Q-Park Terminology
Q-Park Terminology dos & don'ts
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Do | Don’t | Term | Explanation | Domains: B2B, B2C, M (Marketing), R (Reports) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Active mobility | Pedestrianisation | Active mobility | We use active mobility to refer to cycling and walking. | R, B2B |
AED | Automatic External Defibrillator | A resuscitation device placed in or near PFs. | R, B2C | |
AI | Adobe Illustrator | Software for graphics design | M | |
AIB | Association of Issuing Bodies – develops, uses and promotes a European, harmonised and standardised system of energy certification for all energy carriers: the European Energy Certificate System – EECS. | Some Q-Park entities have purchased EECS energy certificates, thus reducing their CO2 footprint. | R | |
ANPR | LPR | Automatic Number Plate Recognition. | Important technology for PaSS. ANPR is EU English, LPR is American. | R, B2C, B2C |
API | Application Programming Interface | Enables third parties to integrate pre-booking in their own websites. | R, B2C | |
AR | Annual Report | R | ||
B2B | Business-to-business | B2B refers to transactions and communications between companies. | ||
B2C | Business-to-consumer | B2B refers to transactions and communications between companies and consumers. | ||
Bicycle | Bike | Bike refers to a motorbike. | We offer | R, B2B, B2C |
Brand | Brand | A brand is a particular identity or image regarded as an asset. | M | |
capex | CapEx | Capital expenditure | Expenditure on acquisitions of or improvements to fixed assets, such as parking facilities | R |
Carbon neutral | Carbon neutral | Carbon neutral means that any CO2 released into the atmosphere from a company's activities is balanced by an equivalent amount being removed. | R | |
CCPD | Corporate car park design | |||
CCTV | Closed-circuit television | Placed in PFs for safety and security, monitored in the QCR | R, B2B, B2C | |
CGS | Customer Guidance System | The CGS is the signage used in parking facilities for wayfinding. This is mostly red and green. Blue is used for EV charging signage. | ||
CLA | CBA, CAO | Collective Labour Agreement, Collective agreement | Collective agreement between employers, or employers’ organisations, and employees (via trade unions) regarding, for example pay, working hours, notice periods, and pensions. The legal status of CLAs differs per country. | R |
Climate neutral | Climate neutral | Refers to the idea of achieving net zero GHG by balancing those emissions so they are less than or equal to the emissions that get removed through the planet's natural absorption. | R | |
CMS | Content Management System | A CMS is software that helps users create, manage and modify content on a website. We use Tangelo for the corporate website and Sitecore for the country websites. | ||
CMYK | CMYK | The CMYK colour model is a subtractive colour model, based on the CMY colour model. It is used in colour printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four ink plates used in some colour printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). (Source: Wikipedia) | ||
CO2 | CO2 | Carbon dioxide | Carbon dioxide is the end product of complete combustion of hydrocarbons such as fossil fuels. We use the proper chemical formula to refer to carbon dioxide. Note: remember to check the formatting after copying ‘CO2’ as the subscript formatting is often lost. | R, B2B, B2C |
Control fees | CF, cf | Control fees | Parking fines as penalty for non-compliance with parking regulations in private car parks. | R, B2B |
Covid | Corona, covid-10 COVID-19, | Covid | We refer to pre-Covid and post-Covid. | R |
CPI | Consumer Price Index | Measure of inflation | R | |
CPO | Charge Point Operator | Operates EV charging points | R, B2B | |
CSFs | Critical Success Factors | We define CSFs as targets and objectives and measure our performance of these using KPIs. | R | |
CSR | Corporate Sustainable Responsibility | R | ||
CSRD | Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive | Reporting rules to ensure that investors and other stakeholders have access to the information they need to assess the impact of companies on people and the environment and for investors to assess financial risks and opportunities arising from climate change and other sustainability issues. Companies subject to the CSRD will have to report according to European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). | R | |
CTA | Call to action | Call to action is a marketing term use for any snippet of text or button to prompt the reader into action. A CTA is usually at the end of an item. For example: Pre-book your parking space now! | M | |
Customer | Consumer | Customer | People cannot ‘consume’ our services. Our parking customers. Customer refers to B2C relationships. | R, B2B, B2C |
DEFRA | Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs | UK government body issuing emission conversion factors are for use by UK and international organisations to report on 2023 greenhouse gas emissions. [See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2023] | R | |
DOF | Depth of field | The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image captured with a camera. Also closely related to depth of focus. DOF used in in guidelines for photography | M | |
Drivers | Drivers | We use the term drivers for elements of strategy, for example to address business drivers such as capital, employees, technological advancement etc. | R | |
Dutch GAAP | Dutch GAAP | The Dutch GAAP includes the Dutch Civil Code and the Dutch Accounting Standards published by the Dutch Accounting Standards Board. | R | |
EBITDA | Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortisation | An measure of profitability. | R | |
EECS | European Energy Certificate System | European Energy Certificate System is an integrated European framework for issuing, transferring and cancelling EU energy certificates. | R | |
EPA | European Parking Association | R, B2B | ||
ERM | Enterprise Risk Management | R | ||
ESG | Environmental, social and governance | Designed to help investors compare how companies score on the environmental, social and governance metrics and standard. | R | |
ESPA | European Standard Parking Award | R, B2B | ||
ESRS | European Sustainability Reporting Standard | In April 2021, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) that requires companies within its scope to report using a double materiality perspective in compliance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) adopted by the European Commission as delegated acts. | R | |
EU | European Union | |||
EU Green Deal | Green deal | Green deal | A plan to make the EU's economy sustainable, turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities, and making the transition just and inclusive for all. | R |
EV | electric car | Electric vehicle | R | |
EV charging | car charging | EV charging | We provide EV charging in our PFs for our customers’ convenience to recharge their car while parking. | R, B2B, B2C |
FACU/FACP | Fire Alarm Control Unit, Fire Alarm Control Panel | Part of the fire safety installation in a PF. | R, B2B | |
GAAP | Generally Accepted Accounting Principles | |||
GDPR | General Data Protection Regulation | Applicable since May 2018. This is a legal framework that sets guidelines for collecting and processing personal information from individuals who live in and outside of the European Union (EU). | R, B2B, B2C | |
GHG | Greenhouse Gas | Greenhouse gases (GHGs) include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and sulphur dioxide. | R | |
GHG Scope 1, 2 and 3 | Scope or Scopes 1, 2 and 3 | Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the purchase and use of electricity, steam, heating and cooling. By using the energy, an organisation is indirectly responsible for the release of these GHG emissions. Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in the upstream and downstream activities of an organisation. | R | |
Goodwill | Used to express that portion of the market value of a company that is not directly attributable to the assets and liabilities. Goodwill (or badwill) usually arises at the time of acquisition and is considered as the added value of a company over and above the net worth. | R | ||
GRI | Global Reporting Initiative: draws up worldwide guidelines for sustainability reporting, including meeting new CSRD requirements. | R | ||
GSM | Mobile phone | Global System for Mobile Communications | R, B2B, B2C | |
Hire | Rent | Hire | Hire is used for items which are transportable Rent/rental – mainly used for immovable items, such as property | R, B2B, B2C |
HRM | HR | Human Resources Management | R | |
ICE | Internal Combustion Engine | Used when comparing EVs with other types of vehicles. | R | |
ICT | IT | ICT | Information and communications technology. | R |
ICT | IT | Information and Communication Technology | R | |
Idefix | Idefix | Central T drive where manuals, approved visuals, templates etc. can be found. | ||
IFRS | International Financial Reporting Standards | R | ||
ISO | International Standards Organisation | |||
ISO | International Organisation for Standardisation | R | ||
KPIs | Key Performance Indicators | We use KPIs to measure our achievement of CSFs (targets and objectives). | R | |
Lease | Rent | Lease | A legal agreement by which the owner of an object (e.g. plot of land, parking facility, vehicle) allows someone else to use it for period of time in return for money. | R |
LED | Light Emitting Diode | LED lights consume far less electricity than other types of lights. In 2018 and 2019 we invested to replace fluorescent lighting in our PFs with LED lighting, making considerable savings in our GHG emissions and CO2 footprint. | R, B2B, B2C | |
Like-for-like | LFL | Like-for-like | Is used to indicate growth adjusted for businesses which have been bought or sold during the year. | R |
LTP | Long-term parking | Long-term parking includes season tickets. | R, B2B | |
Markets, countries | Geographies | Markets, countries | We operate in different countries, each with its own market characteristics. Geographies refers to a geographical area or region. We do not use geographies, area or region to refer to our markets. | R, B2B |
Mode of transport | transport methods, transport mode | Mode of transport | Mode of transport refers to the way in which people and goods can be transported. At Q-Park we connect with other modes of transport at our mobility hubs. These include bus, tram, metro, train, and bicycle. | R, B2B, B2C |
Motorists | Drivers | Motorists | We use the word motorists to refer to our parking customers. | R, B2B, B2C |
Municipality, city, district | Municipality, city, district | We partner with local government authorities; these may govern a city, municipality or smaller urban district. Use the term (city, municipality, district) appropriate to the situation. | R, B2B, B2C | |
Neighbourhood | Locality | Neighbourhood | We use neighbourhood to refer to a district or community within an urban area. | R, B2B, B2C |
Net zero | Net-zero | Net zero | Net zero refers to the amount of greenhouse gases that are removed from the atmosphere being equal to those emitted by human activity. | R |
NGO | Non-Governmental Organisation | R | ||
Number plate | License plate | Number plate | Number plate is EU English, license plate is the American term. | R, B2B, B2C |
opex | OpEx | Operating expenses | Cost incurred in the normal business operations | R |
P&L | Profit and loss | R | ||
P+R | P&R | Park + Ride | A parking facility with public transport connections that allows motorists to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rapid transit, light rail, or commuter rail), or carpool for the remainder of their journey. We use the plus-sign ... + ... for P+R (Park+Ride) to align with public parking signs We use the and-sign ... & ... mostly for internal combinations (Pay & Display for example) | R, B2B, B2C |
Partner | Client | Partner | Partner refers to all B2B relationships Partners include:
| R, B2B |
PaSS | Pass, pass, PASS, PasS | Parking as a Smart Service | Q-Park Parking as a Smart Service (PaSS) is an evolutionary innovation combining ANPR technology with digital payment solutions, a QR code, Q-Park's proprietary Back Office Calculation (BOC) and Parking Management System (PMS) at access and exit points. | R, B2B, B2C |
Pay zone | Payment area, Payment zone | Pay zone | Refers to the area in a parking facility where customers who took a ticket on entry must pay before returning to their car and driving to the exit. | R, B2B, B2C |
PCI DSS | Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard | Standard for processing credit card and debit card translations. | R | |
Pedestrian access | Pedestrian entrance/exit | Pedestrian access | Use this to refer to the doors and zone where customers enter the parking facility on foot. | R, B2B, B2C |
PF, PFs | Parking facility, Parking facilities | We prefer the term parking facility because we offer space to more than just cars, i.e. bicycles, coaches etc. However, use parking facility in B2B and internal communications, use car park in B2C communications. | R, B2B, B2C | |
PHEV | Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle | R | ||
PMS | Parking Management System | R, B2B | ||
PNG | Portable Graphics Format | A PNG file is a type of image file. | ||
POD | Points of Difference | For effective marketing we have to convey our PODs and POPs. A POD tells customers why our product or service is their best choice compared to the competition offering. | M | |
POIs | Tourist attraction | Points of interest | We list POIs per city on our country websites to help customers find a PF near to their final destination. | R, B2B, B2C |
POP | Points of Parity | For effective marketing we have to convey our PODs and POPs. A POP tells customers that our services meet their needs. | M | |
PPP | Public-Private Partnership | A cooperation between government bodies and private parties is a prerequisite to keep inner-city areas accessible through well thought out parking policy. We work in Public Private Partnerships and not in any other form of public partnership. | R, B2B | |
PRIS | Parking Route Information System | A parking route information system consists of traffic signs to direct motorists to car parks in an urban area. The signs may include the number of vacant space in a PF. | R, B2B | |
PRMs | disabled | Persons with Reduced Mobility | R, B2B, B2C | |
Programme | Program | Programme | Q-Park Programmes, such as the LED Programme, Cybersecurity Programme are, as always, written in British English. In British English ‘Program’ always refers to something related to computing i.e. software program. US English does not make this distinction. | R, B2B, B2C |
PS, PSs | place, spot, parking place, parking spot | Parking space, Parking spaces | We provide space for parking – parking spaces, that is our core business. Spots may be perceived as a stain, i.e. a floor has spots. | R, B2B, B2C |
QCR | Q-Park Control Room | The international central control room which is linked to the parking facilities via intercom. | R, B2B, B2C | |
QMH | hub | Q-Park Mobility Hub | A parking facility where different transport modalities and services are offered to commuters, visitors and/or residents; where people can interchange between car, public transport and/or shared mobility and micromobility options, including bicycle parking, shared micromobility services, rental car services; equipped with EV charging points, and may include fast-charging services; connected to a digital ecosystem, enabling ANPR, pre-booking, parking app options and/or season ticket options. | R, B2B |
Q-Park | q-park, q-Park, Q Park | Q-Park | Q-Park is written with capital Q and P and a hyphen in between. NEVER split Q-Park over two lines | R, B2B, B2C |
RCF | Revolving Credit Facility | R | ||
Revenue | Revenue | We use revenue (not turnover) to describe our income from normal business operations. We don’t use turnover – that refers to selling goods – we sell services. | R | |
RGB | RGB | The RGB colour model is an additive colour model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colours. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colours, red, green, and blue. (Source: Wikipedia) | ||
SDGs | United Nations Sustainable Development Goals | R | ||
Season ticket | Subscription | Season ticket | In EU English, a season ticket is something you go to (theatre, football, parking) A subscription is something that comes to you (magazine, Netflix) | R, B2B, B2C |
Sharing | Sharing | We partner with car sharing and bicycle sharing scheme operators, particularly in our mobility hubs. | R, B2B, B2C | |
SLA | Service Level Agreement | R | ||
SMP | Strategic Mobility Partnership | R, B2B | ||
STP | Short-term parking | This refers to single parking transactions. | R | |
SUMP | Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan | R, B2B | ||
SVG | Scalable Vector Graphics | SVG is a file format for images. | ||
Tenor | Tenor | The length of time remaining before a financial contract expires | R | |
TOMA | Top of Mind awareness | Top of mind awareness is a key concept in marketing and market research | M | |
Transport | transportation | Transport | We use transport, the term transportation is the American term. | R, B2B, B2C |
Urban area | Urbanisation | Urban area | We use urban area to refer to cities and towns. The term urbanise, urbanisation means to transform a rural area into an urban area. | R, B2B |
Vehicle entry/exit zone | Entry/exit | Vehicle entry zone Vehicle exit zone | Use these terms to denote vehicle access and exit routes/areas in the parking facility. | R, B2B, B2C |
VEXPAN | VEXPAN | Platform for parking in the Netherlands (vexpan.nl) | R, B2B | |
VMS | Variable Message Sign | VMS are used within parking guidance and information systems to guide drivers to available car parking spaces. Source: Wikipedia | ||
Wayfinding | Wayfinding | Wayfinding signage in our PFs identifies the various facilities present and helps motorists and pedestrians find their way to the exit, payment zone etc. Wayfinding uses the CGS signage. | R, B2C | |
WDQ | We Develop Quality | A slogan we use at Q-Park to brand our expertise articles | M | |
Western Europe | West Europe | Use ‘western Europe’ when referring to the part of Europe where Q-Park operates. Avoid using ‘west’ as this is perceived as the opposite of ‘east’ | ||
Zone | Zone | Use zone to refer to specific areas of a PF, e.g. EV charging zone, bicycle parking zone | R, B2B, B2C |