Glossary / license wiki
Short definitions for common Microsoft 365 terms. CHAOS implements these concepts in rules and reports—fully automatically from your tenant data.
Abbreviations
| Short | Meaning |
|---|---|
| M365 | Microsoft 365 |
| EXO | Exchange Online |
| Entra | Microsoft Entra ID |
| CSP | Cloud Solution Provider |
| NCE | New Commerce Experience |
| EA | Enterprise Agreement |
| ELP | Effective License Position |
| SKU | Stock keeping unit (Microsoft product code) |
| True-up | Annual reconciliation (EA context) |
| GDAP | Granular delegated admin privileges |
| GDPR | General Data Protection Regulation |
| DPIA | Data protection impact assessment |
| DPA | Data processing agreement |
| SLA | Service level agreement |
| RTO/RPO | Recovery time/point objectives |
| MDM | Mobile device management |
| MAM | Mobile application management |
| CA | Conditional Access |
| PIM | Privileged Identity Management |
| PAM | Privileged access management |
| MDE | Microsoft Defender for Endpoint |
| MDO | Microsoft Defender for Office 365 |
| MIP | Microsoft Information Protection |
| DLP | Data loss prevention |
| RBAC | Role-based access control |
| JIT | Just-in-time access |
| SSO | Single sign-on |
| SCIM | Cross-domain identity management |
| ITAM | IT asset management |
| SAM | Software asset management |
| FinOps | Cloud financial operations |
| TCO | Total cost of ownership |
| ROI | Return on investment |
| ISMS | Information security management system |
| SOC 2 | Service organization control 2 |
| CIS | Center for Internet Security |
Microsoft 365 E3
Enterprise workloads without the full Defender/Purview premium bundle; common baseline for Office, Exchange, Teams, SharePoint.
Microsoft 365 E5
Full bundle with advanced security/compliance; CHAOS checks whether add-on paths are cheaper.
Microsoft 365 E1
Web-only Office; suited to web-only personas—CHAOS flags costly upgrades without usage.
Microsoft 365 F3
Frontline SKU with reduced features; move to E SKUs only with proven need.
Exchange Online Plan 1
Mailbox plan without full M365; CHAOS separates mail-only personas from wrong bundles.
Exchange Online Plan 2
Advanced mailbox features; align with archive and compliance needs.
Teams Phone
Calling plan, Operator Connect, direct routing—license mixes and hidden bundle effects.
Entra ID P1
Baseline conditional access; often included with E3—avoid duplicate standalone buys.
Entra ID P2
Identity Protection, PIM; CHAOS checks whether features are actually used.
Defender for Office 365
Protection for mail/Teams/SharePoint; often in E5 else Plan1/2.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Endpoint security; mapping to MDE add-ons and suite bundles.
Purview Information Protection
Classification and sensitivity labels; compare to E5 compliance bundle.
Purview Audit (Premium)
Advanced audit logs; license path vs. real forensic needs.
Power BI Pro
Per-user license vs. Premium capacity for large orgs.
Power BI Premium
Dedicated capacity; different cost model than Pro—CHAOS helps at the boundary.
Power Automate
Per user / per flow; risk of silent flow licensing on the Power Platform.
Power Apps
Per app / per user; governance against premium connector sprawl.
Project Plan 1
Light web project vs. Plan 3/5 for PMO scenarios.
Project Plan 3
Full Project Online client; often bundled with Visio.
Visio Plan 1
Web diagrams; upgrade only with real usage.
Visio Plan 2
Desktop + web; CHAOS checks overlap with other bundles.
Windows 365 Cloud PC
User-based cloud PCs; alternative cost to classic OS/M365 mixes.
Windows 365 Business vs Enterprise
Different admin and billing models; CHAOS flags mixed estates.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Requires base SKU + add-on; CHAOS checks prerequisites and duplicates.
Copilot Studio
Extensions for custom GPTs/agents; separate cost block from M365 Copilot.
Microsoft Viva
Suite of modules; evaluate bundle vs. point buys.
Intune Suite Add-on
Advanced endpoint management vs. subsets already in E5.
Entra Join / Hybrid
Identity model affects license/device paths; CHAOS documents dependencies.
Resource mailboxes
Meeting rooms; often free but validate coupled Teams rooms.
B2B guest users
Guests in Entra; often no full M365—CHAOS finds wrong assignments.
Multi-Geo
Mailbox regions for compliance; add-on logic on top of standard M365.
CSP direct vs indirect
Partner chains and billing; CHAOS supports repeatable tenant assessments.
NCE terms
Monthly/annual/3-year commitments; impacts on true-up and cancellation windows.
EA vs CSP
Enterprise Agreement vs CSP; different price and flexibility logic.
True-up
Annual reconciliation to Microsoft; CHAOS supplies consistent SKU/user positions.
Effective License Position (ELP)
As-is license position; CHAOS automates sourcing and rationale.
Billable user
Billing-relevant definition per product; CHAOS separates billable vs. free.
Active user (sign-in)
Activity signal from Entra; indicator for changes, not sole truth.
License stacking
Multiple add-ons overlap; CHAOS finds redundant combinations.
Service plans
Fine-grained features in SKUs; CHAOS uses them for add-on/bundle compares.
SKU vs service plan
SKU is product package, service plan is a feature—mapping is core to optimization.
Add-on redundancy
Same capability in E5 and a separate add-on; CHAOS flags double buys.
License pools (CSP)
Poolability per product; CHAOS helps partners enforce pool discipline.
Reserved licensing
Pre-purchased capacity vs. actual assignments.
Azure Hybrid Benefit
OS license benefits in Azure; indirect cost effect, not an M365 SKU.
SaaS subscription lifecycle
Trial, active, blocked, deleted; CHAOS tracks status for clean assignment.
Chargeback / showback
Allocate costs to departments; CHAOS provides exportable bases.
FinOps with M365
Cloud financial discipline meets license cycles; CHAOS links KPIs to SKU decisions.
Audit trail
Timestamped actions with rule versions; required for audit-ready estates.
Evidence pack
Bundled evidence for finance/Microsoft; standard structure in CHAOS exports.
Decision graph
Visualizes paths from signals to SKU recommendations.
Rule engine
Versioned business rules instead of spreadsheet logic; testable pre-prod.
Least privilege (Graph)
Minimal API permissions for CHAOS operations; documented in Trust Center.
Data residency
Regions for data at rest; align to regulatory needs.
Subprocessors
Vendors in the processing chain; transparency for privacy reviews.
Data processing agreement
Contractual processor terms complementing technical controls.
ISO 27001 alignment
CHAOS supports ISMS evidence via logging and access design—certification is operational.
SOC 2 notes
Trust services criteria: availability, confidentiality; CHAOS provides technical traces.
NIST CSF mapping
Identify/Protect/Detect—CHAOS capabilities map to common CSF functions.
CIS benchmarks
Hard configuration standards; CHAOS adds license and cost perspective.
Zero Trust
No implicit trust; CHAOS supports via least privilege and explainable automation.
IAM program
Identity lifecycle; CHAOS couples IAM events to license decisions.
ITAM vs CHAOS
ITAM manages broad assets; CHAOS deep-dives Microsoft online licenses with rules and automation.
SAM tool integration
Feed CHAOS CSV/API exports into existing SAM processes.
IT service catalog
Standard offers; CHAOS maps SKU choices to catalog services.
SKU-based chargeback
SKU costs to departments; CHAOS defines export fields.
CHAOS — terms with the same logic as rules and reports.
From the field
Scenario
Terms like NCE, true-up, or least privilege are interpreted differently. Enablement needs crisp definitions with cross-links to product logic.
Why (evidence layer)
A glossary works when it uses the same why principles as the product: clear boundaries, no duplicate definitions. The figures below connect terms to the finance view from typical customer patterns.
Before/after in EUR per month (run-rate). Annual savings = difference × 12. Figures reflect typical mid-market profiles consolidated from completed optimisation programmes (anonymised, rounded); your organisation will differ by inventory and governance.
Total before (monthly)
€ 18,200
Total after (monthly)
€ 14,560
Savings / year
€ 43,680
Savings
20%
Run-rate cost: before vs. after
License mix by SKU (after)
Split by Microsoft 365 / online SKUs (after — readable)
Microsoft 365 E3
€ 5,533 · 38.0%
Microsoft 365 F3
€ 3,203 · 22.0%
Microsoft 365 E5
€ 1,747 · 12.0%
Project Plan 3
€ 1,456 · 10.0%
Visio Plan 2
€ 1,165 · 8.0%
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (Plan 1)
€ 1,456 · 10.0%
Consolidated metrics from comparable customer programmes (anonymised under GDPR, rounded). This is how finance and IT teams usually read run-rate before a live tenant connect. Your authoritative view is built in the demo with your tenant.
| Total before (monthly) | 18200 |
|---|---|
| Total after (monthly) | 14560 |
| Savings / year | 43680 |