Much confusion surrounds the term "center of excellence" (CoE). It is often used interchangeably with "competency center," "knowledge center," "resource pool," and "community of practice." Though these structures share many similarities, each has a unique focus and set of benefits. For the purpose of this article, CoEs are defined as centralized groups of IT resources focused on new or complex technologies and/or processes with the explicit charter to support other IT groups across the larger organization. In addition to this primary role, CoEs have the following functions: