Build an-apps-roadmap-sb-sample

Build an Applications Roadmap
Use a roadmap to manage your apps portfolio and help realize your core apps objectives.

Info-Tech Research Group ‹#›

Introduction

Take the time to build an applications roadmap and immediately start seeing
benefits in your applications portfolio management.

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:

 CIOs looking to improve their planning strategy.  Identify the benefits of using an applications roadmap.
 IT leaders planning on developing an applications  Take the steps necessary to build a roadmap.
portfolio roadmap.
 Prioritize the actions on your roadmap.
 Applications managers looking to improve upon their
current roadmap.  Choose who to collaborate with and when.
 Develop a basic, 3-5 year applications roadmap.


Executive Summary

An applications roadmap is a guideline that plans out the applications strategy over a given time frame,
usually from three to five years.
Going through the process of building an applications roadmap will result in:
• Higher quality applications.
• Improved ability to manage legacy applications.
• Greater alignment with business needs.
Organizations with a roadmap in place are:
• 200% more pleased with their application quality.
• Four times more likely to be happy with the ability to manage legacy applications.
• Six times more likely to feel aligned with business needs.
Road-mapping alone is a valuable exercise that should not be overlooked. Schedule regular reviews to
keep the roadmap current and continue anticipating the business’ needs.


Make the Case

What’s in this Section: Sections:
• What is an Applications Roadmap? Make the Case

• Who needs an Applications Roadmap? Assess the Current Inventory

• What are the benefits of having an Applications Roadmap? Establish the Direction of Your
Roadmap
Prioritization of Actions
Next Steps


There are five core objectives you must meet for optimized
apps performance

 Value. Deliver application services in a manner that is cost-
effective for both CAPEX and OPEX while still delivering
Applications Objectives
business value. Cost objectives vary with organizational need.

 Responsiveness. The ability of the systems to respond to the
needs of the end users and achieve the goals put forth by the
Value
business needs.
Responsiveness
Quality  Quality. The processes supported by the systems provide high
Predictability quality service to the business and help them meet their
Talent Retention business goals.

These objectives apply to all  Predictability. Performance levels associated with the
elements of the applications systems are consistent and as expected.
environment.
 Talent Retention. The ability to keep staff who have the
required skills to develop and maintain the key applications.

An applications manager can’t plan his or her own destiny without having a
roadmap in place.
- CIO, Manufacturing

Without a proper plan, you significantly reduce your ability to
reach core objectives

If you don’t plan… Core Objective If you plan….
You are not applying scarce You have the capacity to deal
resources (people and dollars) with major improvements. You
to the most valuable activities.
Value don’t waste resources on
testing minor changes.
Application responsiveness You experience better
suffers due to the constant application responsiveness
need to put out fires.
Responsiveness due to proactive elimination of
slowdowns.
You don’t have a full grasp on There is a higher level of
where IT needs to improve. Quality quality due to better gap
analysis.
You can’t be proactive and You have knowledge of
may be surprised by upcoming changes due to a
unforeseen events.
Predictability more concrete planning
strategy.
Constant unplanned change An awareness of what is
can lead to talent walking out coming down the pipeline
the door.
Talent Retention allows developers to keep their
skills refined.


Having a roadmap in place improves business relations,
prepares IT for change, and increases efficiency

Be prepared: increased responsiveness and predictability allows IT to take
off the firefighter’s helmet.
Roadmaps allow you to better
Without an applications roadmap, the CIO often has to achieve
default to firefighter mode. Too much time putting out responsiveness, quality, and
fires can eliminate the ability to plan ahead and make control for potential problems with
the applications more efficient and more effective for legacy applications
meeting the business needs of the organization.

No Roadmap
Roadmap

+319%
Being proactive can mean having a formal plan in place 67%
or just having a clear sense of where you stand in terms
of your application lifecycle, capacity, and resourcing. A
roadmap will prepare IT for upcoming changes and help 16%
it better manage impending projects. This will also allow
the CIO to better serve the business and end users. Happiness with App Quality
Source: Info-Tech Research Group; N = 127

Companies with a roadmap are twice as likely to report high quality applications, four times as likely toN = 127
report
Source: Info-Techalignment.
high proficiency in legacy apps management, and six times as likely to report strong business Research Group


Use these concepts when developing your roadmap:
Inventory, Assess, Prioritize, and Communicate

 Inventory. An exhaustive list of all the applications currently
Process used or to be used in the near future.

 Assess. Each application that has been inventoried should
be assigned a lifecycle stage and assessed based on its
Inventory current and projected ability to deliver value.
Assess  Prioritize. The assessment should illuminate actions to
Prioritize take, now take the time to prioritize those actions.
Communicate
 Communicate. Leverage the applications roadmap to
These steps will direct you in increase your communication abilities with the executive
the roadmap development and other IT managers.
process.

One problem is that we never switch off any applications, we only create new ones.
The result is a number of new applications every year that need to be inventoried and
managed.
-Member of EPO


A good roadmap combines the application goals
with business requirements
To maximize the benefits of developing a roadmap, focus on these goals:
IT-Oriented Goals Business-Oriented Goals

1. Identify applications that require improved quality and 3. Identify application functionality needed to enable
responsiveness business objectives

2. Plan for dealing with obsolete applications 4. Resolve application weaknesses that are inhibiting
business initiatives

With those goals in mind, consider the following framework to realize them:

Application Objectives Roadmap Process

Value An applications roadmap is a Inventory/Assess
Responsiveness guideline that plans out your Direction
Quality applications strategy over a Prioritize
Predictability given time frame, Communicate
Talent Retention usually 3-5 years.


Acquire the information needed for your apps roadmap by
following these four stages
Inventory/Assess Step #1: Inventory/assessment of all current applications
Take an inventory to determine
what you have and what you still Step #2: Measure functional & technical quality of the
need. applications

Direction Step #3: Lifecycle status for each application

Identify actions that will help Step #4: Estimate changes in the volume of transactions
maintain or improve your ability to and in system performance characteristics
meet business needs.
Step #5: Cross-reference system changes with expected
business process/function changes and plan changes
Prioritize
Measure level of internal and
Step #6: Prioritize actions so that scheduling of actions
external urgency to prioritize your
can be completed
actions.

Communicate
After plotting a first draft of your Step #7: Communicate first draft of roadmap to executive
roadmap communicate it to the
executive for validation.


Budget time, not money to create your applications roadmap

How much is it worth to feel happy with your application performance?
Level of effort is significantly Roadmaps Take Time, Not Money
correlated with Level of Success
The good news is that a roadmap can be done for zero capital
Level of Success

investment.
The bad news is that it can take a significant time investment, much of
which is expended up front.
Make your life easier:
 Enlist your subject matter experts to cover their area of
responsibility.
Level of Effort  Set aside a roadmap week where IT emergencies are priority one
and creating a roadmap document is priority two.
Level of effort is significantly  If one week is too much to ask, dedicate one hour per day to
correlated with Level of Impact roadmap creation activities.
 Keep it real. Do not insist on perfection, instead look at road-
Positive Impact

mapping as an iterative process. Get the rough sketch, not the final
masterpiece.
 Get a bird’s eye view. A roadmap is not the place to get down to
exact numbers. It’s about getting the big picture. If your roadmap is
too specific, it will quickly become outdated.
Once your roadmap is in place, the ongoing maintenance and review will
take much less time. Especially if it is done at regular intervals.
Level of Effort


Info-Tech Research Group Helps IT Professionals To:

 Quickly get up to speed  Manage business expectations
with new technologies
 Justify IT spending and
 Make the right technology prove the value of IT
purchasing decisions – fast
 Train IT staff and effectively
 Deliver critical IT manage an IT department
projects, on time and
within budget

Sign up for free trial membership to get practical
solutions for your IT challenges

•“Info-Tech helps me to be proactive instead of reactive –
a cardinal rule in a stable and leading edge IT environment.
- ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co., LP

Toll Free: 1-888-670-8889 www.infotech.com


Build an-apps-roadmap-sb-sample

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (14)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Build an-apps-roadmap-sb-sample