Circular Wave Terminology
This section introduces technical terms (jargon) that we use at Circular Wave to represent specific concepts within our product.
Organisations and Collaborations
Organisation (aka Org) – An organisation represents a real-world organisation (generally a legal entity of some kind) such as an NHS Trust, Private Business, GP Surgery, Primary Care Network, etc. Orgs used to be the primary data partitions in the Circular Wave system, and while that role has now been superseded by collaborations (see below), some code still uses orgs as a key permissions/data security boundary.
Collaboration (aka Collab) – A collaboration represents a group of organisations that are working together and have a single “instance” of the Circular Wave system that is logically distinct from other Circular Wave collaborations. At the time of writing, nothing in the Circular Wave system crosses the collaboration boundary apart from entirely global data such as “the system is down for maintenance” (the database storage does store data from different collaborations together, the separation is enforced at the application level).
Supplier (aka Agency) – A supplier is a staffing agency that may provide extra staff to organisations using the system. If configured to do so, CW will notify suppliers of new shifts by email, and that can then be actioned either directly through a cut-down version of the CW admin portal, or via an out-of-band (non-circular-wave-mediated) email process. Users
User - A user is an account on the system with a single login (currently email/password) any of the above. A user may be either a Staff Member, an Admin, or a Supplier User. They may also be both an Admin and a Staff Member simultaneously under the same user account. Technically it’s also possible for a user to be both a supplier user and a staff member on the same account, but this doesn’t make sense and therefore doesn’t happen in practice.
Staff Member (aka Candidate) - A Staff Member is a worker (Doctor, Nurse, HCA, etc) who is looking to find and work shifts through Circular Wave. They have access to the system via the Circular Wave app, which they can use to upload compliance documentation, browse through and apply for shifts, submit timesheets and feedback, message other users of the system, and access chat-based customer support.
Admin - An “Admin” is a user of the administrative portal of the Circular Wave system.
Supplier User (aka Supplier - yes, unfortunately both Supplier User’s and Agencies are sometimes referred to as suppliers).
Shifts & Shift Metadata
Shift
Service
Staff Bank (aka Bank)
Roles, Grades, and Specialities
Sites and Areas
Timesheets & Payment
Timesheet
Timesheet Submission
Ratings
Rating Submissions
Payment Report
Payment Runs
Payment Run Type
Messaging
Conversation
Message