Glossary
Key terms and definitions used throughout the portfolio documentation.
Many of these terms also appear as interactive pop-ups: the first time a term shows up on a page, it's underlined, and hovering or focusing it surfaces the definition inline, right where the reader needs it, without a trip to this page. See the interactive glossary for how the pattern works.
Documentation & governance
Approval Formal sign-off by an authorized person (usually a manager or compliance lead) that a document is accurate and ready to be published. Approval date and approver name are part of document control.
Audit trail A record of changes made to a document over time, including who made the change, when, and why. Essential for compliance and regulatory environments.
Change history A table or log documenting every version of a document, including the date, author, what changed, and why. Allows readers to understand how a document evolved.
Change management The formal process for approving, implementing, and tracking changes to procedures, systems, or documentation. Ensures changes don't break existing workflows.
Compliance Adherence to relevant laws, regulations, standards, or organisational policies. Documentation in regulated environments must be audit-ready and maintain evidence trails.
Content inventory A catalogue of all documents in a documentation space, including metadata (owner, version, last reviewed date, audience, type). Makes the documentation estate visible.
Controlled documentation Documentation that has defined ownership, version control, approval, and review cycles. The opposite of documents that exist but are unmaintained.
Decision point A step in a procedure where the reader must choose which path to follow based on conditions. Procedures with decision points guide users when the "right" action depends on context.
DMAIC Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control: a Six Sigma framework for diagnosing and fixing a broken process. Used in the Process & Governance case study to structure the documentation audit and redesign.
Document control The metadata and processes that keep a document current and traceable. Includes owner, approver, version, effective date, review date, and change history.
Document owner The person responsible for ensuring a document stays accurate and current. The owner confirms the procedure during review, schedules updates, and is accountable for the document's reliability.
Governance model A system for managing documentation, including who owns what, how often it's reviewed, who approves changes, and how changes are tracked. Prevents documentation from decaying.
Mandatory requirement A step or rule that MUST be followed without exception. Distinguished from guidance or best practice. In procedures, marked with "MUST" or "SHALL."
Operational procedure (SOP / Standard Operating Procedure) Step-by-step instructions for performing a regular task. Usually high-traffic, time-sensitive, and critical to operations. Requires frequent review cycles (quarterly or more often).
Ownership Assignment of responsibility for a document to a named person or team. Ownership makes accountability explicit; an ownerless document tends to decay.
Review cycle The scheduled frequency at which a document is reviewed for accuracy and currency. Different document types carry different risks; review cycles are tiered accordingly (for example, SOPs quarterly, policies annually).
Version A numbered or dated snapshot of a document. Versions allow readers to know which edition they're reading and provide a history of changes.
Procedures & process
Backup owner A secondary person assigned to a document who covers review and updates when the primary owner is unavailable. Prevents documents from becoming ownerless if an owner leaves or is out.
Escalation The process of raising an issue to a higher level of authority when it can't be resolved at the current level. Procedures specify what gets escalated, to whom, and within what timeframe.
Exception A case or condition where the standard procedure doesn't apply. Procedures document known exceptions to guide users when the "normal" path doesn't work.
Precondition (or Prerequisite) A requirement that must be met before a procedure can begin. Identified as a checklist; procedure doesn't start until all preconditions are satisfied.
Procedure A set of step-by-step instructions for completing a task or process. May include decision points, warnings, exceptions, and escalation paths.
Rollback Steps to reverse or undo a procedure if it fails or needs to be stopped midway. Procedures that make changes often include rollback steps to restore the system to its previous state.
Statement of work (SOW) A document that defines the scope, deliverables, and responsibilities for contracted work. Contractors perform maintenance work against an SOW.
Step A single action or instruction within a procedure. Steps are numbered, sequential, and actionable (the reader knows what to do after reading the step).
Risk & compliance
Audit-ready documentation Documentation that maintains sufficient evidence (approvals, reviews, change history, ownership records) to satisfy regulatory audits and compliance reviews.
Compliance gap A difference between how a procedure is documented and how it should be documented to meet regulatory or organisational requirements.
Operational risk Risk that something will go wrong in day-to-day operations because the procedure is incomplete, ambiguous, or incorrect. Identified through user testing and SME review.
Risk assessment Evaluation of documentation quality across multiple dimensions (accuracy, completeness, consistency, ownership, currency, usability, control). High-risk documents are prioritized for remediation.
Risk-based prioritization Focusing remediation effort on highest-risk problems first, based on: Risk × Operational Importance × Frequency of Use × Regulatory Impact. Allows limited resources to be used most effectively.
Regional & global
APAC Asia-Pacific region (operations/documentation that serves APAC markets and facilities).
AMS Americas region (operations/documentation that serves North, Central, and South American markets).
EMEA Europe, Middle East, Africa region (operations/documentation that serves EMEA markets and facilities).
Global procedure A procedure that applies the same way in all regions. Global procedures have no regional variation (or only minor, clearly noted variations).
Locally configurable A procedure element that can be adapted by region for operational reasons (for example, tool names, contact lists, business hours) without changing the underlying process.
Regional requirement A procedure step or rule that differs by region due to legal, regulatory, or client-specific requirements. Must be documented separately for each region.
Real Estate Operations (REO) The management of workplace facilities, buildings, sites, and related operational services across a property portfolio.
Facilities management (FM) The coordination of buildings, services, and workplace operations. The overarching discipline that REO documentation and PPM procedures support.
Network & infrastructure
Colo (Colocation facility) A third-party data centre where an organisation rents space, power, and connectivity for its own servers and network equipment, rather than running its own building.
DR (Disaster recovery) The standby systems and procedures that let operations fail over to a secondary site if the primary one goes down. Used in the Process & Governance case study to describe the standby colocation facility mirroring the primary trading site.
WAN (Wide area network) The connectivity that links sites together across locations, as opposed to a local network within one site. Referenced throughout the Sample SOP Template for site provisioning.
Documentation strategy
Assess The phase where you evaluate documentation for quality, accuracy, completeness, consistency, ownership, currency, usability, and control. Output is a detailed gap analysis.
Discover The initial phase of understanding the documentation landscape – where docs live, who maintains them, what's documented vs. undocumented, and what regulations apply.
Govern The final phase where you establish ownership, approval, version control, review cycles, and change management processes to keep documentation current over time.
Inventory The phase where you create a master catalogue of all documents with metadata (owner, type, version, last reviewed, audience, related docs, regulatory dependencies). Makes the estate visible.
Prioritise The phase where you score documentation problems by risk and operational importance, then focus remediation on highest-impact work first.
Rewrite The phase where you update documentation to fix identified gaps, apply consistent structure, and ensure accuracy. Usually done in collaboration with SMEs.
Standardise / Standardize The phase where you establish a consistent template, structure, and style for all documentation going forward. Output is a style guide and template library.
Validate The phase where you confirm rewritten documentation is operationally correct by testing it with SMEs and field teams.
SME & stakeholder
SME (Subject Matter Expert) The person with authoritative knowledge of a process, system, or domain. SMEs validate that documentation accurately reflects how things actually work.
Stakeholder Anyone affected by or responsible for documentation: SMEs, field teams, managers, compliance leads, clients, regional leads, documentation owners.
Tools & systems
Approval workflow An automated or manual process for routing a document to an approver, tracking their sign-off, and preventing publication until approval is complete.
Confluence Atlassian's wiki/documentation platform; commonly used for team documentation, SOPs, and knowledge bases.
Documentation management system A specialized system for managing controlled documentation, including version control, approval workflows, access control, and retention policies.
Git / Version control A system for tracking changes to files over time, maintaining a complete history, and managing branches (for example, global vs. regional versions).
Markdown A lightweight plain-text format that can be converted to HTML, PDF, or other formats. Often used for documentation stored in Git or static site generators.
SharePoint Microsoft's content management and collaboration platform; commonly used for organisational documentation and approval workflows.
Spreadsheet registry A simple spreadsheet documenting all procedures, their metadata, ownership, and notes. Useful for tracking why variations exist or for small documentation estates.
Style guide A set of conventions for writing and formatting documentation – tone, voice, terminology, structure, grammar. Ensures consistency across a documentation estate.
Maintenance & operations
Asset Physical infrastructure managed by facilities teams – buildings, systems, equipment, utilities. Each asset has maintenance requirements and a maintenance history.
Critical asset An asset whose failure significantly impacts operations, safety, or service delivery. Critical assets typically receive more frequent maintenance and escalation procedures.
Defect A problem or damage found during maintenance inspection – corrosion, wear, malfunction, or safety issue. Severity determines whether it's escalated or deferred.
Escalation The process of raising a maintenance issue or defect to a manager or higher authority for decision-making or resource allocation.
Maintenance window The scheduled time when maintenance can be performed, usually avoiding peak operational hours.
Planned preventive maintenance (PPM) Maintenance performed on a scheduled basis to prevent failures. Contrasts with reactive maintenance, which fixes problems after they occur.
Work order A formal record of a maintenance task, including what work was done, when, by whom, parts used, defects found, and completion status.
Last updated: 2026-09-10