Transportation.2.Dictionary of Occupational Titles.
DP Data processing.
D.P.A. Doctor of Public Administration.
dpi Dots per inch.
D.P.M. Doctor of Podiatric Medicine.
DPO Direct public offering.
DPOF Digital print order format.
DPPO Dental preferred provider organization.
DRAS Defense Retiree and Annuitant Pay System.
DRE Digital rectal exam.
DRGs Diagnosis-related groups.
DRM™ Device relationship management.
DRP Dividend reinvestment plan.
D.Sc. Doctor of Science.
DSL Digital subscriber line.
DSM III-R Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edition.
DSS Decision support systems.
DSVD Digital simultaneous voice and data.
DTP Desktop publishing.
DTVC Desktop videoconferencing.
DUR Drug utilization review.
DV Digital video.
DVA Department of Veterans Affairs.
DVD Digital virtual disc.
DVD-ROM Digital video disc-read only memory.
DVH Domestic violence hotline.
DVI Digital video interactive technology.
D.V.M. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.
DW Data warehouse.
daddy track The career path taken by male employees who give priority to their families when making career plans. Such workers often demand more job flexibility and invari- ably place family obligations and consider- ations ahead of everything, including oppor- tunities for promotion. See alsograndpa track;
mommy track.
daily benefit amount (DBA) T h e a m o u n t allowed by an insurer for nursing home care under long-term care policies. Usually in the range of $100, many policies offer low, medium, and high options to accommodate a range of employees. The home care benefit is a percentage of the DBA and may be as high as 100%.
daily maximum The largest amount that a health care insurance policy will pay for care (other than for covered equipment purchases) that a beneficiary can receive for any one cal- endar day of confinement to a health care facility.
daily work log Seedaily work record.
daily work record A method of job analysis.
Job incumbents are required to fill out daily records of tasks performed over a period of weeks or months. Reports are tabulated and analyzed to identify tasks performed by work- ers. Results are used to prepare job descrip- tions and performance standards and as a basis for training programs.
damages Amounts paid by one party to a con- tract to another for breaking an agreement.
The law allows damages to return to the status or position of the innocent party, where they would have been if the contract had been performed.
Darwin: Business Evolving 165 data mining
Darwin: Business Evolving in the Informa- tion Age Published 12 times per year by Dar- win Magazine. Contact: Darwin Magazine, 492 Old Connecticut Path, P.O. Box 9208, Framingham, MA 01701-9208 (phone 800- 872-0080; fax 508-879-7884; e-mail [email protected]; Web site www.dar- winmag.com/).
data 1. A collection of information used or produced by a computer program, including numbers, text, graphics, images, or voice. 2.A collection of related information in machine- readable form.
database (DB) A collection of numeric data, graphic data or textual information that is pro- cessed in computer-readable form and stored electronically in a computer’s memory for later electronic publishing or distribution.
Databases are in full-text, bibliographic, or abstract form. Full-text means that all data and text are available; bibliographic and abstract mean that a précis, brief summary, or citation is all that is available on-line.
database management system (DBMS) A software package used to manipulate informa- tion. It serves as a repository for stored data, logically unifies all data files, gives multiple users with different needs and requirements access to the same data elements, and auto- matically performs a variety of data integrity checks. Database management systems elim- inate redundancy and superfluous data in the system and reports and thereby reduce costs.
database manager An individual who is responsible for ensuring the technical correct- ness, cost-effectiveness, consistent usefulness, and security of an organization’s computer files.
database producer Any organization that produces, publishes, or distributes informa- tion in machine-readable form.
database record A collection of related items of information treated as a unit. For example, a bibliographic database would contain com- plete descriptive information about each doc- ument listed: author, title, classification, date of publication, number of pages, the identity of the publisher/sponsoring organization, and an abstract of its contents.
database server A computer that processes databasequeries.
database vendor An organization that offers standardized computer access to several data- bases for a fee.
data communications The technology that enables computers to “talk” to each other (keypunched cards, magnetic tapes, diskettes, mark sense forms, or computer files) and dis- tribute computer output (hardcopy reports, graphics, microfiche, tapes, or diskettes) to those who need the materials in their jobs.
data compression A technology that makes it possible to store data at lower cost by shrink- ing numeric and alphabetic characters, photos, and full-motion video for transport (via satel- lite or telephone lines) and storage and expanding it back to full size when needed.
Enables more efficient transmission or storage of data.
dataconferencing Includes audioconferenc- ing,videoconferencing, and other real-time electronic information-sharing.
data conversion Changing data stored in a computer from one form to another or from one application system to another; for exam- ple, converting a text file from one word pro- cessing system to another.
data element A single piece of data, such as an employee’s last name, date of birth, or salary.
data encryption standard (DES) T h e fi r s t U.S. government standard developed by IBM and adopted by the National Bureau of Stan- dards in 1977. Will be replaced by Rijndael.
data integrity Assurance provided by a data- base management system that stored data have not changed except in ways specifically intended by the user.
Data Match A H e a l t h C a r e F i n a n c i n g Administration initiative designed to access information on cases in which Medicare bene- fits are secondary to those provided by an employer’s group plan in an attempt to recover money from employer plans that should have had primary responsibility for claims paid by Medicare. Penalties will be assessed for vio- lations, including failure to supply the requested information on current or past employees’ health care coverage.
data mining Using technologically advanced tools to find, manipulate, and synchronize data buried deep in corporate databases to support
data processing (DP) 166 deadbeat mom
decision making. Also called data drilling, data surfing, and data warehouse.
data processing (DP) The use of digital com- puters to organize, manipulate, and format data in a business, industry, educational, med- ical, military, or service organization. See also entries beginning with computer.
data processing training Seecomputer liter- acy training; computer training.
DataStar™ Web Europe’s leading informa- tion service. Provides Web connections to a variety of databases, including scientific and business and European company information;
news on Eastern and Western Europe; bio- medical, pharmaceutical, and health care information; technical information; and world business, among others. Contact: Corporate Headquarters, 11000 Regency Parkway, Suite 10, Cary, NC 27511 (phone 800-3-DIALOG or 919-462-8600; fax 919-468-9890; e-mail [email protected]; Web site www.dia- log.com/).
DataTimes A database vendor. DataTimes® Newspaper Abstract and Index covers articles from U.S. and international newspapers. Arti- cles include international current events and financial news from February 1996 to the present, with records added daily. Contact:
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 43017-3395 (phone 614-764-6000 or 800-848-5878, U.S.
and Canada; fax 614-764-6096; e-mail [email protected]; Web site www.oclc.org/).
data warehouse (DW) A system used to store operational data from different functions, areas, or lines of a business in a central data- base to provide a basis for enterprise-wide information and decision making.
dating prenup Seelove contract.
Davis-Bacon Acts of 1931 and 1964 (DBA) Require most federal contractors, employers in construction, and those in related areas to pay prevailing wage rates. Amendments pro- vide for employee fringe benefits and mandate records retention requirements. The Acts apply to employers on contracts exceeding
$2,000.
Davis v. Michigan A 1989 Supreme Court ruling that states must tax the pensions of state and federal civil service retirees equally. For example, exempting state pensions from
income taxes and taxing military or federal retirees or limiting their exemptions would constitute unequal treatment.
day care center Seechild care facility; child care; elder care.
day care reimbursement account Payments to employees for day care expenses that are nontaxable if certain rules are met: (1) the annual amount reimbursed must be less than the lower of the employee’s or spouse’s income; (2) the payment must be for the care of a dependent who is under the age of 13 or who is physically or mentally incapable of self-care; (3) payments cannot be made to a person who is claimed as the employee’s dependent on his or her income tax return; (4) when care is provided by a dependent care center or in an individual’s home that provides for more than six individuals, the center or home must comply with all state and local laws; and (5) the person providing care must sign the reimbursement claim form or provide an invoice or receipt that includes his or her Social Security or care center license number.
daydreaming An individual ideation tech- nique for generating possible solutions to a problem simply by turning the problem, issue, or idea over in one’s mind rather than addressing it directly. Sometimes called guided imaging.
day-of-the-week discount A special discount offered by airlines on days that have histori- cally been low travel days. Includes weekend travel.
day rate A hotel room rate, typically one half of the regular room rate for a room being used (up to 5 P.M.) by a guest during a given day.
days per thousand In health care, a standard unit for measuring utilization.
day trader An investor who makes daily stock trades, usually on the Internet.
deadbeat dad A term used to describe divorced, noncustodial fathers who have either failed to make court-ordered child sup- port payments or have fallen behind in their payments to their former spouses, who have custody of the children.
deadbeat mom A term used to describe divorced, noncustodial mothers who have either failed to make court-ordered child sup- port payments or have fallen behind in their
Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 167 debt service
payments to their former spouses, who have custody of the children.
Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 Establishes felony violations and punishment for failure to pay legal child support obliga- tions, including fines, mandatory restitution, and imprisonment. Approved June 24, 1998.
dead-cat bounce A fleeting and trivial come- back of stock prices following a precipitous decline (even a dead cat will bounce a tad when dropped from a sufficient height).
dead peasant’s insurance See corporate- owned life insurance.
dead tree edition Derogatory cyberspeak for the paper version of a periodical that appears in both paper and electronic (Internet) forms.
deaf and hearing impaired People who are totally or partially deaf and have sufficient hearing loss to place limitations of varying severity on participation in personal, social, or occupational activities.
dealer training Seesales and dealer training.
death care An employee benefit offered by some organizations. Such plans offer employ- ees assistance in planning and/or financing funerals for themselves and their dependents.
death benefits Benefits paid to survivors, such as lump-sum preretirement death bene- fits, preretirement spouse annuities, refunds of employee contributions to pension plans on death before retirement and accumulated interest, insurance (such as individual policy pension trusts or retirement annuities), and death benefits after retirement payable in one of three forms: unreduced, derived by the application of some formula, or optional (elected by the participant).
death spiral Refers to a continuing increase in health insurance premiums, typically in a free-choice setting where losses from under- writing, due to retention of members who can- not change plans because of benefits restric- tions or preexisting conditions, mount faster than the premiums can recover.
death tax Seeestate tax; sponge tax.
deauthorization Seedeunionization.
debarment A court order declaring a contrac- tor ineligible for the award of future contracts or cancellation of current contracts. Debar- ment can be imposed for violation of equal opportunity laws or executive orders.
debentures Certificates of indebtedness, in the form of promissory notes, issued by a company against its general credit and for which no collateral is available.
debit card A means of controlling travel and entertainment expenses similar to a checking account. Employees charge business expenses to a card, which deducts the amount from an established account (prepaid), thereby elimi- nating the need for petty cash, cash advances, and expense reimbursement payments.
Offered by most major bank cards.
debrief The process of questioning a partici- pant in some activity, program, or learning experience to assist that person to analyze his or her performance or to gather information relating to the feelings and perceptions of the individual about the experience.
debriefing 1. An exercise following a training