Glossary · 32 terms

Every acronym, demystified.

Procurement and IT buyers talk in three-letter acronyms. New hires, finance partners, and sustainability teams often don’t. This is our running definition list — what each term means, and our take on how it applies to refurb and fleet procurement.

32 of 32 terms

PunchOut
Procurement
A hosted-catalogue pattern where a buyer clicks from their e-procurement suite (Coupa, Ariba, Jaggaer) into the supplier's site, builds a cart, and returns a structured PO carton back to the buying system.
Our take
The single most important integration for enterprise buyers. Our Coupa implementation is in beta; Ariba follows in Q3. If your stack needs PunchOut on day one, tell us — we'll prioritise test-partner slots.
↝ cXML↝ OCISee roadmap →
cXML
Procurement
Commerce XML — the dominant message format for PunchOut, PO, invoice, and catalogue content between buying systems and suppliers.
Our take
We support cXML 1.2.054. PunchOut SetupRequest, OrderRequest, and confirmation events are all signed with your configured shared secret.
↝ PunchOut
OCI
Open Catalog InterfaceProcurement
SAP's PunchOut protocol, pre-dating cXML. Still common in SAP SRM and older S/4HANA deployments.
Our take
On the roadmap with Ariba. If you're on OCI-only, we can quote via email-driven cXML shim until it's native.
Blanket PO
Procurement
A single purchase order that authorises recurring releases against an agreed price and volume ceiling, typically over 12 months.
Our take
Standard for fleet customers. We issue release-level invoices against the blanket without requiring new approvals for each draw.
NET 30 / NET 60
Procurement
Payment terms — the invoice is due 30 (or 60) days from issuance.
Our take
NET 30 available on 2-business-day credit review. NET 60 possible on enterprise MSAs. Prompt-pay discount: 1.5% for NET 10.
MSA
Master Service AgreementProcurement
Umbrella contract covering multiple future POs — commercial, warranty, data, and dispute terms live here, not on each order.
Our take
Happy to sign customer paper. Our standard MSA is short and negotiable; common redlines turn in under 10 business days.
SIG Lite
Standardized Information GatheringSecurity
Shared Assessments' shortened questionnaire covering ~150 controls across access, data, network, and ops. The de-facto US vendor-risk baseline.
Our take
Pre-answered and available on request after NDA click-through. Median turnaround: under 1 business hour.
↝ CAIQ↝ Vendor riskSecurity page →
CAIQ
Consensus Assessments Initiative QuestionnaireSecurity
Cloud Security Alliance's control questionnaire (v4.0.3 current). Maps cleanly to SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
Our take
Our CAIQ is pre-filled and refreshed quarterly; deltas are highlighted for auditors.
↝ SIG Lite↝ SOC 2
SOC 2
Security
AICPA attestation over the trust-service criteria (security, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity, privacy). Type I = point-in-time design, Type II = sustained operation over ≥ 6 months.
Our take
Type I audit in progress, targeted Q3 2026. Type II report 6 months after. Status tracked publicly on /transparency.
↝ ISO 27001Transparency report →
DPA
Data Processing AgreementSecurity
GDPR Article 28 contract binding a data processor to specified purposes, security measures, and sub-processor limits.
Our take
Click-through DPA with EU SCCs and UK IDTA available for contracts under $250k. Enterprise redlines welcome.
↝ SCCs↝ Subprocessor
SCCs
Standard Contractual ClausesSecurity
EC-approved template contract for lawful transfer of personal data from the EEA to third countries.
Our take
2021 SCCs + UK IDTA addendum are our defaults. Included in every DPA automatically.
↝ DPA
NIST 800-88
Operations
NIST Special Publication 800-88 Rev 1 — the federal standard for media sanitisation. Defines Clear (software erase), Purge (crypto-erase / block-erase), and Destroy (physical).
Our take
Every drive we handle is Purged before resale; Destroy is available via R2v3-certified partners when requested. Per-drive certificates issued on request.
↝ Chain of custody↝ R2v3
R2v3
Responsible Recycling v3Operations
SERI's certification for electronics refurbishers and recyclers — covers reuse prioritisation, data security, and downstream accountability.
Our take
Our shred/destroy partners are R2v3 certified. Restart's own R2 audit is on the roadmap for 2026.
↝ NIST 800-88↝ ISO 14001
Chain of custody
Operations
Documented record tracking a unit or drive from intake to final disposition — critical for HIPAA, public-sector, and financial-services buybacks.
Our take
Generated automatically per serial. Available as a signed PDF with every trade-in or sanitisation PO.
Grade A / B / C
Operations
Cosmetic + functional grading rubric. Industry varies; ours is published with photo exemplars.
Our take
A: near-new, minor surface marks only. B: visible wear at arm's length, fully functional. C: heavier cosmetic wear, functional. Published rubric lives on /grading — no hidden downgrade language.
DOA
Dead on ArrivalOperations
A unit that fails within a short window (typically 7 days) of receipt despite passing the supplier's pre-ship QA.
Our take
DOAs trigger advance-replacement by default for fleet customers. Our rolling 12-mo DOA rate is 0.4% — published on /transparency.
FMV lease
Fair Market Value leaseFinance
A lease where the lessee can return the asset, renew, or purchase at fair market value at end of term. Lower monthly payments than $1-out / capital leases.
Our take
The most common lease structure for IT fleets. Useful comparison point — run our /lease-vs-buy calculator to see the NPV trade-off.
↝ NPV↝ ResidualLease vs. buy →
Residual value
Finance
The expected market value of an asset at end of lease term or refresh window.
Our take
Refurb residuals hold proportionally well — our buyback program credits 20–30% of original refurb outlay at 36 months for Grade A/B devices in working order.
NPV
Net Present ValueFinance
Sum of future cash flows discounted to today at a chosen hurdle rate. Makes scenarios with different timing comparable.
Our take
We use the buyer's WACC on our calculators. Default 7% is roughly median for US mid-market; override if yours is higher or lower.
↝ WACC↝ FMV lease
WACC
Weighted Average Cost of CapitalFinance
Blended cost of equity and debt used as a corporate discount rate for investment decisions.
Our take
Ask your CFO; don't guess. For NPV calcs on hardware refresh, err slightly higher than your equity-only cost.
TCO
Total Cost of OwnershipFinance
All-in cost of an asset over a defined window — purchase, warranty, replacement, operating cost, and disposition — not just sticker price.
Our take
Our /tco-calculator surfaces every input. Warranty reserve is surfaced as covered headroom; most vendors hide it inside a "support uplift" line.
Embodied carbon
Sustainability
CO₂-equivalent emissions associated with producing an asset, from raw-material extraction through end-of-manufacture. For laptops: typically 200–400 kg CO₂e per unit.
Our take
Buying refurb avoids re-incurring embodied carbon — usually the dominant footprint for a laptop's lifecycle. We quantify it per unit on your invoice.
↝ Scope 3↝ CDP
Scope 3
Sustainability
Indirect emissions in a company's value chain, excluding Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (purchased energy). Category 1 covers purchased goods and services.
Our take
Our per-PO ESG statement maps directly to Scope 3 Category 1 with supplier-specific activity data — better than EEIO averages.
CDP
Carbon Disclosure ProjectSustainability
Non-profit that runs the global environmental-disclosure system used by investors and large buyers.
Our take
Our PO-level disclosures feed cleanly into CDP Climate Change sections C6 (emissions) and C7 (Scope 3 methodology).
↝ GRI↝ SASB
GRI
Global Reporting InitiativeSustainability
Sustainability reporting standard widely used outside the US for annual ESG reports.
Our take
We publish against GRI 301 (materials) and GRI 306 (waste). Per-PO data can be aggregated per reporting boundary.
SASB
Sustainability Accounting Standards BoardSustainability
Industry-specific sustainability standards, consolidated under the IFRS Foundation since 2022.
Our take
Hardware buyers typically report against SASB TC-HW. We map disclosures to TC-HW-410a (materials) and TC-HW-440a (supply-chain).
CMDB
Configuration Management DatabaseFleet
Central record of IT assets, their attributes, and relationships. ServiceNow CMDB is the enterprise default.
Our take
Every shipped serial ships ready for CMDB import. Bidirectional ServiceNow sync is on the roadmap for Q3 — today we deliver CSV + webhook.
↝ SAM↝ ITAM
ITAM
IT Asset ManagementFleet
Practice of tracking hardware assets through acquisition, deployment, maintenance, and retirement.
Our take
Our fleet-health dashboard covers the deploy → retire portion natively. Integrates with major ITAM tools via CSV, webhook, or API.
↝ CMDB↝ Refresh cycle
Refresh cycle
Fleet
Scheduled interval at which a fleet segment is replaced — typically 3 years for knowledge workers, 5 years for frontline, up to 7 years for desktops/monitors.
Our take
Refresh windows are the right lever for sustainability AND cash flow. Longer cycles on refurb stock extend both.
Autopilot hash
Fleet
Hardware hash used by Microsoft Autopilot to register a device to a tenant for zero-touch provisioning.
Our take
We emit Autopilot hashes per shipped serial — CSV today, webhook to your Intune tenant in Q2 (on /roadmap).
↝ Intune↝ Zero-touch
LTL
Less Than TruckloadLogistics
Freight mode for palletised shipments too small for a full truckload, typically 150–15,000 lb.
Our take
Our default for 30+ unit orders. Shared lanes keep cost down; delivery windows are 2–5 business days across the US.
Drop-ship
Logistics
Shipping directly from supplier to the end recipient (customer's end user, branch office, or end client for MSPs), typically with neutral packaging.
Our take
Blind drop-ship with your return label and packing slip is standard for MSPs and resellers. No Restart branding unless you want it.

Missing a term?

If your team trips on a phrase during vendor review, send it to us. We’ll add the definition and link back to you.

Suggest a term →