Short, plain-language definitions of HR terms: the concepts you meet when automating HR processes.
ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is recruitment software: a candidate pipeline, an application base and hiring in one place.
LMS (Learning Management System) is training software: courses, tests and employee progress in a single portal.
HRIS (Human Resource Information System) is a system of record for people data: a single database of employees and HR processes.
HRM (Human Resource Management) is the practice and software of managing people across the employee lifecycle.
eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) is the employee loyalty index: the share of promoters minus detractors.
EHI (Employee Happiness Index) is a composite index of team health: a blended score of engagement and wellbeing across several drivers.
A recruitment funnel is the candidate journey from application to hire, split into stages with conversion between them.
Onboarding is the process of bringing a new hire up to speed: paperwork, team introductions, training and reaching productivity.
Offboarding is the employee exit process: paperwork, revoking access and returning assets, handover and an exit interview.
360 feedback is a review method where an employee is rated by their manager, peers, direct reports and themselves.
The 9-box grid is a 3×3 matrix that maps employees by performance and potential for talent management.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting method: an ambitious objective plus measurable key results that track it.
An IDP (Individual Development Plan) is a personal growth plan for an employee: development goals, actions and timelines.
A skill gap is the difference between the skills employees have and the skills the business needs.
HR document management (EDM) is the digital workflow for personnel paperwork: orders, employee requests and approvals are created and signed electronically instead of on paper.
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) grants permissions to roles rather than directly to individual people.
ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control) decides access from attributes of the user, resource and context, not from a role alone.
k-anonymity is a data property where each record is indistinguishable from at least k−1 others on identifying attributes.
Proctoring is the supervision of an online test or exam to confirm it is taken honestly.
Headcount is the total number of employees in an organization at a given point in time, counted by people rather than by full-time equivalents.
HR analytics is the collection and analysis of workforce data to inform hiring, retention and performance decisions.
