Combat information center

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

A combat information center (CIC) is an auxiliary control area on military vessels and starships used to direct combat operations.

In an alternate timeline, the USS Enterprise-D had a CIC while fighting large-scale military conflicts with the Klingons. When the Enterprise-D encountered the USS Enterprise-C near a temporal rift in 2366, Ensign Thomas was paged over the ship's intercom to report to the CIC. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")

It doesn't seem likely the more peacful, "regular", timeline's Enterprise-D had such a combat info center. Its possible this area was related to the regular timeline's battle bridge.

A combat information center is a real concept used by the US Navy. Unlike Starfleet vessels, the modern Navy rarely staffs both the captain and executive officer on the bridge simultaneously, for reasons of safety for the chain of command. One officer usually mans a post at the alternate location of the CIC.