Definition: ADP

(1) (Automatic Data Processing) Synonymous with data processing (DP), electronic data processing (EDP) and information processing.

(2) (Automatic Data Processing, Inc., Roseland, NJ) An international computer services company that specializes in payroll processing. From a modest start in 1949 by founding brothers Henry and Joe Taub, ADP evolved from payroll assistance to modern day outsourcing of record keeping, benefit administration, retirement account services, human resources, and screening and selection services. The company's first salesman, credited with a huge role in the success of the business, was Frank Lautenberg, who rose through the ranks to be its president and left decades later to enter politics as a prominent senator from New Jersey.