# Key terms
URL: https://docs.awellhealth.com/docs/get-started/key-terms

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.awellhealth.com/llms.txt).



Every page in these docs uses the words below with the meaning given here.

## The levels of a care flow [#the-levels-of-a-care-flow]

A care flow is built from four nested levels, top down:

```
Care flow
└── Track
    └── Step
        └── Action
```

### Care flow [#care-flow]

A set of activities performed by the care team and/or the patient to reach or maintain a desired state
of health. See [What is a care flow?](/docs/get-started/what-is-a-care-flow) for the other names people
use for it.

### Track [#track]

**A phase of a care flow.** Tracks can run one after another (Diagnosis → Treatment → Follow-up) or at
the same time (daily metrics alongside monthly appointments).

The number of tracks a care flow needs depends on its shape: repeating parts, long-running flows, and
flows serving more than one purpose all tend to need more.

### Step [#step]

**A container** holding everything that happens at one moment for one group of patients.

When every action in a step is complete, the care flow moves to the next step.

### Action [#action]

**The smallest building block: what needs to happen, and who does it.** A form to fill in, a message to
send, a calculation to run, an API call to make.

Every action is either a user action or a system action:

* **User actions** need a person: filling in a form, reading a message.
* **System actions** run by themselves: calculations, API calls.

Actions that collect input, like forms and checklists, are **blocking**: the care flow waits for them.

## Data points and variables [#data-points-and-variables]

### Data point [#data-point]

**A single piece of data captured or generated during a care flow.** Data points come from forms,
baseline data, and API calls, and from the system itself: calculation results, step activation and
completion times.

The care flow's logic tests data points: "if this answer, then that step". Every data point in a care
flow is listed in the **Data catalog**.

### Dynamic data variable [#dynamic-data-variable]

**A placeholder that fills in a data point's value when a message is sent.** Add one with the `/`
command in any text editor, including messages and API calls.

```
Hello {Patient_first_name}
Treatment: {Treatment_selection}
```

Variables are how one message becomes personal to each patient, and how data reaches other systems.

## Activities record what actually happened [#activities-record-what-actually-happened]

### Activity [#activity]

**A record that something happened, or needs to happen.** When an action activates, Awell creates an
activity to track its start time, status, and completion.

Activities cover more than actions: tracks starting and completing, steps activating, and reminders going
out all form part of a care flow's full history.

### Activity feed [#activity-feed]

**A chronological log of activities** as they are orchestrated, including timing delays. It shows what has
happened to one patient, and in what order.

## CareOps means the methodology or the portal [#careops-means-the-methodology-or-the-portal]

### CareOps methodology [#careops-methodology]

**The practice of continuously designing, running, and improving care flows**, with clinical, operations,
engineering, product and compliance working in one loop. Its four stages are Design & Validate, Build &
Operate, Monitor & Prove, and Rinse, Repeat. There is a public community and lifecycle at
[careops.org](https://www.careops.org/).

### CareOps portal [#careops-portal]

**The Awell application** where an organization manages settings, branding, keys, global constants, and the
Home page. When a page here says "in the CareOps portal", it means this application, not the methodology.

## Panels group patients and the work waiting on them [#panels-group-patients-and-the-work-waiting-on-them]

### Panel [#panel]

**A live list of patients or tasks, with the columns and filters a team needs to work from.** A panel
holds the setup; the data comes from what care flows already collect. See
[What Panels is](/docs/run-care-flows/what-is-panels).

### View [#view]

**A saved, tailored slice of a panel.** One panel can carry several views, so the same setup serves
different jobs without being duplicated.

### Task [#task]

**The Panels name for work waiting on someone.** A form or a message in a care flow becomes a task in a
panel. In Awell Care the same work appears as an activity against one patient.

## Next steps [#next-steps]

Terms specific to integrations (HL7, Mirth, ADT, SIU) are defined in
**EMR integration terminology** under Connect systems.

**Next:** **How a care flow is built** — the same building blocks seen from the design canvas.