The phrase "ancillary functions" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to secondary or supportive functions that assist the main activities or operations in a particular context.
Example: "The software not only performs primary tasks but also includes several ancillary functions that enhance user experience."
Alternatives: "supporting functions" or "secondary functions".
The drive to cut management layers and to farm out ancillary functions further shrank the training grounds.
Beyond that, there were lumber yards, antique stores, limousine companies, hotels, caterers and others performing ancillary functions.
Mr. Hampton was also more aware than most of the items that required electricity to perform ancillary functions, like stoves and furnaces with electronic pilot ignitions, and thermostats with transformers.
But increasingly, some ancillary functions, like power steering or power brake pumps, or air-conditioning, are performed by electric motors, to lower the load on the internal combustion engine and improve gas mileage.
In conjunction with the routine role of delivering the active ingredient, carefully designed drug delivery vehicles can also provide ancillary functions that augment the overall efficacy of the system.
The modules provide a variety of functions, such as implementing numerical physics models; performing ancillary functions such as I/O or graphics; or providing tools for dealing with common issues in scientific programming such as portability of Fortran codes.
I never quite got Marcie or Franklin, mid-60s additions who seemed to serve an ancillary function.
The nobility, growing economically dependent on princely service, adapted itself to an essentially ancillary function at court and in the military.
These structures may instead have an ancillary function (e.g. enhancing signal efficacy or modifying information content).
Another official said that if the U.S. insisted on running Iraq itself while having the U.N. serve only an "ancillary" function, "we are quite prepared to confine ourselves to a humanitarian role and wish you the best of luck".
In "Zac's Haunted House," recognizable characters, so far as they exist at all, serve an ancillary function to patterns and themes; they mostly help to illustrate the claustrophobic logic of the house.
