Association of American Railroads

A railroad industry association that represents the larger U.S. railroads.

Assumed Receipt

The principle of assuming that the contents of a shipment are the same as those presented on a shipping or delivery note.

Assured Source of Supply

A guaranteed supply source is usually designated by a contractual agreement.

ASTD

American Society for Training and Development is a membership organization that provides materials, education, and support related to workplace learning and performance.

ASTM

American Society for Testing and Materials is a not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems, and services.

Asynchronous Process

A situation where two related processes are started and run concurrently without waiting for the other to complete.

Atomic

The lowest level of division for a process, product structure, network, etc.

ATP

Available to Promise' is an estimate of the quantity of a product that will be available and can be promised to a customer on a specific date.

ATS

Available to Sell' refers to the quantity of an item that is currently available for sale at a specific point in time.

Attachment

A piece of equipment, which is typically sold as a separate unit, may be combined with the main product at the factory or in the field.

Attributes

A label is used to provide additional classification or information about a resource, activity, or cost object.

Audit

The inspection and examination of a process or quality system to ensure compliance with requirements.

Auditability

A characteristic of modern information systems is gauged by the ease with which data can be substantiated by tracing it to source documents and the extent to which auditors can rely on pre-verified and monitored control processes.

Auditing

Determining the correct transportation charges due to the carrier; auditing involves checking the accuracy of the freight bill for errors, correct rate, and weight.

Audit Trail

Manual or computerized tracing of the transactions affecting the contents or origin of a record.

Authentication

1) The process of verifying the eligibility of a device, originator, or individual to access specific categories of information or to enter specific areas of a facility involves matching machine-readable code with a predetermined list of authorized end users. 2) The practice of establishing the validity of a transmission, message, device, or originator is designed to provide protection against fraudulent transmissions.

Authentication Key

A short string of characters is used to authenticate transactions between trading partners.

Autodiscrimination

The functionality of a barcode reader is to recognize the barcode symbology being scanned, thus allowing a reader to read several different symbologies consecutively.

Auto ID

An automated identification system includes technologies such as barcoding and radio frequency tagging (RFID).

Automated Broker Interface (ABI)

The U.S. Customs program automates the flow of customs-related information among customs brokers, importers, and carriers.

Automated Call Distribution (ACD)

A feature of large call centers or 'Customer Interaction Centers' telephone switches is that they route calls based on rules such as the next available employee and skill set, among others.

Automated Clearinghouse (ACH)

Automated Clearinghouse: A nationwide electronic payments system that more than 15,000 financial institutions use on behalf of 100,000 corporations and millions of consumers in the U.S. It is the funds transfer system of choice among businesses that make electronic payments to vendors. It is economical and can carry remittance information in standardized, computer-processable data formats.

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

Update of the outdated Automated Commercial System (ACS). It is intended to provide an automated information system to enable the collection, processing, and analysis of commercial import and export data. This will allow for the faster and more cost-effective movement of goods through the ports, as well as the detection of terrorist threats.

Automated Guided Vehicle System (AGVS)

A system for material handling equipment that uses wired or wireless guidance to move materials around facilities based on system commands.

Automated Manifest System (AMS)

A multi-modal cargo inventory control and release notification system through which carriers submit their electronic cargo declaration 24 hours before loading. See 24-hour Rule.

Automated Storage / Retrieval System (AS/RS)

An inventory storage system that uses unmanned vehicles to automatically perform stock put-away and picking actions.

Automatic Relief

An accounting method where bookkeeping is performed either as a result of completed or pending activities. See backflushing.

Available Inventory

Also called net inventory, this is the quantity of stock that is available to use after considering allocations, reservations, backorders, and quantities set aside to compensate for quality problems. It is also known as net inventory. Synonyms include Available-to-Promise.

Available to promise (ATP)

This is a company's projected inventory that is already in stock and not allocated for specific purposes. By tracking ATP, companies can maintain a lean inventory.

Available-to-Promise (ATP)

The quantity of a product that is or will be available to promise to a customer, based on their required shipment date, is called Available to Promise (ATP). ATP is typically 'time-phased' to allow for promising delivery at a future date, based on anticipated purchase or production receipts.

Available to Sell (ATS)

Total quantity of goods committed to the pipeline for a ship-to or selling location. This includes the current inventory at a location and any open purchase orders.

Average Annual Production Materials Related A/P (Accounts Payable)

The value of direct materials acquired in that year, for which payment has not yet been made, is referred to as production-related materials. These materials are classified as material purchases and are included in the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) as raw material purchases. The calculation should be done using the 5-Point Annual Average.

Average Cost per Unit

The average cost of stock of any given item is based on having incurred different costs for each time a receipt was processed. It is usually calculated at the time of a new receipt by multiplying the old inventory quantity by the old average cost, then adding the received count and total cost, and finally dividing the new total cost by the new inventory quantity.

Average Inventory

The average inventory level over a period of time is implicit in this definition, which includes a 'sampling period' that represents the amount of time between inventory measurements.

Average Payment Period (for materials)

The average time from receipt of production-related materials to payment for those materials is known as the Cash-to-Cash Cycle Time. Production-related materials refer to items classified as material purchases and included in the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) as raw material purchases.

Avoidable Cost

That part of the cost of any activity associated with an output that could be saved by not performing that activity. Award Fee is based on a subjective assessment by the Government on how well the contractor meets or exceeds performance standards.