back office
/ˌbæk ˈɒf.ɪs/noun
The back office is the part of an organization that carries out supporting and administrative processes. Back-office software helps staff manage that work and its associated data.
The back office checks the order before it goes to production.
When a customer places an order, more work often starts behind the scenes. Someone checks the details, reserves stock and prepares an invoice. These activities belong to the back office, even when the customer sees little of them.
What does back-office software do?
Back-office software brings together orders, records, documents and tasks. Staff can see what needs doing and which information is available. Glossary · In briefauthorizationAuthorization is the process of determining and enforcing which data and functions a user, device or application may access.Read more determines who may view, change or approve data.
The software can connect to a customer area or external systems. A change made by a customer might then create a task for a staff member. Which steps run automatically and where someone checks the result depend on the process.
Back office and backend
A back office is an organizational function or the application staff use for that work. A Glossary · In briefbackendThe backend is the part of an application that processes data, applies business rules and communicates with other systems on the server. Users usually access it through a frontend or API.Read more is a technical part of software that processes requests, rules and data. A back-office application often has a backend, but the terms describe different things.