Improvements

The Agile Transformation use case has been extended to align more fully with the SAFe framework in order to drive enterprise transformation in alignment with articulated strategic intentions so that value is delivered to the enterprise.

Operational and development value streams have been added to the Agile Architecture section of the navigation panel. Operational value streams can be captured and analyzed to understand the activities needed to deliver a product or service. Development value streams capture the sequence of activities to develop, and support the products and solutions used by operational value streams. Value stream steps can be specified for operational value streams to document the relevant steps necessary to implement solutions that provide a continued flow of value to the enterprise.

Agile release trains (ARTs), program increments (PIs), and iterations are available in the Agile Architecture section of the navigation panel. Data workbenches and content areas are available for agile release trains, program increments, and iterations. An Agile Release Train (ART) is the execution mechanism within development value streams. It is a cohesive group of cross-functional agile teams working together to develop solutions. A Program Increment (PI) is a structured timebox in which an Agile Release Train (ART) delivers incremental value through working, tested software and systems. The PI provides a framework to segment the continuous work of an ART into defined periods, ensuring better planning, synchronization, and delivery of value.

To work with Alfabet 's AI agile transformation capabilities, you must have a license to Lean Portfolio Management. The use case Agile Transformation must be enabled. This use case includes the classes Development Value Stream, Operational Value Stream, Value Stream Group, and Value Stream Step. The use case Agile Implementation must be enabled to use the classes Agile Release Train and Program Increment.

Interoperability between Alfabet and Horizzon allows you to leverage Horizzon's data modeling and solution architecture capabilities as well as Alfabet 's application portfolio management, technology portfolio management, and strategic portfolio management capabilities. This release provides further functional developments to ensure a seamless interaction between the Horizzon and Alfabet repositories so that a flexible integration between the two platforms is possible.

Alfabet and Horizzon now support a fully dynamic and customizable 2-way integration. The integration model is constructed in Horizzon and synchronized between both systems. New data endpoints enable Horizzon to query and fetch meta-model data for all Alfabet classes relevant to IT portfolio management. The Alfabet -Horizzon class meta-model is created in the Connect Designer in Horizzon, Alfabet consumes the schema, and Alfabet classes are enabled to support the bi-directional integration. In Alfabet, the Horizzon ID and Horizzon URL attributes are displayed in the content area of a relevant asset, and users can navigate to the relevant business process in Horizzon via links. Changes to the mapped data in Alfabet are dynamically updated to Horizzon.

The business question What are our architectural dependencies? is enriched with more data in the network diagram to help users uncover and understand complex interdependencies across the IT architecture.

• A new Application Attribute field is available in the local report filters so that an attribute like Short Name, Status, Architecture Type, etc. can be displayed on the application user items in the report.
• The Information Flow Attribute filter has been amended so that multiple attributes can be selected and displayed on the information flow connections in business question. Also, a new Aggregate Information Flows switch has been added that allows multiple information flows between a source and target application to be displayed as one distinct connection with a number showing the number of information flows between a source and target application.
• If no data is visualized in the business question because an application hasn't been specified in the Application filter field, a user item will be displayed in the empty report with text explaining that an application must be specified.

A new Application Dependence via Information Flows view is available in the content area of an application. This visualization provides clearer visibility into an application's IT architecture dependencies and shows all incoming and outgoing information flows in a way consistent with the functionality and layout of the business question What are our architecture dependencies? This enhanced visualization makes the Information Flows Diagram view redundant and therefore it is no longer displayed per default in the content area. The Information Flows Diagram view is currently still available in content repository but will be phased out of the standard solution configuration in a future release.

Individual responsibilities for an asset can now be easily defined directly in a new Responsibilities attribute section. Each role can be specified like an attribute via inline editing capabilities, streamlining the definition of roles to be faster and more intuitive.

This enhancement makes the Responsibilities view redundant. It is no longer displayed per default in content areas but is currently still available in content repository.

Data entry is enhanced for data stewards using the Application Manager, Technology Manager, and Project Manager user profiles. The guided data entry is now the default view to help data entry users create and edit applications, peripherals, components, and projects so that they can be sure the most critical data is complete and accurate.

The guided data entry feature 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. 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.

User workflows have been enhanced to make task completion faster and easier. Guided data entry views are now available in preconfigured workflows to ensure the most critical data is accurate and complete. By replacing outdated wizards, they offer a more modern, intuitive user experience.

When the user selects a workflow activity in the Workflows > Workflow Activities explorer, a guided data entry view is displayed in the workflow activity content area. Users can perform their workflow activity in the guided data view which provides the relevant attributes and views as well as data quality rules that highlight potential data quality violations. The Workflow Details page in the content area provides all the necessary information for the user to understand the workflow activity that they are to perform as well as an overview of where they are in the workflow process.

Some legacy views have been replaced by data workbenches to improve ease-of-use for data entry and take advantage of the reporting capabilities. These include:

• All views to capture subordinate relationships such as Subordinate Application Groups, Subordinate Business Capabilities, Subordinate Component Categories, Subordinate Organizations, etc.
•  User Stories view in the feature content area
•  Features view in the epic content area
•  Work Packages view in the project content area
•  Tasks view in the work package content area
•  Business Processes view in the business capability content area
•  User Administration view (available to administrative users only)

A Business Questions section has been added to the left navigation panel of the Portfolio Admin user profile. Administrative users can easily access all business questions that their license permits without changing user profiles and access all data in the repository with Write permissions.

Indicator card designers can now insert custom text into indicator cards, offering greater flexibility in configuration and personalization. For indicator cards and grouped indicator cards, the caption and description of the evaluation type or indicator type can be overwritten with text specified in the card definition.

Functionality to specify cost and income types have been bundled and moved to a new Cost Management section in the navigation panel of the Portfolio Admin user profile. The following views are available:

• Capture Cost Types - IT Architecture/Projects
• Capture Income Types - Projects
• Assign Maintenance Cost Types - IT Architecture
• Assign Cost Types - Projects
• Assign Income Types - Projects