IT German: the terms that come up in projects with German-speaking clients
Lastenheft, Abnahme, Freigabe, Wartungsfenster: the words on which projects between German-speaking clients and Polish or international teams get stuck. Here they are, with what they mean in practice. Our team speaks German, Polish and English fluently and explains them in the project as well.
- Our team speaks German, Polish and English fluently
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Published: 2026-10-26 · Editorial team Prownex
Documents and agreements
Lastenheft. The requirements from the client's point of view: what is to be built and why. The basis of the quote.
Pflichtenheft. The contractor's answer: how the requirements will be met. Released by the client, it is often the basis of the acceptance.
Angebot and Kostenvoranschlag. A quote binds scope and price, an estimate (Kostenvoranschlag) does not. Clients first ask whether the price is fixed or by effort.
Festpreis and nach Aufwand. A fixed price for a described scope, or billing by actual effort; the latter needs a Leistungsnachweis.
Aufwandsschätzung in Personentagen. The estimated effort in person-days (PT), the usual unit in quotes; one PT is eight hours of one person.
Leistungsnachweis. The statement of work done, attached to the invoice when billing by effort.
Abnahme. The client's formal declaration that what was agreed has been delivered; usually with a protocol and a list of open defects.
Nachbesserung. Fixing the defects found at acceptance before the acceptance is confirmed.
Freigabe. The approval for a change, a release or a go-live. Nothing goes to production without it.
Ansprechpartner. The fixed contact person on each side. Clients expect one, and expect them to stay reachable.
Dates and communication
Kalenderwoche (KW). Companies plan in calendar weeks: "delivery in KW 12" is a date, not a rough period.
Werktag and Arbeitstag. Monday to Friday without public holidays; deadlines such as "within 5 Werktage" count that way.
Bis spätestens. The final deadline, taken literally. Anyone who cannot keep it says so beforehand, not afterwards.
Rückmeldung. The reply to a question or a delivery. Silence is read as a lack of interest.
Meeting. A meeting, today mostly online, for example a Teams meeting in Microsoft Teams. The invitation comes through the calendar with a link; people join on time.
Protokoll. The minutes of a meeting with decisions, owners and dates, sent shortly after the meeting.
Jour fixe. The fixed, recurring project meeting, usually weekly at the same time.
Operations and incidents
Betrieb. Running a system in production: monitoring, updates, backups, incidents. More than hosting.
Wartungsfenster. The agreed period for work with downtime, announced and outside peak hours.
Störung and Ticket. A Störung is the outage or fault, the ticket its report; a Störungsmeldung names time, impact and urgency.
Rufbereitschaft. On-call availability outside working hours for incidents, with an agreed reaction time.
Sicherung and Rückweg. The copy before every change and the described way back if the change fails.
Umstellung. The switch to the new system or version at an agreed date, with backup and way back.
Technology and data
Schnittstelle. The connection between systems, usually an API; a Datenschnittstelle exchanges data in an agreed format.
Mandant. A client or unit in a system that keeps several of them apart (mandantenfähig, multi-tenant).
Testumgebung and Produktivsystem. The test and the production environment: the first is for checking changes before release, the second is the system the client works with.
Zugangsdaten and Berechtigungen. User names, passwords, keys and the rights that go with them; handed over through a secure channel, never by email.
Datenschutz. The protection of personal data. Clients ask where the data is and who has access, and expect a clear answer.
Betriebshandbuch. The description of how the system is built and run; part of every handover.
Questions about language in the project
How good is your German?
Perfect: we speak German natively and fluently. Our engineers have worked with German-speaking clients for years. Meetings, quotes and documentation are written in German; more on the page German-speaking IT partner.
Do you also interpret between our team and a Polish supplier?
Yes, in both directions: in meetings, at acceptance sessions and in written coordination. Because we are engineers ourselves, we translate not only the words but also the technical terms and the context. The same goes for Polish companies entering the German-speaking market. We agree the scope and the price after a call; more on the page German-speaking IT partner.
Do you write quotes, reports and documentation in German?
Yes. Quotes, the written results of the entry products, operations manuals and handover documents are written in German. On request we deliver them in Polish or English as well, for example for an international team or vendor support.
Describe your situation and we will reply within one working day
A few sentences are enough to start.
Reachable: Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00 Central European Time; support and emergencies around the clock (24/7)