Capterra Glossary
Boilerplate
Boilerplate is a term used to describe any form of writing that can be reused multiple times without requiring the original content to be altered extensively. In other words, a boilerplate is a template that provides users with a basic document structure that can be suited to user needs. Corporations, such as legal firms and medical institutions, often use boilerplates to produce uniform documentation. Popular boilerplate templates include responsibility disclaimers, safety warnings, instruction manuals, and contracts. In the information technology industry, boilerplate code is open-source computer code that can be used multiple times in the coding process, only requiring programmers to rework small portions of the code as needed.
What Small and Midsize Businesses Need to Know About Boilerplate
Small and midsize corporations often use boilerplates to ensure that their legal documents cover all the necessary bases and simplify the business documentation process. Boilerplates contain pre-vetted blocks of language that are rarely subject to change and prevent certain loopholes in purchasing agreements or contracts from occurring. Boilerplates eliminate the need for small businesses to worry about accidentally omitting important legal information from their business documents, allowing them to focus on simply altering the template to suit their current business needs. This simplifies the documentation process and ensures that all company documents are standardized.
Small tech startups often use boilerplate code to shorten the software development process. Boilerplate code often comes in the form of a software module, such as buttons, facial recognition algorithms, or even common web applications. Programmers from tech startups can use boilerplate code to efficiently add certain features to their software programs without having to rewrite an already established coding sequence.
Related Terms
- Synchronous
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Intranet
- Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR)
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Managed Service Provider (MSP)
- Haptics
- WAN (Wide-Area Network)
- Service-oriented Architecture (SOA)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Chief Information Officer (CIO)
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Service-Level Agreement (SLA)
- Scalability
- Data Center
- Authorization
- Multitenancy