| ACL | Access Control List. A list of permissions attached to an object. An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects. |
| AD | Active Directory. |
| AES | Advanced Encryption Standard. |
| AGGREGATION ACCOUNT | Aggregation Account is an account opened to facilitate the pay-in and pay out process for any financial system. |
| AGN | Agent Entity. Agent within the system such as Amethyst of Emerald. |
| A/M | Agent-Merchant Entity. Both functions enacted within the system. |
| AML | Anti-money laundering (AML) refers to a set of procedures, laws or regulations designed to stop the practice of generating income through illegal actions. |
| API | Application Programming Interface. A protocol intended to be used as an interface used by software components to communicate with each other. |
| ARC | Acquired Retail and Cross-sell. |
| APP | Smart Phone Application Entity. |
| ARHI | Amber Remote HTTP Interface. |
| ARTI | Amber Remote TCP Interface. |
| ATM | Automated Teller Machine. |
| ATTORNEYS ACCOUNT | This account is suited to Attorneys who are acting as trustees; the attorney will hold the funds on the Customers behalf. |
| BA | Business Analysis |
| BE | Back-end. |
| BCP | Business Continuity Planning. |
| BROKERAGE ACCOUNT | This account is used when building a stock/bonds or mutual funds portfolio. |
| BRS | Business requirements specifications are specifications which once delivered, provide value. Products, systems, software, and processes are ways of how to deliver, satisfy, or meet business requirements. |
| BULK SMS | Application that allows the sending of an SMS to multiple recipients |
| BUNDLE | A collection of services sold as a group usually at a discounted price or single tariff. Can also refer to an amount of data/voice minutes. |
| B2B | Business-to-business. Commerce transactions between businesses conducted via the Internet. |
| CAP | Central Administration Portal Entity. Administrative portal of a specific product of system. |
| CC | Change control is a systematic approach to managing all changes made to a product or system. The purpose is to ensure that no unnecessary changes are made, that all changes are documented, that services are not unnecessarily disrupted and that resources are used efficiently. |
| CEM | Common Entity Model component within specific product system. |
| CERTIFICATE | SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization's details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. |
| CFT | Combat Finance Terrorist. |
| CLEARING ACCOUNT | A clearing account is usually a temporary account containing costs or amounts that are to be transferred to another account. |
| CLOUD (CLOUD COMPUTING) | The practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer. |
| CLI | Client Entity. The Client of PMT for whom the system is being built. |
| CPC | Central Processing Centre. |
| COD | Certificate of Deposits are known as time deposits, because the account holder has agreed to keep the money in the account for a specified amount of time, anywhere from three months to six years. |
| CORBA | The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is a standard defined by the Object Management Group (OMG) that enables software components written in multiple computer languages and running on multiple computers to work together. |
| CRM | Customer Relationship Management. |
| CRONJOB | Time-based job scheduler in Unix-like computer operating systems. |
| CSP | Customer Selected PIN. |
| CSV | Comma-Separated Values. Comma separated Values file contains different values separated by a delimiter, which acts as a database table or an intermediate form of a database table |
| CURRENT ACCOUNT | Enables users to deposit, withdraw and transact at a lesser cost on banking fees or on a packaged deal for bundles transaction amounts at a single monthly fee. |
| CUS | Customer Entity. End Consumer consuming the service of the PMT Client. |
| DBA | Database Administration |
| DB | Database. A database is an organized collection of data. |
| DBMS | Database Management System. A software package designed to define, manipulate, retrieve and manage data in a database. |
| DEV | Development |
| DEPLOYMENT | The processes involved in getting new software or hardware up and running properly in its environment, including installation, configuration, running, testing, and making necessary changes. |
| DMZ | A demilitarized zone (sometimes referred to as a perimeter network) is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to an untrusted network, usually a larger network such as the Internet. |
| DNS | Domain Name Service. A distributed hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. |
| DR | Disaster Recovery. The process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity. |
| EFT | Electronic funds transfer. The electronic exchange, transfer of money from one account to another. |
| ENDPOINT | Where a service connects to the network. In a service-oriented architecture, any single network interaction involves two endpoints: one to provide a service, and the other to consume it. In web services, an endpoint is specified by a URI. |
| ERLANG | Erlang is a general-purpose programming language and runtime environment. Erlang has built-in support for concurrency, distribution and fault tolerance. See: http://www.erlang.org. |
| ERP | Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP facilitates the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manages the connections to outside stakeholders. |
| ERPC | Erlang Remote Procedure Call. A remote procedure call is a method to call a function on a remote node and collect the answer. |
| ESCROW ACCOUNT | An Escrow Account is a financial instrument held by a third party on behalf of two parties |
| E1 | E-carrier level 1, or E1 carrier. E-carrier is a European telecommunications standard. The level 1 is a wire technology used by telecommunication operators with a data rate of2Mbit/s. |
| FAILOVER | Switching to a redundant or standby server, system, hardware or environment upon the failure or abnormal termination of the previously active application, server, system, hardware component, or network in a controlled environment. |
| FE | Front-end. |
| FHS | File System Hierarchy Standard. Defines the directory structure and directory contents in Linux operating systems. |
| FICA | Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) The purpose of FICA is to combat money laundering activities by, among other things, establishing a Financial Intelligence Centre and imposing certain duties on institutions and other persons that might be used for money laundering purposes. |
| FRS | Functional Requirements Specification documents the operations and activities that a system must be able to perform. |
| GENOBJECT | General Data Object. |
| GN6 | Basic FICA registration that allows customers to transact to R25000 and transfer up to R1000 per day |
| GPRS | General Packet Radio Service. A technology for radio transmission of small packets of data between cellular phones and the Internet. |
| GREP | A Unix command used to search files for the occurrence of a string of characters that matches a specified pattern. |
| GSM | Global System for Mobile communications. A standard to describe protocols for second generation (2G) digital cellular networks. |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface. |
| GW | Gateway. A gateway is an internetworking system capable of joining together two networks that use different base protocols. |
| HLR | Home Location Registry. The main database of permanent subscriber information for a mobile network. |
| HSM | A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys for strong authentication and provides crypto processing. |
| HTML | Hyper Text Markup Language is a standardised system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic, and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages. |
| HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol. A protocol (utilizing TCP) to transfer hypertext requests and information between servers and browsers. |
| HTTPS | Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol. |
| HYBRID SLA | A Hybrid SLA is used when a partnership exists between the entity and PMT and the costs of the work done are shared between the two partners |
| ICCID | Integrated Circuit Card Identifier: a physical number printed onto a SIM card by an MNO during SIM Personalisation. |
| IDL | Interface Description Language (or Interface Definition Language). A specification language used to describe a software component's interface. |
| IETF | Internal Engineering Task Force is a body that defines standard Internet operating protocols such as TCP/IP. |
| IMEI | Number used to identify a phone - 3GPP, iDEN mobile phones and satellite phones. |
| IMPS | Instant Messaging and Presence Service. |
| IMSI | International Mobile Subscriber Identity. A unique number usually fifteen digits associated with all GSM and UMTS network mobile phone users. It is stored in the SIM inside the phone and is sent by the phone to the network. |
| IN | The Intelligent Network, typically stated as its acronym IN, is a network architecture intended both for fixed as well as mobile telecom networks. It allows operators to differentiate themselves by providing value-added services in addition to the standard telecom services such as PSTN, ISDN and GSM services on mobile phones. |
| IN -BUNDLE | Rates that are charged for a service that is part of a bundle. E.g If you get 25 free sms a month, the in-bundle rate is R0.00 until all 25 SMSs are used. |
| INVESTMENT ACCOUNT | Is an account held at a financial facility for the purpose of a long-term investment for capital preservation, growth or fixed income. |
| IoDSA | The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa NPC (IoDSA) is a professional body recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and a non-profit company (NPC) that exists to promote corporate governance, and to maintain and enhance the credibility of directorship as a profession |
| IOR | Interoperable Object Reference. A CORBA reference that uniquely identified an object on a remote CORBA server. |
| IP | Internal Protocol. |
| IT | Information Technology |
| IVR | Internal Voice Response. |
| ISDN | An international communications standard for sending voice, video and data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires. ISDN supports data transfer rates of 64kbps. |
| ISO | International Organization for Standardization. An international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. |
| ISO8583 | International Standards Organization standard 8583. A meta-protocol providing a set of rules for the definition of financial transaction protocols. |
| ISTQB | The International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) is a software testing qualification certification organisation that operates internationally. |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group. |
| LAC | Location Area Code. A LAC is used for paging in order to indicate in which Location Area a mobile subscriber is currently situated. |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LBS | Location-Based Services. An information and entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device. |
| LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. |
| MANDATE ACCOUNT | Also known as a joint/shared account, is a bank account shared by two or more individuals. |
| MAP | Mobile Application Part. An SS7 protocol, which provides an application layer for the various nodes in GSM and UMTS mobile core, networks and GPRS core networks to communicate with each other in order to provide services to mobile phone users. |
| MCC | Mobile Country Code. A three-digit number uniquely identifying a given country. |
| MERCHANT ACCOUNT | A Merchant account is a type of bank that allows businesses to accept payments by payment cards |
| MER | Merchant Entity. Merchant that sells or distributes goods and services. |
| MIB | Management Information Base. It comprises a collection of objects in a (virtual) database used to manage entities (such as routers and switches) in a network. |
| MIDP | Mobile Information Device Profile. MIDP is a specification published for the use of Java on embedded devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. |
| MIS | Management Information System. An organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases and devices that provide routine information to managers and decision makers. |
| MMS | Multimedia Messaging Service. A system that enables cellular phones to send and receive pictures and sound clips as well as text messages. |
| MMT | Mobile Money Transfer. An E-Money management system. |
| MNC | Mobile Network Code. A two or three digit number used to uniquely identify a given network from within a specified country. The MNC is part of the IMSI. |
| MNO | Mobile Network Operator. A telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers. |
| MOBILE ORIGINATING | Traffic or commands that originate from the End Users Mobile device |
| MOBILE TERMINATING | Traffic or commands that terminate at the End Users Mobile device |
| MPLS | Multi Protocol Label Switching |
| MSIN | Mobile Subscriber Identification Number: a subset of the IMSI, a number used to identify the subscriber identity. |
| MSISDN | Mobile Station International integrated Systems Digital networking Number. A number uniquely identifying a subscription in a GSM or UMTS mobile network. Simply put, it is the telephone number to the SIM card in a mobile/cellular phone. |
| MSU | Message Signalling Unit. The basic data exchange unit in SS7 networks. |
| MTP | Message Transfer Part. Part of the Signalling System 7 (SS7) used for communication in Public Switched Telephone Networks. MTP is responsible for reliable, unduplicated and in-sequence transport of SS7 messages between communication partners. |
| NAT | Network Address Translation. In computer networking, network address translation is the process of modifying network address information in datagram (IP) packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device for the purpose of remapping a given address space into another. |
| NEFT | National Electronic Fund Transfer. |
| NESTAT | Network Statistics. A command-line tool that displays the status of network connections (both incoming and outgoing) TCP, UDP, RAW, or UNIX. |
| NFC | Near Field Communication. Short-range high frequency wireless communication technology, which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10-centimeter distance. |
| NOTICE DEPOSIT ACCOUNT | Is an account that requires a 7-32 day notice for funds to be withdrawn. |
| NOTICE POOLING ACCOUNT | This account maximises the effectiveness of working capital, achieves flexibility and realises interest savings with either a single currency or multi-currency pooling services. |
| NRC | Noise Reduction Coefficient. |
| NSLOOKUP | Name Server Lookup. A UNIX utility used to query Internet domain name servers. An nslookup is usually used to find the IP address corresponding to a hostname. |
| NTP | Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a protocol used to synchronize computer clock times in a network. |
| NUMPORT | The method of determining whether a mobile number has changed from one Mobile Network to another |
| OD | Overdraft. |
| OS | Operating System. |
| OPS | Operations |
| ORBER | The Orber application is a CORBA-compliant Object Request Broker (ORB), which provides CORBA functionality in an Erlang environment. Essentially, the ORB channels communication or transactions between nodes in a heterogeneous environment. |
| OTP | OTP (Open Telecom Platform) is a large collection of libraries for Erlang to do everything from compiling ASN.1 to providing a WWW server. Most projects using Erlang are actually using Erlang/OTP, i.e. the language and the libraries. OTP is also open source. |
| OTP | One Time PIN.A one-time pin is a pin that is valid for only one login session or transaction. |
| OUTS | Outsystems Platform Entity. |
| OWASP | Open Web Application Security Project. |
| PATCH | A small piece of code inserted into a program to improve its functioning or to correct an error. |
| PCI-DSS | The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard for organizations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes. |
| PDF | Portable Document Format. |
| PDF | Personal development planning is the process of creating an action plan based on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal development within the context of a career, education, relationship or for self-improvement. |
| PID | Process Identifier is the number assigned to a process by the operating system. |
| PII | Personal Identify Information. |
| PIN | Personal Identification Number, this number is used with the SMS interface and Mobile Phone Application (MAP), and should be kept private. It is 4 to 5 digits long. |
| PKI | Public Key Infrastructure. |
| PING | Ping is a computer network administration utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network and to measure the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer. |
| PIR | Post Implementation Review. Review held after the implementation of a change to determine if the change has been implemented successfully and subsequently, if the expected benefits have been obtained. |
| PMT | Pattern Matched Technologies Pty (Ltd) |
| POCDATARA | Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act. |
| PORT | A port is an endpoint of communication in an operating system |
| POS | Point of sale. A term used in the payments industry that refers to the physical location where a payment transaction takes place. POS is also used to describe credit card payment acceptance systems that are designed for the place of sale, such as card swipe terminals. |
| POSGRESQL | An object-relational database management system often referred to simply as Postgres. |
| POST-PAID | Subscriber is billed for their tariff plan/package and usage, usually after the billing cycle/month. |
| PRE-PAID | Payment in advance for airtime by purchasing vouchers/credit. |
| PP | Payment Processor. A system that enables secure, real time processing of online credit and debit card transactions, including authentication and verification. |
| P2P | Peer-to-peer. A network or data communications in which no dedicated server is involved. |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| RBU | Reversed Billed URL. A configuration setup on a URL where the client is not charged for the data when accessing the configured URL via their internet enabled device |
| REVOLVING ACCOUNT | A revolving account is an account created by a lender to represent debts where the outstanding balance does not have to be paid in full every month by the borrower to the lender. |
| RFID | Radio-frequency identification. The wireless non-contact use of radio frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data for the purpose of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. |
| RFI | Request for Information. |
| RFP | Request for proposal |
| RFQ | Request for quote. |
| RPC | Remote procedure call, a network protocol that allows a computer program running on one host to cause code to be executed on another host. |
| SAS | Serially Attached SCSI. A method used in accessing computer peripheral devices that employs a serial means of digital data transfer over thin cables. |
| SDLC | The systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life-cycle, is a term used in systems engineering, information systems and software engineering to describe a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. |
| SCSI | Small Computer System Interface, or SCSI (pronounced scuzzy), is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. |
| SCTP | Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is a Transport Layer protocol, serving in a similar role as the popular protocols Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). |
| SIM | A smart card inside a mobile phone, carrying an identification number unique to the owner, storing personal data, and preventing operation if removed |
| SIM SECURITISATION | A method of securing access to applications if the SIM Card data such as IMEI, number last ported or MNO has changed |
| SIGTRAN | SIGTRAN is the name, derived from signalling transport, of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group that produced specifications for a family of protocols that provide reliable datagram service and user layer adaptations for Signalling System 7 (SS7) and ISDN communications protocols. The SIGTRAN protocols are an extension of the SS7 protocol family. It supports the same application and call management paradigms as SS7 but uses an Internet Protocol (IP) transport called Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). |
| SLA | A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract between a service provider (either internal or external) and the end user that defines the level of service expected from the service provider. SLAs are output-based in that their purpose is specifically to define what the customer will receive. |
| SMPP | Short message peer-to-peer protocol. A telecommunications industry protocol for exchanging SMS messages between SMS peer entities such as short message service centres and/or External Short Messaging Entities. |
| SMS | Short Message Service. A system that enables cellular phone users to send and receive text messages. |
| SMSC | Short Message Service Centre (also SMS-C). A network element in the mobile telephone network, which delivers SMS messages. |
| SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol. It consists of a set of standards for network management, including an application layer protocol, a database schema, and a set of data objects. |
| SOA | Service-oriented architecture. A flexible set of design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration in computing. |
| SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol. SOAP is a protocol for exchanging XML-based messages over computer networks, normally using HTTP/HTTPS. SOAP forms the foundation layer of the Web services stack, providing a basic messaging framework upon which abstract layers can be built. |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| SS7 | Special Sensor Microwave/Imager. A sophisticated telecommunications protocol that provides out-of-band signalling and a data interface between phone company switches for the express purpose of reducing congestion in the PSTN. |
| SSL | SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. |
| SSV | SIM Swop Verification. The method in determining whether a mobile number has moved from one sim card to another |
| STP | Signal Transfer Point. A router that relays SS7 messages between signalling end-points (SEPs) and other signalling transfer points. |
| TCAP | Transaction Capabilities Application Part. Part of the SS7 protocol that provides transactions within the signalling network. A typical use of TCAP is to verify a card number, for the credit card calling service. |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol. One of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. |
| TCP/IP | The Internet Protocol Suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly also known as TCP/IP, named from two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were the first two networking protocols defined in this standard. |
| TEI | The Ethics Institute is an independent public institute producing original thought leadership and offering a range of ethics-related services and products. |
| TPF | Transaction Processing Function component. |
| TPM | Transactions per Minute. The number of database transactions performed per minute. |
| TPS | Transactions per Second. The number of database transactions performed per second. |
| TRX | Transaction. This could denote a Transaction Use Case or be used as shorthand for Transaction. |
| TSS | Technical system specification |
| Tunnel | Computer networks use a tunnelling protocol when one network protocol (the delivery protocol) encapsulates a different payload protocol. By using tunnelling one can (for example) carry a payload over an incompatible delivery-network, or provide a secure path through an untrusted network. |
| TXT | Text File Extension. A plain text document without any formatting data, readable on virtually all computer platforms and with all text editors and viewers in the world. |
| UAT | User acceptance testing. The testing cycle in which the client signs off the newly created and tested features and improvements. |
| OUT OF BUNDLE | Rates that are charged for a service once a bundle is exhausted. E.g If you get 25 free sms a month, the out-of-bundle rate is 70c per sms after all 25 free SMSs are used up. |
| URL | Universal Resource Locator. A URL is a formatted text string used by Web browsers, email clients and other software to identify a network resource on the Internet. |
| USIN | Unique Subscriber Identity Number. |
| USR | User Entity. A User is a business actor accessing a CAP interface. |
| USSD | Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. A USSD Gateway routes USSD messages based upon the ability of the delivery agent or the source to send and receive them. As USSD is a session-based protocol unlike its siblings (SMS and MMS), therefore, the session needs to be allocated to each and every interaction. |
| VAS | Value-added service. A telecommunications industry term for non-core services or, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions. For mobile phones, while technologies like SMS, MMS and GPRS are usually considered value- added services, a distinction may also be made between standard (peer-to-peer) content and premium-charged content. |
| VCOS | Voucher Class of service. |
| VCR | Voucher generating Unit. |
| VLAN | Virtual Local Area Network |
| VPN | A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network |
| VVN | Voucher Verification Number. A three-digit number that can be used to redeem vouchers in special cases where the PIN is not available (In some cases also referred to as VVV Voucher Verification Value). |
| WAN | Wide Area Network |
| WAP | Wireless Application Protocol. A set of protocols for connecting cellular phones and other radio devices to the Internet. |
| WASP | Wireless Application Service Provider. A third party service provider who creates and distributes mobile content to subscribers via a MNOs network and infrastructure. |
| WASPA | Wireless Application Service Provider Association. |
| WEB SERVICE | A Web service (also Web Service) is defined by the W3C as "a software system designed to support interoperable Machine to Machine interaction over a network." Web services are frequently just Web APIs that can be accessed over a network, such as the Internet, and executed on a remote system hosting the requested services. The W3C Web service definition encompasses many different systems, but in common usage the term refers to clients and servers that communicate using XML messages that follow the SOAP standard. |
| WSDL | Web Services Description Language. An XML-based language that provides a model for describing Web services. |
| XML | Extensible Markup Language. A meta-language that allows users to define their own customized markup languages. |
| XLS | Excel File Format. |
| XMLRPC | Extensible Markup Language Remote Procedure Call. A protocol, which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism. |
| YOUTH ACCOUNT | The Youth Account provides savings on banking fees for people aged 18 years and younger. |
| W3C | W3C is the main international standards organisation for the World Wide Web. |
| 3DES | Triple Data Encryption Standard. |