# IT Dept.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483 "2003-03-15T01:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/1 "2003-03-15T01:20:18Z")
What exactly is an IT (eye-tee) department? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/2 "2003-03-15T01:21:50Z")
Information Technology – the computer dept, basically. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/3 "2003-03-15T01:26:00Z")
We’re the geeks that come up to plug the LAN cable back in when your foot snagged it. We also conspire ways to prevent you from accessing your AOL or Yahoo mail from work. Most near and dear to my heart, we’re the freakazoids that dream up rules like how your password must be 13 characters long, have upper and lower case letters, two punctuation symbols and one Chinese pictograph. Seriously, IT or IS (Information Technology or Information Services) departments are the folks that manage and maintain the computers, networks and such. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/4 "2003-03-15T01:26:39Z")
“IT” because it’s more than just computers. Many IT departments are responsible for everything from voice-over-IP telecoms to printing and distributing management information reports. It’s a little “buzz-word”-y, but not heinously so. It may sound a little pompous, but it reflects a very important point in modern business: computing isn’t just a black hole of helpdesk staff and engineers, it’s a department that (used properly) can help a business gather, process and use information efficiently to make a profit. Also often referred to as an IS (Information Systems) or MIS (Management Information Systems) department. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/5 "2003-03-15T01:39:08Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/6 "2003-03-15T02:12:47Z")
I work in a MIS department. Damned if I know what it means. ---
**Author:** ![bradwalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@bradwalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradwalt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/7 "2003-03-15T02:26:06Z")
The “in vogue” abbreviation has changed every couple of years since I was a kid. Here are some I remember (roughtly in chronological order): EDP=Electronic Data Processing DP=Data Processing MIS=Management Information Systems IS=Information Systems IT=Information Technology ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/8 "2003-03-15T03:57:00Z")
Actually, while DP/EDP and MIS are one and the same, Computer/IT is another department. The former is database and report writing, the latter is computer networks, technical support, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-dept/161483/9 "2003-03-15T04:07:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bradwalt \* > \*\*The “in vogue” abbreviation has changed every couple of years since I was a kid. Here are some I remember (roughtly in chronological order): > > EDP=Electronic Data Processing > DP=Data Processing > MIS=Management Information Systems > IS=Information Systems > IT=Information Technology \*\* Some people use these different acronyms to refer to more specific job functions - I imagine this may vary somewhat between industries and companies. For us, IT tends to specifically mean the folks that manage PCs and maybe PC/midrange servers. They don’t write code, they don’t write reports, they just fill the important role of keeping everything going. DP I don’t hear as much - but I tend to associate it with mainframe operations folks. MIS and is often used to describe a reporting group, but it may also be used to describe a database management or even a software development group. Of course we also have Software Engineering or whatever grandiose title that we coders have chosen to slap on ourselves this year 😉