Glossary of Terms

A

Accounting Approver

In Procore, an Accounting Approver is an individual with the authority to accept and reject Procore data for export to an integrated ERP system. Accounting approvers also have the authority to unlink purchase orders, subcontracts, and commitment change orders that have been synced between Procore and an integrated ERP system.

Actual Cash Value

Actual Cash Value (ACV) refers to a calculated amount that is equal to the replacement cost of a product or property minus depreciation or damage.

Actual Completion Date

The Actual Completion Date refers to the date upon which final payments were processed and the construction project's contract or funding is considered complete.

Addendum

An Addendum is a supplementary document written to correct, clarify, or otherwise change the information included in previously issued documents.

Additional Services

Additional Services are a type of architectural services that are over and above the Basic Services defined in an agreement between an Architect and a Construction Manager (CM). In a residential construction project, a Record Drawing or 3D Imagery are examples of additional services.

Agency

Agency refers to a legal relationship by which one party (the principal) empowers another party (the agent) to act on the principal party's behalf.

Agency Construction Management

Agency Construction Management (Agency CM) is a fee-based construction management service where the CM has established responsibility for providing professional and advisory services to an Owner. In this relationship, the Agency CM or CM as Agent represents the owner's interest as the owner's principal agent.

Agenda Item

See Meeting Item.

Agreement

An Agreement sets forth the relationships, terms, and obligations of all involved parties.

AIA Billing

AIA Billing is a billing method that requires a specialized set of progress billing forms prescribed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). See www.aiacontracts.org.

Allowed List

An Allowed List (also sometimes referred to as an Allow List or Safe List) is a list of email addresses, domain names, IP addresses, or other entities that are explicitly granted access or allowed to run as part of an organization's security strategy. It is the opposite of a denied list.

Allowance

An Allowance is an amount of money that has been set aside in a construction contract’s original sum to cover the costs of paying for known items that were not specified in detail in the contract.

Alternatives Analysis

See Trade-Off Study.

American Institute of Architects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners. It comprises both international and U.S. territory chapters. See www.aia.org.

American Institute of Architects' Continuing Education Systems

The American Institute of Architects' Continuing Education Systems (AIA CES) measures continuing education for AIA members who can earn Learning Units (LUs) from registered AIA CES providers. Procore Continuing Education is an approved AIA CES provider. See www.aia.org.

Apparent Low Bidder

An Apparent Low Bidder is a party who is identified and established as the party that submitted the lowest bid in response to an invitation to bid.

Approval Framework

An Approval Framework is a framework that allows users to create, manage, review, and respond to items. In Procore, the Submittals tool supports an approval framework.

Approval Path

In Procore, an Approval Path refers to the steps that a submittal must go through before it reaches the final approval stage. The initial approval path for submittals is defined by the approval workflow. However, the path across a submittal's lifecycle can be altered by members of the submittal's workflow. For example, an approver might forward a submittal to another Procore user for review or the submittal might need to be rejected, and then revised and resubmitted to approvers.

Approval Process

In Procore, an Approval Process refers to a predefined sequence in which designated members of the submittal workflow are required to review a submittal before it can be closed and distributed to the assigned subcontractors.

Approval Workflow

In Procore, an Approval Workflow designates the list of individuals who respond to submittals (for example, approve, reject, and so on.) in accordance with the rules that have been determined by the approval framework and approval process being used.

Approved Bidders List

An Approved Bidders list refers to a list of eligible parties that have been approved/pre-qualified to submit a responsible, competitive bid.

Approved Changes

Approved Changes are changes to a project that are submitted through an established change control process and are approved by the established approval authority.

Approver

An Approver is a person who is designated to approve a submittal before work can proceed. Typically, there are multiple approvers on a submittal workflow and members of the design team (for example, architect, project engineer, structural engineer, and so on). However, your particular submittal workflow might include other approvers.

Architect

An Architect is a person who holds the professional qualifications to design buildings and structures other than buildings. Often, an architect is also responsible for advising, planning, and overseeing the construction process.

Architect Field Report

An Architect Field Report (AFR) is a field-site report produced by an architect to keep an Owner apprised of construction progress and work quality. An AFR is issued after each field visit and acts as a record of a construction project's progress, job site decisions, and concerns. While the general contents of an AFR have been defined by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), architects may also include additional information to ensure a concise record of field visits.

Architect of Record

The Architect of Record (AOR) is the architect or architecture firm whose name appears on the official building permit issued by the approving local government agency.

Architect's Supplemental Instructions

An Architect's Supplemental Instructions (ASI) are official instructions issued by an architect to legally change, revise, or provide the necessary interpretation for a minor design or construction change. An ASI is only issued when a change does not affect the contract sum or contract time. The purpose of an ASI is to provide legal clarity for minor changes to the work, such as modifying a paint color or the swing direction of a door.

Architect/Engineer

Architect/Engineer (A/E) refers to the joint provision of architectural and engineering services. An A/E can be a corporation, an individual, or a partnership that is qualified to practice architecture and provide professional design and engineering services.

Architects' Basic Services

Architects' Basic Services refer to an architect's contracted fee and level of involvement during the phases of a construction project. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) provides a standard form of agreement for the Owner and Architect that divides services into three categories—Basic Services, Supplemental Services, and Additional Services.

Architecture, Engineering, and Construction

Short for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC). AEC is a commonly used acronym when referring to AEC firms, the AEC industry, and to AEC technologies.

As-Built Drawing

An As-Built Drawing is a document that shows how a finished product was installed. When performing new construction or renovation projects, contractors are required to submit detailed as-built drawings that include all changes to ensure that an accurate and up-to-date drawing of the completed work exists. It is similar to a Record Drawing.

Assignable Permissions Template

In Procore, an Assignable Permissions Template is a permissions template that you can assign to other users based on the settings in your own permissions template when you have the appropriate permissions to add or edit other users.

At-Risk Construction Management

At-Risk Construction Management (also known as Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR)) is a project delivery method where the CM assumes financial liability for ensuring project work is completed within a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP). With this delivery method, the CM provides professional consulting services to the Owner during the design development phase and then acts as the General Contractor (GC) during the construction phase.

Attic Stock

Attic Stock describes excess/surplus construction material leftover from a job and in storage. The term also refers to intentionally ordered materials, typically as part of a contractual obligation, to ensure identical materials are available for future replacement or project repairs.

Australian Business Number

An Australian Business Number (ABN) is a unique 11 digit number assigned by the Australian Business Register (ABR) to identify business entities operating in Australia. The ABR operates a publicly available ABN Lookup website for performing business searches. See abr.business.gov.au.

Australian Business Register

The Australian Business Register (ABR) is an organization that maintains the lookup system for Australian Business Numbers (ABNs). See abr.business.gov.au.

Australian Company Number

An Australian Company Number (ACN) is a unique nine-digit number issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to every company registered under the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001. See abr.business.gov.au.

Australian Tax Office

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is the principal revenue collection agency for the government of Australia. See www.ato.gov.au.

Backcharge

A Backcharge is an amount of money that a buyer holds back from a seller to recover any costs incurred as a consequence of the seller performing incomplete or defective work. For example, an Owner might bill a backcharge to a General Contractor (GC) for site clean-up or a GC might bill a backcharge to a subcontractor for property damage.

Ball In Court

Ball In Court (BIC) is a figure of speech that indicates a person is required to take an action. In Procore, the user with Ball In Court responsibility must make a decision and submit a response—such as approving a submittal, shifting responsibility for a Request for Information (RFI), or responding to a Punch List item.

Basic Services

Basic Services refer to the scope of services defined as customary in the original agreement between an Owner and a Construction Manager (CM). Basic Services can also refer to the Architects' Basic Services.

Beneficial Occupancy

Beneficial Occupancy refers to a stage of a construction project that occurs after substantial completion and prior to final completion. It also refers to the date where the Owner takes possession of and/or begins occupying the space for its intended purpose.

Bid

A Bid is a firm offer submitted by a contractor to perform work for a client at a specified cost and in accordance with the terms and conditions defined in a proposal for a construction project. If a bid is accepted by the client, the contractor is expected to honor the commitment and deliver the work.

Bid Bond

A Bid Bond is a type of construction bond issued and guaranteed by a surety carrier to provide financial coverage to a principal. In construction, a bid bond is often purchased by a contractor hired to perform the work for an Owner to act as an insurance policy for compensating the Owner in the event that the contractor fails to honor the terms of the awarded bid.

Bid Documents

Bid Documents include the required agreements, bid forms, charts, conditions, proposed contracts, drawings, plans, instructions, invitations, specifications, and other written details issued by an owner to the contractor(s) who bid on a project.

Biddability

Biddability refers to the condition or degree to which a set of bid documents can reasonably provide a bidder with the means to submit a competitive bid in response to the work defined by the bid documents.

Biddability Review

A Biddability Review is part of the Constructibility Review process where contract documents are formally reviewed to identify uncertainty and eliminate ambiguities, contradictions, errors, omissions, and risks to the bidder. The purpose of a biddability review is to minimize bid prices during the procurement phase and to limit disputes during construction.

Billing Period

A Billing Period defines the billing cycle used by a project's team and invoice contacts on Procore's invoices and progress billings. In addition to defining the frequency of the billing cycle (for example, monthly or weekly), a billing period also defines the billing cycle's start/end date and the due date for the invoice or progress billing.

Blacklist

See Denied List.

Blind Bidding

Blind Bidding refers to a bidding process where bid amounts are hidden from view until the due date in order to protect against bid biases from affecting the decision process.

Block List

See Denied List.

Bond

A Bond is a pledge from a surety guaranteeing the performance of the obligation defined in the bond, including the completion of work or payment of the bond amount to the Obligee in the event of a default, or nonpayment by a principal, as with bid, performance and labor and material bonds.

Bonus

A Bonus is a clause in a contract that is tied to a financial reward that is above and beyond the basic payment expectation. An example of a bonus clause is an early completion bonus, which could be a stipulated amount paid to a contractor for completing a project early.

Budget

A Budget is the allotted amount of money available to spend on a specific construction project. In Procore, the Budget tool is used to track a project's anticipated costs and expenses throughout the construction process.

Budget Change

In Procore, a Budget Change specifically refers to the transfer of money from one budget line item to another budget line item. Budget changes are created in the Budget tool.

Budget Code

In Procore, a Budget Code is applied to line items in Procore's Financial Management tools to give you the ability to categorize your financial line items as costs in your budget. A budget code in Procore consists of two (2) default segments (i.e., cost code, cost type) and an optional sub job segment. Depending on the company or project level budget code structure in Procore's Work Breakdown Structure, a budget code may also include an unlimited number of custom segments.

Budget Code Structure

A budget code structure is a sequence of segments used to build meaningful budget codes in accordance with the pattern established by your organization. In Procore's Work Breakdown Structure, the budget code structure for a company or project can be comprised of multiple segments.

Budget Estimate

A Budget Estimate is an estimate of the cost of work. This estimate is based on preliminary information and is qualified to a degree of accuracy.

Budget Modification

In Procore, a Budget Modification specifically refers to the transfer of money from one budget line item to another budget line item. Budget modifications are created in the Budget tool when the project's budget is locked.

Budget View

In Procore, a Budget View is a template that defines the data column layout for a project's Budget tool. Budget views are configured by a Procore Administrator with the Company level Admin tool and support standard, calculated, and source columns. One or multiple budget views are then assigned to a Procore project so Procore users can switch between the views to analyze data from different perspectives.

Budgeted Production Quantities

In Procore, budgeted production quantities refer to the measurable amount planned for installation on a project. See Production Quantities.

Builders Risk Insurance

See Course of Construction Insurance.

Building Information Modeling

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a construction management term for technologies used to generate and manage digital representations (images) of spaces (buildings, job sites, and so on). Design and construction teams use BIM to create digital models and simulate the construction process. The goal of BIM is to improve safety, correct issues, solve problems, and analyze impacts prior to the physical construction process.

Business Item

In Procore, the term Business Item was previously used to refer to an agenda item on a meeting created with the Meetings tool. It has been replaced with Meeting Item.

C

Calculated Column

In Procore, a Calculated Column uses a formula to adjust the value that appears in a cell on a line item.

California Counties Architects and Engineers Association

The California Counties Architects and Engineers Association (CCAEA) is a professional organization for architects and engineers employed by the public agencies for the counties in California. See ccaea.org.

Certified Business Enterprise

A Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) is a formal designation of an individual or business entity issued by a public sector authority, professional association, or business that promotes full-participation of the community. Examples of CBEs include designations such as a minority- or woman-owned business or a local business enterprise.

Change Event

A Change Event is any event resulting in a modification that affects the scope of work on a construction project and the project's schedule and/or cost(s). In Procore, a change event can be recorded in the system and precedes the creation of a change order, which allows your team members and stakeholders to prepare for a cost change before it becomes an actual cost.

Change Order

A Change Order (CO) is a written record of a contract modification that details any amendment(s) to the original agreement's scope of work. Most construction contracts are executed with a clearly defined scope of work, so any work that is added, substituted, or deleted from the original contract's scope (such as changes to a project's designs, conditions, schedules, and/or costs) will typically require an approved change order.

Change Order Request

A Change Order Request (COR) is a Procore-specific package that can be created to contain one (1) or more Potential Change Orders (PCOs). A COR is a formal request sent to a project's Owner that groups multiple PCOs for a single scope of work into a single package for review and approval.

Change Orders by Line Item

The Change Orders by Line Item (COBLI) feature allows users to choose what level of detail to show change orders on their invoices and financial markups. For example, this feature gives users the ability to bill at the Potential Change Order (PCO) level, instead of the Change Order (CO) level.

Changed Condition

A Changed Condition is the presence of an unanticipated condition or circumstance, physical or otherwise, that was not reasonably expected when the contract was entered into. A changed condition can be the result of an error or a surprise. For example, a contractor was led to believe that 500,000 cubic yards of fill material were needed only to learn later that only 50,000 cubic yards were needed.

Claim

A Claim is a formal assertion that additional payment and/or time is due as the result of a change, conflict, delay, or unforeseen circumstances that arise between parties to a construction contract. Claims may be filed by clients, contractors, and subcontractors and outcomes can either lead to a settlement or additional legal action or court litigation.

Clash Detection

Clash Detection is the process of analyzing Building Information Modeling (BIM) data for any potential clashes between elements occupying the same space. This process also looks. for incompatible components. and elements that may require competing timing.

Client Contract

A Client Contract is a legal agreement between contracted parties. In a single, two-party client contract, the entity financing the construction project is called the general contractor or client. The party being paid to ensure completion of work is the specialty contractor. In Procore, you can either create a single client contract for a construction project or you can also divide the scope of work for a single project between multiple client contracts.

Client Contract Change Order

In Procore, a Client Contract Change Order (CCCO) is a change order that affects a client contract. A two-tier change order setup typically consists of a bundle of Potential Change Orders (PCOs) that must be approved by the general contractor or client. A three-tier change order setup typically consists of a bundle of Change Order Requests (CORs) that must be approved by the general contractor or client.

Client Request

A Client Request refers to a change in the performance of work initiated by a request from the construction project’s client.

Clone

A Clone is an exact copy of an existing item or object.

Code of Accounts

A Code of Accounts is a unique alphanumeric coding system assigned to identify the distinctive components of a work breakdown structure.

Collaborator

In Procore, the term collaborator refers to any Procore user who isn't a direct employee of an organization owning a Procore company account, who has been granted limited access permissions to the account to perform data entry on a Procore project. For example, if a General Contractor (GC) is managing a project in their Procore company account, a collaborator would be a subcontractor who has been granted permissions to create a daily log entry or an invoice contact who has been granted permissions to submit a subcontractor invoice.

Commissioning

Commissioning (Cx) is the formal process of verifying that some or all of a structure and its assemblies and systems (such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), elevator control, fire suppression, and more) have been designed, installed, tested, and operated in accordance with the project's intended use and contract requirements. For new construction, the process is called Building Commissioning (Cx). For existing buildings and structures, Retrocommissioning and Recommissioning are similar processes for deeming a structure ready for service.

Commitment

In Procore, a Commitment is a purchase order or subcontract. Both commitment types are contracts that represent a legally enforceable financial agreement between two parties.

Committed Cost

A Committed Cost is an investment or obligation that has already been made and cannot be recovered.

Commitment Change Order

In Procore, a Commitment Change Order (CCO) details a potential change that will affect the original costs and/or timeline of a purchase order or subcontract.

Company Administrator

In Procore, a Company Administrator is an individual who is responsible for setting up an organization's new Procore account. This individual is assigned 'Admin' level permissions on both the company and project level tools. Also called the Procore Administrator.

Company Permissions Template

A Company Permissions Template is a set of role-based permissions that can be assigned to one or more Procore users in a company. The permissions settings in a company permissions template define what actions users can perform and what information they can view in each Procore Company level tool.

Configurable Fieldset

A Configurable Fieldset is a group of data-entry fields that your company's Procore Administrator can configure as optional, required, or hidden for certain supported Procore tools. A configurable fieldset lets you turn data-entry fields ON and OFF and can also work with custom fields.

Connected App

In Procore, a Connected App refers to a third-party application built on the Procore OS platform by external developers. These applications are NOT owned, operated, or supported by Procore. When you connect a third-party application to your Procore account, you are authorizing it to both access and use your Procore account on your behalf. Authorized applications may be able to use your Procore account in various ways, which include (but are NOT limited to), accessing your Procore account, seeing your contact information, and performing a variety of actions in Procore on your behalf.

Construction Administration

Construction Administration (CA) refers to the observations performed by a project's Designer on a construction project.

Construction Change Directive

A Construction Change Directive (CCD) is a legal command initiated by the Owner of a construction project, typically after a disagreement, that directs a Contractor to abide by a mandatory order. It differs from a change order in that a change order is subject to an agreement between the two parties.

Construction Documents

Construction Documents (CDs) are a collection of graphic and written information that communicates the administrative requirements, design details, plans, specifications, changes, revisions, and other requirements for a construction project. CDs are required in all phases of the construction process from contract bidding and negotiation phases to project closeout.

Continuing Education

Continuing Education (CE) refers to short-term and/or part-time educational opportunities provided to adults outside of the formal education system's graduate and undergraduate degree programs. There are numerous CE opportunities for construction industry professionals offered by post-secondary institutions, professional associations, and both non-profit and for-profit entities.

Contract Administration

Contract Administration (CA or C.A.) is an acronym that refers to the administration of a contract on a construction project. Not to be confused with Construction Administration, CA in this context refers to the administration services that an Architect shall provide on a contract between an Owner and Contractor.

Contract Warranty

A Contract Warranty is a legal or implied contract that guarantees any work defects found in the original construction will be repaired during the specified warranty period.

Contractor

A Contractor is a business or an individual that is awarded a contract by a specialty contractor to perform a portion of the work on another existing contract.

Contractor Invoice

A Contractor Invoice is a request for payment submitted by a business or individual who has entered into a binding agreement with another contracting party. In Procore, a contract invoice is an equivalent term for a payable invoice.

Configurable Fieldsets

Configurable Fieldsets are a group of fields in certain Procore tools that can be set to optional, required, or hidden, depending on the needs of your company.

Constructibility

Constructibility refers to a project management practice that employs construction knowledge and experience to review a construction project from start to finish during the planning and design phase. The goal of the constructibility process is to identify potential delays, issues, and obstacles to ensure a project can be built in a safe, systematic, timely, and cost-effective manner while achieving the best overall quality. Project managers employ a variety of analysis techniques, both conceptual and physical, during the design, planning, and building stages.

Constructibility Review

A Constructibility Review is a formalized vetting process that takes place during the early design stages of construction projects. The process relies on the expertise of experienced construction personnel, seasoned inspectors, and/or consultants to evaluate a project's construction documents to ensure the project is buildable, biddable, and maintainable. The goal of the process is to mitigate risk, identify areas for cost-savings, and validate the ability to achieve the overall project objectives.

Construction Budget

A Construction Budget refers to a monetary amount established during the planning or design phase that anticipates the total cost and expense of acquiring, preparing, constructing, and delivering a construction project.

Construction Contract Documents

Construction Contract Documents (CDs) are legally-binding images and written documents that define the roles, responsibilities, and work to be completed by one or multiple parties. Although each project is unique, common contract documents typically consist of agreements, addenda, bid documents, bill of quantities, contract conditions, drawings, requirements, and specifications.

Construction Cost

The term Construction Cost refers to the total costs incurred by the Owner for the development of a constructed asset, such as a building or other structure. Although the definition of the actual construction cost of an asset's development can vary, the construction cost is generally based upon the sum established by the project's construction contract(s) and any other direct costs related to the construction of the asset.

Construction Lien

A Construction Lien is a claim made against a property by a contractor or another professional supplier of labor or materials for work on that property. A lien is designed to protect contractors in the construction profession from a lack of payment by the property owner for services rendered.

Construction Manager

A Construction Manager (CM) is a professional service firm or individual who possesses the expertise to lead, manage, and oversee the planning, design, and construction of a developed asset, such as a building or other structure. Many CMs are independent contractors with extensive construction experience who are hired by an Owner to control the project's contract(s), cost(s), delivery, quality, safety, and timeline.

Construction Manager as Advisor

Construction Manager as Advisor (CMa or CMA) is a fee-based construction manager retained by a project Owner to assist with a project. A CMa might be retained before contractor selection or when an Owner wishes to supplement their existing team.

Construction Manager at Risk

Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR or CM At-Risk), also known as At-Risk Construction Management, is a project delivery method where the Construction Manager (CM) assumes financial liability for ensuring project work is completed within a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP). With this delivery method, the CM provides professional consulting services to the Owner during the design development phase and then acts as the General Contractor (GC) during the construction phase.

Construction Management Fee

A Construction Management Fee (CM Fee) is a contractual fee paid to a Construction Manager (CM) for services performed.

Construction Management Plan

A Construction Management Plan (CMP) is a written plan or set of plans prepared by a Construction Manager (CM) to clearly detail a project's costs and schedule prior to commencing on-site work. A CMP also details the expected and potential impact(s) of construction activities on the surrounding area and describes the controls in place to minimize the effects of these activities on the job site and surrounding area(s).

Construction Schedule

A Construction Schedule is a detailed, graphical, and/or written depiction of a construction project's tasks and the duration of those tasks typically plotted on a sequential, prioritized timeline that considers which tasks are dependent on others.

Construction Specifications Canada

Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) is a national multi-disciplinary, non-profit association with chapters across Canada. CSC develops and delivers quality education programs, publications, and services for the betterment of the construction community. See www.csc-dcc.ca.

Construction Specifications Institute

Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) is a national association of volunteers, including specifiers, architects, engineers, contractors, facility managers, product representatives, manufacturers, owners, and others who are experts in building construction and dedicated to improving the communication of construction information. See www.csiresources.org.

Contingency

A Contingency is an amount of money held in reserve to pay for accidental or additional unforeseen costs during a construction project.

Contingency Budget

A Contingency Budget an amount of money held in reserve to pay for accidental or additional unforeseen costs during a construction project. The intent of a contingency budget to plan and prepare a response that limits the costs incurred by an unforeseen circumstance.

Contingency Plan

A Contingency Plan is a plan that is prepared in advance to limit risks and damages of unforeseen circumstances on a project's costs,

Continuing Education

Continuing Education (CE) refers to courses offered to adults by communities, post-secondary institutions, and other organizations to develop professional knowledge and skills.

Contract

A contract is a legal agreement where a party on a funding engages a third-party (a contract) to perform all or part of the work defined in the upstream contract.

Contract Administration

Contract Administration (CA) is the practice of planning, negotiating, authoring, executing, and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of a construction contract. CA involves contact with contractors, employees, suppliers, vendors, and other service providers. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) also uses the acronym "C.A." to refer to the "Administration of the Contract" services provide by an Architect/Engineer (A/E) during the construction phase of a project.

Contractor

A Contractor is an individual or business, hired by a client, that is responsible for supplying the necessary equipment, material, labor, and services required to execute work activities to complete the requirements of a construction contract.

Contractor Schedule of Values

A Contractor Schedule of Values (CSOV or Contractor SOV) provides downstream contractors with a way to provide a detailed breakdown of specific work items on a subcontract or purchase order to an upstream contractor.

Cost Code

A Cost Code is a code that defines the specific type of work being completed on a construction project.

Cost Control

Cost Control refers to an accounting and project management practice that seeks to reduce expenses on a construction project in order to increase profits. Using Owner-approved control methods helps project managers ensure that projects are delivered with a contract's scope, time, and budget.

Cost of Construction

Cost of Construction refers to all of the costs attributed to the construction of the project. This includes the cost of contracts with the Contractor(s), construction support items, general condition items, all purchased labor, material, and fixed equipment.

Cost Management

Cost Management is the process of planning and controlling either all or some of the costs associated with the planning, design, and construction process to ensure a project remains within its budget.

Cost Plus Contract

A Cost Plus Contract is a detailed legal agreement where the Owner reimburses the contractor for all construction-related expenses plus an additional amount (either a percentage of the full contract price or a fixed fee) to cover the contractor's overhead and profit.

Cost Type

A Cost Type is a set of costs identified by a unique abbreviation or label. In Procore's WBS, 'Cost Type' is a flat segment with these default options: (E) Equipment, (L) Labor, (M) Materials, (O) Other, (OC) Owner Cost, (S) Commitments, and (SVC) Professional Services.

Course of Construction Insurance

Course of Construction (COC) Insurance (also called Builder’s Risk Insurance) is an insurance policy that financially protects parties on a construction project from repair and replacement costs for unforeseen events (such as accidents, fire, flooding, theft, and so on). Typically purchased by an Owner, Construction Manager (CM), or General Contractor (GC), coverage is agreement-specific but is typically effective during construction and for a period of time after completion.

Crew

A Crew is a professional group of laborers who perform work on a construction project. In Procore, a crew is comprised of a crew lead (often a foreman), employees (if you are a GC, these are your direct employees), and workers (if you are a GC, these are laborers employed by a subcontractor). Examples of construction crews include Concrete, Electrical, HVAC, and Plumbing crews, but might also include a maintenance crew that keep a job site clean for the construction crews.

Critical Date Schedule

A Critical Date Schedule is a schedule that depicts important events and milestones of varying significance on the path to a construction project's completion. See also Milestone Schedule.

Critical Path Method

Critical Path Method (CPM) is a project modeling analysis that specifies all of the critical and non-critical activities and their logical-order sequence to identify which activities are critical. A critical activity is added to the project duration. A non-critical activity is a task that can be completed while working on another task and does not add to a project's duration. The critical path is the activities that contribute to the longest duration. The Gantt Chart is an example of a tool used in CPM.

Cross-Site Request Forgery

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is a malicious attack that exploits a security vulnerability to an authenticated user via a forged request that tricks the user into performing an unintended action, such as changing an account password or transferring money into an attacker's account.

Custom Field

A Custom Field has three (3) distinct definitions in Procore. (1) A page element built by the Procore Custom Solutions team as an added service to capture-business specific information in a supported Procore tool. (2) The ability to customize the field label is certain Procore tools. For example, there are two custom fields in the Configure Settings page of the project's RFIs tool. (3) An additional field that can be added and customized with the Company Admin tool for certain Procore tools through Configurable Fieldsets.

Custom Segment

In Procore, a custom segment is a discrete category created for a company or project to breakdown your work into management components. Custom segments can be created in Procore's Work Breakdown Structure. Examples of custom segments your company or project team might want to create include: Area, Location, Phase, and so on.

Custom Workflow

In Procore, a custom workflow is a process that defines a unique approval path that is specific to your organization and its project(s).

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to the strategies, practices, and systems in place at a business for managing current, past, and potential customers.

D

Default

In computing, the term Default refers to a pre-selected option that is provided either by the manufacturer of a software program or a setting configured by an administrator without the input of the downstream end-user. In Procore, default is most commonly used when referring to pre-selected fields and pre-configured settings in the user interface. In the construction industry, term default can also mean one party has failed to meet a financial obligation or is in breach of contract.

Default Segment

In Procore, a segment is a discrete category that an organization uses to break down its work into manageable components. A default segment is one that is automatically provided for use with your Procore company account. Procore's WBS has two required default segments: cost code and cost type. It also has an optional default segment: sub job.

Denied List

A Denied List (also sometimes referred to as a Block List or Deny List) is a list of email addresses, domain names, IP addresses, or other entities that are explicitly blocked from having access or being allowed to run as part of an organization's security strategy. It is the opposite of an Allowed List.

Design-Bid-Build

Design-Bid-Build (DBB) is a project delivery method where an Owner invites bids and awards contracts to separate entities for the design and construction phases of a project.

Design-Build

The term Design-Build refers to a contract agreement and project delivery method where a single entity is responsible for both designing and building a project. A Design-Build project is typically led by either an architect or a contractor and provides a project Owner with a single point of responsibility for the contract.

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Design Coordination

Design Coordination is a broad term that refers to the coordination of all design activities, processes, and resources to ensure consistency and compatibility between components.

Design-Development

Design-Development (DD) refers to one of the five (5) phases of architectural services of a construction project where the Architect uses the Schematic Design (SD) to produce the project's initial Construction Documents (CDs).

Design-Final

The Design-Final stage (also called Final Design) occurs after the preliminary stage. In this stage, the designer provides the final set of drawings and specifications to be used to initiate the bidding process. After the final design is approved by the Owner, the bidding and procurement stage of the project begins.

Design-Preliminary

The Design-Preliminary stage (also called Preliminary Design and Design Development) occurs after the Design-Schematic stage (the stage that decides the final concept). In this stage, a designer assists the Owner to investigate, survey, and analyze the property and design from a technical perspective to determine the architectural, mechanical, and structural components of the design.

Design-Schematic

The term Design-Schematic (also called Schematic Design) refers to the first stage of a designer's basic services on a project. During this stage, the designer discovers the project requirements and overall vision and then presents a variety of schematic designs (such as drawings, sketches, and so on) to settle on the final schematic design.

Design Review

A Design Review is a process shared across industries that evaluates a design against its requirements to identify and resolve issues before starting the building process.

Designer

A Designer is an individual or organization that is in the profession of providing design services for construction projects. A designer performs the planning, conceptual designs, completed architectural designs, construction drawings, technical specifications, and ensure projects conform to legal regulations.

Direct Costs

A Direct Cost is an expense that can be directly attributed to the construction of a project, such as labor, materials, equipment, and expenditures represented in subcontracts. In Procore, the term direct cost is used less broadly and refers explicitly to a cost on a construction project that is NOT associated with a purchase order or subcontract, such as temporary trailer costs, supervision payroll paid by GC, and so on.

Distribution List

A Distribution List is a list of messaging recipients to which messages can be sent all at once. In Procore, a distribution list is similar to the Carbon Copy (Cc) feature in an email program and is used for notifying select Procore users about a specific event or change in status. For example, when a project manager creates a new submittal, you might add a distribution group of 'Project Managers' to the distribution list for a particular submittal.

Distribution Group

A Distribution Group is a list of email recipients that must be created in Procore's Company or Project Directory tool. It is similar in function to a Contacts Group in an email program and is NOT associated with any security settings.

Division

The term Division refers to the divisions of construction that are defined by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) MasterFormat. A division is a widely-used grouping standard that helps to organize construction specifications, cost codes, and other documented information on a project. Examples of divisions include Division 01-General Requirements, Division 02-Site Construction, Division 03-Concrete, and so on.

Downstream Collaborator

In Procore, a downstream collaborator is a person, business, or entity that enters into a legal agreement with your company to perform work on a construction project. The term, downstream collaborator, is used to represent the person, business, or entity that a Procore company account holder is paying to perform contracted work.

Downstream Invoice

In Procore, downstream invoices include subcontractor invoices that bill against commitment subcontracts and contractor invoices that bill against commitment contracts.

Draw Request

In Procore, the term Draw Request was used to refer to invoices that were submitted by a contracted party to request the release of funds as payment for labor, materials, and other expenses. This term has been replaced by the term subcontractor invoice.

Drawings

Drawings provide a construction project with graphical and technical representations of the work to perform. The drawings included in a contract are prepared by architects, engineers, and other trade-specific specialists. Drawings are also categorized into sets for architectural, structural, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, and so on.

E

End of Life

An End of Life (EOL) date defines the calendar date on which production of new releases, updates, and fixes for a software product, service, or feature ends.

End of Support

An End of Support (EOS) date defines the date that technical support for a software product, service, or feature ends.

Employer Identification Number

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a federal tax identification number for a business entity. It is unique nine-digit number that is issued to a business by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It is also called a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a type of business-management software that can be used to collect, store, manage, and data from many business activities, including construction and property management software and accounting systems.

Employer Identification Number

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify business entities operating in the United States. See www.irs.gov.

Estimated Completion Date

The Estimated Completion Date is the date upon which a project is expected to be completed in accordance with the plans and specifications for the construction project.

Estimated Cost to Complete

The Estimated Cost to Complete (ECC or ETC) is the remaining costs to be incurred on a project at a point in time. The ETC is typically calculated by a project manager using cost estimates for activities that have already taken place to anticipate what the remaining cost of activities left to complete will be.

Estimated Final Cost

The Estimate Final Cost (EFC) is a projection of the cost to complete a construction project that is developed from a project's anticipated costs.

Excusable Event

An Excusable Event refers to an event detailed in a construction contract that either partially or wholly prevents or adversely affects a contractor's performance of work.

Existing Condition

An Existing Condition refers to a change that occurs where design plans must be modified due to existing conditions at the job site.

Extension of Time

An Extension of Time (EOT) is a formal request submitted by a contractor to demonstrate that the contractor is not at fault for a delay affecting the construction project's schedule.

Extract-Transform-Load

Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) is a computing process that extracts data from a source, converts that data from its previous format into a different format, and then loads the converted data into a target system.

F

Fast Track

The term Fast Track is construction jargon for a delivery methodology that divides a project's design into phases to allow construction to begin before the full design phase of a project is complete.

Federal Employer Identification Number

A Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) is a nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify business entities operating in the United States. It is also called an Employer Identification Number (EIN). See www.irs.gov.

Federal Tax ID

A Federal Tax ID (Tax ID) is a unique nine-digit number assigned to individuals and businesses by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for tax purposes. U.S. citizens and eligible individuals are assigned a Social Security Number (SSN). Non-citizens and ineligible residents are issued an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN)). Business entities are assigned an Employer Identification Number (EIN)). See www.irs.gov.

Field Order

A Field Order is a document issued by a Construction Manager (CM) or Owner to provide contractor(s) with clarification and requirements for performing work not included in the contract documents. Typically, a field order is issued for a minor change that is considered essential to the completion of the work but does not affect the contract price or project timeline.

Final Completion

The term Final Completion refers to the point in time or date at which all contract terms and conditions have been satisfied on a construction project.

Financial Markup

Financial Markup is a fixed or percentage amount that is applied to the cost of a good or service to define a selling price that earns a profit.

Float

The term Float is scheduling-related construction jargon that refers to the amount of time that a project task can be delayed without delaying the overall completion of the work.

Force Account

A Force Account is a contractor payment method occasionally used by local, state, or federal agencies to pay a contractor for extra work that arises from field conditions that prevent the agency and contractor from agreeing upon an appropriate unit price or lump sum amount. When using a force account, the contractor undertakes the work with an understanding that the agency will pay the contractor for the actual cost of their labor, equipment, materials, and supplies plus an additional percentage or amount for the contractor's overhead and profit.

Funding

A Funding is a legal agreement between contracted parties. In a single, two-party funding, the party financing the construction project is called the funding source. The party being paid to ensure completion of work is called the contractor. In Procore, you can either create a single funding for a construction project or you can also divide the scope of work for a single project between multiple fundings.

Funding Change Order

In Procore, a Funding Change Order (FCO) is a change order that affects a funding. A two-tier change order setup typically consists of a bundle of Potential Change Orders (PCOs) that must be approved by the funding source. A three-tier change order setup typically consists of a bundle of Change Order Requests (CORs) that must be approved by the funding source.

Funding Invoice

A Funding Invoice is an application for payment, typically submitted by a Contractor to the Funding Source to provide an itemized record of the amount due for work performed. In Procore, a Funding invoice is equivalent to an accounts receivable invoice.

G

G702

A G702 (Officially known as the AIA G702™–1992, Application and Certificate for Payment) is an industry-standard, payment form developed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). See AIA Document G702®–1992.

G703

A G703 (Officially known as the AIA G703™–1992, Continuation Sheet) is an industry-standard, payment form developed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). See AIA Document G703®–1992.

GC/Client Invoice

An GC/Client Invoice is an application for payment, typically submitted by a Specialty Contractor to a General Contractor/Client to provide an itemized record of the amount due for work performed. In Procore, an GC/Client invoice is equivalent to an accounts receivable invoice.

General Conditions

The term General Conditions refers to a section of a construction contract that establishes the rights, responsibilities, and relationships between the contracting parties. It is often organized into its own division in specifications, cost codes, and other construction documents. Examples of items that can fall under the General Conditions section include the costs of administration, safety, security, staff, temporary facilities, tools, and utilities.

General Contractor

A General Contractor (GC) is a contractor with legal responsibility for the construction, improvement, or renovation. This is the party that is responsible for completing and/or overseeing all facets of the construction, improvement, or renovation project.

Global Permissions Template

In Procore, a Global Permissions Template is a project permissions template that can be assigned to any user on any project in your company's Procore account. See also permission template and project-specific permission template.

Granular Permissions

In Procore, the term Granular Permissions refers to task-based privileges that can be granted to users with ‘Read Only’ or ‘Standard’ level permissions on certain tools through the users’ assigned permissions templates.

Guarantee

A Guarantee is a legally enforceable contract that affirms an obligation will be satisfied as stated. For example, a general contractor might require a subcontractor to guarantee their work is performed in accordance with the contract documents. If the general contractor later discovers that a subcontractor did not conform to the contract agreement, that subcontractor must assume responsibility for all costs associated with replacing and repairing the defective work.

Guaranteed Maximum Price

A Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP or GMAX) contract is an agreement between two contracting parties that compensates one party for the actual costs incurred plus a fixed fee for profit that is subject to a not-to-exceed limit.

H

hh2

hh² Cloud Services is a third-party cloud service that works with Procore's ERP Integrations tool to synchronize data when the ERP Integrations tool in Procore is configured to work with the Sage 300 CRE® integration. See www.hh2.com.

hh2 Synchronization Client

The hh² synchronization client is a third-party client application developed by hh². When the ERP Integrations tool is enabled on a company's Procore account and the tool is configured to work with Sage 300 CRE®CRE, your Procore point of contact will work with your Procore Administrator to install and configure the hh² synchronization client on your Sage 300 CRE® Server. This allows data to sync between your Sage 300 CRE® database server and Procore.

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) refer to thermal technologies and services that provide occupants with environmental comfort in fully- or partially- enclosed spaces, such as a building or a vehicle.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a communication protocol for transferring data over the web.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a secure, encrypted connection for HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communication. It helps to ensure privacy when data is exchanged.

I

Identity Provider

An Identity Provider (IdP) provides the identifiers required for users to interact with a system. Procore's supported Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions can be configured to work with different identity providers.

Indirect Cost

An Indirect Cost is a cost associated with doing business that cannot be directly allocated to a construction contract. This includes Overhead (insurance, office trailers, supplies, and so on), Equipment (depreciation, repairs, insurance, and so on), and Labor Burden (taxes, workers compensation, benefits, and so on).

Inline Editing

Inline Editing refers to a feature that lets you change the contents of a cell on a line item within a table, instead of having to open a separate browser window to enter the data. In Procore, cells that support inline editing are either marked with a caret symbol that is visible in the top corner of the cell or you can simply click in a cell and change its value.

Installed Production Quantities

In Procore, Installed Production Quantities refer to the actual amount installed on a project by a point in time. See Production Quantities.

Insurance Manager

In Procore, the term Insurance Manager refers to an internal employee (or multiple employees) at your company who serve as your organization's primary point of contact(s) for ensuring that the insurance policies for your contractors, subcontractors, and other vendors are in compliance with requirements and that their required policies and certificates are kept up-to-date.

Integrated ERP System

In Procore, the term integrated ERP System, is used to refer to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software applications that can be configured to exchange data between Procore and a supported application using the Company level ERP Integrations tool. See ERP Integrations.

Integrated Product Delivery

Integrated Product Delivery (IPD) is a project delivery method, similar to a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) contract, in which multiple contracting parties accept and manage a project's design and construction risks as a team. In the IPD model, an Owner, Designer, and General Contractor (GC) executes a single, multi-party contract that shares the financial risks and splits the team's profits based on measured outcomes.

Integration Platform as a Service

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaas) is a computing term used to describe a cloud-based data integration platform used to build and deliver integrations to cloud-based or on-premise applications.

International System of Units

The International System of Units (SI) is a widely used metric system of measurement. It is administered by the General Conference on Weights and Measures.

Invitation for Bid

An Invitation for Bid (IFB) is a bidding method used in the construction industry to solicit a competitive bid from a vendor on a fixed price contract. IFBs are advertised publicly and incoming bids are sealed to ensure competitiveness. Winning bids are determined by price and then awarded publicly.

Invitation to Bid

An Invitation to Bid refers to a formal invitation to submit a bid for a project. This term is often used interchangeably with Invitation for Bid (IFB).

Invoice

An Invoice is an itemized financial record of a transaction for the purchase of goods and services between a buyer and seller.

Invoice Administrator

An Invoice Administrator is a person or group of people responsible for collecting, reviewing, and creating invoices in Procore. An invoice administrator can be any person in your organization (for example, a project manager, an accountant, or a team of bookkeepers) who have been granted the appropriate permissions to manage invoices on your contracts and/or fundings.

Invoice Contact

An Invoice Contact is a person who ensures that an invoice is submitted to an upstream contractor for payment. In Procore, an invoice contact is always an employee of the designated 'Contract Company' on a purchase order or subcontract. The contract company is the party responsible for performing work and/or supplying materials for a project. For customers in the United Statues using Procore's Progress Billings tool, this term is synonymous with progress billing contact.

J

Job Costing

Job Costing is an accounting practice in the construction industry used to track the costs for certain job activities and projects using a consistent organizational system to record and report on costs.

Job to Date

Job to Date (JTD) refers to the period of time between the start of a job up to the current date.

Joint Tenancy

Joint Tenancy refers to a form of ownership where the occupants own a property equally.

Judgment Lien

A Judgment Lien is a non-consensual court ruling against a debtor that grants the creditor the legal right to take possession of an asset, in the event of a debtor's failure to fulfill its contractual obligations.

K

Kickoff Meeting

A Kickoff Meeting refers to a group assembly that takes place at the start of a project to introduce members of the project team, review project objectives, as well as to review and discuss items related to site logistics, project phases, and scheduling. After your company purchases Procore, representatives from your company will be invited to attend a Kickoff Meeting with your Procore point of contact to get the implementation process started.

L

Labor

Labor refers to the physical work performed on a construction site.

Labor Burden

Labor Burden refers to the actual costs incurred by a business, outside of an employee's wage or salary, to support their employment. Labor burden includes costs such as health and insurance benefits, meals, payroll taxes, supplies, training, transportation, and so on.

Labor Cost

The term Labor Cost refers to the total cost of wages for the actual Labor, as well as the Materials, Direct Costs, and Indirect Costs.

Labor Costing

In Procore, Labor Costing is the ability for labor data to be collected from the field and instantly applied in real-time to a project's budget as costs. This is accomplished through the combined use of Procore's Field Productivity and Project Financials tools.

Lead Time

Lead Time refers to the amount of time it takes to complete a process from start to finish. In construction, it can refer to the amount of time between order placement and delivery of the order on a job site. It can also refer to the amount of time a client must wait between project initiation and the contractor's start date.

Letter of Approval

A Letter of Approval (LOA) is a formal document from a local authority that provides written consent to proceed with a construction project

Letter of Intent

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a formal, business letter that states the intended agreement between two or more contracting parties. It is sent to outline the terms that will be formalized in a contract.

Lien

A lien refers to a claimant's right to keep possession of an owner's real property as collateral for repayment until the owner's debt to the claimant is discharged. In the construction industry, a lien is designed to protect contractors from going unpaid when payments for service rendered are overdue.

Lien Waiver

A Lien Waiver is a document from a contractor, subcontractor, materials man, equipment lessor, or other party stating they have received the payment and waive any future lien rights to the property.

Life Cycle Cost

Life Cycle Cost (LCC) refers to the whole-life cost of owning an asset. In construction, the LCC is the total of all costs related to the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and disposal costs of an asset for its given life expectancy.

Liquidated Damages

Liquidated Damages (LD) is a financial provision specified in a contract clause that allows one party to recover damages from another party in the event of a contract breach. An example of a liquidated damages clause is where an Owner may charge a General Contractor (GC) a $1,000.00 per day assessment for a project delay.

Long Lead Item

A Long Lead Item is an ordered piece of material or equipment that has an extended lead time. Examples can include bespoke products such as fabricated components, specialist equipment such as piling rigs, or specialty building materials that must be transported overseas. Long Lead Items are often procured earlier in a process to ensure timely installation.

Long Lead Time

A Long Lead Time refers to the extended time interval that exists between the purchase and delivery of a long lead item. In construction, it can refer to an extended period of time between order placement and delivery due to a manufacturing process or transportation requirement. It can also refer to an extended time interval between project initiation and the project start date due to a contractor's availability, a holiday schedule, inclement weather, and other variables.

Look-Ahead Schedule

See Short Interval Schedule (SIS).

Low Bidder

A Low Bidder is an individual or organization that is identified as the party submitting the lowest bid in a bid document, response to a proposal, or contract. A low bidder can be a general contractor, subcontractor, or specialty contractor.

Lump Sum

A Lump Sum refers to a single, fixed payment. In construction, a Lump Sum can also refer to a delivery method whereby a contractor enters into an agreement to complete work stipulated in a contract with another party for a predetermined, set price.

M

MasterFormat

The MasterFormat is an organization standard that defines the master list of Divisions, Sections, and Section Titles for construction project specifications in the United States and Canada. It is authored by the Construction Standards Institute (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC). See CSI MasterFormat®.

Master Schedule

A Master Schedule is an executive-level schedule included in a contract to summarize a construction project's major milestones, key deliverables, and the corresponding start and end dates. It is typically laid out in a Bar Chart or Gantt Chart format.

Measurement System Analysis

A Measurement System Analysis (MSA) is a specific experiment designed to identify the components of variation in a specific measurement.

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) is an acronym used to refer to both the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades, as well as the aspects of building design and construction.

Mechanical, Structural, and Engineering

Mechanical, Structural, and Engineering (MSE) is an acronym used to refer to the mechanical, structural, and engineering aspects of building design and construction.

Mechanic's Lien

A Mechanic's Lien is a claim made against a property by a contractor or another professional supplier of labor or materials for work on that property. A lien is designed to protect contractors in the construction profession from a lack of payment by the property owner for services rendered.

Meeting Item

In Procore, a Meeting Item (also called an 'agenda item') is a single, distinct topic on a meeting agenda. If you are facilitating a meeting using the Project level Meetings tool, you can add categorized or uncategorized meeting items to any meeting that you create.

Milestone Schedule

A Milestone Schedule shows important events along a construction project's path to completion. Milestones can be of differing significance (for example, major or minor). A major milestone highlights the start or end of a significant phase or progress point, such as starting the bidding phase or starting construction.

Model

A Model is a 3D model that is drawn or constructed as a learning activity prior to starting the building process.

Month-to-Date

Month-to-Date (MTD) is a phrase that represents the time period from the beginning of a calendar month up to, but not including, the current date of that month. For example, if today was January 15, the MTD period on January 15 would be January 1 through January 14.

Multiple Client Contracts

In Procore, the phrase Multiple Client Contracts refers to a project delivery method where specialty contractors of various disciplines (for example, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and so on) contract directly with a General Contract/Client to complete specific elements of work.

Multiple Fundings

In Procore, the phrase Multiple Fundings refers to a project delivery method where multiple contractors of various disciplines (for example, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and so on) contract directly with the entity associated with a funding source to complete specific elements of work.

Multiple Prime Contracts

In Procore, the phrase Multiple Prime Contracts refers to a project delivery method where multiple contractors of various disciplines (for example, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and so on) contract directly with a Project Owner or the Owner's Construction Manager (CM) to complete specific elements of work.

N

Non-Commitment Cost

In Procore, a Non-Commitment Cost (NCC) is a cost that is NOT included on the line items of a purchase order or subcontract. The cost is also an amount that is different from a cost submitted on a Potential Change Order (PCO).

Non-Conforming Work

Non-Confirming Work is any work that does not meet the stated requirements in the contract.

North American Numbering Plan

The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan comprised of 25 regions in 20 countries. See nationalnanpa.com.

Notice of Award

A Notice of Award (NOA or NoA) is a formal written or electronic document issued by an Owner (or an Owner's Construction Manager (CM)) to notify a successful bidder of that bidder's selection for a contract award.

Notice to Proceed

A Notice to Proceed (NTP) is a formal written or electronic document issued by an Owner (or an Owner's Construction Manager (CM)) to notify a contractor of the contract's official start date for work on a construction project.

O

Obligee

An Obligee is a person or party to whom another person or party is bound by a legal agreement.

OAC Meeting

An Owner-Architect-Contract (OAC) Meeting is a standard meeting where the project owner, the architect on the design team, and the general contractor.

Online Transaction Processing

Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) is a data warehousing term used to describe transaction-oriented applications.

Over/Under

In Procore, Over/Under refers to the net difference between what you expect to be the total cost of completion and the projected budget amount.

Overbilling

Overbilling refers to a practice where contractors bill for contracted labor and materials prior to that work actually being completed. For example, during a billing cycle, a contractor completes 20% of a project but bills their customer for 30%. That extra 10% is the overbilled amount.

Owner-Architect-Contractor

Owner-Architect-Contractor (OAC) is a construction acronym. Often used in the context of an OAC Meeting.

Owner-Managed Construction

Owner-Managed Construction is a form of Construction Management (CM) where an individual or organization performs all of the required services using its own, in-house staff.

Owner

The term Owner refers to the construction project owner who is the contracting authority over a construction job.

Owner Change

An Owner Change refers to an event initiated by a request from the construction project’s owner.

Owner Invoice

An Owner Invoice is an application for payment, typically submitted by a General Contractor (GC) or Construction Manager (CM) to an Owner to provide an itemized record of the amount due for work performed. In Procore, an owner invoice is equivalent to an accounts receivable invoice.

Owner's Representative

An Owner's Representative is an employee or contracted consultant hired to represent the owner's interest(s) on a project team.

P

Parallel Approval

In Procore, Parallel Approval is a type of approval process that you can set up on a submittal workflow to provide assigned the 'Submitter' and 'Approver' role in the submittal workflow with the ability to submit their responses (for example, Approve, Reject, and so on.) concurrently.

Parent Job

A Parent Job is a construction project that has been designated as the 'parent' for one or more sub-jobs.

Pay App

the term invoice is used in place of Pay App.

Payment Application

In Procore, the term Payment Application has been replaced by Invoice.

Payment Schedule

In Australia and New Zealand, a payment schedule is a legal notice that is served on a claimant in response to a claim for payment

Penalty

A penalty is a corrective financial measure that may be imposed when one party on a contract fails to fulfill its contractual obligation. A penalty is typically imposed by one party when the other party is in breach of contract.

Pending Revised Contract

The term Pending Revised Contract (PRC) refers to a calculated column in the 'Contract Summary Report' section of a purchase order in Procore's Commitments tool. To calculate the value displaying in this column, Procore adds the amount from the 'Revised Committed' column and the 'Pending Change Orders' column.

Performance Bond

A Performance Bond is a pledge issued by a surety guaranteeing that a project will be satisfactorily completed by a contractor.

Permission Levels

In Procore, Permission Levels are comprised of a set of permissions that allow users to perform a collection of related tasks in a Procore tool. The default permission levels in Procore are None, Read Only, Standard, and Admin.

Permissions Template

In Procore, a Permissions Template is a set of role-based permissions that can be assigned to one or more Procore users. The permission settings in a template define what actions users can perform and what information they can view in each Procore tool

Phased Construction

Phased Construction refers to an incremental approach where various tasks associated with the design phase and construction phase are performed simultaneously to deliver the project faster.

Plans

See Drawings.

Post-Construction Phase

The Post-Construction Phase of a project occurs after the project is complete. Post-construction services can include tasks such as final site cleanup, coordinating move-in guarantee/warranty follow-up, project archiving, and other administrative activities that ensure a smooth transition of the structure into its intended use.

Potential Change Order

A Potential Change Order (PCO) is created to track a change in a work condition when that change is expected to result in extra work and/or extra cost that is over and above the agreed-upon cost in a contract.

Pre-Design Phase

The Pre-Design Phase is a period that occurs after a project has funding, but before the actual design work begins. During the pre-design phase, an architect typically works with an Owner (or Owner's Representative) to discover the overall project vision, analyze space, document existing conditions, define the project intention and scope, and discuss creative ideas. The goal of the pre-design phase is to establish a preliminary vision for the actual design process.

Prime Contract

A Prime Contract is a legal agreement between contracted parties. In a single, two-party prime contract, the Owner financing the construction project is called the client or principal. The party being paid to ensure completion of work is called the general, primary, or main contractor. In Procore, you can either create a single prime contract for a construction project or you can also divide the scope of work for a single project between multiple prime contracts.

Prime Contract Change Order

In Procore, a Prime Contract Change Order (PCCO) is a change order that affects the prime contract. A two-tier change order setup typically consists of a bundle of Potential Change Orders (PCOs) that must be approved by the Owner. A three-tier change order setup typically consists of a bundle of Change Order Requests (CORs) that must be approved by the owner.

Prime Contractor

A contractor, often a General Contractor (GC) that has a contract with an Owner.

Procore Administrator

A Procore Administrator (also call the Company Administrator) is the person, or people, at your company who is responsible for managing the Procore application in your environment. These individuals are granted 'Admin' level permission on both the Company and Project level tools in Procore.

Procore for Desktop

Procore for Desktop (P4D) was a legacy product replaced by Procore Drive.

Production Rate

The production rate refers to the amount of work that can be produced during a given period of time. For example, if a crew installed 120 cubic yards of concrete in 30 labor hours, the production rate would be 4 cubic yard per hour (120 ÷ 30 = 4).

Production Quantities

Production quantities are a measurable amount of work on a construction project. For example, cubic yards of concrete, quantity of light fixtures, or linear feet of piping. In Procore, there are two types of production quantities Budgeted Production Quantities and Installed Production Quantities.

Professional Services

Professional Services are provided by an industry expert or firm that possesses specialized occupational competence, certificates, degrees, or licenses to sell knowledge and expertise to another party for a fee. In construction, Professional Services span a wide variety of disciplines such as design services, dispute resolution, general contracting, facilities management, financial management, project management, safety, sustainability, and more.

Program

A Program is a plan of action that typically also possesses the goal of accomplishing a clear business objective. In Procore, a company can add custom program names to organize their Procore projects so they are in alignment with an organization's unique program objective. For example, a company may organize their projects by region (e.g., Northeast, Southwest, etc.), others may organize projects by business sector (e.g., Federal Contracts, Commercial Projects, Residential Projects, etc,).

Program Management

Program Management is the focused application of strategic expertise, techniques, and tools to manage the long-term goals, initiatives, and objectives of a program. A program manager is responsible for identifying dependent projects, overseeing those groups of projects, managing relationships between stakeholders, and guiding these efforts to meet long-term objectives.

Progress Billing

Progress Billing refers to an invoicing practice that contractors use to bill a client based on how much of how much work is created each billing period. An example of progress billing is submitting an invoice for 25% of the contract's value when 25% of the work is complete.

Progress Billing Contact

For Procore customers in the United States using Procore's Progress Billings tool, a Progress Billing Contact is a person who ensures that a progress billing is submitted to an upstream contractor for payment. In Procore, a progress billing contact is always an employee of the designated 'Contract Company' on a purchase order or subcontract. The contract company is the party responsible for performing work and/or supplying materials for a project. In Procore, the term progress billing contact is synonymous with the term invoice contact.

Progress Meeting

A Progress Meeting is a regularly scheduled opportunity led by a project's Architect, Owner's Representative, or Construction Manager (CM) and attended by the General Contractor (GC) and relevant consultant(s) to receive construction progress reports and photos and to discuss issues raised about the cost, design, safety, and other issues related to a construction project's progress.

Progress Payment

A Progress Payment (also called a Drawdown Payment) refers to the contractual practice of paying contractors in installments—either at different stages in the construction process for completion of the work or for the amount of work completed up to the point that a contractor submits an invoice.

Project

The term Project refers to an organized, collaborative, and phased effort to accomplish an Owner's contractual objectives for altering, improving, or otherwise developing all or part of an asset.

Project Budget

A Project Budget is the allotted amount of money available to spend on a specific construction project. In Procore, the Budget tool is used to track a project's anticipated costs and expenses throughout the construction process.

Project Cost

Project Cost refers to the actual amount of money spent on a specific construction project.

Project Executive

A Project Executive (PX or Px) is an individual with responsibility for high-level supervision and direction of the work on a construction project.

Project Management

Project Management is the application of expertise, techniques, and tools for managing the short-term goals, initiatives, and objectives associated with the design and construction tasks for a specific project. A project manager can be an individual or a Construction Manager (CM) who is responsible for identifying required tasks, overseeing the completion of those tasks, managing relationships between contractors and subcontractors, and guiding these efforts to meet the project Owner's objectives.

Project Management Plan

A Project Management Plan (PMP) is prepared by the Construction Manager (CM) and approved by the Owner. The PMP defines the Owner's goals and expectations including the scope of work, budget, schedule, and quality and the strategies for fulfilling the project's contractual requirements.

Project Permissions Template

A Project Permissions Template is a set of role-based permissions that can be assigned to one or more Procore users in a project. The permission settings in a project permissions template define what actions users can perform and what information they can view in each Procore Project level tool. There are two types of project permissions templates in Procore: Project Specific Permissions Templates and Global Permissions Templates.

Project Procedures Manual

A Project Procedures Manual (PPM) is a document that details a project's structure, setup, and administration requirements. This includes detailing the functional roles and responsibilities of key participants, defining the scope and limits of authority, outlining key project activities and phases, and providing participants with the necessary administrative forms, policies, guidelines, and process controls for managing correspondence, documents, quality, safety, and other administrative standards.

Project Specific Permissions Template

In Procore, a Project Specific Permissions Template can only be assigned to a user who has been added to the corresponding project's Directory tool. See also Permissions Template and Global Permissions Template.

Project Team

A Project Team is a group of individuals and organizations working collaboratively to achieve an Owner's objective. On a typical construction project, a project team consists of an Owner, an Architect or Designer, and a Construction Manager (CM). Later, other members are added to the team, such as the General Contractor (GC) and other contractors (such as specialty contractors, subcontractors, and so on).

Punch List

A Punch List is a list of work items that must be completed to conform to the project's contract specifications. It is typically prepared by an owner, architect, or general contractor during a visual inspection of a job site when the project is near completion. A punch list provides contractors with a list of items that must be completed in an allotted time period for the project to be considered fully complete.

Purchase Order

In Procore, a Purchase Order (PO) is a documented financial commitment that details the types, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products or services. As part of the procurement process, purchase orders are created by a 'buyer' (for example, a general contractor) and issued to a 'seller' (for example, a subcontractor) to cover the cost of a contract. Once accepted by the 'seller,' a purchase order represents an agreement between the two parties

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Q

Quality

Quality refers to a standard by which a project and its deliverables conform to the agreement, expectations, requirements, and specifications of an owner's project. Although quality standards and definitions differ from project to project, the state of quality in construction generally achieve when a project is generally free of accidents, cost overruns, and defects.

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance (QA) refers to a set of systems and controls put in place to instill confidence that contractual requirements will be met.

Quality Control

Quality Control (QC) refers to the daily responsibility of an individual or business to ensure that its products and deliverables are in compliance with applicable legal, ethical, and regulatory standards. It involves the continuous review, certification, evaluation, inspection, and testing of components, products, techniques, and participants.

Quality Management

Quality Management (QM) refers to the formalized program that oversees the Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) functions to ensure that a construction project achieves the required standards of quality throughout the project delivery process.

Quick Response Code

A Quick Response Code (QR Code or QRC) is a two-dimensional, matrix-style barcode label that can be read by an optical reader and contains information about the item to which it is affixed. In Procore, you can generate and print QR codes for different uses in the Procore web application and then read the codes from your mobile device using the Procore for iOS app.

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R

Real-Time Appearance Based Mapping

A Real-Time Appearance Based Mapping (RTAB Mapping) is the practice of creating a map of a specific environment created by using a technique based on a global loop-closure detection. Also known as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM).

Record Drawings

A Record Drawing is similar to an As-Built Drawing, in that it illustrates the constructed end project. However, a record drawing is typically prepared by an architect whereas an as-built drawing is submitted by a contractor at the end of a job.

Related Items

In Procore, a Related Item is a link between two Procore objects. It is an option that's available in many Procore tools, such as Commitments, Documents, RFIs, Submittals, and Transmittals. For example, if you are creating a submittal, you might add a Procore drawing of the installation location or a photo of the item to be installed as a related item on the submittal. If you are adding a new punch item, you might link a Potential Change Order (PCO) or a Commitment Change Order (CCO) as a related item, so the subcontractor can view the costs associated with the punch item.

Request for Information

In construction, the term Request for Information (RFI) refers to a business process initiated by a contractor (for example a general contractor, subcontractor, or supplier) to request information or raise concerns that must be formally answered by that contractor's client or the project's architect. The client or architect's answer can change the project's scope of work and may also require approval when it affects contract costs.

Request for Quote

A Request for Quote (RFQ) is a business process where a client requests a price quote from a collaborator, such as a subcontractor, vendor, or another supplier. The collaborator reviews the client's RFQ requirements and then responds by providing a written price quote. In Procore, RFQs are created after a change event occurs and helps the client to avoid incurring unexpected and costly alterations or substitutions.

Requisition

A Requisition is a bill or invoice that is submitted to a customer or client. In Procore, the term subcontractor invoice is used in place of 'requisition.'

Responsible Contractor

The term Responsible Contractor refers to the contractor who is legally obligated to oversee the completion of the work on a construction project.

Retainage

In Procore, the term Retainage refers to the practice of withholding of a portion of a contract amount until the work is deemed satisfactorily complete. The withheld amount is specified in an agreement between the contracting party (the party paying for the work) and a contracted party (the person or company performing the work). A common practice is to withhold 5-10% of a contract's total value until a milestone is reached. Then, the withheld amount can be released as a progress payment. When work is substantially complete, the withheld amount can be released as a final payment.

Retention

In Procore, the term Retention is used only when referring to the sliding scale retention feature designed for Procore custo

mers in Australia . In this usage, retention refers the portion of a contract amount due that is withheld from a contracted party (the party doing the work) by the contracting party (the party paying for the work). The amounts withheld are based on a set of variable standards defined in the contract's scope of work. It is an industry-wide best practice and, in some regions, legally regulated to assure that contractors and subcontractors meet all of the job's contractual obligations.

RFI Manager

In Procore, an RFI Manager is the person responsible for overseeing an RFI throughout its lifecycle. This person is the gatekeeper between the RFI's Creator and the Design Team and is responsible for reviewing all Draft RFIs and either (1) providing a response to the RFIs and closing them out, or (2) opening the draft RFIs, assigning them a number, and then assigning them to the appropriate member of the design team, who then provides a response to the RFI's question.

Rolling Schedule

See Short Term Construction Activity Plan.

Rough Order of Magnitude

Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) is a rough numerical cost estimate that is used in the construction industry to gain a rough idea of the cost(s) to complete a project. ROM estimates are typically provided by a knowledgeable, high-level expert during the initiation/beginning phases of a project when there is still a high level of uncertainty about the project. ROM estimates are understood to have a lower level of accuracy than a definitive/conclusive estimate. Procore also provides an option for tracking potential revenue for change events using a Revenue ROM option that lets you use the latest cost amounts when changes are out of scope.

S

Safe List

See Allowed List.

Schedule of Values

A Schedule of Values (SOV) is a list of line items that details all of the agreed-upon costs (for example, labor, materials, and so on) on a project. Abbreviated as SOV, it itemizes the contract amount into individual pay items to show how the entire contract sum is allocated to all of the project's work. An SOV is also based on the project's approved budget and commonly used to determine progress payments to the contractor(s).

Scope

See Scope of Work.

Scope Changes

Scope Changes are formal decisions that modify a contract's scope of work by expanding or reducing the work requirements in a construction contract. A scope change is often associated with a change order.

Scope of Work

A Scope of Work (SOW) refers to a written agreement that describes the work to be performed on a project, who is responsible for performing the work, and the materials and techniques to be used to complete the work. It also defines the delivery method and payment schedule. It is sometimes called a Statement of Work (SOW).

Security Assertion Markup Language

The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open-standard, XML-based data format technology that organization's commonly used to exchange user authentication and data authorization information between an identity provider and a web application or service provider. The Procore web application can be configured to work with different SAML-based Single-sign on (SSO) integrations.

Segment

A segment is a discrete category that an organization uses to break down its work into manageable components. In Procore's Work Breakdown Structure, segments are the building blocks for creating your company's budget code structure.

Segment Item

A segment item is a member component of a segment. In Procore's Work Breakdown Structure, a segment item is always created within a segment.

Self-Performing Contractor

A Self-Performing Contractor is a contractor who is hired to complete all or a portion of the work on a project and uses their own direct employees to complete that work, instead of hiring subcontractors.

Sequential Approval

Sequential Approval routes a submittal to the people assigned the 'Approver' role in sequential order. In a submittal workflow, each 'Approver' must be set on a separate workflow step.

Service Account

A Service Account is a dedicated user account that is created to manage a system's login access to a database or system. In Procore, one example of a tool that requires a dedicated service account is the hh² synchronization client.

Set Date

A Set Date refers to the date that a Drawing was issued by the design authority. In Procore, a set date is different from the date it was uploaded to Procore.

Shop Drawings

Shop Drawings refer to a set of drawings, diagrams, illustrations, and schedules that include specific technical details and instructions that address the appearance, dimensions, materials, and placement of a component so an architect can compare them to the specifications. Shop drawings are contractually required and are typically prepared by a contractor or supplier to explain how the manufacturing or installation crew must fabricate and/or install the component.

Short Interval Schedule

A Short Interval Schedule (SIS) is a method of collecting task data from foreman and crews, breaking those tasks down into a manageable work package, and then aligning the work to the project's milestones. The intent of an SIS schedule is to produce an advanced plan for one (1) or few weeks of work in order to identify task constraints and dependencies, determine which tasks can be performed concurrently, and ensure maximum productivity.

Short Term Construction Activity Plan

See Short Interval Schedule (SIS).

Site Instruction

A Site Instruction (SI) is a formal instruction sent from the head contractor that contains directives for contractors working on a project.

Sliding Scale Retention

Sliding scale retention refers to the portion of a contract amount due that is withheld from a contracted party (the party doing the work) by the contracting party (the party paying for the work). The amounts withheld are based on a set of variable standards defined in the contract's scope of work. It is an industry-wide best practice in Australia, as well as legally regulated, to assure contractors and subcontractors meet all of the job's contractual obligations.

Snag List

See Punch List.

Special Conditions

Refers to the Special Conditions of the Contract for Construction. See Supplementary General Conditions.

Special Consultant

A Special Consultant is a professional designation for an individual or a firm with specialized knowledge and expertise who provides work or advice requiring particular expertise, knowledge, and/or qualifications to perform a special assignment on a short-term basis.

Specialty Contractor

A Specialty Contractor is an individual or business who possesses specialized skills, knowledge, expertise, and is licensed to perform work for a specialized building classification. Examples of specialty contractor classifications include concrete, decorating, demolition, drywall, electrical, elevator, fencing, landscaping, plumbing, refrigeration, sanitation, and more.

Specifications

Specifications are written descriptions that provide a detailed description and define the standards of workmanship for a specific contractual requirement. A specification is typically written by an architect and/or a design team to describe the necessary materials, the scope of work, installation process, and level of quality that satisfies a requirement.

Startup

Startup refers to the transitional period between completion and operation/occupancy of an asset. In this period, systems and subsystems have been installed and undergo testing to ensure they operate in compliance with the project's specifications. In addition, the Owner's operations staff familiarizes itself with operational requirements before taking over the systems and placing the asset into service for its intended use.

Subcontract

A Subcontract is a legal agreement where a party on a prime contract engages a third-party (the subcontractor) to perform all or part of the work defined in the prime contract.

Subcontractor

A Subcontractor (Sub) is a business or an individual that is awarded a contract by a principal, general contractor, or another contractor to perform a portion of the work on another existing contract.

Subcontractor Invoice

A Subcontractor Invoice is a request for payment submitted by a business or individual who has entered into a binding agreement with another contracting party. In Procore, a subcontractor invoice is an equivalent term for a payable invoice.

Subcontractor Schedule of Values

A Subcontractor Schedule of Values (SSOV or Subcontractor SOV) provides downstream contractors with a way to provide a detailed breakdown of specific work items on a subcontract or purchase order to an upstream contractor.

Sub Job

In Procore, a sub job allows you to compartmentalize job costs within a project. Once they are added to Procore (or imported via an integrated ERP system) you can monitor your project budgets and costs against them to help you better determine if you are making money on your project. For example, if your project is a multi-story commercial building, you might create a separate sub job for the build of each floor. Or, if your project is a multi-unit development, you might create a separate sub job for each individual structure.

Submittals

A submittal refers to the written and/or physical information provided by a responsible contractor (i.e., contractors and subs) to the general contractor. This information is submitted to the design team for approval of equipment, materials, etc. before they are fabricated and delivered to the project. Submittals can be presented in various formats, such as shop drawings, cut sheets on equipment, and material samples. Submittals are required primarily for the architect and engineer to verify that the correct products and quantities will be installed on the project in compliance with the design documents/contract documents.

Submittal Manager

In Procore, a submittal manager is a person responsible for overseeing a submittal throughout its lifecycle. If you create a submittal and have 'Standard' or 'Admin' level permission to the Submittals tool, your name appears as the 'Submittal Manager' by default. However, users with 'Admin' level permission to the Submittals tool have the ability to assign the submittal manager role to any Procore user who has been granted 'Standard' or 'Admin' level permission to the Submittals tool (Note: Users with 'Standard' permission do not have permission to change the submittal manager). The 'Submittal Manager' field lets you change ownership of a submittal when the person who created a submittal (or that submittal's current manager) is no longer a member of the project team.

Submittal Package

A submittal package is a container that stores one or more submittals. Typically, a general contractor creates submittal packages that list all of the individual submittals specific to a particular trade or subcontractor. For example, one might create a submittal package to contain all of the plumbing-related submittals in a commercial building project.

Submittal Schedule Calculations

Submittal Schedule Calculations is a back end configuration option in Procore where the estimated response due dates are automatically calculated with a predefined lead time (for example, five (5) days). This calculation helps to facilitate timely responses from designated reviewers in the submittal's approval workflow.

Submittal Workflow

In Procore, a submittal workflow defines the group of individuals who are responsible for reviewing and approving an individual submittal. Each submittal created in Procore can have a different submittal workflow. In addition, designated members of a submittal workflow can consist of a submitter and one or more approvers.

Submittal Workflow Template

In Procore, a submittal workflow template provides users with 'Admin' level permission on the Submittals tool with the ability to define the submitter(s) and approver(s) for your project's submittal review process. You can create multiple workflow templates to suit the specific needs of your review process.

Submitter

When using Procore to manage your project's submittals process, a submitter is a term that identifies the person who has provided the information contained within a submittal (for example, drawings, plans, documents, and so on.) to the general contractor so that the design team can review and approve the submittal. Typically, the person designated as being in the submitter role on a submittal is a contact that works for the responsible contractor (for example, a subcontractor or a construction manager).

Substantial Completion

Substantial Completion is a legal term that refers to the stage where the work on a construction project is certified as being sufficiently complete and in compliance with the contract, such that the Owner can begin occupying or otherwise using the developed asset for its intended purpose.

Supplemental Services

See Additional Services.

Supplementary General Conditions

Supplementary General Conditions refer to formal modifications to the General Conditions on a construction contract. When formally issued by an Owner, Supplementary General Conditions are prepared in a separate document, such as an amendment or addendum, and its provisions supersede the General Conditions of the contract.

Switch Overlay

A mode a user can be in when using the Drawing Comparison functionality in the Drawings tool. When the user is comparing 2 different versions of a drawing, there is an option to view each version individually as an “overly." The user can click "Switch Overlay" to view the other version of the drawing.

T

Tax ID

In the United States, see Employer Identification Number, Federal Identification Number, or Federal Tax ID.

T&M Ticket

A T&M Ticket is a commonly used paper form that captures the details of an employer's request for a collaborator to perform out-of-scope work. Short for 'Time and Materials', it details a contractor or subcontractor's expenses—such as the use of materials and equipment, labor cost, and any markup for profit. In Procore, a T&M Ticket provides these collaborators with a digital method to document and track out-of-scope expenditures to ensure that they get paid.

Tags/Keywords

In Procore, a number of tools let you add tags/keywords to a record. When you have a large number of records, this makes it easier for users to use the tool's search feature to find the records marked with those tags/keywords.

Testing

Testing refers to the formal application of a specific procedure or set of procedures to observe the performance, reliability, and quality of a deliverable to ensure the component or other deliverable has been assembled, fabricated, and installed in the manner prescribed using the appropriate standard of workmanship.

Timecard

In Procore, the term Timecard is used to refer to a timecard created in the Company level Timecard tool. When a timecard entry is created with a different Procore tool (for example, the 'Timecards' section of the project's Daily Log tool, the Timesheets tools, and the My Time mobile app), it is called a Timecard Entry.

Timecard Entry

In Procore, the term Timecard Entry refers to a single timekeeping line item entry for an employee or worker in the 'Timecards' section of the project's Daily Log tool, the Timesheets tools, and the My Time mobile app.

Timesheet

In Procore, the term Timesheet refers to a collection of individual Timecards and Timecard Entries for a single date.

Tool Administrator

In Procore, a Tool Administrator is a Procore user that has been granted 'Admin' level permissions on a specific company or project level tool. For example, if you have been granted 'Admin' permissions on the Project Level Budget tool, you can perform all of the available tasks and also configure settings in the Project level Budget tool.

Trade Contractors

Trade Contractors (also called Special Trade Contractors) are individuals or businesses who possess specialized expertise in a building craft or trade (such as carpentry, electrical, HVAC, and others) who are contracted to perform specific tasks on a construction project.

Trade-Off Study

A Trade-Off Study (also called a Trade Study, Alternatives Analysis, or Merit Analysis) is a comparative analysis that examines the cost, schedule, and quality impacts of exchanging or substituting one construction method and/or design component with another. The goal of a trade-off study is to solve a complex problem using a variety of criteria to demonstrate the benefits and risks associated with the exchange or substitution to decision-makers.

Transfer

A Transfer refers to a change in ownership for the performance of work.

Transmittal

In Procore, a Transmittal is a record that acts much like a packing slip to record the documents, drawings, goods, materials, samples, or supplies that are transferred between entities on a project.

U

Underbilling

Underbilling refers to a practice where contractors bill less for the labor, materials, and services than has actually been completed during a billing period.

Unique Identifier

A Unique Identifier is a string that identifies an entry in a system. The unique identifier for a Procore user account is the user's email address. This means that two users cannot have the same email address.

Unit of Measure

In Procore, a Unit of Measure (UOM) can be created to express these quantities for use with Procore's Financial Management tools: time, amount, length, area, volume, or mass. For example, hours, each, square foot.

Upstream Collaborator

In Procore, an upstream collaborator is a person, business, or entity that entered into a legal agreement with your company to perform work on a construction project. The term, upstream collaborator, is used to represent the person, business, or entity that is paying a Procore company account holder to perform contracted work.

Upstream Invoice

In Procore, upstream invoices include owner invoices that bill against prime contracts, funding invoices that bill against fundings, and GC/Client invoices that bill against client contracts.

V

Value Engineering

Value Engineering (VE) refers to a phased set of cost-control procedures that strive to optimize the value of a project by researching, evaluating, developing, and presenting lower-cost alternatives (for example, materials, solutions, and techniques) without compromising the function, performance, quality, or reliability of the finished asset.

Virtual Business Card

A Virtual Business Card (vCard) is an electronic business card in the VCF file format.

Virtual Contact File

The Virtual Contact File (.vcf or VCF) is the standard file format for electronic business cards.

Virtual Design and Construction

Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) refers to the broad approach of creating a virtual model to visualize the construction and final product. In VDC, a model is created to help a team analyze the design and cost schedule, test processes, and other aspects of the construction project.

W

Warranty

A Warranty is a written document issued by a manufacturer or service provider that provides a guarantee of quality. When a product or service has a defect. or fails to meet that quality, the purchaser in possession of the warranty can enact the guarantee to replace or repair the product or service. In construction, express warranties are issued by contractors and part of the construction agreement's documents.

WBS Outline Code

In third-party project management tools (for example, Microsoft Project and Primavera P6), a WBS outline code is an outline numbering convention that uses decimal places to denote the activity hierarchy of a schedule. In Procore, WBS outline codes can be imported into the project's Schedule tool. This imported field is unrelated to Procore's Work Breakdown Structure feature.

Wet Signature

A Wet Signature refers to a physical signature on a paper document. It's a term that's often used to describe whether an authorized document was physically signed with a pen, as opposed to being authorized via an electronic/digital signature (i.e., e-signature).

Whitelist

See Allowed List.

Wildcard Character

In computing, a Wildcard Character is a character that can be typed in a string to represent one (1) or more characters. The most common wildcard character is the asterisk (*), which is frequently used as the end of a partial word to represent one or more characters in a search string. For example, in the Project level RFIs tool, typing door* in the Search field would return search results that might include door, doors, doorframe, doorframes, and doorway.

Witness Statement

A Witness Statement is a statement taken as part of the incident investigation process and is used to better understand what happened, why it happened, and how similar incidents can be prevented in the future.

Work

Work is a term broadly used to describe all of the labor, materials, and equipment connected with altering, constructing, demolishing, preparing, repairing, renovating a building or site in accordance with contract specifications.

Work Breakdown Structure

In Procore, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a feature that provides users with a flexible method for organizing and reporting on financial information. With WBS, Owners, General Contractors, and Specialty Contractors can create a customized framework of unique segments and rules for tagging, tracking, and reporting with Procore's Financial Management tools.

Workflow

In Procore, a Workflow is a process that defines an approval path.

Worker

In Procore, a Worker is a member of a crew and does not have a Procore user account with login credentials for Procore. Workers can only be created and removed in the project's Crews tool. A worker's record consists of a First Name and Last Name. It can also optionally include an Employee ID and Classification. Any worker records created with the project's Crews tool can be viewed and/or edited in the 'Contacts' tab of the Company and Project level Directory tool.

Workforce Assignment

In Procore, a Workforce Assignment allows an employee of your company to manage the people on your workforce by assigning them as resources on projects.

Workforce Request

a Workforce Request allows an employee of your company to submit requests to create a workforce assignment.

X

x-section

Short for Cross-Sectional Area.

Y

Yard of Concrete

One (1) cubic Yard of Concrete equates to 27 cubic feet.

Z

ZIP Code

A Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code is a system of postal codes developed by the United States Postal Service (USPS). See usps.com.

ZIP File

A ZIP File is a common archive file format developed in 1989 that supports data compression.

Zoning

Zoning refers to governmental laws or regulations that limit how property is used in specific geographic areas.

Glossary

As the voice of the upstream oil and natural gas industry in Canada, we provide a comprehensive glossary of industry terms

Abandonment

The process of changing a once active well (one that will no longer produce oil or natural gas), to a state where it can be left indefinitely. All equipment that was used to produce oil and gas is removed and work is completed on the well to ensure that it will not cause harm to any environmental or human surroundings.

Accelerated capital cost allowance (CCA)

CCA is essentially a yearly deduction allowed by Revenue Canada (CRA) to expense a portion of an asset. For example if you a purchase a computer you are not allowed to expense it all in one year since the computer will likely last at least 3 years or longer. A useful life is assigned to an asset and an annual rate at which they should be expensed is applied. An accelerated CCA allows the company to shorten the number of years of an assets useful life, enabling them to claim the capital cost in a shorter period of time.

Active Well

A well that is currently producing oil or natural gas.

API Gravity

The American Petroleum Institute gravity, or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light a petroleum liquid is compared to water: if its API gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter and floats on water; if less than 10, it is heavier and sinks. API gravity can be used to calculate how many barrels of crude oil can be produced per metric ton. Given that the weight of an oil plays an integral role in establishing its market value, API is an important measure.

Barrel

A standard barrel of oil holds about 42 U.S. gallons or roughly 159 litres. The barrel was adopted in the early days of U.S. oil and gas production as a way to transport oil. Today, we continue to use it to measure transport volumes and pricing around the world.

Battery

Equipment to process or store crude oil from one or more wells.

Benchmarking Measures

Data and information used as a point of reference against which industry performance is measured.

Benzene

A light aromatic hydrocarbon, which occurs naturally as a part of oil and natural gas activity. It’s considered to be a non-threshold carcinogen and is an occupational and public health concern.

Bitumen

Heavy, viscous oil that must be processed extensively to convert it into a crude oil before it can be used by refineries to produce gasoline and other petroleum products.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

The process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from the use of fossil fuels before it is released into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide is then stored in carefully selected geological rock formation located below the earth’s surface.

Carbon Leakage

Carbon leakage is a shift of greenhouse gas emissions from one part of the globe to another, so from one country to another. This occurs when companies choose to move oil and natural gas production to a region with lower costs, but often fewer or no environmental regulations. As a result, there is no reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions.

Centrifugal Pump

A type of pump used to transfer fluids and the most common pump used in the oil and gas industry. Centrifugal pumps move fluid by rotation and draw fluid into the suction end of the pump and then, through centrifugal force, forces it out of the discharge end.

Coalbed Methane (CBM)

Natural gas generated and trapped in coal seams.

Condensate

Hydrocarbons, usually produced with natural gas, which are liquid at normal pressure and temperature.

Conventional Crude Oil

Petroleum found in liquid form, flowing naturally or capable of being pumped without further processing or dilution.

C-ring Tanks

A large, onsite containment system to safely store water used for or produced from oil and gas production.

Criteria Air Contaminants (CAC)

Emissions of various air pollutants that affect our health and contribute to air pollution problems such as smog. CACs are tracked by Environment Canada.

Cumulative Effects

Changes to the environment caused by an activity in combination with other past, present and reasonably foreseeable human activities.

Cumulative Production

Production of oil or gas to date.

Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS)

Injecting steam into a well in a heavy-oil reservoir which introduces heat and thins the oil, allowing it to flow through the same well.

Declining balance

In accounting, the declining balance method is an accelerated depreciation system of recording larger depreciation expenses during the earlier years of an asset’s useful life while recording smaller depreciation during its later years. The depreciation is not equal each year, rather there are larger depreciations in the beginning and smaller deprecations in later years.

Density

The physical property density is the ratio between mass and volume. The density of oil is measured in kilograms per cubic metre (kg/m3) or degrees on the American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity scale. In Western Canada oil up to 900 kg/m3 is considered light to medium crude — oil above this density is deemed as heavy oil or bitumen.

Development Well

A well that is drilled in or next to a proven part of a pool to optimize petroleum production. Development wells are drilled after hydrocarbons have been discovered by successful exploration.

Dilbit

Dilbit (diluted bitumen) is a bitumen diluted with one or more lighter petroleum products called diluents, such as natural-gas condensates like naphtha. Diluting bitumen makes it much easier to transport, for example in pipelines.

Diluent

Lighter viscosity petroleum products that are used to dilute bitumen for transportation in pipelines.

Directional Well

A well drilled at an angle from the vertical by using a slanted drilling rig or by deflecting the drill bit; directional wells are used to drill multiple wells from a common drilling pad or to reach a subsurface location beneath land where drilling cannot be done.

Discovery Well

The first oil or gas well drilled in a new field.

Downstream Sector

The refining and marketing sector of the petroleum industry. (E.g. refineries, gas stations)

Ecosystem

An ecosystem consists of a biological community of organisms together with their physical environment.

They can be marine, aquatic, or terrestrial.

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

Any method that increases oil production by using techniques or materials that are not part of normal pressure maintenance or water flooding operations. For example, natural gas can be injected into a reservoir to “enhance” or increase oil production.

Established Reserves

The portion of the discovered resource base that is estimated to be recoverable using known technology under present and anticipated economic conditions. Includes proved plus a portion of probable (usually 50 per cent).

Exploratory Well

A well into an area where petroleum has not been previously found or one targeted for formations above or below known reservoirs.

Extraction

A process unique to the oil sands industry, in which bitumen is separated from its source (oil sands).

Feedstock

Raw material supplied to a refinery or oil sands upgrader. For example, crude oil is a feedstock in a refining process which produces gasoline.

Field

The surface area above one or more underground petroleum pools sharing the same or related infrastructure.

Flaring/Venting

The controlled burning (flare) or release (vent) of natural gas that can’t be processed for sale or use because of technical or economic reasons.

Flow Line

Pipe, usually buried, through which oil or gas travels from the well to a processing facility.

Flowback

A water-based fluid from the fracking process that flows back to the earth’s surface after completing the hydraulic fracturing of a shale gas reserve.

Fracking - see Hydraulic fracturing

A government-regulated technology used safely for more than 60 years to recover shale or tight natural gas that is trapped in deep underground rock.

Fugitive Emissions

Small leaks, primarily of methane, from valves and other equipment used in drilling and production.

Glycol Dehydrator

Field equipment used to remove water from natural gas by using triethylene glycol or diethylene glycol.

Greenhouse Gas Intensity (GHG Intensity)

The average emission rate of a given greenhouse gas from a specific source. For example: greenhouse gases released per barrel of production.

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

A type of gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation. GHG emissions from oil and natural gas development include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.

Groundwater

Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.

Heavy Crude Oil

Oil with a gravity below 28 degrees API.

Horizontal Drilling

Drilling a well that deviates from the vertical and travels horizontally through a producing layer. See also Directional well.

Hot Water Process

A method for separating bitumen from oil sand using hot water and caustic soda, developed by Karl Clark of the Alberta Research Council.

Hydraulic Fracturing (also called Fracking)

A government-regulated technology used safety for more than 60 years to recover shale or tight natural gas that is trapped in deep underground rock. Also known as fracking, the process of pumping a fluid or gas down a well which causes the surrounding rocks to crack and allows natural gas or oil to be produced from tight formations.

Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids

Are comprised primarily of water and sand (~98.5%) and a small amount of additives (~1.5%).

In Situ

There are two different methods of producing oil from oil sands: open-pit mining and in situ (latin, meaning “in place”) technology. Bitumen close to the surface is mined. Bitumen deep within the ground is produced in situ using specialized extraction techniques.

Inactive Well

A well that has not produced oil or natural gas in 12 months.

Induced Seismicity

Seismic or earthquake activity, which is caused by human activity.

Infill Drilling

Wells drilled between established producing wells on a lease in order to increase production from the reservoir.

Initial Established

Established reserves before production.

Injection Well

An injection well is used to place fluid underground into porous geologic formations. This could be steam, carbon dioxide, water or other substances to help maintain reservoir pressure, heat the oil or lower its viscosity, allowing it to flow to a producing well nearby.

Lease

Legal document giving an operator the right to drill for or produce oil or gas; also, the land on which a lease has been obtained.

Light Crude Oil

Liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature.

Limestone

Calcium carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks in which oil or gas reservoirs are often found.

Lined Pits

Dugouts excavated next to drilling rigs that are lined with impermeable geosynthetic materials to safely store drilling fluids from natural gas or oil fields. In order to protect waterfowl and other wildlife from coming into contact with this water, wire fencing is often used to cover the pit and brightly coloured flagging on the fence perimeter acts as a deterrent.

Liquefaction facilities

Facilities that process natural gas from a gaseous state into a liquid state. Natural gas in a liquid state is called Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The process is completed using a cooling process. The natural gas is super-cooled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 162 degrees Celsius), converting it to LNG. In liquid form, natural gas takes up to 600 times less space than in its gaseous state, making it feasible and more economical for transport over long distances.

Liquefied Natural Gas

Natural gas, when produced and used domestically, is shipped in its vapour form through a network of distribution pipelines to a local distribution company and then delivered to a customer. When natural gas is shipped to a distant foreign market outside of where it is produced, the natural gas needs to ‘shrink in size’ or be compressed in order to ship large volumes economically – this liquefies the natural gas (LNG). The ‘shrinking’ of natural gas reduces its volume by a factor of about 600.

Medium Crude Oil

Liquid petroleum with a density between that of light and heavy crude oil.

Methane

The principal constituent of natural gas; the simplest hydrocarbon molecule, containing one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.

Middle Distillates

Medium-density refined petroleum products, including kerosene, stove oil, jet fuel and light fuel oil.

Midstream

The processing, storage and transportation (primarily pipelines) sector of the petroleum industry.

Mine Tailings

Process water remaining after oil sands mining that is stored in settling basins called tailings ponds

Miscible Flooding

An oil recovery process in which a fluid, capable of mixing completely with the oil it contacts, is injected into an oil reservoir to increase recovery.

Mtpa

Million tonnes per annum or year.

Mud (also Drilling Mud)

Fluid circulated down the drill pipe and up the annulus during drilling to remove cuttings, cool and lubricate the bit, and maintain desired pressure in the well.

Natural Gas Liquids

Liquids obtained during natural gas production, including ethane, propane, butanes and condensate.

Oil Sands

A deposit of sand saturated with bitumen.

Operator

The company or individual responsible for managing an exploration, development or production operation.

Orphan Well

A well or associated site that does not have a legally responsible and/or financially viable party to deal with its decommissioning and reclamation.

Ozone

Ground-level ozone is a colourless gas that forms just above the earth’s surface.

Particulate Matter

Refers to microscopic solid or liquid particles that remain suspended in the air for some time.

Permeability

The capacity of a reservoir rock to transmit fluids; how easily fluids can pass through rock.

Petroleum

A naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbons found in geological formations beneath the earth’s surface that can be refined into a variety of products (e.g. gasoline, diesel).

Pinnacle Reef

A conical formation, higher than it is wide, usually composed of limestone, in which hydrocarbons might be trapped.

Pool

A natural underground reservoir containing an accumulation of petroleum.

Porosity

The volume of spaces within rock that might contain oil and gas (like the amount of water a sponge can hold); the open or void space within rock ・usually expressed as a percentage of the total rock volume. Thus porosity measures the capacity of the rock to hold natural gas, crude oil or water.

Primary Recovery

The production of oil and gas from reservoirs using the natural energy available in the reservoirs and pumping techniques.

Produced Water

Water naturally present in the reservoir that is recovered during oil and gas production.

Prorationing

Government allocation of demand among pools and wells; pipeline allocation of demand among shippers.

Reclamation

The process of restoring the surface area of a well site, access road and related facilities to original conditions.

Reclamation Certified (rec cert)

Well sites that are remediated and reclaimed to the current regulatory standard.

Reformulated Fuels

Gasoline, diesel or other fuels which have been modified to reflect environmental concerns, performance standards, government regulations, customer preferences or new technologies.

Releases

Releases can occur when the structural integrity of a pipeline is compromised. For example, a rupture causing the instantaneous tearing or fracturing of the pipeline material would immediately impair the operation of the pipeline. A leak from an opening, crack or hole in a pipeline may cause some product to be released, but not immediately impair the operation of the pipeline.

Remaining Established

Crude oil reserves known to exist and that are recoverable under current technological and economic conditions.

Reserves

An estimate of the amount of crude oil located in a specific region. Reserves must be accessible with current technology.

Royalty

The owner’s share of production or revenues retained by government or freehold mineral rights holders. In natural gas operations, the royalty is usually based on a percentage of the total production.

Saline Groundwater (Brackish)

Deep groundwater that is high in dissolved salt and unsuitable for domestic or agricultural uses.

Sandstone

A compacted sedimentary rock composed mainly of quartz or feldspar; a common rock in which oil, natural gas and/or water accumulate.

Secondary Recovery

The extraction of additional crude oil, natural gas and related substances from reservoirs through pressure maintenance techniques such as waterflooding and gas injection. Pressure is the key to collecting oil from the natural underground rock formations in which it forms. Secondary oil recovery is employed when the pressure inside the well drops to levels that make primary recovery no longer viable.

Sedimentary Basin

A geographical area, such as the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, in which much of the rock is sedimentary (deposits of sediment that solidify in layers) and therefore likely to contain hydrocarbons.

Seismic Studies

A low impact, non-invasive method of gathering information about the location and characteristics of geological structures beneath the earth’s surface.

Shale

Rock formed from clay. Shale is frequently a “tight” type of rock, having small or widely spaced pores that trap oil or natural gas.

Solution Gas

Natural gas that is found with crude oil in underground reservoirs. When the oil comes to the surface, the gas expands and comes out of the solution.

Sour Gas

Natural gas at the wellhead may contain hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a toxic compound. Natural gas that contains more than one per cent of H2S is called sour gas. About 30 per cent of Canada’s total natural gas production is sour, most of it found in Alberta and northeast British Columbia.

Spills

Spills include accidental release of crude oil, produced water or other hydrocarbon products from well sites, batteries or storage tanks. These spills can affect land, vegetation, bodies of water (e.g. rivers), and groundwater.

Stakeholders

Industry activities often affect surrounding areas and populations. People with an interest in these activities are considered stakeholders. They may include nearby landowners, municipalities, Indigenous communities, recreational land users, other industries, environmental groups, governments and regulators.

Steam Injection

An improved recovery technique in which steam is injected into a reservoir to reduce the viscosity (“thickness”) of the crude oil.

Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)

A recovery technique for extraction of heavy oil or bitumen that involves drilling a pair of horizontal wells one above the other; one well is used for steam injection and the other for production.

Sulphur

A yellow mineral extracted from petroleum for making fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and other products.

Sulphur Dioxide

A major component of a group of airborne contaminants termed “acidifying emissions.”

Sulphur Recovery

Sour gas is processed at recovery plants to extract sulphur for sale to fertilizer manufacturers and other industries in Canada and overseas. The average rate of sulphur recovery at Alberta’s sulphur recovery plants has improved from 97.5 per cent in 1980 to 98.8 per cent in 2000.

Surface Runoff

Water from rain, snowmelt, or other sources, that flows over the land surface, and is a major component of the water cycle.

Surface Water

Water collected on the ground or in a stream, river, lake, sea or ocean.

Suspended Well

A well that is not currently producing oil or gas but has been safely secured and may produce in the future.

Sweet Oil and Gas

Petroleum containing little or no hydrogen sulphide.

Synthetic Crude Oil

A mixture of hydrocarbons, similar to crude oil, derived by upgrading bitumen from oil sands.

Tar Sands

An inaccurate term for oil sands, which are a type of petroleum deposit containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with a form of petroleum called bitumen.

Oil Sands or Tar Sands

The hydrocarbon mixtures found in northern Alberta have historically been referred to as tar, pitch or asphalt. However, ‘oil sands’ is now used most often to describe the naturally occurring bitumen deposits. This helps distinguish it from the other terms, which are associated with distilled or man-made products, such as the mixtures used to pave roads. Oil sands is an accurate term because bitumen, a heavy petroleum product is mixed with the sand. It makes sense to describe the resource as oil sands because oil is what is finally derived from the bitumen.” Source: oilsands.alberta.ca

Tax depreciation

Tax depreciation is the depreciation that can be listed as an expense on a tax return for a given reporting period under the applicable tax laws. Canadian tax law allows the company to deduct part of an assets cost (for example, equipment) from its pre-tax cash flow every year. Assets are considered an expense because they require money to operate and will eventually require replacement. Claiming the cost of using assets each year as an expense reduces the amount of taxable income reported.

Tertiary Recovery

The third major phase of crude oil recovery that involves using more sophisticated techniques, such as steam flooding or injection of chemicals, to increase recovery.

Tight Gas

Gas with very low flow rates. Found in sedimentary layers of rock that are cemented together so tightly that it “greatly hinders” the extraction. Getting tight gas out usually requires enhanced technology like “hydraulic fracturing” where fluid is pumped into the ground to make it more permeable. The National Energy Board estimates Canada has 300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of tight gas in place.

Traps

A mass of porous, permeable rock – sealed on top and both sides by non-porous, impermeable rock – that halts the migration of oil and gas, causing them to accumulate.

Ultimate Potential

An estimate of recoverable reserves that will have been produced by the time all exploration and development activity is completed; includes production-to-date, remaining reserves, development of existing pools and new discoveries.

Undiscovered Recoverable Resources

Those resources estimated to be recoverable from accumulations believed to exist based on geological and geophysical evidence but not yet verified by drilling, testing or production.

Unlined Pits

The ground is excavated to create a dugout to store fresh water.

Upgrading

The process of converting heavy oil or bitumen into synthetic crude oil.

Upstream

The companies that explore for, develop and produce Canada’s petroleum resources are known as the upstream sector of the petroleum industry. Also known as “E & P” –exploration and production.

Vibroseis

An exploration technique of “thumping” the ground with vibrator vehicles to produce seismic shock waves under the earth’s surface. The shaking gets translated into seismic data to provide insights into the subsurface for oil, gas and resource exploration.

Viscosity

The resistance to flow, or “thickness” of a fluid. Honey, for example, has a greater viscosity than water.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Gases and vapours, such as benzene, released by petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, plastics manufacturing and the distribution and use of gasoline; VOCs include carcinogens and chemicals that react with sunlight and nitrogen oxides to form ground-level ozone, a component of smog.

Wellbore

A hole drilled or bored into the earth, usually cased with metal pipe, for the production of gas or oil.

Wells-to-Wheels

The full oil lifecycle from production (wells) to the use of the fuel in a vehicle (wheels). Wells-to-wheels analysis can be used to assess total life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from production to combustion of different crude oils.

West Texas Intermediate

Produced in the United States, WTI is a light sweet crude oil that serves a benchmark grade for global oil pricing.

Western Canada Select

A blend of crude and / or synthetic crude oils shipped from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

Wildcat

An exploration well drilled in an area where no oil or natural gas production exists.