How do you correctly call "Fachbereich" in English?

[philipp_liegl]

Here is a question, which has been bothering me for a while now. To some extend it is also SAP related.

In a corporate IT environment there are two worlds from an IT's perspective (very simplified):

1) the IT (of course)

2) the departments, served by the IT such as purchasing, sales, finance, etc.

In German 2) is referred to as Fachbereich.

What is the correct word for that in English?

In our everyday conversations with customers we often use the term "business", but I am not sure if this is right overall. In particular the German language has a long history of introducing English words, which are not proper English at all. Cf. Handy (for a mobile phone) or Beamer (for a projector), etc.

Any hints would be greatly appreciated, so we can sort that question once and for all. And we have a clear wording for our next S/4HANA roll-out discussion on Monday. 🙂

[ShaneLipke]

Hi Phillip,

The literal translation of the word is Department, as in the different Departments within the Business. So it would be correct to say the Purchasing Department or the Finance Department but when discussing then all as a whole, it is also correct to say Business. As in the Business wants to move to S/4HANA as quickly as possible but IT is not ready to support the new solution.

Regards
Shane

[Prashant_Patil]

Hi Philipp,

1) the IT (of course)

-- If its internal IT team then its Inhouse IT Team but if you have a vendor to support your IT then its called System Integrator (SI)

2) the departments, served by the IT such as purchasing, sales, finance, etc.

-- This is called the business team if they are the ones who are doing the actual business.

Thanks,

Prashant