There can be many drivers behind a modernization project, but to capture the most significant drivers, you must have a framework which can measure important aspects of an organization and its application portfolio. You can then use this framework as a guide for a modernization project to ensure the application architecture will support the business goals.
Business driver frameworks enable assessment of application portfolios to identify which legacy applications are constraining the business value and should be targeted for transformation. Application assessment frameworks are influenced by business drivers and define the target technology transformation model.
Business Driver Framework
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Reduced time to market
Synergy between the different organization departments, enabled by integrated IT, helps to reduce the time to market for new products, thereby enabling organizations to remain productive -
Business process visibility
The different business process / functions in an organization do not run in silos. Business managers require end-to-end visibility in business operations to beat competition and drive profits. Legacy transformations, in line with the organization’s bigger IT agenda, help the organization succeed in the marketplace -
Cost effectiveness
Legacy transformation is an ongoing initiative. Meticulous planning and implementation of transformation initiatives ensures low cost of ownership of IT systems and reduced risks -
New business fit
Legacy transformation may enable business to create new functions or expand existing functions, thereby increasing business footprint -
Responsiveness to change
Business, supported by a sound IT infrastructure, becomes more responsive to changes in the business and competitive environments -
Human capital drivers
An aging population of support staff with limited documentation of process and tools can force organizations to initiate a legacy modernization project
Change in staff can also help reduce manual processes and drive benefit from business process changes and automation
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Maintainability
Measurement of how easy it is to sustain the application. Attributes are code quality, design modularity, documentation, application architecture
Hard-to-maintain applications are often poorly designed and coded. Changes take longer than they should and continued workarounds and enhancements progressively deteriorate maintainability -
Operational cost
Cost of keeping the system running. Includes licensing and support costs for hardware, software components and application packages
Hard-to-maintain applications typically have higher operational cost -
Ease of integration
Measure of ability to support interactions with other applications or components. Requires well-defined interfaces and APIs for integration
Industry standard based adapters decrease time to integrate -
Agility
Ability for an application to react to business changes
Applications that embed business rules in rules engines, 4GL based systems, architectures where business process are encapsulated in a business process layer typically provide much improved agility -
Functional fit
Measure how well the application supports the current functional need
Workarounds can be applied, but extensive workarounds make applications less effective in the long term -
Resource availability
Availability of resources to support and enhance the system
Competent resources are required for operational sustenance of the application -
Uniqueness
Measurement of how commonly available the application if off-the-shelf
Is it commodity or does the application provide real competitive advantages
Unique applications have less options of replacement
Application Assessment Framework
To support your modernization journey, choose wisely.
Post Date: 22/11/2013
