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.

MM_MM_4Beginner 

An application is a software package that provides functionality to end users. It has a lifecycle and may have predecessor and successor versions.

An application supports the company's core business capabilities to accomplish its mission. It will transfer business data by means of information flows . The application operates on a platform made up of hardware and software components that provide the technologies that enable the application.

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.

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

In the navigation panel, click Application Architecture > Applications. The data workbench displays all applications that are already in the data workbench.

Click the New button. The edit panel opens on the right where you can define basic information about the application. The Name attribute is mandatory. Enter a name for the application that is known to end users. The application's name is typically different than the name of the vendor delivering the application.

To open the edit panel for an application displayed in the data workbench, select the checkbox DWB_Checkbox for the application and click the Edit  dlt-icon-edit_Teal button.

Once an application is in the repository, you can define more details about the applications in the Applications data workbench.

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 via the Structure column 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.

Or you can select an individual application and navigate to its content area and specify and analyze the application in detail. In the data workbench, click the Navigate  Navigate button to open the application's content area. Go to the Overview page.

Define the application's basic data.

Define the architecture attributes.

Define the lifecycle attributes. All attributes in the Lifecycle attribute group in the application's content area should be specified before you specify the application's lifecycle phases. Click here to learn about specifying the application's lifecycle phases.

Robust application lifecycle management is key to the health of the business and helps you to manage conflicts with end-of-life technologies to ensure that IT continues to support critical business areas. 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 including planning the build and deployment, putting it into production, and sundowning it.

Not all company's document their application lifecycles and it is not mandatory in Alfabet FastLane. But by documenting the lifecycles of the applications in your application portfolio, you can understand whether relevant technologies are in place during the lifecycle of an application and which applications are approaching end-of-life but have no defined successor applications. 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.

All attributes in the Lifecycle attribute group in the application's content area should be specified to mitigate risk and plan the target architecture. This includes knowing the period when the application is in use ( Start Date, End Date, and Object State ) as well as the successor application ( Successor ) to understand which application will follow once the application reaches its end-of-life. Specify the Strategic Application attribute to understand the importance of the application for the business.

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.
  • Sunset: The application is still available but it is not intended to be used for daily work.
  • Retired: The application should no longer be used but could be temporarily restored if urgently needed.

Flows_LifecyclePhases_ActivePeriod 

Gantt reports that visualize the application lifecycle show the application’s active period ( object state = Active) which is the time between the start and end date when the application is actually being used. 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.

The active period could begin when the lifecycle phase Pilot starts and end when the lifecycle phase Sunset ends, as shown above. Or it could be that the active period begins and ends when the lifecycle phase Production begins and ends.

Define the application's lifecycle. In the data workbench, click the Navigate  Navigate button to open the application's content area. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Application Lifecycle view and open it. Click the Edit Lifecycle button.

  • 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. Clear a checkbox to remove a lifecycle phase.
  • 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 end 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.

Specify the predecessor and successor applications.

In the Application Lifecycle view, click the Next/Previous button in the toolbar. In the editor, scroll to the Next Version field to select the application that shall follow the current application you are working with once it retires. You can also specify the Previous Version field if you know the application that preceded the one you are working with. The predecessor and successor version will be added to the Gantt chart above and below the current application.

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. The evaluation of applications is relevant for many business questions in Alfabet FastLane and is critical to have meaningful results in these analyses.

Evaluation types are preconfigured by Software GmbH. Each evaluation type bundles a set of indicator types that are assigned values. Your company may also configure custom evaluation types.

Any indicators that are colored orange are computed by the system and cannot be manually edited. The computed value is based on other indicators or attributes, therefore it is important to specify values for all of an application's indicators. To display the indicators that are automatically calculated in the Evaluation view, click the three-dots button  ThreeDots > Show Computed Indicators.

To hide the orange rows so that you can focus on only the indicators that need to be manually specified, click the three-dots button ThreeDots > Hide Computed Indicators.

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. Click in the Value column for an indicator type and specify the value.

Update computed indicators. Click three-dots button  ThreeDots > Compute Indicators to update the indicators that are automatically calculated based on the values of other indicators and attributes. The computed indicators will be updated based on the current data.

Set all undefined values to the default value. The portfolio administrator who has configured the indicator types may specify default values for the indicators. You can update indicators that have no values defined with the predefined default values.

To enter the default values for all undefined indicator types, click Action > Set Undefined Values to Default. Please note that the updated values will not be reflected in the Last Update field.

Application groups must already be in the repository in order to assign the application to an application group. Click to find out how to capture application group data.

Application groups logically structure and bundle the applications and allow you to assess the application portfolio. You can assign the application to multiple application groups in order to analyze your applications from various perspectives.

Click the navigate Navigate button of the application to open the content area. Go to Overview > Asset Grouping. In the Application Group field, enter the name of the application group you want to assign the application to. Or click in the field to open the selector and select each application group that you want to assign the application to. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Asset Grouping field.

You can specify the committed budget for the application in the Operational Expenses view. Before you begin to capture the application's operational costs, you should specify the years for which you want to capture costs. You can enter costs in any currency that your portfolio administrator has configured.

Click the navigate Navigate button for a application to open its content area. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Operational Expenses view.

Specify the start and end year of the Operational Expenses view. You can capture costs for all years displayed in the view. To change the start and end years displayed, click the Filter  dlt-icon-filter_Teal button and change the First Year and Last Year fields. Click Update

  • First Year and Last Year: Define the start and end year for the report.
  • Total Sum Currency: Select the currency to use to calculate the costs in the Total row. The total sum will be calculated based on the currency exchange rate specified by your portfolio administrator.

Enter the cost information. For each cost type, enter the committed budget for the application in the corresponding year in the Budget column. You can specify the currency for each cost type you define. The available currencies are listed in the drop-down available in the Currency column.

Change the currency in the Total row.

You can also change the currency displayed in the Total row. Click the Filter  dlt-icon-filter_Teal button and select the currency in the Total Sum Currency field. Click Update. The sum in the the Total row will be calculated in the currency based on the currency exchange rate specified by your portfolio administrator.

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. You can specify multiple business capabilities that the application provides.

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 application's content area > Business Portfolio. In the Relationships section, go to the Provided Business Capabilities field, enter the name of the business capability that the application provides.

Or click in the field to open the selector and select each business capability that you want to assign the application to. The Level ID indicates where the business capability is in the business capability hierarchy. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Provided Business Capabilities field.

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. You can specify multiple business processes that the application supports.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the Business Portfolio page. In the Relationships section, go to the Supported Business Processes field, enter the name of the business process that the application supports.

Or click in the field to open the selector and select each business process that you want to assign the application to. The Level ID indicates where the business process is in the business process hierarchy. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Supported Business Processes field.

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. You can specify multiple organizations that use each application.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the application's content area > Business Portfolio. In the Relationships section, go to the Using Organizations field, enter the name of the organization that uses the application. Or click in the field to open the selector and select each organization that you want to assign the application to. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Using Organizations field.

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 > Create 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 Create 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 world. 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 (Target) (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 flow 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 > Business Data.

Assign business data to the application. Click the 3-dots  ThreeDots menu > Add Existing Business Data to select a business data that is in the repository. Change the attributes as needed via the Edit button.

Specify the usage of the business data by the application or the information flow. Click the 3-dots  ThreeDots menu > Business Data Usage. The editor opens where you can 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.

The local components added to the platform may be based on a standard component or created from scratch. Local components exist only in the context of the application and cannot be reused by other applications.

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 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 local components that implement the part of the application that directly interacts with the user.
  • Presentation: Includes local components that define and support the presentation / GUI of the applications.
  • Business: Includes local components that primarily implement business / application logic or support the execution of such logic.
  • Integration: Includes local components that are allowed for integration of (transfer of data between) components within or across platforms.
  • Resource: Includes local 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 local components that focus on implementation of business logic and generate the business value.
  • Software Layer: Includes local 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 local components.

Define the application's platform. To assemble a platform for the application, add individual components to the platform matrix, structuring the selected platform component by component. Each component you add will be a local component that is used only in the context of this application.

Click in the cell in the platform matrix where you want to add the component and click the 3-dots ThreeDots menu > Create as Copy to create a new local component based on a copy of a standard component. Select a standard component to copy and give the new local component a name, version and start and end dates. Or click the 3-dots  ThreeDots menu > Add to add a local component that is already in the repository to the matrix.

The Components Lifecycle and Used Components views show the local components that are assigned to the appliciation. These local components may be included in the application's platform.

Physical servers and virtual servers must already be in the repository in order to specify which servers host the application. Click to find out how to capture business dataClick to find out how to capture physical servers and virtual servers.

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 application's content area > Technology Portfolio > Infratructure Relations. In the Hosting Servers field, enter the name of the physical server or virtual server that hosts the application. Or click in the field to open the selector and find the server. Sort the servers based on the Stereotype column to understand which are physical servers and which are virtual servers. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Infrastructure Relations field.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to understand. Go to the application's content area > Investment Portfolio > Impacting Projects to view a list of all projects that impact the application as well as the project manager of each project. The Impacting Projects Lifecycle shows the time schedule for each project as well as the project costs and potential project dependencies.

The application has been assigned to the project via the project's content area > Architcture Scope > Affected Architecture. Click for details about capturing project data.

You can design a diagram to depict the landscape of the application you are working with. For example, you can visualize application groups including their applications, the information flows between applications, and the local components that the applications use.

When designing an application diagram, you can:

  • Add applications and application groups that exist in the repository to the diagram.
  • Create placeholder objects that you can then later replace with an application, application group, or information flow that is in the repository.
  • Automatically add referenced local components to an application and referenced applications to an application group.
  • Edit the basic attributes for a selected asset in the diagram. For example, change the application's start/end dates.
  • Remove a diagram item such as an application or information flow from the diagram. You can delete an information flow from the repository that was created in the context of the diagram.
  • Add shapes and other design elements (such as a legend, text, arrows, color, etc.) in order to provide additional information in the diagram.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the application's content area > Diagrams > Application Landscape Diagram. You will either see a default diagram or a diagram that has been designed by a user with access permissions to the application.

To edit the design of the diagram, click the 3-dots ThreeDots menu > Action > Open Diagram. The Diagram Designer opens in a new browser tab. Click for details about how to design a diagram in the Diagram Designer.

At any point in time, you can check the data quality of the application you are defining to see where gaps exist.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to define. Go to the application's content area > Data Quality > Data Quality Details. Expand the table in order to review the data quality issues. Click the link in the Resolution column to navigate to the location where you can correct the data quality issue.