Here’s a solid, practical list of acronyms that technical authors use across engineering, IT, defence, compliance, and documentation workflows. I’ve grouped them so you can scan quickly and drop them straight into style guides, onboarding packs, or documentation standards.
Core Documentation & Writing Acronyms
- TOC — Table of Contents
- SOP — Standard Operating Procedure
- WI — Work Instruction
- UG — User Guide
- SME — Subject Matter Expert
- RACI — Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed
- KPI — Key Performance Indicator
- OKR — Objectives and Key Results
- FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions
- TBD / TBC — To Be Determined / To Be Confirmed
Technical & Engineering Acronyms
- API — Application Programming Interface
- SDK — Software Development Kit
- UAT — User Acceptance Testing
- QA — Quality Assurance
- QC — Quality Control
- CI/CD — Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment
- SLA — Service Level Agreement
- NFR — Non‑Functional Requirement
- HLD / LLD — High‑Level Design / Low‑Level Design
- CMDB — Configuration Management Database
Security, Compliance & Governance Acronyms
- ISO — International Organisation for Standardisation
- ISMS — Information Security Management System
- GDPR — General Data Protection Regulation
- PCI DSS — Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
- IAM — Identity and Access Management
- RBAC — Role‑Based Access Control
- DLP — Data Loss Prevention
- SIEM — Security Information and Event Management
- SOP — Standard Operating Procedure (appears in multiple domains)
Project, Delivery & Process Acronyms
- PMO — Project Management Office
- PRD — Product Requirements Document
- BRD — Business Requirements Document
- PID — Project Initiation Document
- RAID — Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies
- BAU — Business As Usual
- EOL / EOS — End of Life / End of Support
- MVP — Minimum Viable Product
- MoSCoW — Must, Should, Could, Won’t
ITIL / ITSM Acronyms (common in your defence/engineering world)
- ITIL — Information Technology Infrastructure Library
- ITSM — IT Service Management
- CAB — Change Advisory Board
- RFC — Request for Change
- SACM — Service Asset and Configuration Management
- IM / PM / CM — Incident, Problem, Change Management
- OLA — Operational Level Agreement
- CSI — Continual Service Improvement
Document Control & Versioning Acronyms
- VCS — Version Control System
- PR — Pull Request
- MR — Merge Request
- REV — Revision
- DCR — Document Change Request
- ECN — Engineering Change Notice
Defence, Aerospace & Engineering (common in your sector)
- SDS — System Design Specification
- SOW — Statement of Work
- CONOPS — Concept of Operations
- ICD — Interface Control Document
- FAT / SAT — Factory Acceptance Test / Site Acceptance Test
- TRR — Test Readiness Review
- SRR / PDR / CDR — System/Preliminary/Critical Design Review