| Unabsorbed
Overhead |
An
indirect cost that cannot be
apportioned to a set of
Customers and must be
apportioned to all Customers in
some other manner, such as in
proportion to their total
absorbed costs, staff numbers,
annual budgets, equipment held
or work throughput. |
|
|
| Unbuffered |
Equipment
with the characteristic that it
does not store data characters
in memory but instead processes
them as they are received. |
|
|
| Underpinning
Contract |
A
contract with an external
supplier covering the delivery
of goods and/or services that
contribute to the delivery of IT
services to Customers. The
terms and conditions of
underpinning contracts should
reflect and be reflected in the
appropriate SLA. |
|
|
| Uniform
Data Transfer |
The
service used in the OLE
extensions to Windows that
allows two applications to
exchange data without either
program knowing the internal
structure of the other. |
|
|
| Uniform
Resource Locator |
An
address for a resource on the
Internet. URLs are used by Web
browsers to locate Internet
resources. |
|
|
| Unit
Cost |
The
cost identified for the use of a
single unit of resource consumed
or the cost involved in
producing a single unit of
output, e.g. cost per sheet of
paper, per hour of staff time,
per invoice generated. |
|
|
| Universal
Asynchronous
Receiver-Transmitter |
A
module, usually composed of a
single integrated circuit, that
contains both the receiving and
transmitting circuits required
for asynchronous serial
communication. A UART is the
most common type of circuit used
in personal computer modems. |
|
|
| Universal
Serial Bus |
A
serial bus with a data transfer
rate of 12 megabits per second
(Mbps) for connecting
peripherals to a microcomputer.
USB can connect up to 127
peripherals, such as external
CD-ROM drives, printers, modems,
mice, and keyboards, to the
system through a single,
general-purpose port. This is
accomplished by daisy chaining
peripherals together. The USB is
designed to support the ability
to automatically add and
configure new devices and the
ability to add such devices
without having to shut down and
restart the system. |
|
|
| Untied
Users |
Users
who are free to decide whether
to obtain IT service from an
internal IT department or an
external supplier. |
|
|
| Upper
Memory |
The
portion of DOS memory between
the first 640K and 1 megabyte. |
|
|
| Urgency |
A
measure of business criticality
of an Incident, Problem or
Change where there is an effect
upon business deadlines.
The urgency reflects the time
available for repair or
avoidance before the impact is
felt by the business.
Together with impact, and
perhaps technical severity, it
is the major means of assigning
priority for dealing with
Incidents, Problems or Changes. |
|
|
| Urgent
Change |
A
Change that must be introduced
as soon as possible to alleviate
or avoid detrimental impact on
the business. |
|
|
| Usability |
The
ease and intuitiveness of a
product or service. Low
usability will require more
support for Users. There
are documented and proven
approaches to designing and
measuring usability. |
|
|
| User
/ End-user |
The
people who use the service on a
day-to-day basis. See also
End-user. |
|
|
| User
Forum |
Formal
meetings of Users of a service
or product to identify their
views on relevant aspects,
including Customer satisfaction,
improvements/changes, usability.
See also User
Group. |
|
|
| User
Group |
A
group of people drawn together
by interest in the same computer
system or software, and will
typically provide support for
newcomers and a forum where
members can exchange ideas and
information. See also User
Forum. |
|
|
| User
Interface |
The
portion of a program with which
a user interacts. Types of user
interfaces, or UIs, include
command-line interfaces,
menu-driven interfaces, and
graphical user interfaces. |
