Capture application data

Users with the user profiles Application Manager, Portfolio Manager, and Portfolio Admin can add and edit applications in Alfabet. 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

You can add a new application from anywhere in the product via the orange New button in the header. Or go to Application Architecture > Applications:

  • Click New > Application.
  • Select the checkbox DWB_Checkbox for an application you want to copy and click New > Application as Copy. Edit the attributes that have been copied to the new application.
  • Select the checkbox DWB_Checkbox for an application you want to base a new version on and click New > Application Version. Change the version number and relevant attributes like start and end dates.

Click the Navigate  Navigate button next to an application to open its content area. Specify the application's attributes as well as the relationships that the application has to other assets in the repository.

Try to capture as much information as possible about the application because complete data considerably improves the results of business questions and other analytics.

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

Per default, the data workbench displays a limited set of basic attributes. You can add more columns via the Structure column to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench.

Or specify and analyze the application in detail in its content area . In the data workbench, click the Navigate button for an application to open its content area > 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.

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 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.

Flows_LifecyclePhases_ActivePeriod 

The application lifecycle is visualized in Gantt reports throughout Alfabet. The Gantt charts show the application’s active period which is the time between the start and end date when the application is actually being used. This is the period when the object state is set to Active. The active period typically 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.

Not all company's document their application lifecycles and it is not mandatory in Alfabet. 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.

Go to the application's content area > Overview.

Capture general data about the application. Go to the Lifecycle attribute and specify the following.

  • Start Date and End Date: Captures when the application is actively running and can be used in the company. The Object State attribute should be specified set to Active during this period.
  • Object State: Describes the operational use of the application in the real world. Possible values are:
    • Plan: The application is proposed to be used and still in the stages of planning and building.
    • Active: The application is currently being used. The active period begins with the application's start date and stops with the end date.
    • Retired: The application is no longer used.

    The object state should be changed from Plan to Active once the application's start date is reached. It should be changed to Retired when the application's end data is reached.

  • Recommendation: The strategic recommendation regarding future investment for the application. This is required for TIME (Tolerate, Invest, Migrate, Eliminate) analyses. Possible values are:
    • Tolerate: Invest in the application.
    • Invest: Consider the application as a migration candidate.
    • Migrate: Sundown the application.
    • Eliminate: Discontinue the application.
  • Strategic Application: Select if the application is strategic for the company.
  • Successor: The next application that will follow this application version.

Describe the succession of stages that the application goes through. Go to the Application Lifecycle view.

  1. Click the application in the timeline and click EditSingle edit button.
  2. Activate the slider for the lifecycle phases to include and specify their start and end dates. The following lifecycle phases may be specified:
    • Plan: The application has been identified and evaluated for possible use in company.
    • Implementation: Activities are underway to prepare the application for production.
    • Production: The application is being used in company.
    • Sunset: The application is still available but is not intended to be used for daily work.
    • Read-Only: The application is no longer used but is available for reasons of documentation and compliance.
    • Retired: The application should no longer be used.

    You can also change the start and end dates of a lifecycle phase directly in the Gantt chart. Click on one of the ends of a lifecycle phase (colored bar) and drag the bar to define the start and end dates.

  3. Click Align Active Period to automatically align the start/end dates of the application's active period with the start/end dates of the lifecycle phases that are configured to begin and end the active period.

View the application lifecycle and the lifecycles of its components.

Go to Technology Context > Component Lifecycles view. The first row in the Gantt view is the application. The subordinate rows show the components that the application uses. For each component, the component lifecycle is displayed.

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?.

Responsibilities are based on preconfigured role types. Your company may also configure custom role types via the Portfolio Admin user profile. Depending on the role type, a specified user and/or a specified organization may fulfill the responsibility for the application. A user assigned responsibility via a role has read-only permissions to the application. To change data about the application, they must also be specified as an authorized user or member of a n authorized user group.

Roles can be assigned to an application in the Applications data workbench or the application content area via Overview > Responsibilities.

Each role column represents the responsibility that a user or organization has for the application. A person can have one of the following roles or a custom role added by your company:

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

  1. Click a column cell to open a selector to define the role for the application. Depending on the role column, the selector may have a section for both Person and Organization.
  2. Expand the relevant section and select the person or organization to assign their role to the application.

An evaluation is a measurement of the performance of an application. The evaluation of applications is relevant for many business questions in Alfabet 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 via the Portfolio Admin user profile.

You can define an application's indicators directly in the Applications data workbench or in the application's content area via Overview > Evaluation. The view shows evaluation types in the Evaluation column with their associated indicator types in the Indicator column.

Understand the purpose of the indicator. Click the tooltip button for an explanation about the indicator. Any indicators that are colored orange are calculated by the system and cannot be manually edited.

Specify the value of an indicator. Select a value for each indicator in the Value column. Specify relevant information about the indicator in the Comments column.

Alternatively, click the Edit button to open an editor where you can enter verbose comments, or click the  ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Group Edit to edit multiple indicator types at once in an editor format.

Update default values for empty indicators. Click Action > Set Undefined Values to Default. All empty indicators for which a default value has been configured will be updated. Please note that the updated values will not be reflected in the Last Update field.

Manage computed indicators. Any indicators that are colored orange are calculated by the system and cannot be manually edited. To trigger the update of computed indicators, click the  ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Compute Indicators. To hide the computed indicators from view, click the  ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Hide Computed Indicators.

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 Groups 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.

Go to the application's content area > Overview > Operational Expenses view and open it. The view shows the committed budget for the application. You can capture the costs for all cost types over the specified period of time displayed in the view.

Set the start and end years of the view. Click the  Filter local button and change the First Year and Last Year fields.

Specify the committed budget for the application. by entering the costs directly in the Budget column for the year and cost type. You can enter costs in any currency that your portfolio administrator has configured. The available currencies are listed in the drop-down available in the Currency column.

Change the currency in the Total row. Click the  Filter local button and change the Total Sum Currency field. 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 can only be answered if the relationship between applications and business capabilities is defined.

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.

You can specify multiple business capabilities that the application provides.

  1. Go to the application's content area > Business Context > Relationships section > Provided Business Capabilities field.
  2. Enter the name of the business capability that the application provides, or click in the field to open the selector. 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.
  3. 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 can only be answered if the relationship between applications and business processes is defined.

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.

You can specify multiple business processes that the application supports.

  1. Go to the application's content area > Business Context > Relationships section > Supported Business Processes field.
  2. Enter the name of the business process that the application supports, or click in the field to open the selector. 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.
  3. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Supported Business Processes 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.

Go to an application's content area > Information Context. Scroll to the Information Flows view.

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

  • Click the New plus button > Create Incoming Information Flow if the application you are working with is the target of the information flow. Specify the source of the information flow in the Source Application field.
  • Click the New plus button > Create Outgoing Information Flow if the application you are working with is the source of the information flow. Specify the target of the information flow in the Target Application field.

Specify the following attributes:

  • Short Name: Define an abbreviation of 3-4 letters to display in diagrams and business graphics.
  • Version: Enter a unique version number.
  • Object State: The object state may only be set to active if both its source and target applications have an active object state.The information flow must be set to retired if either the source or target application is retired. 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: This is an approval status and typically indicates the level of quality of the information about the information flow. 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: Captures the period when the information flow is actively running and can be used in the company. The Object State should be set to Active during this period.
  • From (Source) and To (Target): 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: 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.

Business data must already be in the repository in order to define the use of the business data by the application.

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).

Go to an application's content area > Information Context > Business Data.

Specify the business data that the application transfers. Click the  New plus button > Add Existing Business Data to select a business data that is in the repository.

Specify how the application uses the business data. Select a business data in the dataset and click the  ThreeDots 3-dots button > Edit Business Data Usage to define how the application operates on a business data. Select all checkboxes that are relevant for the application:

You can specify which components an application needs to be operational. The components must already be in the repository. When you specify that a component is used by an application, you must create a local component based on the standard component. Any local component that an application uses can be added to the application's platform.

  1. Go to the application's content area > Technology Context > Used Components.
  2. Click New and select the standard component that that you want to base the local component on.
  3. Capture the basic data for the component.
    • Name: (Mandatory) Enter a name for the component. You can add an abbreviation (3-4 letters) of the name in the Short Name field to use in diagrams and other visualizations.
    • Version: Enter a version number for the component.
    • Start Date and End Date: Captures the period when the component is actively used in the company.
    • Application: (Mandatory) Displays the name of the application that uses the component.
    • Platform Tier: Classifies the component according to its role in the client / server architecture:
      • 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.
    • Platform Layer: Classifies the component according to its level of technical abstraction:
      • 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.
    • Is Visible: Switch on if the component shall be displayed in application explorers.

EAM_StandPlat_AppPlat 

An application platform describes the technical architecture in terms of the assembly of local components that a specific application runs on. The local components added to the platform are ideally based on standard components but can also be created from scratch. Each component embedded in the application platform is considered a platform element. The lifecycle of the platform element can be different from its lifecycle as a standard component.

There are different methods to assemble a complex platform:

  • Add individual platform elements assembled in an existing standard platform, thus structuring the selected platform component by component. In this case, the platform elements allow for a detailed description of the platform architecture. This method should be used to assemble the platform if the communication between the components is relevant.
  • Add an existing standard platform as an entire package including all of its platform elements derived from components to the selected platform. This method should be used if all relevant communication between the components takes place within the platform.
  • Add local components to the application platform. The local components must first be added to the application in the application's content area > Technology Context > Used Components.

The application platform is made up of platform elements, which are local components that the application runs on.

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 displayed:

  • 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.

Analyze the technological components bundled in a platform for their compliance with your company’s technology roadmap.

Click the Filter local filter button and specify the Lifecycle Phase and Date fields to determine which components have a selected lifecycle status on the specified date. Compliant components display a green symbol and non-compliant components display a red symbol.

To assemble the application's platform, go to the application's content area > Technology Context > Platform Architecture.

Add a component based on a standard component. Click the matrix cell where you want to add the component and click the  AddStandComp  Add button. Select the standard component to base the new local component.

Add a local component that the application uses. Click the matrix cell where you want to add the component and click the  AddLocalComp  Add button. Select a local component in the selector.

Add components assigned to a standard platform. Components assigned to a standard platform will be added to the same platform tier and matrix of the application platform as in the standard platform. Click the 3-dots  ThreeDots menu > Standard Platform and click one of the following:

  • Add Existing Standard Platform: Select a standard platform to add all relevant components to the application platform. The components are added as local components. You can remove unnecessary local component. Click the 3-dots  ThreeDots menu > Detach to remove it from the application platform, or click Delete to irrevocably delete the local component from the repository.
  • Copy Elements from Standard Platform: Select a standard platform to add all relevant components to the application platform. The components are added as platform elements that are embedded in the application platform. Embedded components cannot be deleted from the platform. To remove all embedded platform elements, click a platform element and click the 3-dots  ThreeDots menu > Standard Platform > Detach Associated Standard Platform.

All local components added to the application platform will be displayed in the Components Lifecycle and Used Components views.

Alfabet supports two use cases to manage deployments. Per default, applications are associated with physical and virtual servers via the application content area > Technology Context > Infrastructure Relations > Hosting Servers. If this use case is implemented in your solution, you must specify the physical/virtual servers that deploy the application . When you go to the application content area > Technology Context > Deployment Structure, you will see the relationships between business capabilities, applications, servers, and locations.

In the other use case, a deployment will specifically describe how the application is deployed on the physical and virtual servers. A deployment is the logical set of installed elements that constitute one instantiation of an application. A deployment element can be created for each local component that an application uses and the physical or virtual server specified that the deployment element runs on. If this case is implemented in your solution, you can go to the application content area > Technology Context > Deployments to create an application deployment . The Deployment Structure view shows the relationships between business capabilities, applications, deployments, and servers. Navigation to the deployment content area displays a Deployment Structure view where you can rescan the deployment so that a deployment element is created for each local component that the application uses and specify the physical server they run on.

Deployment management is specified by your solution designer in the XML object ProductUseCaseScope in the configuration tool Alfabet Expand.

Physical servers and virtual servers must already be in the repository in order to specify which servers host the application. and.

Applications may be deployed on either virtual servers or physical servers. The virtual servers usually run 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 Context > Infrastructure 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.

Go to the Deployment Structure view to understand the relationships between business capabilities, applications, servers, and locations.

A deployment describes how the application is deployed on the physical and virtual servers. A deployment is the logical set of installed elements that constitute one instantiation of an application. A deployment element can be created for each local component that an application uses and the physical or virtual server specified that the deployment element runs on.

Go to the application content area > Technology Context > Deployments to create a deployment. Click the  New plus sign button > Create New Deployment and specify a name and other relevant attributes.

Review the relationships of the deployment.Go to the Deployment Structure view to understand the relationships between business capabilities, applications, deployments, servers, and locations.

Specify the deployment elements. Navigate to the deployment's content area and go to the Deployment Details view. where you can rescan the deployment so that a deployment element is created for each local component that the application uses. Click the  New plus sign button > Rescan Deployment to create a deployment element for each local component assigned to the application. Select each deployment element > and click the  New plus sign button > Deploy On Serverand specify the physical server that the deployment runs on.

In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the application you want to understand. Go to the application's content area > Investment Context > 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 > Architecture 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 ThreeDots 3-dots button > 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.

The following business questions are relevant for the analysis of applications: