In our world of ECM (that's enterprise content management), so many phrases turn into acronyms that turn into readily acceptable words in our vocabulary. From the days of microfilm and electronic imaging, to today's high-tech, high-speed digital and Web world, we've compiled this ever-growing list.

A

• API - application program interface
• ARM - archives and records management
• ASCII -American standard code for information interchange
• ASP - application service provider

B

• B2B - business-to-business
• B2C - business-to-consumer
• B2E - business-to-employee
• BASIC - beginners all-purpose symbolic instruction code
• BLOB - binary large objects
• BMP - bitmap graphical image format
• BPA - business process automation
• BPI - business process integration
• BPM - business process management
• BPML - business process modeling language
• BPO - business process outsourcing
• BPR - business process reengineering or business process redesign
• BSP - business service providers

C

• CAD - computer-aided design
• CADD - computer-aided drafting and design
• CAGR - compound annual growth rate
• CDIA - Certified Document Imaging Architech
• CD-R - compact disc - recordable
• CD-ROM - compact disc - read only memory
• CD-RW - compact disc - rewritable
• CDSP - content distribution service provider
• CM - content management
• COLD - computer output to laser disk
• COLD/ERM - computer output to laser disk/enterprise report management
• COM - computer output microfilm
• CPDM - collaborative product definition management
• CRM - customer relationship management

D

• DAM - digital asset management
• DBMS - database management system
• DM - document management
• DOS - disk operating system
• DRM - digital rights management
• DTD - document type definitions or document type declaration
• DVD - digital versatile disk

E

• EAI - enterprise application integration
• EBPP - electronic bill presentment and payment
• ECM - enterprise content management
• EDI - electronic data interchange
• EDI - enterprise data integration
• EDMS - electronic document management system
• EIM - electronic image management
• ERM - electronic records management
• ERM - enterprise report management
• ERMS - electronic records management system
• ERP - enterprise resource planning

F

• FTP - file transfer protocol

G

• GIF - graphical interchange format
• GUI - graphical user interface

H

• HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
• HSM - hierarchical storage management
• HTML - hypertext markup language
• HTTP - hypertext transfer protocol

I

• ICR - intelligent character recognition
• IDARS - integrated document archive and retrieval systems
• IDS - intelligent document scanning
• ISP - Internet service provider
• IT - information technology

J

• J2EE - Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition
• JFIF - JPG file interchange format
• JPEG - joint photographic experts group

K

• KM - knowledge management

L

• LAN - local area network
• LDAP - limited directory access protocol
• LIT - Laureate of Information Technologies

M

• MES - manufacturing execution system
• MICR - magnetic ink character recognition
• MIT - Master of Information Technologies
• MSP - management service provider

N

• NAS - network attached storage
• NITF - national imagery transmission format

O

• OCR - optical character recognition
• ODMA - Open Document Management API
• OLAP - online analytical processing
• OMR - optical mark recognition

P

• P2P - peer-to-peer
• PDA - personal digital assistant
• PDF - portable document format
• PDF/a - PDF/archive
• PKI - public key infrastructure

Q

• QC - quality control

R

• R & D - research and development
• RAID - redundant array of independent drives
• RAM - random access memory
• RDBMS - relational database management system
• RDF - resource description framework
• RFI - request for information
• RFP - request for proposal
• RM - records management
• ROI - return on investment
• ROM - read-only memory

S

• SAN - storage area network
• SCSI - small computer system interface
• SVG - scalable vector graphics
• SLA - service level agreement
• SOAP - simple object access protocol
• SQL - structured query language
• SRM - storage resource management

T

• TCO - total cost of ownership
• TIFF - tag image file format

U

• UDDI - universal discovery, description, and integration
• UI - user interface
• UML - Unified Modeling Language
• URI - uniform resource identifiers
• URL - uniform resource locator

V

• VAD - value added distributor
• VAR - value added reseller

W

• WAN - wide area network
• WAP - wireless application protocol
• WCM - web content management
• WebDAV - Web document authoring and versioning
• WML - wireless markup language
• WORM - write once, read many
• WSDL - Web service definition language or Web service description language

X

• XFDL - extensible forms description language
• XML - extensible markup language
• XPDL - XML processing description language or XML process definition language
• XQL - XML query language
• XSLT - extensible style language transformations

Organizations

• AIIM - Association for Information and Image Management
• ANSI - American National Standards Institute
• ARMA - Association for Information Management Professionals (formerly Association of Records Managers and Administrators)
• BPMI - Business Process Management Initiative
• DMA - Document Management Alliance
• DMIA - Document Management Industries Association
• EmTAG - Emerging Technology Advisory Group
• FbIA - Film-based Imaging Association
• IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• ISO - International Organization for Standardization
• NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology
• NPES - The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies
• OASIS - Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
• OMG - Object Management Group
• PCMCIA - Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
• SNIA - Storage Network Industry Association
• TAWPI - The Association for Work Process Improvement
• W3C - World Wide Web Consortium
• WfMC - Workflow Management Coalition