New

The following is introduced to the Alfabet Enterprise solution configuration.

A new guided data entry is introduced to help users create and edit applications, peripherals, components, business services, support services, and projects so that they can be sure the most critical data is complete and accurate. The guided data entry feature is available as a button in the respective content areas for which the guided data entry is available.

Triggering the Guided Data Entry button overlays the content area with the fields and views that are necessary to meet data requirements. A panel on the right lists the relevant areas of data input including the number of violated data quality rules for each area. For example, a guided data entry for an application highlights that data is required for the areas Basic Data, Description, Lifecycle, Architecture, and Information Flows. Users can click any section in the list to move the focus directly to the fields/views where the required data can be entered. Whenever a data rule violation is resolved, the number of data quality rule violations is updated. In this way, users can easily resolve all data input issues for the assets they are responsible for.

Users can trigger the preconfigured workflow to create a demand from anywhere in the user interface. By clicking the orange New button in the masthead and selecting Demand, the Register Demand workflow will be automatically triggered, and the editor panel will open so that the demand can be documented, assessed, and approved.

New capabilities are available to help your company transform the demand pipeline into IT transformation projects that are managed and executed upon based on the available resources and budget.

The Financials page in the project content area has been extended so that the project's skill request costs can be transferred to its business case. Additional views allow benefit tracking and cash-out planning to be managed and analyzed.

A new Execution page has been added to the project content area where project resources planning is specified and monitored. Skills and resources can be requested for the project and additional views provide an overview of who is providing the skills as well as a comprehensive time schedule of the resource planning.

The new user profile Resource Manager is a dedicated profile for users that are responsible for maintaining the data relevant for project portfolio management and provides complete transparency of offered and requested resources across teams and organizations. The Home page includes a Resource Management view that offers a comprehensive overview of the availability and consumption of skills by organizations, teams, and projects. A Resource Analysis page allows the resource manager to understand expected resource constraints at any point in time. Extensive filtering is available to focus on specific organizations, quarterly periods, impacted projects, and requested resources. Rules can be set to highlight significant resource constraints so that action can be taken in a timely manner.

Additionally, the resource manager has various data maintenance views available and can capture a skills catalog that is the basis for specifying the skills organizations offer. The resource manager can administer resources on a higher organizational level in the new Resources page in the organization content area as well as on a granular level that focuses on who can provide the skill and when they can provide it. The resource manager also has an overview of the transformation projects including when they shall start and end and who the responsible project manager and architect are.

The new user profile Team Member allows users who have been assigned to provide skills and resources to manage those tasks. The Home page for a team member shows a time schedule of all tasks they are responsible for and allows them to move them forward in an agile Kanban board. Various views are available where team members can manage their project tasks, report the time worked on their tasks, and keep track of timesheets.

The resource management capabilities can be accessed by users with the extension package Strategic Portfolio Management.

The extension package Lean Architecture Management is available and supports the use cases Portfolio Backlog and Portfolio Vision. These use cases allow various roles and stakeholders to plan, align and monitor a steady flow of epics and features in Alfabet in alignment with the SAFe framework. These capabilities ensure transparency across business and technological silos so that architecture planning is aligned to the business's strategy.

New classes Epic, Epic Group, Feature, and User Story have been added to the Investment Architecture section of the navigation panel. With these classes, users can capture epics to outline big picture goals, features to break down those goals into smaller, achievable chunks of functionality, and user stories to define the specific tasks needed to build each feature.

The new business question How do we manage our portfolio flow? has been added to the Transformation section. This business question focuses on epics that can be filtered based on specific strategic themes. The best practice methodology Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJ) is available to prioritize business and enable epics based on their cost of delay in terms of business value, risk, and time criticality as well as cost forecast. The business question allows epics to be assessed and moved to the next phase of their lifecycle when capacity allows.

The new business question How do we manage our program flow? allows features and user stories to be prioritized based on the methodology Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJ). Features are evaluated based on their cost of delay and estimated job size in story points to understand the duration of the feature. Relevant features can be moved to the next phase of the feature lifecycle.

A new use case based on the NORA (National Overall Reference Architecture) methodology is available. The NORA use case is compliant with the National Enterprise Architecture (NEA) framework relevant for governmental agencies in Saudi Arabia.

A new storyboard NORA Accelerator is available that is an entry to the 10-step approach to an industry-standard enterprise architecture operating model. The storyboard begins with developing an EA project strategy and takes users through the stages of specifying reference models and current and target architectures to developing management plans and the final execution of the EA strategy. Each storyboard link navigates the user to pre-configured views, reports, workflows and data ingestion tools. The new NORA use case helps enterprises streamline the establishment of enterprise architecture programs based on industry best practices in order to fast-track public sector digital transformation.

The NORA use case can be accessed by users with the extension packages Strategic Portfolio Management and Enterprise Architecture Management.

The business question What are our service overlaps? is available in the Rationalization section of the navigation panel. It helps you to quickly identify the overlap of business services or support services based on common IT assets.

The business question displays a matrix with a lane for each object class of service items that are providing services. The service items are marked with symbols and numbers if they are impacted by services. IT assets are highlighted red if they are affected by multiple services and require attention. Review the services impacted by an IT asset and establish clear objectives for service delivery in order to minimize risk and reduce the number of service collisions.

The business question can be accessed by users with the extension package Enterprise Architecture Management.

The business question Where are our applications deployed? helps you to understand where applications are located and provides a quick overview about the deployment hotspots. The information is a source of input about security and disaster recovery activities for locations with critical applications.

A branching diagram visualizes locations and their subordinate locations and the number of applications that are deployed at the location. Parent locations are on the left. The subordinate locations branch out towards the right. For each location deploying applications, a number is displayed in parenthesis next to the location name. A Deployment Structure view is available for each location that allows you to understand its application deployments including the physical and virtual servers that the applications run on.

Depending on the use case implemented by your company, the business question Where are our applications deployed? may show either the locations based on the physical/virtual servers that deploy the application or based on application deployments that specifically describe how the application is deployed on the physical and virtual servers via the logical set of installed elements that constitute one instantiation of an application.

The business question is available in the Transparency section for users with the he base package IT Transformation Server - Enterprise.

The business question What is our security score? provides a high-level overview of the application risk assessment. It helps identify the most critical applications based on their CIA score ( Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) in the application portfolio. This business question helps your enterprise comply with regulations by identifying yet-to-be assessed applications so that you can initiate activities to capture the required compliance data.

The business question is available in the Risk section for users with the base package IT Transformation Server - Enterprise.

The business question Where do we have SLA violations? examines the service level agreements for business services and their support services and compares the indicators of the SLAs. A nested matrix shows the business services, their support services and the alignment of their service level agreements (SLAs). The visualization highlights where support services do not provide enough support to the business service and where violations are occurring with service level agreements. This business question helps you to understand the business service demand and the support service supply chain and identify risks due to inconsistencies in the supply chain.

The business question is available in the Risk section for users with the license package Enterprise Architecture Management.

Application variants can be created by users with the license package Enterprise Architecture Management.

A new User Profiles section has been added to the User Accounts Management section of the navigation panel available for the Portfolio Admin user profile. Administrative users can edit existing use profiles and change the user profile's read-write permissions, whether it is available for anonymous user login, or has administrative rights.

This capability is available only to administrative users with the base package IT Transformation Server - Enterprise.

A new License Overview section has been added to the Administration section of the navigation panel available for the Portfolio Admin user profile. Administrative users can view all licenses and license packages that their company has purchased as well as view which use cases are active in the product scope of each license package.