Glossary: D

Data-Centered Interface

A user interface designed to support editing objects and documents, but not the use of application software.

Debugging

The act of determining the cause of the symptoms of malfunctions detected by testing or by users.

Defect

From the end user's point of view, anything that causes dissatisfaction, whether in the statement of requirements or not. A product attribute or function not in the developers' requirements statement or a product requirement that has not been met.

Defect Analysis

Use of defects as data for continuous quality improvement. Defect analysis tries to classify defects into categories and identify possible causes in order to direct process improvement efforts.

Delta Coordinator

Person in Financial Systems Services (FSS) who works as the liaison between the business areas and the developers to resolve issues related to changes within the system during an upgrade.

Detail Page

A transaction page that displays information about an individual record. A record display is only a detail page when it is accessed from a line item display, showing details about one of the line items listed.

Dialog Box

A secondary window that appears when a user is working in an application, prompting them to enter options or properties and then close the window.

Domain Expert

A person with special knowledge or skills in a business area or a person who is a member of a given group of users and is extremely familiar with their business practices. Also known as subject matter expert (SME).

Domain Knowledge

Knowledge about a specific field of interest such as the content area for which a piece of software is being designed, as opposed to programming knowledge or usability expertise. Also known as subject matter expertise.

Drilldown

Navigating from higher-level to lower-level application screens, often when the higher-level screens are used for navigation or have summary information and the lower levels have detailed information.

Drop Box

The standard method for data providers (MIT departments, labs, and centers, and external vendors) to automatically deliver files created outside of SAP as feeds into MIT's SAP R/3 environments.

Dropdown Menu

An item in a menu bar that a user can click to bring down a list of options and commands to select. It is similar to a pull-down menu, except that the user needs to hold the mouse down to keep the menu open.