Capture application data

Users with the user profiles Application Manager, Portfolio Manager, and Portfolio Admin can add and edit applications in Alfabet FastLane. Click for an overview of permission concepts

An application is a software package that provides functionality to end users and supports the business to accomplish its mission. Applications operate on a platform made up of hardware and software components necessary to run the application. An application has a defined lifecycle and may have predecessor and successor versions.

An application supports the business by providing functionality to support the core business capabilities. The application is used by organizations to provide the business capabilities. Applications transfer business data by means of information flows. Applications are built on components that provide the technologies that enable the applications.

What's the difference between an application and component? An application differs from a component in that the application provides functionality that is used by end users. Components, on the other hand, do not typically provide functionality to end users but rather provide technical functionality to support an application. For example, applications include products like customer portals, project management systems, vacation tracking systems, or a product like SAP@CRM System. Components include operating systems, Web servers, and Web browsers, or a product like SQL Server Database Management Studio.

The application directly supports the company to realize its business capabilities and supports its business processes. Typically, users will know the application by name and the name is typically different than the name of the vendor delivering the application. An application will have its own budget.

The following table serves as an aid when trying to determine whether an object in your IT architecture is an application or a component.

Is it an application or a component? Application Component

Does it provide support to business capabilities or business processes

yes

no

Does it provide business benefit on its own?

yes

no

Does it have a service desk?

yes

maybe

Does it have an internal name or business-related name that is known by the end user?

yes

maybe

Can an end user work with it?

yes

maybe

Can it be used in different applications?

no

yes

Is it a standard IT product such as an operating system, infrastructure component, or database?

no

yes

To streamline documenting your application portfolio, it is recommended that the relevant business capabilities, business processes, and organizations in your business architecture are captured in the repository before you capture your application data. Click to understand the dependencies of data capture.

In the navigation panel, click Application Architecture > Applications.​ Per default, the data workbench displays only a set of basic attributes. You can add more columns to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench or you can navigate to an application's content area and define it in more detail there. Click to learn about how to use data workbenches.

Add a new application. Click the New button. The edit panel opens on the right where you can define basic data.

Edit an existing application. Edit the application directly in the data table. Or select the checkbox  DWB_Checkbox for the application you want to edit and click the Edit  dlt-icon-edit_Teal button to open the edit panel.

Define the application's basic data. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the application and save it.

In Alfabet FastLane, responsibilities are documented via the concept of roles, whereby each role is based on a preconfigured role type or a custom role type defined by your company. In contrast to an authorized user who has read/write permissions, a person assigned a role for an asset will not have read/write permissions based on the role definition. The role is primarily for documentation purposes to provide information about stakeholders interested or responsible for the asset. If the user should have read/write permissions, they must either be the authorized user of the asset or assigned to an authorized user group associated with the asset.

Alfabet FastLane provides out-of-the-box role types that enable you to understand who is responsible for your IT assets in your IT portfolio. Additional role types that are relevant for your company can also be added.

Assigning users and organizations to roles is critical to understanding responsibility for assets in the IT and is required to answer the business question Who is responsible for our assets?

To define the users and organizations that have a role for an application, click the navigate Navigate button of the application to open the content area. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Responsibilities view and open it. Click in a column cell to open a selector to define a role for the application. Depending on the role column, you may be able to select a person or an organization. Switch between Person or Organization in the selector.

A person can have one of the following roles or a custom role added by your company:

  • Application Manager: A person who is the subject matter expert for an application from a functional and technical point of view.
  • Architect: A person who is responsible for the governance of the application.
  • Business Owner: A person or organization that owns the application and is responsible for managing the functional requirements.
  • IT Owner: A person or IT organization that owns the application and thus typically responsible for approval decisions.
  • Stakeholder: A person or organization that has an interest in the application and therefore requires read-only access permissions.

An organization can have one of the following roles or a custom role added by your company:

  • Business Owner: A person or organization that owns the application and is responsible for managing the functional requirements.
  • IT Owner: A person or IT organization that owns the application and thus typically responsible for approval decisions.
  • Operations: An IT organization responsible for the operations of the application.
  • Stakeholder: A person or organization that has an interest in the application and therefore requires read-only access permissions.

An evaluation is a measurement of the performance of an application. Preconfigured indicator types and possibly custom indicator types added by your company are available to evaluate and are used in various analyses in Alfabet FastLane. Indicator types that are colored orange can be automatically computed by the system. All other indicator types must be manually defined.

Define the application's indicators. Click the navigate  Navigate button of the application to open the content area. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Evaluations view and open it. Select an indicator type and click Edit Indicator or click Group Edit to open a dialog where all indicator types can be edited that are not automatically computed by the system.

Update computed indicators. Click the Calculate button to update computed indicators via the Calculate button. The indicators will be recalculated based on the current data.

The application lifecycle describes the succession of stages that the application goes through over time. Alfabet FastLane allows all stages of an application's lifecycle to be documented from its phase-in to its phase-out of the organization. This can include any or all stages from the application's identification, planning the build and deployment, putting it into production, and sundowning it. A robust application lifecycle management includes versioning and planning for successor applications to ensure that IT continues to support critical business areas.

Not all company's document their application lifecycles and it is not mandatory in Alfabet FastLane. However, robust application lifecycle management is key to the health of the business and helps you to understand identify and manage lifecycle conflicts. By documenting the lifecycles of the applications in your application portfolio, you will be able to identify which applications are approaching end-of-life but have no defined successor applications. Furthermore, you can understand whether relevant technologies are in place during the lifecycle of an application. With this insight, you can plan, communicate, and take corrective action for applications that are at risk and ensure the availability and reliability of applications for the company.

In Alfabet FastLane, an application lifecycle consists of the following stages:

  • Plan: The application has been identified and evaluated for possible use in company.
  • Pilot: A test system has been set up and the application is undergoing detailed testing.
  • Production: The application is being used in company.
  • Sundown: The application is still available but it is not intended to be used for daily work.
  • Retire: The application should no longer be used but could be temporarily restored if urgently needed.

Gantt reports that visualize the application lifecycle will also reflect the application’s active period which is when the application is actually being used in the enterprise. This object state typically corresponds to the application’s start and end dates and should be set to Active when the active is in use. The active period usually corresponds to the lifecycle phases that represent when the application is in production, but this will depend on your company's lifecycle management methodology. For example, the active period could begin when the lifecycle phase Pilot starts and end when the lifecycle phase Production ends. Or it could be that the active period begins when the lifecycle phase Production starts and ends when when the lifecycle phase Production ends.

Define the application's lifecycle. Click the navigate  Navigate button of the application to open the content area. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Application Lifecycle view and open it.

  • Add lifecycle phases to the application lifecycle. Include lifecycle phases by setting a checkmark in the checkbox for the lifecycle phase in the left pane. Only lifecycle phases that are selected can be defined.
  • Set the start and end of a lifecycle phase. In the timeline, select a lifecycle phase (colored bar) and drag the handles to define the start and end dates for the lifecycle phase. Select the Keep Phases Duration checkbox to retain the current definition in the adjacent lifecycle phases. If you do not select the Keep Phases Duration checkbox, the adjacent lifecycle phases will increase or decrease proportionally.
  • Set the start and end of the active period. Click the red bar for the active period and drag the handles to define the start and end dates for the active period. The selected object’s start and end dates will change correspondingly.
  • Align the start and and of the active period with the lifecycle phase. Click Align Active Period to automatically align the start/end dates of the active period with the start/end dates of the lifecycle phases that begin and end the active period.

Business capabilities must already be in the repository in order to define the business capability that the application provides. Some business questions in Alfabet FastLane can only be answered if the relationship between applications and business capabilities is defined. Click to find out how to capture business capability data.

Applications support the company to realize its business capabilities. For each application, you should define the business capabilities that the application provides in order to understand how the business may be at risk due to IT failure.

When you specify a business capability that the application supports, a reference is automatically created between the business capability and application. The relationship between the application, the business capability that the application provides, and organization that uses the application is called an operational business support.

Click the navigate Navigate button of the application to open the content area. Go to the Business Portfolio page and scroll to the Provided Business Capabilities view and open it.

Click New > Add Associated Domains. In the selector, select one or more business capabilities that the application provides. Note that the selector shows both business capabilities and IT capabilities. Ensure that the prefix of the ID is BCAP and that Business Capability is displayed in the Stereotype column. Click OK.

Business processes must already be in the repository in order to define the business processes that the application supports. Some business questions in Alfabet FastLane can only be answered if the relationship between applications and business processes is defined. Click to find out how to capture business process data.

Applications provide functional support to the company's business processes. For each application, you should define the business processes that the application supports in order to understand the operational support that applications provide in the as-is architecture.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Business Portfolio page and scroll to the Business Processes view and open it.

Click New > Add Business Processes. In the selector, select one or more business processes that the application supports. Note the Level ID column to understand where the business process is in the business process hierarchy. Click OK.

Organizations must already be in the repository in order to define the organizations that use the application. Click to find out how to capture organization data.

Applications are used by organizations. For each application, define the organizations that use the application. In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Business Portfolio page and scroll to the Organizations Using Application view and open it. Click New > Add Organizations Using Application. In the selector, select one or more organizations that use the application supports and click OK.

Information flows exchange business data between applications. For each information flow, one application is considered the source of the information flow and the other application is considered the target of the information flow. The number of information flows that an application is associated with helps the application architect determine the complexity of the application, potential redundancies among applications, and the effort involved in migrating or replacing an application.

An application can be a source of an outgoing information flow and the target of an incoming information flow. Neither the source nor the target application of an information flow can have its object state set to Retired. The application may have an unlimited number of incoming and outgoing information flow. The naming convention for information flows is: <Source Application> > <Target Application>.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Information Portfolio page and open and scroll to the Information Flows view and open it. You can do one of the following:

  • Click New > Add Incoming Information Flow if the application you are working with is the target of the information flow.In the selector, select the application that is the source of the information flow and click OK.
  • Click Add Outgoing Information Flow if the application you are working with is the source of the information flow. In the selector, select the application that is the target of the information flow and click OK.

Specify the basic data about the information flow. Select the checkbox  DWB_Checkbox for the information flow you want to edit and click the Edit  dlt-icon-edit_Teal button to open the edit panel. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the information flow and save it.

  • Short Name: (Optional) Define a short abbreviated name to display on the information flow in diagrams and business graphics.
  • Version: (Mandatory) Enter the version number. The version number should be unique.
  • Object State: (Optional) The object state describes the use of the information flow in the real word. The information flow's object state may only be defined as active if its source and target applications also have an active object state.The information flow must have a retired object state if either the source or target application has a retired state. Possible values are:
    • Plan: The information flow is proposed to be used and still in the stages of planning and building.
    • Active: The information flow is currently and used now. The active period begins with the information flow's start date and ends with the end date.
    • Retired: The information flow is no longer used.
  • Release Status: (Optional) This is an approval status and typically indicates the level of quality of the information about the information flow. The release status determines whether an information flow can or cannot be deleted. Possible values are:
    • Draft: The information flow has only mandatory data defined.
    • Under Review: The information flow is documented and being reviewed. An information flow with this release status cannot be deleted.
    • Approved: The information flow has been approved by the responsible stakeholders. An information flow cannot be deleted when it has an approved release status. An information flow with this release status cannot be deleted.
    • Data imported: The data regarding this information flow has been imported from an external system. Additional changes may be required to improve the data quality. An information flow with this release status can be deleted.
    • Trash: The information flow is no longer valid and can be deleted.
  • Start Date and End Date: (Mandatory) The start and end date captures the period when the information flow is actively running and can be used in the company. This is also when the Object State attribute should be specified as Active. Click the calendar icon to select the date or enter the date in the date format Month/Day/Year. For example: 4/30/2023
  • From (Source) and To (Source) (Optional): You can change the source or target of the information flow to a (local) component that has been defined for the source or target application. The component name will be displayed in parenthesis behind the application in the information flow name.
  • Connection details: (Optional) Specify the connection type, connection method, connection frequency, and connection data format for the information flow.
  • Description: Enter a meaningful description that will clarify the purpose of the information flow.
  • Authorized Access: As the creator of the information flow, you are automatically defined as the authorized user per default. The authorized user of the information flow can be changed. You can also define any authorized user group that should have Read/Write access permissions to the information flow.

Specify the responsibilities and indicators for the information flow. You can define the roles and evaluate indicators for the information flow. In the data table, click the navigate  Navigate button of the information you want to define. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Responsibilities and Evaluations views.

Business data must already be in the repository in order to define the use of the business data by the application. Click to find out how to capture business data.

An application can be a source of an outgoing information flow and the target of an incoming information flow. The information flow transfers the business data that applications either create, read, update, or delete (CRUD).

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Information Portfolio page and open and scroll to the Business Data view and open it.

Create business data. Click New > Create Business Data and define the business data's basic information or click Add Existing Business Data to select a business data that is in the repository.

Specify the usage of the business data by the application or the information flow. In the Business Data view, click the Business Data Usage button to open the editor to define how the application operates on the business data. Select all checkboxes that are relevant for the application and click OK to save the specification.

An application platform describes the technical architecture in terms of the assembly of local components that a specific application runs on. This assembly is based on a platform template and ideally has standard components incorporated in it.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Technology Portfolo page and open and scroll to the Platform Architecture view and open it.

The application platform is displayed as a matrix. The X-axis shows the platform tiers used to classify components according to their role in a client / server architecture. The following platform tiers are defined:

  • Client / Mobile: Includes the components that implement the part of the application that directly interacts with the user.
  • Presentation: Includes the components that define and support the presentation / GUI of the applications.
  • Business: Includes the components that primarily implement business / application logic or support the execution of such logic.
  • Integration: Includes the components that are allowed for integration of (transfer of data between) components within or across platforms.
  • Resource: Includes the components that provide resources for or are resources to other components.

The Y-axis shows the platform layers that classify components according to their technical abstraction level. The following platform layers are defined:

  • Business Layer: Includes the components that focus on implementation of business logic and generate the business value.
  • Software Layer: Includes the components that are required by the application and support components in the business layer but do not directly implement business logic.
  • Infrastructure Layer: Contains logical instances of device software that "run" components or transport data between components.

Define the application's platform. To assemble a platform for the application, add individual components in the platform matrix, thus structuring the selected platform component by component. Click in a cell and click New > Create New Local Component or click the Create as Copy button to select a component to copy. Give the component a name, version and start and end dates. The local component exists only in the context of the application and cannot be reused by other applications.

Applications are deployed on either virtual servers or physical servers. The virtual servers are usually running on top of physical servers which are located in different locations around the world. Virtual servers are typically application servers or web servers.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Technology Portfolio page and open and scroll to the Servers view and open it. Click New > Add Servers. In the selector, select Virtual Server or Physical Server in the Physical / Virtual field to find the server that deploys the application.