promotion. This quantity is excluded for turn inventory and replenishment calculations. 3. Balance or remaining quantity of a promotion or order that has yet to ship (backorder). Batch Control Totals The result of grouping transactions at the input stage and establishing control totals over them to ensure proper processing. These control totals can be based on document counts, record counts, quantity totals, dollar totals, or hash (mixed data, such as customer AR numbers) totals. Batch Processing The processing of computer information after it has been accumulated in one group, or batch. Baud A rate of transmission over a channel or circuit. The baud rate is equal to the number of pulses that can be transmitted in one second, often the same as the number of bits per second. Common rates are now 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 bits and 19.2 and 56 kilobytes. Benchmarking Measuring a company’s performance against other competitors or unrelated firms, often to show where opportunities to improve are greatest. Binary A system of numerical notation that assumes only two possible states or values, zero (0) and one (1). Bisynchronous A communication protocol whereby messages are sent as blocks of characters. The blocks of data are checked for completeness and accuracy by the receiving computer. BMP The standard bitmap image format on Windows-compatible computers. Bitmap images can be saved for Windows or OS/2 systems and support 24-bit color. Bricks and Mortar Flip side of clicks and mortar. Old economy versus new economy. Industrial economy versus information economy. Broadband A high-speed, high-capacity transmission channel. Broadband channels are carried on coaxial or fiber-optic cables that have a wider bandwidth than conventional telephone lines, giving them the ability to carry video, voice, and data simultaneously. Browser A utility that allows an internet user to look through collections of things. For example, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer allow you to view contents on the World Wide Web. Bulletin Board An electronic forum that hosts posted messages and articles related to a common subject. Burn Rate How quickly monies go out the door. Business Application Any computer program, set of programs, or package of programs created to solve a particular business problem or function. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic organizational improvements. Business-to-Business (B2B) As opposed to business-to-consumer (B2C). Many companies are now focusing on this strategy, and their sites are aimed at businesses (think wholesale) and only other businesses can access or buy products on the site. Internet analysts predict this will be the biggest sector on the Web. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) The hundreds of e-commerce Web sites that sell goods directly to consumers are considered B2C. This distinction is important when comparing Websites that are B2B as the entire business model, strategy, execution, and fulfillment is different. Byte A string of 7 or 8 bits, or binary digits. The length of the string determines the amount of data that can be represented. The 8-bit byte can represent numerous special characters, 26 uppercase and lowercase alphabetic characters, and 10 numeric digits, totaling 256 possible combinations. Back To Top