Application Portfolio Management
Architecture Planning Data Dictionary
Application Portfolio Management (APM) - High Level Process
Focus on formulating business questions the portfolio needs to answer, e.g., “is our application portfolio supporting the business needs and is it technologically sound?”
Typical Objectives of the Portfolio Review
Portfolio overview
Application landscape details: by business units/ functions, capability, lifecycle, location, recommended disposition, etc.
Application profile: end-to-end stack, interfaces/ application communication diagrams and application health
Lifecycle related issues across various portfolios - application, technology (OS, database, software (app, middleware), hardware (client, server)
Application Rationalization: opportunities to rationalize/ consolidate portfolio where there are multiple applications supporting a capability/ process/ business area
Financials: alignment of application spend and project spend to the capabilities that enable business goals
Strategic planning roadmap: Support business unit/ functions to prioritize and sequence technology investments
IT Planning Questions
Which applications are the best candidates for rationalization?
What applications are affected by removal of a technology?
What is the health of key applications?
What is the (value) lifecycle of key applications?
What is the roadmap of an application and technology over time?
Which key business capabilities have high technology risk?
For a given strategy, what is its project and application roadmap?
Determine key questions that need to be answered in terms of the portfolio as a whole
Identify the key outcomes you want to achieve, e.g., eliminating redundancy
Partner up with the PMO, GRC, Finance and Application Management - as needed
Establish the application inventory attributes (fields) you want to track - less is more! If the attribute does not drive a decision - don’t collect it!
Subscribe to the three Cs for the data being collected: Clear, Correct and Current
Group the portfolio into business areas and have the business leaders own the portfolio - with supporting IT ownership
Categorize the portfolio based on business functionality, e.g., how many CRM systems do we have?
Capabilities are a many to many relationship to the application - only do this if you really need it, e.g., multiple business units with major redundancy
Inventory the application list with logical names against the physical technology layer - if needed - if you are driving a technology roadmap or identifying risks
Major Portfolio Areas that can be used to align the application portfolio
Goals and Strategies
Capability Investments
Function Strategies [shared business area such as Human Resources or Finance]
Provide reports on the application health in a 2x2 [Technology Feasibility and Business Value] - see below
Assign applications to a Value Lifecycle to report out to business leadership - see below
Summary of Application Fitness Aspects and Indicators
Performance Aspects
Indicators
Application value and fit to the mission, mandate or process needed
Mission or process fitData and information quality/timeliness
Application robustness
Utilization
Future role of the organization
Operational Risk
ComplexityReliance on subject matter experts
Maintenance change factors
Supportability
Availability and cost of support skillsTechnical risk Architectural alignment or compatibility
Base technology quality
Extendibility and scalability
Technical execution
Costs
License and support contractService maintenance and enhancements
Total application life cycle costs