I. Application Portfolio Management (APM) and its benefits.

Demo ServiceNow Application Portfolio Management (APM) is a strategic approach to managing an organization’s software applications. It involves defining, classifying, and tracking applications, as well as their dependencies and relationships with other business processes. APM enables organizations to optimize their application portfolio, ensuring alignment with business goals and maximizing return on investment (ROI).

APM offers numerous benefits, including improved visibility into the application landscape, enabling data-driven decision-making. It facilitates better planning and budgeting for application development and maintenance, reducing unnecessary costs. Additionally, APM promotes standardization and consolidation, streamlining operations and improving efficiency. It also enhances security by identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities, maintaining compliance with regulations, and ensuring business continuity.

Highlight ServiceNow as a platform for managing application portfolios.

ServiceNow is a leading platform for managing application portfolios. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools to help organizations track, manage, and optimize their applications. ServiceNow’s APM capabilities include:

• Application discovery and inventory: ServiceNow automatically discovers and inventories all applications in the organization’s IT environment, providing a complete view of the application landscape.
• Application classification and categorization: Applications can be classified and categorized based on various criteria, such as business function,technology stack, and criticality. This enables organizations to better understand the composition of their application portfolio and make informed decisions about application rationalization and consolidation.
• Application dependency mapping: ServiceNow maps the dependencies between applications, providing visibility into how applications rely on each other. This information is crucial for impact analysis and change management, ensuring that changes to one application do not adversely affect other applications.
• Application health monitoring: ServiceNow monitors the health and performance of applications, providing real-time insights into their availability, response times, and error rates. This enables organizations to proactively identifyand resolve application issues, minimizing downtime and improving user experience.
• Application lifecycle management: ServiceNow supports the entire application lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and maintenance. It provides tools for tracking application changes, managing releases, and automating deployment processes.

By leveraging ServiceNow’s APM capabilities, organizations can gain a comprehensive understanding of their application portfolio, make data-driven decisions about application management, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT operations.

II. ServiceNow APM Capabilities (Demo Walkthrough)

The ServiceNow APM capabilities offer a comprehensive and user-friendly platform for managing application portfolios. Here’s a brief demo walkthrough to showcase its key features:

1. Application Discovery and Inventory:

• ServiceNow automatically scans the IT environment to discover all applications, including cloud-based and on-premises applications.
• It collects detailed information about each application, such as its name, version, vendor, and dependencies.
• This provides a complete and up-to-date inventory of the application portfolio.

2. Application Classification and Categorization:

• Applications can be classified and categorized based on various criteria, such as business function, technology stack, and criticality.
• This enables organizations to group similar applications together and gain insights into the composition of their application portfolio.
• It helps in making informed decisions about application rationalization and consolidation.

3. Application Dependency Mapping:

• ServiceNow maps the dependencies between applications, providing visibility into how applications rely on each other.
• This information is crucial for impact analysis and change management, ensuring that changes to one application do not adversely affect other applications.
• It helps in identifying and mitigating risks associated with application changes.

4. Application Health Monitoring:

• ServiceNow monitors the health and performance of applications in real-time.
• It provides insights into application availability, response times, and error rates.
• This enables organizations to proactively identify and resolve application issues, minimizing downtime and improving user experience.

5. Application Lifecycle Management:

• ServiceNow supports the entire application lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and maintenance.
• It provides tools for tracking application changes, managing releases, and automating deployment processes.
• This streamlines application management and improves the efficiency of IT operations.

Showcase the APM user interface with key features.

The ServiceNow APM user interface is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, providing easy access to key features and insights. Here’s a brief showcase of the APM user interface with its key features:

1. Application Portfolio Dashboard:

• Provides a comprehensive overview of the application portfolio, including the number of applications, their classification, and overall health status.
• Enables quick identification of critical applications and potential issues.

2. Application Explorer:

• Allows users to drill down into individual applications to view detailed information, such as application description, dependencies, and health metrics.
• Provides insights into the relationships between applications and their impact on the overall IT environment.

3. Dependency Mapping:

• Visualizes the dependencies between applications, enabling users to understand how changes to one application may affect other applications.
• Helps inidentifying and mitigating risks associated with application changes.

4. Health Monitoring:

• Provides real-time monitoring of application health and performance.
• Displays metrics such as availability, response times, and error rates, enabling proactive identification and resolution of application issues.

5. Application Lifecycle Management:

• Supports the entire application lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and maintenance.
• Provides tools for tracking application changes, managing releases, and automating deployment processes.

6. Reporting and Analytics:

• Offers a range of reports and analytics to provide insights into application usage, performance, and trends.
• Enables data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement of application management practices.

Business Portfolio Management:

Business Portfolio Management (BPM) is a strategic process that helps organizations align their portfolio of business initiatives with their overall business goals and objectives. It involves identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, and managing a portfolio of projects, programs, and other initiatives to ensure that they are aligned with the organization’s strategic direction and deliver maximum value.

BPM provides organizations with a structured approach to managing their portfolio of initiatives, enabling them to make informed decisions about which initiatives to invest in, which to continue, and which to discontinue.

It helps organizations to:

• Maximize return on investment: By prioritizing initiatives based on their potential value and alignment with strategic goals, BPM ensures that organizations are investing in the initiatives that will deliver the greatest return.
• Reduce risk: BPM helps organizations identify and mitigate risks associated with their initiatives, ensuring that they are making informed decisions and minimizing the potential for negative outcomes.
• Improve decision-making: BPM provides a framework for evaluating and comparing initiatives, enabling organizations to make data-driven decisions about which initiatives to pursue.
• Enhance transparency and communication: BPM promotes transparency and communication across the organization, ensuring that all stakeholders are aware of the organization’s strategic priorities and the initiatives that are being undertaken to achieve them.

Overall, BPM is a valuable tool for organizations looking to optimize their portfolio of initiatives, maximize return on investment, and achieve their strategic goals.

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Business capability hierarchy view.

The business capability hierarchy view is a visual representation of the organization’s business capabilities, organized in a hierarchical structure. It provides a clear and concise overview of the organization’s capabilities and how they are related to each other.

The hierarchy typically starts with the organization’s overall mission or strategic goals at the top level. Below this, the hierarchy is broken down into increasingly detailed levels of capabilities, with each level representing a more specific aspect of the organization’s operations.

For example, a high-level capability might be “Customer Relationship Management.” This capability could then be broken down into more specific sub-capabilities, such as “Sales,” “Marketing,” and “Customer Service.” Each of these sub-capabilities could then be further broken down into even more specific capabilities, such as “Lead Generation,” “Product Marketing,” and “Technical Support.”

The business capability hierarchy view provides several benefits, including:

• Improved understanding of the organization’s capabilities: The hierarchy view provides a clear and concise overview of the organization’s capabilities, making iteasier to understand how they are related to each other and how they contribute to the overall success of the organization.
• Enhanced decision-making: The hierarchy view can be used to inform decision-making about which capabilities to invest in and which to discontinue. By understanding the relationships between capabilities, organizations can make more informed decisions about how to allocate resources and prioritize initiatives.
• Improved communication: The hierarchy view can be used to communicate the organization’s capabilities to stakeholders, both internal and external. This can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page about what the organization is capable of and how it can best serve its customers and partners.

Application mapping to business capabilities.

Application mapping to business capabilities is the process of linking applications to the business capabilities they support. This mapping provides a clear understanding of how applications contribute to the achievement of the organization’s strategic goals.

There are several benefits to application mapping, including:

• Improved understanding of the application portfolio: Application mapping helps organizations to understand the purpose and value of each application in their portfolio. This information can be used to make informed decisions about which applications to invest in and which to discontinue.
• Enhanced decision-making: Application mapping can be used to inform decision-making about application rationalization, consolidation, and modernization. By understanding how applications support business capabilities, organizations can make more informed decisions about which applications to keep and which to replace.
• Improved communication: Application mapping can be used to communicate the value of applications to stakeholders, both internal and external. This can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page about the role of applications in the organization and how they contribute to the achievement of strategic goals.

There are several different approaches to application mapping. One common approach is to use a matrix to map applications to business capabilities. In this matrix, the rows represent the business capabilities and the columns represent the applications. The cells in the matrix are then used to indicate the level of support that each application provides for each business capability.

Another approach to application mapping is to use a dependency mapping tool. These tools can be used to create visual representations of the relationships between applications and business capabilities. This can help to identify critical applications and dependencies and to understand the impact of changes to applications on business capabilities.

Capability scoring based on people, processes, and technology.

Capability scoring is a method for assessing the maturity of an organization’s capabilities. It is typically based on a combination of factors, including people, processes, and technology.

People: This factor assesses the skills, knowledge, and experience of the people who are responsible for delivering the capability. It also considers the organization’s culture and values, and how they support the development and delivery of the capability.

Process: This factor assesses the processes that are in place to support the delivery of the capability. It considers the effectiveness of the processes, their alignment with best practices, and how they are integrated with other processes in the organization.

Technology: This factor assesses the technology that is used to support the delivery of the capability. It considers the maturity of the technology, its reliability, and how it is integrated with other technologies in the organization.

To score a capability, organizations typically use a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest level of maturity and 5 being the highest level of maturity. The scores for each of the three factors (people, process, and technology) are then averaged to produce an overall capability score.

Capability scoring can be used to:

• Identify areas for improvement: By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each capability, organizations can identify areas where they need to improve.
• Prioritize investments: Capability scoring can be used to prioritize investments in people, process, and technology. By investing in the areas with the lowest scores, organizations can improve their overall capability maturity.
• Track progress over time: Capability scoring can be used to track progress over time. By regularly assessing the maturity of their capabilities, organizations can identify trends and make adjustments to their improvement plans.

Application Landscape View:

The application landscape view provides a comprehensive overview of the applications in an organization’s IT environment. It includes information about the applications’ purpose, functionality, relationships to other applications, and their usage patterns.

The application landscape view can be used to:

• Identify and manage application sprawl: By understanding the full extent of the application landscape, organizations can identify and manage application sprawl. This can help to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and mitigate risks.
• Plan for application rationalization and consolidation: The application landscape view can be used to plan for application rationalization and consolidation. By identifying duplicate or overlapping applications, organizations can reduce the number of applications in their portfolio and improve efficiency.
• Identify and mitigate risks: The application landscape view can be used to identify and mitigate risks. By understanding the relationships between applications and their dependencies on other systems, organizations can identify potential risks and take steps to mitigate them.
• Support decision-making: The application landscape view can be used to support decision-making aboutapplication investments, upgrades, and migrations. By understanding the current state of the application landscape, organizations can make informed decisions about how to allocate resources and prioritize initiatives.

There are several different tools and techniques that can be used to create an application landscape view. One common approach is to use a software inventory tool to collect data about the applications in the organization’s IT environment. This data can then be used to create a visual representation of the application landscape, such as a map or diagram.

Another approach to creating an application landscape view is to use a business process modeling tool. This tool can be used to create a model of the organization’s business processes, which can then be used to identify the applications that are used to support each process.

View of all applications in the portfolio.

The view of all applications in the portfolio provides a comprehensive overview of all the applications in an organization’s IT environment. It includes information about each application’s name, version, vendor, purpose, and current status.

This view can be used to:

• Identify and manage application sprawl: By understanding the full extent of the application portfolio, organizations can identify and manage application sprawl. This can help to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and mitigate risks.
• Plan for application rationalization and consolidation: The view of all applications in the portfolio can be used to plan for application rationalization and consolidation. By identifying duplicate or overlapping applications, organizations can reduce the number of applications in their portfolio and improve efficiency.
• Identify and mitigate risks: The view of all applications in the portfolio can be used to identify and mitigate risks. By understanding the relationships between applications and their dependencies on other systems, organizations can identify potential risks and take steps to mitigate them.
• Support decision-making: The view ofall applications in the portfolio can be used to support decision-making about application investments, upgrades, and migrations. By understanding the current state of the application portfolio, organizations can make informed decisions about how to allocate resources and prioritize initiatives.

There are several different tools and techniques that can be used to create a view of all applications in the portfolio. One common approach is to use a software inventory tool to collect data about the applications in the organization’s IT environment. This data can then be used to create a list or spreadsheet of all the applications in the portfolio.

Another approach to creating a view of all applications in the portfolio is to use a business process modeling tool. This tool can be used to create a model of the organization’s business processes, which can then be used to identify the applications that are used to support each process.

Filtering and sorting by various criteria (usage, category, etc.).

Filtering and sorting by various criteria allows users to customize the view of their application portfolio to focus on the applications that are most relevant to them. This can be done by filtering the list of applications based on criteria such as:

• Usage: Applications can be filtered by usage data, such as the number of users, the number of transactions, or the amount of data processed.
• Category: Applications can be filtered by category, such as business applications, infrastructure applications, or development tools.
• Vendor: Applications can be filtered by vendor, such as Microsoft, Oracle, or SAP.
• Status: Applications can be filtered by status, such as active, inactive, or retired.
• Criticality: Applications can be filtered by criticality, such as mission-critical, business-critical, or non-critical.

Once the applications have been filtered, they can be sorted by any of the criteria listed above. This allows users to quickly identify the applications that are most important to them and to focus their attention on those applications.

Filtering and sorting by various criteria is a powerful tool that can help users to get the most out of their application portfolio management tool. By customizing the view of their portfolio, users can quickly and easily access the information that they need to make informed decisions about their applications.

Analyze application details and health.

Analyzing application details and health is essential for ensuring that applications are performing optimally and meeting the needs of the business. By understanding the details of each application, such as its usage patterns, performance metrics, and dependencies, organizations can identify and address potential issues before they impact the business.

Application details and health can be analyzed using a variety of tools and techniques, including:

• Application performance monitoring (APM) tools: APM tools provide real-time visibility into the performanceof applications, including metrics such as response time, throughput, and error rates. This information can be used to identify and troubleshoot performance issues.
• Log analysis tools: Log analysis tools can be used to analyze application logs to identify errors, warnings, and other events that may indicate potential issues. This information can be used to troubleshoot issues and to identify trends that may indicate future problems.
• Dependency mapping tools: Dependency mapping tools can be used to create a visual representation of the relationships between applications and other systems. This information can be used to identify potential risks and to plan forchanges to the application landscape.

By analyzing application details and health, organizations can:

• Identify and troubleshoot performance issues: By understanding the performance characteristics of each application, organizations can identify and troubleshoot performance issues before they impact the business.
• Reduce downtime and improve reliability: By proactively identifying and addressing potential issues, organizations can reduce downtime and improve the reliability of their applications.
• Plan for changes to the application landscape: By understanding the relationships between applications and other systems, organizations can plan for changes to the application landscape, such as upgrades, migrations, and consolidations.

Demand Management:

Demand management is the process of understanding, predicting, and influencing demand for products and services. It involves a variety of activities, including market research, forecasting, and pricing. The goal of demand management is to ensure that the organization has the right products and services available at the right time and at the right price to meet customer demand.

Demand management is important for several reasons. First, it helps organizations to optimize their production and inventory levels. By understanding the demand for their products and services, organizations can ensure that they have the right amount of inventory on hand to meet customer demand without overstocking. This can help to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Second, demand management helps organizations to make better pricing decisions. By understanding the relationship between price and demand, organizations can set prices that will maximize their profits. This can help to increase revenue and improve profitability.

Third, demand management helps organizations to plan for the future. By forecasting demand, organizations can identify potential opportunities and challenges. This information can be used to develop new products and services, enter new markets, and make other strategic decisions.

There are a variety of tools and techniques that can be used for demand management. These include:

• Market research: Market research can be used to collect data about customer needs and wants. This information can be used to develop new products and services, and to improve existing products and services.
• Forecasting: Forecasting is the process of predicting future demand. There are a variety of forecasting techniques that can be used, including historical data analysis, trend analysis, and econometric modeling.
• Pricing: Pricing is a key lever that can be used to influence demand. By understanding the relationship between price and demand, organizations can set prices that will maximize their profits.

Identify opportunities for application rationalization (e.g., consolidation, retirement).

Application rationalization is the process of identifying and eliminating unnecessary or redundant applications from an organization’s IT portfolio. This can be done through a variety of methods, including consolidation, retirement, and replacement.

Consolidation involves merging two or more applications into a single application. This can be done to reduce the number of applications in the portfolio, to improve efficiency, and to reduce costs.

Retirement involves removing an application from the portfolio. This can be done when an application is no longer needed, when it is replaced by a newer application, or when it is no longer supported by the vendor.

Replacement involves replacing an existing application with a new application. This can be done to improve performance, to add new features, or to reduce costs.

Identifying opportunities for application rationalization can be done through a variety of methods, including:

• Application portfolio analysis: An application portfolio analysis can be used to identify applications that are redundant, obsolete, or underutilized. This analysis can be done using a variety of tools and techniques, includingsoftware inventory tools, usage data analysis, and business process modeling.
• Business process review: A business process review can be used to identify applications that are no longer aligned with the organization’s business needs. This review can be done by interviewing business stakeholders, analyzing business processes, and identifying areas for improvement.
• Vendor analysis: A vendor analysis can be used to identify applications that are no longer supported by the vendor or that are no longer cost-effective. This analysis can be done by reviewing vendor contracts, analyzing vendor support policies, and comparing vendor pricing.

By identifying opportunities for application rationalization, organizations can reduce the number of applications in their portfolio, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

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Submit and track requests for new applications or enhancements.

Submitting and tracking requests for new applications or enhancements is an important part of application portfolio management. This process ensures that new applications and enhancements are aligned with the organization’s strategic goals and that they are developed and implemented in a timely and cost-effective manner.

There are a number of different ways to submit a request for a new application or enhancement. Some organizations use a formal request form, while others allow users to submit requests via email or through a web-based portal.</ Regardless of the method used, the request should

include the following information:

• A description of the new application or enhancement
• The business need for the new application or enhancement
• The expected benefits of the new application or enhancement
• The estimated cost of the new application or enhancement
• The estimated timeline for the development and implementation of the new application or enhancement

Once a request has been submitted, it will be reviewed by a team of experts to determine whether it is feasible and aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. If the request is approved, it will be added to the organization’s development backlog and scheduled for development.

Users can track the status of their requests through a variety of methods, including email notifications, web-based portals, and project management tools. This allows users to stay informed about the progress of their requests and to identify any potential delays or issues.

By submitting and tracking requests for new applications and enhancements, organizations can ensure that they are getting the most out of their application portfolio and that they are meeting the needs of their users.

Benefits of ServiceNow APM

ServiceNow APM offers a number of benefits that can help organizations to improve the management of their application portfolios.

These benefits include:

• Improved visibility into the application portfolio: ServiceNow APM provides a comprehensive view of the application portfolio, including all applications, their dependencies, and their relationships to other business processes. This visibility helps organizations to understand the composition of their application portfolio and to make informed decisions about application rationalization, consolidation, and modernization.
• Enhanced application performance:
  ServiceNow APM provides real-time monitoring of application performance, including metrics such as availability, response time, and error rates. This information helps organizations to identify and resolve application performance issues quickly and efficiently, minimizing downtime and improving user experience.
• Reduced application costs: ServiceNow APM helps organizations to reduce application costs by identifying and eliminating unnecessary or redundant applications. Additionally, ServiceNow APM can help organizations to optimize application usage and to negotiate better terms with vendors.
• Improved application security: ServiceNow APM includes a number of features that can help organizations to improve the security of their applications. These features include vulnerability management, patch management, and access control.
• Enhanced compliance: ServiceNow APM can help organizations to comply with a variety of regulations, including HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR. ServiceNow APM provides a number of features that can help organizations to track and manage compliance requirements, and to generate reports that demonstrate compliance.

Overall, ServiceNow APM provides a number of benefits that can help organizations to improve the management of their application portfolios. By leveraging ServiceNow APM, organizations can gain a better understanding of their application portfolio, improve application performance, reduce application costs, improve application security, and enhance compliance.

Gain visibility and control over your application portfolio.

Gaining visibility and control over your application portfolio is essential for effective application portfolio management. By understanding the composition of your application portfolio, the relationships between applications, and the usage patterns of applications, you can make informed decisions about how to optimize your application portfolio and align it with your business goals.

There are a number of tools and techniques that can be used to gain visibility and control over your application portfolio. These include:

• Application discovery and inventory tools: These toolscan be used to automatically discover and inventory all applications in your IT environment. This information can then be used to create a comprehensive view of your application portfolio.
• Application dependency mapping tools: These tools can be used to create visual representations of the relationships between applications. This information can help you to understand how changes to one application may impact other applications.
• Application usage monitoring tools: These tools can be used to track the usage patterns of applications. This information can help you to identify underutilized applications and to make decisions about application rationalization and consolidation.

By leveraging these tools and techniques, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your application portfolio and make informed decisions about how to optimize it. This can lead to improved application performance, reduced costs, and increased business agility.

Make data-driven decisions about application investments.

Making data-driven decisions about application investments is essential for effective application portfolio management. By understanding the costs, benefits, and risks associated with different application investments, you can make informed decisions about how to allocate your resources and maximize the value of your application portfolio.

There are a number of factors to consider when making data-driven decisions about application investments. These include:

• The business value of the application: What are the expected benefits of the application? How will ithelp the organization achieve its business goals?
• The cost of the application: What are the upfront costs of the application? What are the ongoing costs of the application?
• The risks associated with the application: What are the potential risks associated with the application? How can these risks be mitigated?

By carefully considering these factors, you can make data-driven decisions about application investments that will maximize the value of your application portfolio and help the organization achieve its business goals.

Optimize IT resources and improve business alignment.

Optimizing IT resources and improving business alignment are key objectives of effective application portfolio management. By understanding the relationship between applications and business processes, you can make informed decisions about how to allocate IT resources and ensure that applications are aligned with the organization’s strategic goals.

There are a number of ways to optimize IT resources and improve business alignment.

These include:

• Application rationalization and consolidation: By identifying and eliminating unnecessary or redundant applications, you can reduce the cost and complexity of your IT environment. Application consolidation can also help to improve performance and reliability.
• Application modernization: By upgrading and modernizing legacy applications, you can improve their performance, security, and scalability. Application modernization can also help to reduce the cost of maintaining legacy applications.
• Cloud adoption: By moving applications to the cloud, you can reduce the cost and complexity of managing your IT infrastructure. Cloud adoption can also help you to improve scalability and flexibility.

By leveraging these strategies, you can optimize your IT resources and improve business alignment. This can lead to improved application performance, reduced costs, and increased business agility.

IV. Conclusion

Application portfolio management is a critical discipline for organizations that want to optimize their IT investments and improve business alignment. By understanding the composition of their application portfolio, the relationships between applications, and the usage patterns of applications, organizations can make informed decisions about how to manage their application portfolios and align them with their business goals.

There are a number of benefits to effective application portfolio management, including:

• Improved visibility and control over the application portfolio
• Data-driven decision-making about application investments
• Optimization of IT resources and improved business alignment

By leveraging the tools and techniques described in this paper, organizations can gain a comprehensive understanding of their application portfolios and make informed decisions about how to manage them. This can lead to improved application performance, reduced costs, and increased business agility.