Agency glossary

Business terms

Utilization — % of billable hours. Bench — unassigned specialists. Pipeline — potential deals. Retainer — monthly hour package.

Contracts

SOW — detailed work description. MSA — master agreement. Change request — paid scope change. SLA — guaranteed service metrics.

Delivery

Time & materials — hourly billing. Fixed price — fixed scope price. Dedicated team — client-dedicated team. Handover — project transfer.

Roles

PM — project manager. AM/account — client manager. Delivery lead — owns all projects. Sales engineer — technical sales.

Money

Blended rate — team average rate. Realization — % billed vs earned. Write-off — unbilled hours. Utilization below 60% — loss.

Process

Discovery — research phase before estimating. Sprint — agile iteration. Code freeze — no changes before release. Retro — team iteration review.

About Agency glossary: 60+ terms

Agency glossary: 60+ terms — Agency business terms: retainers, scope creep, discovery, SLA, bench, utilization and more. For agencies: Agency tools. Use our tools without registration or installing software. All calculations happen in your browser — your data is never sent to a server.